The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: The Rings of Power EPISODE 2 "Adrift" - REVIEW!!

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

THE LORD OF THE RINGS PREMIERE CONTINUES! The Rings Of Power Ep 2 Reaction, Review, Recap, & Breakdown with EVEN MORE Easter Eggs to uncover. Galadriel finds a new ally after a harrowing battle with a sea beast; Elrond faces a cold reception from old friend Durin IV (of the Dwarves); Nori the Harfoot endeavors to help a Stranger; & Arondir searches for answers while Bronwyn fights off an Orc.. And a possible Gandalf appearance?! J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth continues to expand beyond & before Return Of The King & The Hobbit! #TheRingsOfPower #LordOfTheRings #LordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower #AmazonPrime #PrimeVideo Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions + RINGS OF POWER WATCH ALONGS! https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Support The Channel By Checking Out Our High-Quality Merch: http://shopzeroedition.com/collections/reel-rejects-merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How's it going, citizens of the Reject Nation? And thank you for tuning in. Welcome back to our Lord of the Rings Recap and Review series for the Rings of Power, airing now on Amazon. This is our review and immediate thoughts after watching episode two. And then kind of our thoughts on the premiere overall as they drop two episodes at once.

So if you missed our thoughts on episode one in a microscope, you can find that in podcast form, as well as on our channel, in reaction form. And on our Patreon, in full-length, watch along form and you know what else you can find this episode in all those places as well so if you want to check out the episode two highlights with us on our youtube channel youtube.com slash the real rejects that's the place to find that or if you want to sync up with your own copy and enjoy the full episode experience alongside us come on over to patreon.com slash the real rejects and if you just like the channel maybe

consider checking out our zero edition shop zero edition.com store we got some cool designs cool designs coming up, cool designs already up, all sorts of things up and around, and maybe potentially on your body. Do with that what you will. Anyhow, this is the most agreeable show of all time, and we got some thoughts right now. So without further ado, let's talk about it. Who's that? I'm not sure. Gandalf? Definitely.

Is Seedor? Definitely. Haragorn? It's definitely all three of them. Wow. Before they all split up? Yeah. There's three kids in a trench coat.

Stacked on top of each other. I told you shouldn't take this boat. Quiet down. We'll take which boat I choose, and you will say nothing else on the matter. So Gandalf always sounded that way? Yes, even as a young man wizard guy. I am young Gandalf. I am old, Gandalf. I am old. I am middle-aged Gandalf. Teenage Gandalf.

In all fairness, Ian McKellen has always looked 88 years old. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He's one of a long line of prolific actors who have been old ever since they were born. Him and Abe Bogota and Patrick Stewart. No, not Patrick Stewart. He looked young ones by comparison. Fine. Steve Buscemi.

Yeah. Fucking old ass Steve Buscemi. All right. Snap diggedy. I like that episode so. much more like by a lot

yeah I would say that that definitely grew well out of the first one in an upward trajectory I don't even

know if it's a great episode it might just feel great by comparison to that super shitty first episode

embarrassing first episode no no when they release two like this it's like they want you to watch it's like I want

to get a completed her package yeah yeah and um now it it made everything just so much better like i i was i'm way more on board now um and i'm i'm i'm genuinely when you cut to around to the stories i'm like oh i'm interested in what's going on like when sometimes in when you have such a big ensemble and you cut around a storylines all the times i might end up feeling in a in a way of oh i've ever cut away i don't really want to watch these guys oh no i'm actually into it but i noticed with everyone they cut to, I was always interested. I got a little pulled out

thinking about myself. I'm actually interested in everyone's storyline. Holy crap. This is good. This is good. And if Greg's in with, that must mean it's all right. It must mean it's quality. It must mean it's qualitative. Stamp of approval. You guys are all free to like

it now. Yeah. I'm known to be the one who doesn't like anything. That's my reputation. Yep. Yep. The guy who can't get on board with anything. no i thought it was great i thought this introduction of um prince durin was uh it's it pronounced durin with prince durin was excellent that was like what i was kind of craving with every character

from in the first episode where i'm like no there's ways where you can give a character a short introduction and move the plot but also get you to go like no that's that's a character i'm on board with and i thought prince the whoever i don't know this actor um oh a way in a wayne arthur uh but the character himself like that was so refreshing you know because it's like yeah the i was making jokes but the the dwarfs are you know they they be a little bit be a little arrogant and tough and and a difficult wall to depending on the dwarf you're talking to but usually if it's like the prince or leader of character they're brooding so it's like all right okay i get it but then to see that his whole thing was he was just he didn't want to feel used that he was just

upset for feeling like a friend just never bothered to be there for the important moments in life and this he's just such a sensitive dude at the end of the day and also you know seeing like his wife and that loving relationship they have where they're just about to bang on that table was was great and the fact that he you know he definitely kept elron in his heart by planting that tree too i thought that was really sweet and really touching that scene was like everything with them was excellent and this episode also significantly

made Elron a much more interesting character to me too. Like as if he's got something to prove himself as well you know? Yeah I feel like there's it's kind of it can be tricky to make the younger version of a character like that feel

like somebody that you can I don't know meet part way and who doesn't feel like they're trying too hard to get to the Elron we all know and remember who's you know, very lofty and ethereal and authoritative. Like, I like yeah, his characterization through the actor and, too,

yeah, the whole relationship there just makes everything that much better. And, too, I mean, watching him play... Like, Gimley and Legolas. That's right. It's proto Gimley and Legalus. Progimley and Legalus. Thousands of years in the making. And he's going to throw him by the time the season's done.

