The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 Episode 4 Review

[Herbert Playz]

Okay so I have a new theory what if Sauron is actually Lord Cekebrimbor(the elven smith Elrond is working with) in disguise. I won't get into how closely that relates to the books. But I think that would actually be a pretty awesome plot twist.

I think its interesting how much time they are devoting to Elendil and his children, Isildur and Earien. Isildur not wanting to follow in the path that his father is pushing him towards is understandable. But compared to all of the things they could be showing in this series, it feels in consequential to even introduce this trivial storyline. I think I would have preferred seeing an Isildur that was constantly at his father's side doing whatever was asked of him. They could have saved money by not filming those additional sailing scenes. Or scenes where Isildur is arguing with his father. In the end, those scenes are pretty inconsequential.

Most of us know what happens with Isildur and his father. When I think of their names, I think of epic battles, courage, leadership etc. I don't think of petty arguments or some kind of father son squabble about his future.

For the past two episodes Galadriel seems to be running in circles in Numeanor. The city is absolutely gorgeous. But she stirs up the hornets nest wherever she goes. She is far older and more experienced than everyone in that city. I feel like they made her too human. I don't like the plotline of her roaming about the kingdom with an escort or being locked up in a cell. I loved that scene where she finally decides to toss four guards into the prison cell by herself with no weapon. I like the idea of it but they should have found some smoother way to do it. It should have been more enchanting more mystical, more effortless.

From there she becomes a ninja breaking into the kings tower through a window😅. Again, I love the idea of Galadriel deciding to storm the tower single handedly but I'm just not with the execution. The palantir scene was a good plot device. The kings daughter was obviously afraid of something and she has a decent reason. She's had some vision about the fall of Numeanor and is trying to prevent it. I feel like there should have been a little more to it though. Galadriel just touching it once and seeing the waters rush in was too quick. After the vision, she should have been able to speak from wisdom, and given the queen some direction based on all of her knowledge over thousands of years. Instead she basically gives a decent but generic line about acting in faith and not fear.

Elrong and Durin have a good moment in this episode. Elrond choosing to make an oath to Durin on the mountain was interesting. I also loved how they introduced mithril and spoke of it like a trade good that could be mined and exploited to increase the prosperity of the dwarven people. Of course there were no details of how this particular ore could increase their prosperity but as person that loves to hear about economics and trade side of kingdom building I still enjoyed it.

Now of course at some point, that oath that Durin got Elrond to swear to, has to come back to haunt Elrond at some point. Looking at the preview, it seems like Lord Celebrimbor will accidentally discover the piece of Mithril that Durin gave to Elrond. This immediately seemed like a mistake when Durin told Elrond to keep it. If they were trying to keep it a secret for the time being, then they should keep all of it within the mountain until they are ready to announce it.

Durin's wife Disa lying to Elrond about his whereabouts were definitely understandable. I didn't mind at all. She's being loyal to her husband so I'm glad they squashed that deception part pretty quick. I'm actually surprised that they decided to even make this whole Mithril plotline important at all.

Last but not least, meteor man is completely missing in this episode! I was looking forward to seeing that storyline advance but I understand because it seems like the showrunners knew that they needed to get Galadriel moving. So by giving her more scenes, hopefully by the end of episode 5 Galadriel and the people of Numeanor will be setting sail.

I'm so ready for the reveal that meteor man is Gandalf. I expect that we won't know until episode 8 or 9 so we have at least another 2-3 week wait by my estimation.