The Scene That Made Me Quit the Rings of Power

The Rings of Power started off decent...but I eventually had to stop watching. This is my in-depth critique of the specific scene where I gave up, and the events leading up to it.

[caleb.a.robinson]

I learned after editing that this conflict is brought back up later in the show. While I'm glad to hear it, my points about how this scene feels during episode 04 still stand.

[tiffanyl]

Making elves exactly like people with slightly pointy ears was apparent right from the break. They lost all their magic.

[CorgiAvenger]

Saying that the show "Strays from the lore" is like saying that King Kong was "a rather large monkey."

[RW-ijci]

Honestly after watching a few episodes, I completely understand why Sauron wants to destroy middle earth... and I'm kinda on his side.

[shojodraws]

"Elven hands will never hold the seat in Numenor!"
Their entire dynasty of kings directly descended from Elven Blood *sweat nervously*

[Lochlann]

"Galadriel acts like a moron..."

This single line could sum up the entire series.

[Treblaine]

I cannot get over how Galadriel has constantly got the crazy eyes like she's a psychotic serial killer. It's never in reaction to anything, she's just constantly looking around like she just caught her arch rival telling vicious lies about her.

[RoninDave]

The elves "terk ore jerbs!" doesn't work even by the logic of the show. According to the show, Numenor was practically an isolated nation who hadn't had any dealings with Elves for several generations so none of those people would have seen an Elf and likely not immediately think Elves would show up and take their jobs. Sure it was political theater for Pharazon but it's stupid to think isolationists would suddenly be worried of untiring Elf workers showing up to fall for Pharazon's ruse. It was just there to shoehorn in a socio-political allegory about immigration.

[DaddyDoom]

I gave up on the show on the moment when Elrond and Celebrimbor leave their city to go to Moria, in their perfectly fine dresses, no horses, no entourage, just like they were going to the next corner Starbucks for a pumpkin latte or whatever Elves like to sip, and arrive the very next scene to the doors of Moria, wearing the same clothes, on foot, seemingly not having crossed half of middle earth go from point A to point B.
The funniest part of it all is that Celebrimbor goes all that way, only to turn back alone, and Elrond stays there for a rock crushing competition with Durin.

[justinhetrick]

The most comical thing about this is the fact that in interviews the Producers are hailing the show as a "success" because of the number of viewers for the show. I would love to see a graph of the number of viewers from episode 1 to 8 and just see the decline. The show has an audience score of 39% on rotten tomatoes and yet it's a "success".

[Gandalf]

This show achieved the improbable: it infuriated true Tolkien fans, and made casual viewers apathetic. I’ve never seen a show where it was so expensive, yet many people have stated they “dozed off” or “walked away” during an episode.

[murazor]

Galadriel in her very youth, even before the creation of the silmarils was a very wise person. So wise that she could understand the dark side of Feanor's heart. And here is Amazon's Cringe-ladriel from the Second Age.

[oliveragag]

Straying from the lore is, especially this much, probably one of the biggest slaps in the face you could give to Tolkien, a man who spent so much time refining it until his dying days.

[ExPaNxIoN]

Watching the Lotr trilogy felt like a completely different fantasy world that takes you away from real life, but this show, the "they will take our jobs" rhetoric felt soo weird and unbelievable, you explained it perfectly how i felt

[elessartelcontar]

"Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” - JRR Tolkien

[Nopeasaurus]

*Spoiler* A lot of people seem to think Galadriel was the worst part of the show but for me, it was Sauron. Instead of Sauron disguising himself as the cunning and beautiful Annatar, we get scruffy Halbrand who is floating aimlessly on a raft and introduces himself by saying "looks can be deceiving." We keep hearing about how evil Sauron is but we never see him do anything evil. We are told he killed Finrod, but we never see anything but his sigil carved in his body. A flashback or something could have established this but nope, we only get a far off shot of him in his armor surrounded by orcs and that's it. And, by the final episode, Not-My-Sauron asks Galadriel to become his queen. This is Lord of the Rings not Lords of the Rings. You could say he was trying to deceive her but in the show, he seemed genuinely interested in her: he became upset when the Numenor guards taunted him about Galadriel not being interested in him, he (indirectly) apologized for supposedly killing her brother, and was furious when she rejected his offer to rule beside him and blamed her for being the reason he broke bad. I just can't believe they made Sauron, THE DARK LORD HIMSELF, into a scruffy incel. Don't even get me started on how they sidelined Celebrimbor, the greatest elven blacksmith, and made him a silly old man who didn't know how to mix an alloys together until Sauron convinced him otherwise.

[NicolasConnault]

So funny how the dwarves' height keeps changing wildly from scene to scene.

[Werewolf.with.Internet.Access]

You *could* handle the insufferable Galadriel? You have more tolerance than me, friend. She alone made me want to cast this whole damned series into the fires of Mordor

[FoButter]

between this and The Witcher, I am astounded that these writers have jobs. Both shows felt like a series of weightless scenes stitched together with very little thought put into ANY type of meaningful story arc.

[knitandcatboodle]

I wanted to like this show so badly. I kept getting lost in the first few episodes and felt like, "oh, if only I'd read the Silmarillion first, that would clear things up for me." I turned to my husband, who has read the Silmarillion at least twice, and his response was, "I don't know what's going on either." I continued watching the show, he didn't. The more it went on, the more annoyed it got because the pacing and writing are all over the place. I wanted to like these characters. I tried so hard to care about them. And, to be honest, I cannot remember anyone's name (aside from those who show up in LOTR).