He's going to have to throw him in somebody. But, yeah, like, you know, all this stuff with Kellebrimbor. and them talking about, you know, coming up with this idea that, like, okay, we need to turn to somebody to help us, you know, with this incredible task. And it made me think back in a tangential way. You know, you have the whole speak friend and enter thing

and Lord of the Rings before they enter the abandoned minds. And so here I thought it was kind of a fun little twist on that because, yeah, it's like there is a pretense of friendship that they're going off of. But then it puts, you know, Elrond in an immediate. immediate disadvantage and then creates an endearing dynamic to watch as yeah this this ailing friendship is sort of being breathed having life breathed back into it and uh and two i mean the way that they realized the whole dwarven kingdom was gorgeous just their whole yeah all right i'm sorry i changed my mind then yeah it was okay it's okay i've seen better dwarven kingdoms

in Lord of the Rings. But yeah, no, I thought it did nicely to bring him to a more personable and to a more, not like, I feel like relatable can often be kind of a cheesy word, but into, yeah, just like a more human place as a character. I feel like, you know, the first episode, you already have these ideas about who Elrond is and why. And he's, you know, very personable at the get-go. But I like seeing him at a disadvantage and seeing him put into this position where he's like, I'm not going to win this rock

breaking contest. I need to actually just appeal to my friend. And even the whole thing where he's like, I don't get why you're mad at me. It's only been 20 years. What gives? And then the whole thing about time playing differently because... Yeah, it's a fast... That's a great conversation. Yeah, totally.

So, yeah, that had the most character richness across the episode, and I really appreciate it. That feels like a very lived in piece of dialogue to me. So I really like that. So that That was my favorite aspect of the show.

And knowing, you know, because obviously the main thing we have to go off of with the strongest memory is, because John, you've listened to the audiobooks? It's like a combo, yeah. It's like I've read chunks and listened to all of it, yeah. And then with The Hobbit, I read in both. Would you say you read more of Lord of the Rings or listened to more? Well, I probably listened to more of it than I would. would have read because I'm not that fast of a reader and it's not the breeziest reading material.

Well, I mean, they just have the movies to go off of it. Sure. That's the best of my recollection would be the movie. Is this kind of doing a watchman thing where this is a prequel to the books, not to the movies? You know what I mean? Like, I know Watchman is a sequel to the comic book and not to the Zach Snyder film. Yeah. um so i'm like this because there's so many peter jackson influences that are so present here

that i started getting confused on wait a minute okay so is this all ron supposed to turn into freaking hugo weaving or are they just doing their own thing you know that's a great question and i'm honestly not sure i feel like there are we live in a time where i feel like it's the answer is probably murky in the middle because they probably want you to think of all Peter Jackson stuff and I think they at least reached out to him about this project and it's like if you have Howard Shore credited for certain

music cues and stuff it seems like there are physical ties to those movies but I feel like at the same time it doesn't have to be I would err more towards yes it's trying to connect to the movies than not but I'm also not 100% on that is it like more dead set on connecting

to the books than it is to the movies you know what I mean that's because I know the movies change some stuff. My best guess would be that they are more concerned maybe with connecting to the movie crowd because I feel like it would be even that much more of a hard uphill battle to be like this piece of, you know, streaming cinema is going to be the canonical fill-in between the books. Like I feel like people would not entertain that.

So I feel like it's a much easier sell for people to be like, this is something. Supplementary material to the movies. I'm glad they go and lost. I'm not excited for this Easter, right, because I didn't read that book. Yeah, I don't know. If we get some Tom Bombadills in here or something like, it's the wrong era. But, you know, if we get some tell-tale piece of only book, not movie, then maybe. But, yeah.

Okay. Well, regardless, yeah, because it feels like Peter Jackson's influences all over this. yeah whether and i he wasn't involved with the making of this but it certainly seems like they took a page out of how peter jackson adapted to lord of the rings and aesthetically mirroring it you know even though i know that like token has had his own drawings and stuff yeah to go off of uh there's way more than just even like the horror touches uh feel very much like this kind of seems like how peter jackson might do it yeah well and there's connective tissue between peter jackson and sam ramey in in terms of aesthetic style.

