Episode Grade: (6.5/10)
As we enter the second half of the season, there’s no indication that the show’s weaknesses will be dealt with. After setting up an escalation in the Southlands in the previous episode, this one spends an hour going around in circles in an effort to escalate the situation further only to fall flat. In the simplest terms, this felt like a filler episode.
Plot (36/50)
At the end of the previous episode, it seemed like the subplot in Numenor had concluded with the Queen Regent Miriel’s commitment of 10 ships to Galadriel’s cause; however, this turned out to be the continuation of the Numenorian inner-conflict. Don’t get me wrong, recruitment and preparation takes time, as does the quelling of political dissent, I just don’t think we needed to see it all especially after it seemed like we wouldn’t have to. Elsewhere, the revelation that the elves will need to acquire a large amount of mithril in order to rejuvenate their life force gives dwarves leverage in what is a welcome little twist. Oh, turns out I was actually right about the Silmaril all along, with mithril just being a derivative of it. The humans in the Southlands are split -surprise, surprise- and Sauron’s hilt is now the key (no pun intended) to that battle. What it opens is still a mystery though. There was an intriguing development with the Stranger as he is being tracked by some witches it would appear. There were a bunch of small nagging inconsistencies that really hurt the quality of the episode. One such example is the training scene with Galadriel: why are they sparring with real swords? How are we supposed to believe that someone will actually draw blood from Galadriel when real swords are in play? And in the end she gets nicked anyways… It’s all too fanciful. Also, weren’t the elves stationed at the watchtower supposed to return home? When they didn’t, how come no one went looking for them? There were plenty more inconsistencies, but more on that in the next section. One thing the episode successfully accomplished is renewing interest in Numenor’s future as it’s become clear that Pharazon is politically motivated and ready to pounce should anything happen to Miriel in Middle Earth. Once again, the fantasy and adventure aspects of the show were on point. There was too much unoriginality: half the humans immediately surrendering to the evil, Halbrand’s inconsequential inner-conflict as he joins the fight anyways, and Isildur “earning” his place on the expedition. Finally, the battle for the Southlands must be starting in the next episode, right?
Character Development (1/15)
Here’s where things really go south for the episode… I’ll start with the good before moving on to the various inconsistencies. Galadriel’s admission that she keeps fighting because she can’t stop was the first bit of decent character development we’ve seen from her all season. Halbrand sympathizing with her because of his own trauma came across as a boo hoo moment because of how his arc played out (more on that in a bit). Pharazon revealing his political motivations for the expedition was something I initially suspected and I’m glad they made this clear. Arondir’s motivations for staying with the humans are reasonable but it still felt necessary for him to explain them. Seeing as how he dislikes Bronwyn and elves in general, Waldreg pledging his loyalty to Adar at his first opportunity was consistent with his character. Others following suit made sense as well. Now onto the bad… Halbrand’s refusal to be dragged back into the fight for the Southlands due to his dark past was done well. He is also wary of Galadriel’s manipulation and refuses to be used as a pawn for her agenda. He spends the night mulling over whether he should attempt to redeem himself but ultimately signals that he won’t return to the Southlands when he takes off his sigil and sets it on a table the next morning. So that’s that, he’s made up his mind… Except he comes back 10 SECONDS LATER to grab the sigil and ride off with the expedition. This whole sequence was flat out ridiculous. It just seemed like they did it because it looked cool. Let’s think about the logic here. Halbrand has been established as a pragmatic character. He makes a final decision after thinking long and hard, but he then completely reverses his decision a mere 10 seconds later? Things would’ve been perfectly fine had they not added the detail with the sigil. This scene is a classic example of more is less, and this is an unfortunate theme in this episode. Moving on, Miriel proceeding with the expedition on the basis that her father gave his blessing even though they showed us a scene where he explicitly tells her not to go makes no sense. Is Kemen really so enamored with Earien that he’s willing to blow up the ships to stop the expedition? Love makes you so stupid things but give me a break. Earien, for her part, understandably doesn’t want her father and brother to go to war, but a little more substance would go a long way into building her character past a bland emotional girl. Also, does Isildur really believe that he’s “earned” his place on the expedition? Elsewhere, Bronwyn’s cringey speech about standing and fighting was completely undone by her intention to give up at the end of the episode. Why, you might ask? Well, she apparently just now realized that their lives are in danger. Moving on, the tension between Durin and Gil-galad was expected given Gil-galad’s arrogant attitude. Elrond’s role as mediator was also expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was Durin’s willingness to forgive Elrond after Elrond clearly broke his oath, or are we supposed to pretend like he didn’t all but confirm to Gil-galad that the dwarves found mithril or that he didn’t give the ore to Celebrimbor to run tests on it? Some of this stuff is just insulting to the intellect of the viewers. Finally, Nori is suddenly frightened by the Stranger again even though she’s seen that he’s unable to control his powers before. I get it, he accidentally hurt her this time around, but what was she expecting when she touched his freezing arm? Some of this stuff is just inexcusable.
Theme/Messages (4/5)
- In the words of Shakespeare, “a coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.”
- “Hope is never mere, even when it is meager. When all other senses sleep, the eye of hope is first to awaken, last to shut.”
- “It’s folly to kick against a current, you see the tide may rise and drown a man or fall and sweep him out to sea. The trick of mastering the current is to know which way it will turn next.”
- “Sometimes the folly of youth is enough to make an old man weep.”
Acting (11/15)
Robert Aramayo (Elrond), Charlie Vickers (Halbrand), and Joseph Mawle (Adar) were all decent. There was some less-than-convincing acting scattered throughout the episode, but I’ll let it be.
Cinematography (13/15)
There were a few impressive shots in this episode:
- Stunning shots of nature (3:08, 5:56, 6:35 onwards, 6:52).
- Unique shots of the weapon forging process (14:50 onwards).