Continuing Episode Seven of The Rings of Power . . .
SWITCH
Nori doubts her trust in The Stranger. Clouds cover the moon.
FIVE
Galadriel and Theo, still alone in the forest, speak of loss. Galadriel’s brother died, but also her husband Celeborn. (What?! We know he’s alive later when Frodo visits. I mean . . . right?!) He went to war and she never saw him again. Theo feels blame for what happened to his village, and Galadriel tries to reassure him that his heart was good. Let the burden go.
Their talking stops when orcs with torches search the woods. After a moment of suspense, the orcs move on.
(Theo’s pessimistic attitude and his sense of self-blame remind me of Nori’s previous scene. They are similar in their depression and doubt, and their beats should be grouped together. Therefore, we need to move the Switch back a bit.)
NEW SWITCH
As the Harfoots and The Stranger part, his broken tree sprouts, unnoticed, a little yellow flower.
(Now that we know how dark everyone’s thoughts become, we can see that this little sign of hope is the actual Switch.)
FIVE
(Nori’s and Theo’s scenes of sadness belong here. Let’s continue forward with the episode now.)
Another scene with scant light. Durin swings a pickaxe while Elrond watches. When the tunnel rumbles, they take a break. Elrond admits that he let Durin win their feats of strength contest. They share a drink and camaraderie. Durin almost reveals his secret name, but Elrond stops him. Tell him later. “On the far side.”
Durin breaks through to a cave with a massive vein of mithril. However, his father finds them. He won’t look at the ore. Elrond is seized and evicted from the realm out the “Speak Friend” door. He sits on the rocks, defeated.
The King tells Durin of his infancy. No one thought Durin would live. Staying up all night, the King kept Durin breathing and foresaw greatness in him. Durin reacts to this memory with anger. How can he be great if his father stifles every impulse? They end up toe to toe, yelling. The King yanks off Durin’s torc and leaves. (Another scene of sadness, post-Switch.)
Back to Nori. The broken tree is covered with ripe apples and the garden is bursting. Harfoots chatter and gather the food. They stock their wagons with the bounty.
Poppy, singing, collects water from a creek. She bends down and sees a huge footprint in the mud. When the camera tilts up, she’s gone. Her bucket floats downstream. A hand rescues it. Tilt up to reveal the Three Witches.
(What in the world? How did this sequence suddenly insert itself into this story?)
In the dark (the pitch dark, with no proper light source) Nori and Poppy spy on the Witches. (So, Poppy’s okay? The shot made it look like a giant carried her off.) The scariest Head Witch touches a tree and plucks a yellow flower. (This is the broken tree? How did the rest of the orchard grow?) The Witches point, presumably in The Stranger’s direction, and pursue.
Nori jumps out of hiding and tells them they’re going the wrong way. He went thataway. When she turns back, they’ve disappeared. Then one of them plucks a twig from her hair wreath; the Three stand right over her.
The family (with torches — yay) runs in to her rescue. Nori’s father waves the torch right in the Witches’ faces, threatening them. Scary Head Witch grabs the flame and extinguishes the torch. She blows the coals off the palm of her hand, and all the Harfoot wagons light on fire. Everything they own is destroyed. (It’s hard to get more sad than that.)
SIX
Morning. At the Navy encampment, Elendil tries to convince Isildur’s horse to come with them. It won’t work, though, and Berek is set free.
SEVEN
Elendil curses his decision to rescue Galadriel from the sea. And then there’s Galadriel with Theo, approaching the encampment. Theo finds the hospital tent, a place of horrible misery. Bronwyn, alive, hugs him. Arondir is well, too. Galadriel enters, seeking the Queen.
EIGHT
Eyes covered in a scarf, the Queen sits in the fresh air on a rise. Elendil tells her that one garrison will remain to help the Southlanders. The rest will go home. Bronwyn escorts Galadriel to them. Elendil is bitter, but the Queen reaches out for Galadriel’s face. With fierce resolution, the Queen promises that Númenor will return. Galadriel will rally the elves. Elendil turns away and weeps.
Back to the Harfoots amid the ash of their belongings. Largo, who has some optimism, tries to rouse the others. Nori, taking his words to heart, gathers a bag and prepares to set out. She’s going to help her friend, to warn him of what’s coming. Poppy volunteers to join her, and then the mother Marigold and even Sadoc agree to come, too. The four of them set off to find The Stranger.
The Queen, blindfolded, stands like a figurehead on her galley sailing home. On a cliff, Galadriel and Arondir watch her boat leave. Bronwyn announces that her people are ready to travel. They will go to an old colony on the mouth of the Anduin. Galadriel will report to Gil-galad.
And then, finally, Halbrand is mentioned. Galadriel is taken to him, where he lies deathly ill with a gut wound. No, wait, he’s walking. Galadriel will bring him to elvish medicine. The people cheer for him. He vows to return. He mounts a horse! (It’s only a flesh wound, the Black Knight said.) He and Galadriel canter away.
Durin, sitting with Disa, blames himself. Disa blames his father. He’s old. He can complain all he wants, but Durin will one day be king, and he will dig mithril. This cheers Durin.
In the dark we see the King pick up the healed leaf. He tosses it into the mithril vein hole that Durin cracked open. While the King’s order to “seal it up” echoes, the leaf floats down (like some Forrest Gump moment) and down, past many veins. When it finally lands, it catches fire. From the blackness steps the Balrog, roaring.
NINE
The Balrog flame dissolves to the orange air of the volcano site. Adar calls “his children” forward. Daylight will no longer burden the orcs. Waldreg leads them all in a cheer. Adar slightly smiles, while in the distance Mt. Doom continues to belch smoke. A title card says “The Southlands”, which fades and is replaced with “Mordor”.
Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
I was able to piece together a serviceable Enneagram from this episode. I can’t say I love it, but I’ll count it. The Three/Six refers to the loss of Isildur. The Queen’s decision at the Two to save villagers in a burning building is directly responsible for her blindness at the Eight. The Seven isn’t particularly consequential, but people who have been seeking each other find answers. It’s all acceptable structure.
But (you knew there was a but) what in the world is happening with The Witches? These are mysterious, otherworldly beings that pop in with no explanation. I don’t like that. Structurally, you don’t want to waste characters this impactful on a Five beat. They are Threes, Sixes, Switches, and Two/Eights. They’re visually arresting and their purpose is hidden. You cannot just drop them in like a penny in the middle of a Five. They don’t belong and they throw off the entire rhythm of the episode.
The volcano is the driving force of this episode. Orange air, the triumph of the orc plan, the despair of our heroes — this is the meat and potatoes. The Stranger did something to heal the land, although we understand nothing about it. And The Witches chase him for some reason. Give these two forces, Witches and Stranger, their own episode. I fear the showrunners are trying to be too clever, too secret. Stop that. Don’t take our spunky Nori and turn her against her own character in order to build dramatic tension. And don’t try to be suspenseful about Isildur — we know he comes back.