The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (S2 Ep6) “Where Is He?”

I had a bit of a realization this week in my ongoing dilemma of just what the hell to make of Rings of Power and it came with a random watching earlier this week of The Two Towers.

I realized much of the fantasy expectations I have now have been severely warped by 8 seasons of Game of Thrones. With it dominating so much of the fantasy space and others like The Witcher filling in a very different almost grim dark fantasy took over. Watching Two Towers I felt a lot of the dialogue wasn’t much different than in RoP. Of course, two Towers does everything better I am not saying RoP touches it but the High Fantasy way of speaking and how two actors perform a scene was very similar. In GoT some of the best scenes of the show were just two actors in a room, laying it all out and having almost battles of the tongue with everything from religion to war strategies and philosophy. It’s a more direct, raw style but still placed in a fantasy context. LotR and Tolkien as well for that matter is a much more reserved almost reciting of ideas whenever two people are in a scene together. Lines are said, and delivered in a very proper dialect, and then the plot moves forward. I didn’t think much of it at the time as at that age it was really the only fantasy I was consuming but coming back to RoP I am seeing the contrast and maybe that is contributing to some of the sterile, plotting feeling I get from the show and its dialogue. 

Now, that being said the show is still filled with the absolute dumbest people in any high-profile series. Just one bonehead moves after the other and even if someone ever is smart enough to figure out a plot or have a genuinely good idea they are immediately met with someone other dumb person in the scene to cancel it out. No two people in a scene can be smart at the same time. It seems to be the golden rule of this show. It is so apparent I can only assume it was written on the wall in the writer’s room. This episode contains some back-and-forths between Galadriel and Adar, they were probably the best scene in the show so far with two adversaries at a table talking. Throughout their conversations, they actually exchange who is the smart one. One makes a realization or savvy decision while the other does something dumb. They pass the smart stick around like hot potato only to end with Galadriel trying to stop Adar from doing something very dumb after he very cleverly realized a truth with his smarts. 

So there you have it, we take one step forward in my ongoing fascination with this show as I clear the hurdle of dialogue only to immediately eat face on the realization of what I am calling “The Dumb Rule of Two”. I feel like I won’t be able to unsee it now but I am eager to analyze it more. Does it scale? If we ever manage to get two smart people in a room, will there be two dumb people? Or what if there are 4 and we discover some sort of escalating scale? Be sure to tune in next week to find out!

Observations 

• Again how do these orcs keep sneaking up on elite elves? 
• Oh time to rough up some dwarves 
• That’s a pretty fire outfit. 
• Dang that guys pretty smart too. So only the villains are smart here. 
• They’re just trying so hard with this Numenor arc 
• Dang Poppy works quick 
• He ain’t gonna let him Luke him
• I’m confused do they just mine out the gold like that? Who’s paying them and why? 
• Dropped a “precious” 
• That did not go how he thought it would. 
• These two disagreeing. Shocker 
• All these dwarves are gonna get Rouge Oned if they follow through to Fellowship 
• Well bitch should have thought about that before selling your father and people down the river cause your brother who was a soldier died in a battle. 
• Yea bro pledged to her to keep it cool then immediately got in a riot in a holy temple. 
• This girl gonna turn back babyface after like 2 episodes heel. 
• I don’t like when we cut between only two stories. Just play the water scene after the prison scene. Don’t splice the dwarf scene in there. Either bounce between 3 threads or stick with one then the other. 
• This queen really got blinded and half the kingdom was done with her 
• That’s pretty dope. Love big ass creatures. 
• And we continue. No two people can be smart at the same time. 
• I love orc dude who has a family and just wants to chill 
• Alllll part of the plan. 
• Yea he’s totally the main charachter. 
• Finally a battle!