Episode Four of The Rings of Power . . .
ONE
The Queen Regent presides over a Blessing of the Children ceremony.
TWO
Suddenly a trembling like an earthquake begins. The wind blows, sending white leaves into the reception hall. While the Queen looks out over her city, a massive wave floods the area. Everything crumbles and the Queen is washed away.
And then she wakes, and moves with a purpose.
THREE
Gossip in the city streets questions why “the elf” has been called to an audience with the Queen. Eärien, Isildur’s sister, overhears. In the marketplace we follow the Chancellor (a man with an impressive head of hair who was briefly in the last episode). As he glad-hands, an assistant tells him of the people gathering and grumbling in the square. The rabble chants, “Elf lover,” about the Queen. The Chancellor rebukes them before building them back up with talk of their bravery. When he’s done, they cheer for him. He orders a round of drinks for the crowd, and they toast him.
FOUR
As Eärien watches, the Assistant joins her to talk about the Chancellor. Oh, he’s Kemen and he knows that she is the new guild apprentice. She’s called away, and Kemen watches her go with a bit of longing.
The Queen meets with Galadriel, upbraiding her for stealing ancient scrolls and Halbrand for accosting her citizens. Informing the Queen of Halbrand’s royal ancestry, Galadriel asks for help in returning him to lead his people. The Queen refuses and begins to leave. Breathing through her temper, Galadriel insists on an audience with the “true ruler”, the King. That sets off the Queen, and the two women have a heated exchange.
Cut to Galadriel being locked in a cell next to Halbrand.
On the open water, Isildur trains with the other cadets on a briskly moving galley. He goes into some kind of slowmo trance state and lets go of his halyard line, sending the other cadets rushing to grab the rope. The Sea-Master kicks him and his two friends off the guard.
Back on land, the friends reprimand him. Isildur admits that he deliberately lost his grip, hoping to be removed. (We get a picture of a selfish, privileged Isildur who’s dragging his friends down.)
Dissolve to Arondir in chains, surrounded by orcs in their shady tent. Here comes the mysterious Adar. When he steps into focus, Adar has elven pointy ears and a burn scar on one side of his face. His expression is almost sorrowful. He caresses a dying orc’s head, then finishes him off with his knife. Orcs respectfully remove the body, leaving Adar alone with Arondir. He speaks to Arondir in elvish, asking where he’s from.
(Arondir is beautifully lit, every expression on his face clear. Adar is poorly lit. He speaks of becoming a god and other cryptic matters, but it’s hard to tell what we’re to understand of him. It’s annoying. Arondir grasps a shiv he picked up in the dirt, but he doesn’t use it. He’s clearly conflicted and agrees to do Adar’s will, but why? Is he so charismatic? It seems an important exchange, but the lighting makes it too murky.)
The humans arrive at the Watchtower. (Remember? After the underground orc attack they retreated. And this is also the location Adar instructed Arondir to visit. It’s a really striking set.) Bronwyn greets people, but there are so many. Rations are too few and one fellow, Waldreg, is particularly cranky. Theo suggests that, during daylight, someone avoid the orcs and go back for food in a root cellar.
Without his mother’s permission, Theo and his angry friend Rowan head toward the village. We see Theo tuck his evil icon under his tunic. In the deserted town they push a wheelbarrow with collected foods. Rowan is very nervous and worried. When clouds cover the sun, Rowan takes the food, leaving Theo behind in the tavern. An orc comes from the shadows and attacks Theo, slashing at him with a knife. Theo blocks with the icon, and then stabs one end of it into his forearm, the other end lighting with flames. (Yikes.) Chasing after Theo, the orc runs outside and announces that the boy has “the hilt”. Theo hides down the well, but he’s in trouble. The orcs have been looking for this relic.
A construction site. It’s Elrond, marveling at elves and dwarves working together. (We haven’t seen him in a while!)
(And we are at the halfway point in this episode. This is such a dramatic scene change coming out of nowhere, I think we have our Switch.
The opening beats of this first half make me nervous. The One and Two seem very clear. The Great Wave, of course, makes sense as the Two Trouble, although we must wait until the Eight to see what it means. How will a portent translate into a real world problem?
The Three, though, is long for the beat. I can see the Chancellor as a potential mirror for the Six. Visually, he’s very striking. His behavior is an overwrought Jafar archetype of someone who woos the people while preparing to backstab the crown. It takes more time than it should, though, to give us the gist. It’s possible this is Four stuff.
To be continued . . . )