As we reach halfway through the Middle-Earth tale with its fourth episode, I can’t help but wonder if The Rings of Power could have maintained a better viewership by releasing two episodes every week.
The super expensive series introduced itself with the first two episodes which settled really well with the first one taking us to the realm of Middle-Earth and crafting the world for the story to follow while the second episode went a step ahead to explain the story and tell us what the plot is all about.
Since then, with the release of the fourth and fifth episode weekly, it has become apparent that the creators were not able to fit everything inside each episode which eventually led to a structural problem in the show.
Maybe if the creators planned to release two episodes every week, things would have made sense and we wouldn’t have to count on the visuals and cinematography to surprise us with every episode.
Anyhow, the third episode introduced us to another region, Númenor, and most of us were left confused due to the complex amount of characters we were witnessing.
The fourth episode gives us a clear view of the Numenorean politics and its people and the episode does somewhat become better due to it.
Just as I mentioned earlier, Míriel appeared to be irrelevant in the last episode, but with the opening of the Great Wave, we get to see why she was hostile towards Galadriel. It was confusing as to what was at stake for Numenor but the reason behind Miriel’s attitude is that she has foreseen the destruction of Numenor.
She is afraid that Galadriel’s entry into her territory may be the beginning of the chain of events that would ultimately give life to her prediction.
Galadriel tries to get the Queen’s support to attack Sauron in the Southlands but she is rebuffed by Miriel and eventually locked up. At this point, Galadriel is still the same. There is no change in her temperament and her diplomatic skills are worse than anything else in the show.
It was only true when Halbrand said that Galadriel is like a horse who is prepared to charge at everything. She is not only naive but throws tantrums, negatively reducing her character to a teen who cannot handle their hormones.
To make matters worse, Miriel’s Chancellor Pharazon is ready with his own manipulative plans where he is telling the Numenoreans about the impending doom at the hands of the elves.
Anyway back in the Middle-Earth, the stories appear to be far more interesting. Arondir meets Adar-Joseph Mawle’s makeup is fascinating as he looks like a poisoned elf.
We get to learn that the Orcs have another side too as the viewers see one of the orcs dying while the other is rescued by his partner. Adar liberates the Orc from his pain showing that the leader has some sympathies toward his army.
Originally, Tolkien portrayed that the elves were not willingly working with Sauron. Due to brutal torture from Morgoth, they were transformed into Orcs and hence compelled to work with Sauron.
Arondir is freed from imprisonment and given a message which he needs to take to the Southlands. Meanwhile, Bronwyn is hiding with other humans however as they run out of food, her son Theo decides to be the hero and travels to the village for food.
There he encounters an Orc and fights him, eventually saved by Arondir but the secret about the sword is out and will soon reach Adar.
The creators said that they were focusing on giving more importance to the Dwarves and it is visible from the heartwarming scenes between Durin and his father just before Durin goes to Lindon.
Several things are at play all at once due to which some things were not able to influence the story. Islidur, being the one-day slayer of Sauron, did not catch the audience’s attention in a satisfying way while her sister did get the screen time which fell short due to the number of characters surrounding her.
We are halfway through the show but it still is not able to create the momentum needed to pace things up and fill our brains with what happens next questions.
Let’s see what the fifth episode has to offer and if it will be able to set the tone to fit with the thrill we need to keep watching.
Also Read: The Rings Of Power Episode 3 Adar Review: More Places And More Faces
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