The Rings of Power is Underwhelming So Far

I loved the part where Galadriel jumped off the boat into the middle of the ocean possibly hundreds of miles from shore. Galadriel is supposed to be one of the wisest beings in all middle earth but that was just unbelievably dumb.

I also think a major flaw was having four plot lines with little connection between them and lots of odd cuts that made the pacing feel off.

The writers of rings of power are tired, see them to their chambers.

I’ve watched a lot of reviews of this show and everyone always prefaces their review with “this show looks beautiful, the landscapes are incredible” before talking about everything that’s bad about the show. So if the only praise it’s getting is for its scenery that suggests to me that the characters, plot, dialogue are all very bad or at a minimum sub par

Jeff Bezos should've spent more money on the writers, because 1 billion dollar is clearly not enough to make a decent script 😂

"Underwhelming" - Gendalf said calmly

House of the dragon has half the budget and they are killing it

many things can be said about how bad this show is, one of the things that bugs me is that elves are just human beings with pointy ears. No wisdom of creature that lived thousands of years, no calmness nothing.

I think what bothers me most is that the wooden expressions these characters make shows that someone cared more about background visuals

The troll almost pulling off a TPK, then a moment after the fight everyone is sitting in a circle as though not much happened. I was drop-jawed by how bad that was.

I think you're right, with an addition: it's getting the very things wrong that House of the Dragon seems to be getting pretty right so far; character work, and feeling like what came before (after, because prequel, but you know what I mean). These characters feel like a list of traits so far, not complex individuals, and it feels like it constantly 'memberberries things about LOTR without the essence of it. Basically, it'd be really good, but not great, if it were its own IP, but it's hooking into a world we already know, downgrading it to okay by comparison.

I am saying the show is bad. The political "intrigue" essentially revolved around Gil-Galad being an idiot and interpreting evidence for Sauron's survival as evidence for Sauron's demise, because the plot required him to. Galadriel is insufferable and seems incapable of kindness, even to her supposed friends (how does Elrond stand being around her?). Every scene with Arondir so far bores me to tears, and I have no idea whatsoever what kind of person Arondir is, what kind of person Bronwyn is, or why they love each other, it's just something the show tells us is happening. And the violations of the lore, oof. Galadriel's character journey in the second and third ages, as established by Tolkien, is her turning from a proud and ambitious person, who wants to "rule her own country" and arrogantly declares she doesn't need or desire a pardon from the Valar, into a kind and benevolent queen who puts the interests of others and the world at large above her own. This culminates in her rejection of the One Ring when it's offered to her, this is what redeems her and why she can go across the sea after the War of the Ring. Yet this abomination of a show first establishes that Galadriel is not banished by the Valar and Gil-Galad can just give her passage to Valinor on a whim, removing the foundation under her character, but then it presents her ultimate choice to reject Valinor as some noble and morally righteous moment, where in Tolkien's work it is the most important flaw in her character that she atones for in LOTR. They took Tolkien's message "pride is bad, humility is good" and replaced it with "pride is actually awesome, slay queen!" Can you get any more disrespectful than that? When you ruin a character like that your show is not good, your show is not alright or just 'underwhelming', your show is absolutely abysmal.

HBO has the belt. Money doesn’t mean you know how to do tv. HBO just on another level

I wasn't sure why I felt that episodes were okayish but now that you explained, I think those are the exact reasons. Especially Galadriel's fight with the troll felt extremely weird to me.

I loved the part where the elves were kind and wise, warm and funny, lovers of poetry, jokes and music, always good mooded and full with compassion and kindness. Exactly like in the books!!

I think the main problem is that there isnt any clear plotline yet? " Sauron isn't gone " is the only real driving force, and the pacing of these two episodes don't really set up any sort of rising action. The most compelling plotline so far to me is Elrond getting the elves and dwarves to construct the forge together, and even that isn't enough to pull me into the series.

I'm afraid we will not see much character development. Not as much as, for example, GoT where each character changed completely through the course of the series.

Whose idea was it to make all of the guy elves have short hair??? Especially with the black elf, imagine how cool a traditional elf hairstyle would look with afro-textured hair!!

To me it was beautiful but dull, acting a bit stiff and unbelievable, I'm just not buying it. So far it looks as if It was made for kids not adults and I thought the same "where did all those millions go?" Let's see how it pans out.

I just feel that the Elves in particular have been humanised and Americanised too far - why are the males so masculine, so ripped? They're meant to be 'fair', that means beautiful, not muscular and chiseled or 'handsome' as one harfoot shockingly says. They aren't human! They don't do handsome in a human way! Why are they so gendered too? Why do all male elves suddenly have short hair, to distinguish them from female elves? I hate the loss of the unearthly androgynous look that Jackson gave elves. Also - why do elves need torches to see? They should have excellent vision at night. Where is Galadriel's famous mind reading power? It should be integral to her. Sadly I also hate the movement and dialogue of the elves. Why portray elf children as bullies, like petty humans? Why do they rush when speaking?! They're immortal! The pace of their dialogue should feel as though they are much more sparing with their language than humans (as Jackson achieved). Why doesn't Galadriel speak with gravitas, wisdom, care? The elves sound petulant and rushed to the point of sloppy in their words. I mean Galadriel's language is sooooo casual she almost uses slang - which ruins the idea of her as an immortal being already thousands of years old. Why give her words like "dodge" to say? Why not "avoid" or "elude". Elves should be elevated in language to signpost the luxurious time they have spent in education and elevated conversation. Also very disappointed to see elves who are both not beautiful and literally old - with clear wrinkles and even droopy necks and portly bellies. Whoever cast them clearly hasnt respected the literature and decided to portray male elves like average looking human males. It's ridiculous that the only thing they have is pointy ears - there is absolutely no depth to the behavioural and physiological signatures of the elves in this. So disappointed. At this point I'm just having to watch this as 'An American' interpretation of Tolkein, which is painful but allows me to watch in the understanding it only makes Jackson look even more like a genius.