The Rings Of Power continues to substitute good storytelling with an endless, inane parade of callbacks to Lord of the Rings.
I litererally spent the past 20 minutes trying to articulate a nuanced response on that show but i could only ignite my own mount doom remembering how incredibly stupid the first season was.
But I heard Henry Cavil is going to fill in as the beloved and most important character of the appendix listing of: Forest Men (all of them) and they will be sure to guide Galadriel into a love triangle with the not-hobbits, sauron and the wampa (ice troll?) from S0101 and also sexy Shelob from that one game and also reallly sexy Ungoliant and Morgoth, but they’re married now and just living a quiet life in the country with some low key friends in another world.
this might have been an anime im thinking about though…
I’m not watching, but really enjoying watching the Internet go into a meltdown about a TV show again.
I too am bummed out with the constant ‘echoes of the future’ and also the lazy storytelling. (Seriously the elves do lack proper communication methods).
But the thing this episode did was ‘you know Tolkien geeks, all the stuff Peter Jackson left out like Tom and the wraiths we’ll put in. And add in some ent wifes too’
It’s laid on so thick that it’s cringing me out.
Nope. Another click bait rage garbage article, from no less than Forbes, the shittiest cesspool of shitty shit on the internet.
The show is fine. Looks amazing, sounds incredible, full of wonderful performances and nuanced characters with interesting takes on adapting an incredibly complex source material. I’ll take it over 90% of “prestige” dramas about rich families and murder procedurals any day.
Even if it’s not your particular bag, it doesn’t deserve anywhere near the level of vitriol leveled at it by people desperate to drive clicks to their mediocre blog or reaction channel.
TheOneRing.net had an incisive take on this recently that I think everyone ought to read. https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2024/09/06/119303-dont-kill-content-no-one-needs-your-hot-take/
While I’d personally argue that the quality of the character development, writing, and storytelling in the show doesn’t even achieve the level of “fine”, you’re right in that 1) people should be allowed to enjoy things in peace and 2) RoP in particular attracts criticism which is often hyperbolic. At the same time, however, there should also be the freedom to honestly critique a piece of media without being labeled as a hater, obsessive fanboy, or a neckbeard, etc. Especially when dealing with an IP as treasured as Tolkien’s.
Whether you find this article excessive in its criticism or not, the writer makes the very valid point that the media landscape today is becoming increasingly saturated with this 'memberberries/nostalgia/callback type of storytelling, along with the constant stream of prequels and sequels based on this formula. People are growing tired of it, and Rings of Power has it deep in its bones.
For a good examination of the showrunners’ over-reliance on referencing the Jackson movie trilogy in lieu of interesting, original storytelling, I highly recommend this YouTube video. I think it really gets to the core of why so many people find RoP frustrating or disappointing as a show in its own right, let alone as a Tolkien adaptation.
I am meh about much modern media including rings of power but my complaint of the complaint comes from the reference to an earlier complaint he had about gandolf saying “If in doubt, always follow your nose” to the characters like he had in lotr. That is a phrase that if someone uses they will not just use once. Its likely a phrase they would use many times such that someone else would say. Like mister gandolfs says or such. Like my granpaapy used to say. Might as well complain when shrek says better out than in.