Discussion with A Critical Dragon of Rings of Power: Season 2, Episode 5

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@AdrianAbdel 2 ай бұрын

In my headcannon the elves took off the rings when Sauron wore the one but during the 3rd age while it was lost they kept using their rings to maintain their enclaves in middle-earth. That power was lost when the one was destroyed and the elves finally left for Valinor beginning the 4th age of humans (what about dwarves? IDK)

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

That could work!

@pokefreakplays 2 ай бұрын

I wish I did not have to go to sleep for work so I could watch it but I am super excited to watch it when I can.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@pokefreakplays Sleep is important! Sweet dreams!

@pokefreakplays 2 ай бұрын

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Really loved your insights into this episode. Just finished watching this after watching episode 6.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@pokefreakplays I’m glad the chat was helpful! Cheers!

@richardkern112 2 ай бұрын

There is an epidemic of "Plot Brain". Go to ANY fan forum of a book that got turned into a show and you'll find people asking if they can skip books bc they saw the first season or some such nonsense (Silo and The Expanse). People openly bragging about fast forwarding thru narrative threads they don't care for (Harfoots). People mistaking dramatic irony for the show "treating me like I'm stupid" (Isildur). Etc etc

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@richardkern112 That does sound like an epidemic, and a most unfortunate one.

@semplethings 2 ай бұрын

I would love to see you guys talk about some of the more famous "prestige TV shows" like The Wire. It's not fantasy content but it would still be interesting to hear your take on some of the classics. Your writing background really lends itself to a unique critical perspective I don't always see from other film and tv critics

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

AP would be brilliant at that! Me, not so much, because I only watch TV when AP makes me. 😁

@ACriticalDragon 2 ай бұрын

The Wire is one of my all time favourite TV shows (except, maybe, the last season... which was good, but did not rise to brilliance of the earlier ones). It is fantastic tv.

@SethPlato01 2 ай бұрын

@@ACriticalDragon *MIDNIGHT MASS* , religion themes and has well written dialogue... and only 7 episodes, so philip can't complain (its better to go without reading anything about it, not even a sinopsis)

@superfuss1984 2 ай бұрын

*Contains traces of Tolkien... 🤷‍♀️

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@superfuss1984 😂😂😂

@perdyIo 2 ай бұрын

An episode without the Gandalf storyline? Sign me in

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

As much as I personally love the relationship between Gandalf and Nori, it is the weakest storyline in the series so far.

@NobbsAndVagene 2 ай бұрын

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Everything related to the hobbits could've been cut from the entire RoP series. I wish HBO had been given the chance to make it instead of Amazon.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@NobbsAndVagene So far, I can’t argue against your point about its irrelevance, but, being an eternal optimist, I’m hoping the show makers will weave it in sooner or later. Cheers!

@ACriticalDragon 2 ай бұрын

@@NobbsAndVagene I doubt HBO making it would have changed much in the way of complaints about things. Martin's recent posts about House of the Dragon spring to mind. No matter who adapted it, there would have been similar complaints. Just as there were when Jackson adapted the books for the films.

@NobbsAndVagene 2 ай бұрын

@@ACriticalDragon You may be right. HOTD seemed very promising, but season 2 was pretty disappointing. Where was Nettles? :(

@MacScarfield 2 ай бұрын

I found the Numenor Temple scene very interesting: It seems to diverge somewhat from Tolkien’s portrayal of religion as something done by the King alone on behalf of his people three times each year on Mt. Meneltarma (the concept of “the King as a High Priest, connecting the divine and the living mortal world, such Dumezil writes of Indo-European mythology, as the Egyptian Pharaoh “securing” the yearly flooding of the Nile, or as the High Priest of Judea entering “The Holiest of the Holy” once every year during the periods of the First and the Second Temples in Jerusalem), rather than in groups near the sea: I interpreted this as a roundabout way of mixed the series-introduced focus on the sea for the Numenoreans with the underground nature of the Faithful, tying it to the Roman Prosecution of Early Christians or (perhaps even closer to Tolkien privately) the Protestant Reformation of England, with the King’s Men akin to the men of King Henry VIII prosecuting (in Tolkien’s eyes, Faithful) Catholics, their iconoclasm against Catholic Relics and confiscating Monasteries and other properties of the Catholic Church.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@MacScarfield Those associations definitely make sense, especially the early persecution of the Christians within the Roman Empire. And, given Tolkien’s experiences as a Catholic within England, I wonder too if he ever thought about Catholics in England after “Bloody” Mary’s time. Cheers, MacScarfield!

