And like an unexpected volcanic eruption, quality storytelling bursts from beneath the thick layer of mediocre action and dialogue in the latest sixth episode of Amazon Prime Video's "The Rings of Power!"
From episode one to sixth, it's been a bit of a grind trudging through the expensive CGI and lackluster acting/writing. There aren't any breakout stars or likable characters but the story keeps going and its the overall action, mystery, and nostalgia that has a large portion of audiences hooked.
There is one major story arc for royal elf warrior Galadriel who is hunting down Sauron to avenge the murder of her brother -- and three minor story arcs following the silvan elf Arondir as he tries to protect the village of his human lover, the proto-hobbit/Harfoot girl named Nori on her resulting adventures after discovering a magic man who fell out of the sky, and the half-elf diplomat Elrond as he tries to maintain peace between the elves under King Gil Galad and the dwarves ruled by the father of his good friend Durin.
So far Galadriel and Arondir's stories have had the most interesting action but all story arcs have had an excessive amount of pointless talking and hammer-over-the-head dialogue.
It seems that the last five episodes have been building up to episode's six major action but there were quite a few of coincidences that audiences were expected to ignore -- plus the show has a habit of stretching out the dull moments and cutting the exciting bits too short.
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Prepare yourself -- SPOILERS AHEAD
What is Galdriel looking at above?
She's literally looking at SPOILERS!
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Okay now, RINGS OF POWER noobs have already been warned so ...
... Now it's time to talk about this walking-emo disappointment, the "bad elf" Adar.
So few episodes back when Amazon Prime Video's THE RINGS OF POWER wasn't enjoying the latest ratings bump from its most recent episode, audiences were bored and starting to drift away. People loved the dwarves but the show refused to focus on the dwarves. People loved to watch Galadriel fighting, so the show refused to show her doing anything but pouting and talking. People wanted to know who the strange magic man who fell out of the sky in proto-hobbit land was so the show barely ever showed what was going on in proto-hobbit land ... but thankfully after Arondir -- the black elf -- was captured by shadowy forces, it was revealed that the orcs were still alive. They were very not-dead and were busy enslaving humans in the Southlands to help them dig massive tunnels across and under the surface of the land for dark purposes. Was Sauron leading them? No, Morgoth's right-hand man the dark wizard himself was still nowhere to be seen but audiences were introduced to possibly the most interesting character on the show: Adar.
Who is "Adar?"
In episode six we learn from Galadriel that as a child she heard scary bedtime stories of the Moriondir, elves captured by Morgoth long ago who were twisted through slow long seasons of torture into monstrous mockeries of their former selves, soulless abominations.
Adar confirms the bedtime stories from her childhood are only partially true -- that what she calls the "orcs" are a group that call themselves the "Uruk" and that the Uruk are like his children, being descendants of elves like himself who were imprisoned for time beyond count and tortured into empty versions of their past selves before being forced to serve Morgoth and Sauron out of fear. He adds that they too have souls and deserve freedom and redemption and a place to call their own despite not having the peaceful origins of the other races.
Adar even claims that he and his "children" were taken by Sauron to the north in Forodwaith to be part of heinous experiments that even he could not abide with. He claims to have "split open" Sauron and taken his children south to make the Southlands their new homeland. Everyone familiar with the LORD OF THE RINGS story, knows Sauron is nowhere near dead -- he is the titular LORD OF THE RINGS himself ... but perhaps Adar wounded him and that is why Sauron has gone into hiding and continues to evade Galadriel. Long story short, Adar paints the orcs has forced-mercenaries and victims of years of brain-washing and generational abuse and torture beyond memory. They cannot remember being elves because generations and generations of them have only known themselves as the Uruk, or what others call "orcs." The only remainder of the captured ancestors who bear a resemblance to their original form seemingly being Adar himself.
After that huge info-dump of very useful information, it is impressive to see another faction formed in the fight between pro-Sauron and anti-Sauron factions. Adar and his Uruk represent a side that while not exactly on the pro-Sauron side of the field, are still at odds with factions that would considered anti-Sauron. They hate Sauron but also hate the people who hate Sauron because both Sauron and everyone else in the world dehumanizes them and treats them evil cannon fodder ... which they still are due to years of brainwashing and inter-generational trauma and torture but I have still to see an orc that decided to venture into crafts and gardening over their usual violent sadism despite it being all they know.
What was disappointing about Adar and his Uruk's claim to be trying to live a life separate of Sauron was that all their activities in what would probably be centuries of digging in and around the Southlands was all a part of Sauron's plan to establish a new kingdom in Middle Earth. It was hard to see someone who claimed to be trying to lead his "children" into a new and independent future free from their supposed oppressor be working all this time to further said oppressor's plans. But they're orcs, Adar is literally an evil elf so perhaps he was lying to Galadriel or even to the legions of his own descendants and still all this time serving the dark lord himself.
What kicks off the establishment of Sauron's new kingdom in Middle Earth?
The "Mordor-ification" of the Southlands into ... a place very familiar to anyone who's read or watched the previous LORD OF THE RINGS or HOBBIT movies.
Overall, there was a ton of action and it finally felt like the characters were doing stuff even if at times it was a little fanciful like Galadriel and the Numenors crossing the sea in a few days and knowing exactly which village of the Southlands to ride their horses and save -- but also the fact that Arondir somehow didn't know that the dark sword had been replaced with a hammer or that one of the most recognizable traitors among them was conveniently missing.
But goddamn, the show finally gave people what they wanted -- battle scenes, cavalry, orc blood spraying everywhere, and fire -- lots and lots of FIRE.
Let's hope RINGS OF POWER keeps the heat up. They've definitely shown themselves capable of improvement in episode 6. See y'all next time.
