{"id":7446,"date":"2024-10-09T16:36:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T21:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/?p=7446"},"modified":"2024-10-05T16:36:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T21:36:57","slug":"final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read part 1 here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read part 2 here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read part 3 here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seven: Doomed to Die<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
-Whew. That was a lot.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Celebrimbor and I have the same teacups.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Narvi!!!!!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-If you don\u2019t like gross things, or orcs, or more gross things, be prepared to look away a lot.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Gl\u00fbg, though. Never thought I would feel sympathy for an Orc.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I suppose [redacted] had \u201credshirt\u201d written all over them from the moment they stepped on the scene, but their death still hurt.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I would like, just once, to have seen <\/em>the Doors of Durin in action over the last couple of episodes. I can think of several times they could have been used very effectively. Imagine Annatar walking up to the doors last episode and saying \u201cmellon\u201d<\/em> to get in. Chilling. Lost opportunity.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Well, that, um, answered my question about the mithril in the illusion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Elven armies charging! Gil-galad in armor! Yeah, I know he canonically doesn\u2019t show up at this battle (which they lampshaded), but it was still so cool to see the last High King of the Elves, in armor, on horseback. And to see Arondir, a Silvan Elf, react to the High King\u2019s presence. (Lengthy explanation about different kinds of Elves available on request. Tolkien did not make this simple.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u201cGil-Galad was an Elven-king<\/div>\n
Of him the harpers sadly sing<\/div>\n
The last whose realm was fair and free<\/div>\n
Between the mountains and the sea<\/div>\n
His sword was long, his lance was keen<\/div>\n
His shining helm afar was seen<\/div>\n
The countless stars of heaven\u2019s field<\/div>\n
Were mirrored in his silver shield<\/div>\n
But long ago he rode away<\/div>\n
And where he dwelleth none can say<\/div>\n
For into darkness fell his star<\/div>\n
In Mordor where the shadows are.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Edwin wants to lodge a Plot Complaint about the Elves stopping the charge. Of course, it\u2019s almost impossible to please him about the way any battle is conceived of and filmed in any show ever \u2026<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Melian of the Maiar!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I thought the Thing that everyone is upset and chattering about on social media wasn\u2019t as bad as I anticipated, but it was still dumb. It seemed clear what they originally intended, but I can still think of a million ways they could have done it better.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Galadriel, if you had just let Arondir do what he was trying to do\u2026.man, this woman needs to stop acting first and thinking afterwards.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-However, her actions did get her to a place where she could have That Conversation with Celebrimbor. One of the highlights of the episode, season, and show. I will never look at the line \u201cMay it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out\u201d in the same way again. At its best, ROP has taken some things which are single sentences or phrases in Tolkien and teased out their implications and backstory in illuminating ways. That was a great example.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Speaking of Celebrimbor, I couldn\u2019t shake a line from the Scottish Play while thinking about him. (I\u2019ll put it in the comments because it\u2019s a spoiler if you haven\u2019t read the books to know what happens to him.) Charles Edwards has been amazing this season and he does his best work in this episode. Give him an Emmy now for that final scene. (Charlie Vickers also hits it out of the park this time, so much so that I almost forgot that awful wig. He did provoke a \u201cgaslight gatekeep girlboss\u201d comment from us at one point.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Elrond and Durin\u2019s meeting was beautiful (Durin\u2019s line about Elrond\u2019s hair was so funny) and their friendship in the rest of the episode, well, um, actually I\u2019m not over that yet. The subversion of the expectations built up in us by knowing about the cinematography of the Riders of Rohan appearing was, for my money, devastating. We know that later Elrond is kind of grouchy about dwarves. After this episode you will know why.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Lots of plotlines to resolve next episode, hope they stick the landing. (Looks like Estrid is back, which will make Elizabeth happy.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eight: Shadow and Flame<\/em><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
-I am never going to shut up about the lost opportunity to see the Doors of Durin lit up and in action before Eregion was destroyed. Maybe it was a rights issue, since the lit-up doors are an image so strongly associated with the Tolkien estate in other formats? Anyway, I held out hope until the very last, but no dice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Not as intense as Episode 7 because they had to be too many places at once, but I basically liked the resolutions to all the different plotlines. I would have changed the order of the endings a bit, though, and put the one last which made me cry. (It did remind me of Return of the King because I kept thinking \u201coh, this would be a great place to stop,\u201d and then they didn\u2019t.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-While we\u2019re on things I didn\u2019t care for, I haven\u2019t liked the design of Nenya from the beginning, which was a problem since it played so large a role in this episode.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I guess I feel a little better about Elrond\u2019s waterfall jump in the first episode now that it was effectively paralleled in this by a similar jump. A little.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-We all agreed the Sauron and Galadriel fight was a Cool Fight, especially the mind games. Fighting with Morgoth\u2019s crown, which looked odd in the trailer, actually made sense in the flow of the episode.