Episode 3 of The Rings of Power . . .
LEFTOVER NINE
Arondir, woozy, is dragged by orcs in skull helmets. It’s nightmarish. We hear orcs arguing about who has to stay in the sun — “sun duty” — and the mention of Adar, who’s their leader.
Chained in a pit, Arondir digs with other elves. Whipped prisoners scream in the shade.
ONE
Cut to Galadriel waking. She’s on a bed in a ship’s hold. Halbrand brings her food. The ship is crewed by men in uniform.
TWO
The captain, who recognizes her as “one of the Eldar”, wears her dagger.
THREE
They approach a magnificent port reminiscent of the Argonath with its gargantuan rock statues carved from the hillsides. Galadriel recognizes the Kingdom of Númenor. (It’s an astonishing location that is given a number of expansive establishing shots.)
FOUR
Galadriel in her shift explains to Halbrand in his rags that these men stood with the elves in the war, while his people sided with Morgoth. This beautiful island was a reward for their service. Now, elves are no longer welcome.
The Captain leads them into a council chamber to meet the Queen Regent. Galadriel presents herself with her name and all her titles. Halbrand is just a man “of the Southlands”.
Immediately Galadriel starts outraging the Regent’s audience by insisting on a ship to take her and Halbrand to Middle-Earth. Tensions rise until Halbrand diplomatically suggests they stay until the Queen can consider their request.
(Why is Galadriel always so aggressive? I could say she’s an Eight, the Personality Enneagram who leads with their gut reaction, but this is only a single characteristic. Where is her ribald humor? Her compassion for the injured? Her leadership through calm strength? All she does is push with no counterweight. It’s very unlikable, possibly because it’s unbelievable.)
At the end of the audience, Halbrand thanks the Captain who rescued them and embraces him. After, he cautions Galadriel to be patient and slips her the dagger he just picked off the Captain.
The Queen and her advisor discuss the Captain. He is Elendil. (THE Elendil.) Narration introduces us to his son, a cadet on a Sea Guard ship’s crew. Pause on the son, Isildur. (THAT Isildur.)
The cadets land in rowboats. They speak of their training, their excitement to get into the fray, and then Isildur’s sister arrives on the beach.
(This was a difficult choice. I’m busy with excitement thinking of Elendil and Isildur. Such key heroes in the lore! So impactful! Isildur’s Bane, for crying out loud. New characters and locations are presented. Now I must stop to think about a sister who doesn’t exist in the major lore. The showrunners have mashed too many moments together. Introduce the sister later, please. She serves no plot function here.)
From one awkward moment we jump to another. The Queen meets with Elendil and tells him the story of the white tree in her courtyard. When the petals fall it is “no idle thing”. (Another mashed up moment. “Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall” and the White Tree of Gondor are too many concepts at once and pop us right out of the story as we mentally chase down the references.) She interrogates him, asking if the meaning of his name, “Elf-friend”, is true. For bringing an elf to their shores Elendil may have committed treason. Instead, though, she presents him with a sword. (The pommel has an empty spot for a jewel. Is this the Sword that becomes Broken?) Elendil is confused, and we don’t understand the Queen’s meaning yet, either.
(This is so awkward. To take a character from Tolkien legend, Elendil, and put him in a scene with a character who means nothing to us, the Queen Regent, is difficult. She is given lines that no actor can creditably speak. The politics are complicated and we have no foundation to judge these beats.)
SWITCH
The map appears. Númenor is an island in the middle of nowhere, but travel across the sea and we arrive at the Southlands.
(We also are about halfway through the episode. Good job on a clearcut Switch!
How this Two and Three hold up with the rest of the episode we’ll have to wait and see. Notice, however, that the entire structure so far, except for the Leftover Nine, is focused on one location. This is the first time a plot has settled itself like this instead of jumping between stories. It’s a good choice because we’re introduced to so many impactful new characters. The Men of Númenor, the ancestors of Aragorn, are very exciting.
May I just say, though, that Halbrand’s wig is so horrible it stops me cold. This is a major character who was given a rats-nest relic from the back of the props closet. I dread seeing him.
To be continued . . . )