TV Show Review #2 - Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power (S1)

 "The most expensive series ever made". This, of course, creates certain expectations. And in many aspects this series also manages to live up to those expectations. I have never read the books, nor was I a big fan of the movies (both the original Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit). Though, I think this helps more with appreciating this series sequel to both trilogies, because the concept of a Hobbit going on a quest is defintely not up for grabs this series. Its look more like a Game of Thrones-like variant of Middle-Earth, but it just lacks the depth and the political playing field to really captivate. 

Since several storylines are played relatively separately from each other, I will now review them separately first. 

Elves and Dwarves

The elves and dwarves collectively got a lot of airtime within this series. This storylines of both Galadriel and Elrond & Durin IV know how to captivate, although I think Galadriel could have been put away a bit stronger or more mystically. The contrast with the previous trilogies was now very sharp. All in all, this was certainly entertaining - and also the first time real political plot lines were plotted in LOTR.  

Númenóreans 

Also in Númenór there were real political plot lines, also many in conjunction with Galadriel. The storyline was largely a bit isolated from Middle-Earth, but also managed to captivate. However, from the moment it seemed to get really interesting, there was hardly any image of Númenór. 

Southlanders

FANTASTIC!!! A really good storyline of a consistently high level with episode 6 as the absolute climax. This storyline on its own was very strong and also managed to take a good place within the other storylines. Purely this storyline would in my opinion deserve a much higher rating than the series in general. 

Harfoots 

The Harfoots storyline is by far the least interesting. It was a struggle not to do something else during these scenes. Nothing really happened and in my opinion the series would have done well to have an episode less, without this storyline. The Harfoots are somewhat reminiscent of the Hobbits, but do not arouse interest at all. The only usefulness of this plotline is that it manages to work "The Stranger" into the story. 

Conclusion + Rating

All in all, it was a very entertaining series, which had its stronger and weaker storylines. Looking at the total budget of the series, it could only be disappointing.. and.. no... it was by far not the best TV series ever made, but it was entertaining and at times also of very high quality. Definitely a must for any fan of such series in my eyes. Although it is advisable to watch the movie trilogies first. Finally, I would like to say that the "woke part" has not bothered me within this series. 

Rating: 7.7