The Rings of Power Premiere Review: An unexpectedly great return to Middle Earth

The latest adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien, The Rings of Power is off to a strong start.

Amazon made a wise decision to debut the series with two episodes. The first episode is largely a table-setting affair and drags during the middle of the episode quite a bit. Adrift, the 2nd episode is a much more interesting chapter.

Galadriel is a fantastic protagonist to lead The Rings of Power. Morfydd Clark is outstanding as the vengeance-seeking Galadriel. The powerful elf is obstinate about Sauron’s presence hiding in Middle Earth. A younger Elrond also returns in this prequel. More politician than warrior his friendship with Galadriel should be interesting.

The look and sound of The Lord of The Rings films were a crucial element and The Rings of Powers is breathtaking in this regard. The Rings of Power is without a doubt the most gorgeous series ever. Every frame is beautiful. Bear McCreary‘s score is masterful. While not a copy of Howard Shore‘s The Lord of The Rings score, every musical note feels at home on Middle Earth.

The one issue especially in the first episode is the large number of characters introduced. The Rings of Power uses the Game of Thrones approach in setting up the series. The series chooses to focus on characters in different locations first without revealing how they all tie together. It’s not clear how The Harfoots or the world of men are connected to Galadriel’s quest. The Fellowship of The Ring featured numerous characters, but by and large, were introduced through Frodo and Gandalf’s interactions. Once the connection between each supporting character to Frodo is established, then you can separate them into different storylines.

In The Rings of Power, there’s Galadriel’s quest, there’s an evil threatening a village in the world of men and The Harfoots. Only one of these storylines connects to Galadriel’s story. Luckily, the 2nd episode does a better job of creating tension and making you care about The Harfoots’ caring nature and the evil presence encroaching on the village of man.

While there are too many storylines, each features a cliffhanger that wonderful sets up the remainder of the season.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood in The Rings of Power. There may be some minor spoilers. The Rings of Power is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

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A Shadow of the Past persists in The Rings of Power

The Rings of Power begins in Valinor. Galadriel’s close relationship with her brother is threatened after her home is destroyed by Morgoth. They head to Middle Earth and are locked in a war for hundreds of years. They eventually defeat Morgoth, but his protege Sauron remains. Galadriel’s brother is killed by Sauron. After her brother’s death, Galadriel vows to avenge her brother.

For hundreds of years, she leads a company of elves in search of Sauron, but his evil is hiding under the surface. The company of elves quits on Galadriel. She heads to Lindon, which is the kingdom of the Elves. She meets with Elrond who has arranged for Galadriel to receive quite an honor. In spite of going far beyond her station, the king has arranged for Galadriel and several over warriors to sail to Valinor.

Galadriel does not believe her quest is over. However, Elrond convinces Galadriel to accept King Gil-galad’s gift. She eventually jumps overboard to end the episode.

Everything about Galadriel’s journey is interesting. There’s a dramatic weight that’s simply lacking in the other storylines.

A Different Middle Earth

The Harfoots, a predecessor of Hobbits, are still nomads in Middle Earth. They move from location to location and don’t stay for long. It’s nice to see such a diverse cast used for dwarves, The Harfoots and elves in this series. The main Harfoots so far are Elanor ‘Nori’ Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow. Nori is the more adventurous of the duo, while Poppy is more cautious.

Meanwhile in the Southlands lies the world of man. One village is overseen by a group of elves. Arondir is one of these elves. He’s become particularly attached to a human woman named Bronwyn. Their forbidden romance is pretty sweet, but not anything novel. Far better is the horror turn that takes place near the end of the 1st episode and continues through Adrift.

The final group of people introduced is the dwarves of Khazad-Dum. A wondrous kingdom carved into the mountains themselves. The dwarves as well as The Harfoots provide some much-needed levity to the series. The interaction between Elrond and Prince Durin serves as a reminder of how the different species perceive time. For an elf, 20 years is a blink of an eye. For a dwarf, an entire life can be experienced in that time.

There’s nothing wrong with these storylines, but they don’t seem to tie into Galadriel’s struggle as of yet. However, there’s definitely a sense of dread. While everything looks beautiful and is full of hope, evil is lurking just beneath the surface. Ready and waiting to strike.

Adrift

Galadriel is saved by a group of humans whose boat was mostly destroyed by a worm. The humans immediately turn on Galadriel and believe she drew the creature to them. They shove Galadriel into the water. One of the humans, Halbrand, separates from the crew and offers her aid. They don’t trust each other but must work together to battle the raging sea.

Once Galadriel finds out Halbrand is from the Southlands and most of his village of destroyed by orcs. She demands to head in that direction.

Speaking of the Southlands, Arondir and Bronwyn are investigating what appears to be the town referenced by Halbrand. They discover something has burrowed beneath the foundation of a house toward Bronwyn’s village. Arondir asks Bronwyn to return to the village and to tell the resident to vacate. He will go underground to investigate. The most terrifying aspect of the episode is a fight featuring Bronwyn and her son against an orc. The scene ends with Bronwyn chopping off the orc’s head and presenting it as proof to the village. Arondir is taken by the orcs and could be dead.

Nori discovers a stranger who fell out of the sky like a comet. She spends Adrift trying to connect with the stranger with limited success. Whether the stranger is good or evil is unclear, but he clearly has latent power.

Elrond meets with Prince Duran to offer his friend a project. Duran isn’t happy to see Elrond. Turns out Elrond hasn’t bothered to keep up with Duran’s life. Elrond has missed Duran’s wedding and the birth of his children. Elrond’s visit to Duran’s home is full of love and levity.

Unlike the Pilot, the pacing of Adrift is much more assured. Every character has a narrative purpose.

The Rings of Power Premiere Final Thoughts

Two episodes in and The Rings of Power is off to a good start. Galadriel is a fascinating character throughout. Hopefully, the series will tie the different characters together rather than have too many divergent storylines.

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