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about Adar.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Celebrimbor\u2019s prophecy in general was great. Could have done without one line in it which kind of created a plot hole.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-The slo-mo in the cold open: stupendous. Best shot in the episode. Durin III\u2019s speech was perfection. Tears were shed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-All other uses of slow-mo in the episode: silly.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Also cried over the dialogue about pity.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Second time that the dwarves, who have been so beautifully nuanced throughout, had that somewhat undercut by their final scene. (Happened last season too.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-I have loved getting to know Narvi better though.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Absolutely great Gil-galad moment near the end. I am completely won over to snarky Gil-galad.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Big turning point in how Galadriel deals with problems. Cherish it, lady. (That\u2019s an oblique Chesterton reference)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Stronger King of the Dead vibes from Theo all the time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Also, I\u2019m going to start placing bets on Kemen as the Mouth of Sauron, who is canonically a Black Num\u00e9nor\u00e9an. (The way he kept saying \u201clow men\u201d was annoying but also a nice lore touch.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Isildur showed off both what makes him great and what makes him stupid. His is a hard arc, because he has to be a great hero who also ultimately fails \u2013 like Frodo \u2013 and I feel like we\u2019re on that road.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-Lloyd Owen has been criminally underused this season, mostly standing around looking tortured, so I really hope the end is setting him up next season for the bigger role we know he is destined canonically to play. He\u2019s such a great actor and perfectly cast as Elendil. I love Elendil\u2019s chivalric devotion to M\u00edriel.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
-An\u00e1rion got name-checked!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2013 I had reason to think of a healing thousands of years later when Aragorn will say \u201cElrond is the eldest of our race and has the greater power.\u201d The road there started here.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Next season I want: Celeborn, please. More Elendil. More Bombadil. Getting to know An\u00e1rion. Fallohides. Please conduct a certain canonical marriage I keep thinking we\u2019re getting set up for and then not having happen. And maybe a certain character, now that he knows who he is, to get on a boat and sail around to the Grey Havens and meet C\u00edrdan.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Photo by Gaith Shalan<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1701,"featured_media":7449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1588,1585],"class_list":["post-7446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rings-of-power","tag-tolkien"],"yoast_head":"\nFinal Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MISSION:WORK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-09T21:36:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-05T21:36:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/436\/2024\/10\/gaith-shalan-rnlesQiCDrs-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Woodruff Tait\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Woodruff Tait\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/\",\"name\":\"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-09T21:36:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-05T21:36:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/c41935b4e0380608d5798193e5e6aae4\"},\"description\":\"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/\",\"name\":\"MISSION:WORK\",\"description\":\"Promoting conversations about faith and work\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/c41935b4e0380608d5798193e5e6aae4\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Woodruff Tait\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb7a71be2c3d5868c187be67d79e8cb4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb7a71be2c3d5868c187be67d79e8cb4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Woodruff Tait\"},\"description\":\"I'm the Content Editor for The High Calling at The Theology of Work Project, the managing editor of Christian History Magazine, and a priest in the Episcopal Church. I'm also the author of The Poisoned Chalice and Histories of Us.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/author\/jtait\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2","description":"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2","og_description":"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/","og_site_name":"MISSION:WORK","article_published_time":"2024-10-09T21:36:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-05T21:36:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/436\/2024\/10\/gaith-shalan-rnlesQiCDrs-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jennifer Woodruff Tait","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Woodruff Tait","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/","name":"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-10-09T21:36:47+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-05T21:36:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/c41935b4e0380608d5798193e5e6aae4"},"description":"The rest of my reviews of Rings of Power Season 2.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/2024\/10\/final-rings-of-power-reviews-i-wrote-during-season-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Final Rings of Power Reviews I Wrote During Season 2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/","name":"MISSION:WORK","description":"Promoting conversations about faith and work","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/c41935b4e0380608d5798193e5e6aae4","name":"Jennifer Woodruff Tait","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb7a71be2c3d5868c187be67d79e8cb4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb7a71be2c3d5868c187be67d79e8cb4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Woodruff Tait"},"description":"I'm the Content Editor for The High Calling at The Theology of Work Project, the managing editor of Christian History Magazine, and a priest in the Episcopal Church. I'm also the author of The Poisoned Chalice and Histories of Us.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/author\/jtait\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1701"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/missionwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}