@Paul_van_Doleweerd 2 ай бұрын

Careful, his head will get so big it'll explode! 🤣 Nice thumbnail, though what kind of dwarf trims his eyebrows?

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

A fireball singed his eyebrows. 😁

@Paul_van_Doleweerd 2 ай бұрын

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy I guess the beard is tweed?

@ACriticalDragon 2 ай бұрын

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy and which of us is taller, oh nefarious one? 😂

@ACriticalDragon 2 ай бұрын

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy clearly your hobbit-like stature has skewed your perception... how sinister.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@ACriticalDragon But we all know which Dwarf you are . . . And it’s not Bashful. Hi ho! Hi ho!

@sjoerdth 2 ай бұрын

If you want a TV show that isn't about "move on-move on-move on" you should check out Better Call Saul.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@sjoerdth I hear it’s good!

@sjoerdth 2 ай бұрын

@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy You heard wrong, it's great! 😉

@aquirick 2 ай бұрын

@@sjoerdthCan confirm

@andreamiller3578 2 ай бұрын

Dr. Maggie Parke from Rings and Realms noticed the use of left hands at various times, and I'm wondering if it's coincidence or deliberate, but I'm going to be looking for it in future episodes. I'd love it to be deliberate. I can't remember all three instances, but two were: Sauron pulling himself onto the boat, and when Kemen stabs Valendil in the back.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@andreamiller3578 The left hand theory seems to be gaining some traction!

@ACriticalDragon 2 ай бұрын

I am a big fan of Dr. Parke's and Dr. Olsen's analyses. Philip and I record long before I get a chance to watch their videos, but I always make a point of trying to catch up with what they said. I am still a few weeks behind with their videos. Hopefully I will get a chance to watch their breakdown of episode 5 sometime next week.

@Jay23297 Ай бұрын

Thank you for the discussion, very interesting again. I have to disagree with your point about simplification and just hitting major plot points as a general problem. In my opinion Season 2 of Rings of Power does a particularly poor job here, even compared to other TV series and adaptions. Many recent big budget adaptions manage to focus on characters and their development. RoP focuses on the progress of the story. The characters just seem to be there for the ride and are therefore very bland to me. This is not a general problem, but a specific one in my opinion. The only characters I care about are Galadriel, Prince Durin and Celebrimbor to some extent. I honestly do not care about the other storylines like Numenor or the Istar, as all the characters portrayed in those are just bland.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Ай бұрын

@@Jay23297 Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts!

@Paul_van_Doleweerd 2 ай бұрын

Not sure if you have noticed but a lot of the things perpetrated by the antagonists are done left-handed. The backstabbing in this episode, the tainted mithril being added to the forge by AnnAtar (😂), even Sauron pulling himself out of the ocean onto the raft. It's very subtle, but it's there.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

Now that is sinister! 😁

@ZephyrOptional 2 ай бұрын

Tolkien notes in the Nature of Middle Earth that “left” is Not associated with wrong or evil and all elves are ambidextrous.

@Mr.books17 2 ай бұрын

A.P are ever able to read for pleasure without analyzing a story?

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@Mr.books17 Critical dragons never sleep! 😁

@aquirick 2 ай бұрын

The conversation online is so polluted by S1 and by right wing fearmongering that I had to actively search through more than 20 videos to find a balanced review. I think that you're understandably cautios but S2 is simply very good and if they keep going this way the Rings of Power will be rediscovered some years from now.

@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 2 ай бұрын

@@aquirick I agree. This season is displaying some truly good storytelling at times, not to mention some spectacular cinematography and music.

@AmirhoseinHerandy 2 ай бұрын

I like the show in general. But the depiction of the elves is mostly pretty bad. They look too normal and human and most of them are really dumb and shallow and get angry too quickly while many of them especially the big names need to be extremely wise and cunning. The same goes for Sauran as well.