After seven episodes of THE RINGS OF POWER, it’s safe to say that the creators skipped “the shire.” There’s a lot of sadness in E7, THE EYE. However, without the equivalence to a shire opening like in LOTR: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, I don’t care. Maybe I need to have the book’s knowledge to appreciate this story. The entire series has been well-crafted and amazingly executed but utterly void of what’s required to make fantasy work – empathy.
After last week’s action-packed battle, we are back with another edition of characters struggling to “go towards goodness.” Look, I’m all for slow burns with big payoffs (I’m looking at you, ANDOR), but there has been minimal payoff over nine hours in RINGS OF POWER.
This week the show literally returns to its roots as we watch a giant work with trees. Yes, that’s right. Unfortunately, too much time is given to this plot instead of focusing on the more powerful scenes between our favorite duo – Prince Duran (Owain Arthur) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo). While their scenes are charming enough to lighten the mood, they’re still not enough.
Towards the end of E7, a crowd shouts, “strength to the king,” I should care. I want to care about the king. But, alas, I do not.
After next week’s season finale, I’ll ask myself, “why did I spend ten-plus hours watching RINGS OF POWER? And the answer to that is “FOMO.” Sadly, I could’ve missed this series and been happier with having more time and knowing to trust my gut in the future when there’s an event I can miss.
It’s available on Amazon Video.