And so, yeah, that's a telltale thing that says a movie to me. Also, the design of the orcs looks to be pretty close to the movie orcs. What I think is cool, too, is the orcs were just like a quantity of idiots in Lord of the Rings, the films, at least. Like, they were never scary to me, except for that one guy in fellowship of the ring. Oh, the Uriqai? The Orykai, yeah. But the orcs in general are not scary.

And here the orcs are actually scary. They actually feel like a real menacing threat that are ferocious and will cannot let you. And they're a reason to fear versus in the Lord of the Rings movies. They're like, yeah, you know, you just get the right people around. They'll take them out no problem, you know. It feels more like the hyenas from lying in the movies, whereas here they've so far feel like, yeah these like feral creatures that i think too just having less of them and having them scattered around and having these like run-ins makes it more intense that way yeah yeah yeah we got a lot of characters

here and you had uh galadriel swam her way to a life raft that instantly got taken out moments upon land moments upon landing there yep what luck that that sea creature that sea beast was something uh yeah i started thinking to jabe i was like wait a minute i know something this guy directed yeah and and then it was making me think of some of those sequences in in the beginning of dominion or uh fallen kingdom that's right yeah yeah my favorite Jurassic world movie because i love the attention to detail in the shot when she is swimming away and then like what you because when the camera would occasionally like go underwater like and you would see the the advancement of the motion underwater i thought was a really great detail

That was an incredible sequence that. That shot in particular. That would be so hard. Yeah. Because you've also, I love to that you also see what looks, I'm sure they could be CG models, but what looks like actors being thrown around in the background when you surface up. Like there's so many little flourishes and details that really sold that. Yeah, and I like, because what we're building to is essentially the opening scene.

The show is building to is the opening. of Lord of the Rings, right? Yeah, with the battle where there's Seildo cuts off his hand, yeah. So, that could be a Sealedur on that boat.

Just using a different name. No, no, no, no, no. The one in the shadows. Oh, duh. Could be. Could be. Yeah. I don't know.

It'd be an interesting way to meet him. Yeah. What's your name? It's Seilder. What's yours? I mean, it's kind of cool to see how, like, all that came to be. Well, yeah.

Knowing that there's going to be, like, negative cons. Because by the time, you know, when the Fellowship with the ring happens, you know, the dwarves and elves are still not getting along. And this is supposed to be the thing of, we can create a real truce. Yeah. Not truce, but what was the specific word? They said, I don't know, something beyond alliance. Yeah. Like, we can really create a partnership here in a way that we can have, like, a pack.

act a bond of some kind yeah yeah so having having them knowing that like okay maybe they're gonna temporarily have that but it's all gonna fall apart yeah yeah yeah well and and and something like this does feel like and and I've said I've felt similarly about something like house of the dragon which which has much more of a direct sort of piece to adapt but this is something where I'm like yeah it doesn't feel like certain prequels can feel like, or mid-cools or whatever you want to call them, can feel like, ah, we need to come up with something to keep this going. Whereas here, it's like, no, I mean, there is writing on this, and it is another, you can see what would be gripping about this phase in the history

leading up to everything with Sauron and what we'll see later in the third age and stuff like that. And so, yeah, sure, yeah, sure. Definitely, sure, sure, yeah, sure. Don't be rude. I'm talking. you're a wily one talk about yeah our earlund which one aaron dear has that her name oh uh eleanor nor nor norie norie oh yeah i really like norie and poppy's thing with with uh i mean i'm i like the the they give them so much to do like the guy you know who's fallen from the earth and who has the whole thing with the fireflies you know i like

Charlottocoply. Charlottocoply from Elysium is great. No, I like that, though. I mean, I love just the amount of commitment and, like, you know, those young actors, especially the one who plays Nory, like the amount of, like, half the time she's, like, on the verge of tears

as this sort of, like, incomprehensible situation unfolds. And I like the immediacy of that and the sort of tension of, like, everything happening back at home and the slow unfolding of, yeah, this guy who seems like he could almost be some kind of early wizard or something, and

yeah, like, even though the Hobbits aren't, you know, or the Harfoots aren't, so far the show is a true ensemble and that I don't feel like anybody is the central character, so, you know, in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, you feel like, you know, you're usually with your central people

when you're, you know, hanging with hobbits, but here, I mean, too, I still think they get all that warmth and whenever you're in their little village, their little, you know, nomadic township, like, I love those flavors but also having the two of them separate with this it almost feels like almost like the later phases of a mary and pippin story almost where like their things get a little more serious too um yeah i don't know i quite liked that like i think my favorite i enjoyed everything we cut to i think my favorite bits and pieces were nori and poppy and um elrond and durin and then you know you have errand deer And you have Galadriel. And those stories are more straightforward, more action-oriented this episode.

But something that feels a really fantasy cliche about that whole thing with a Hall brand. Yes. Galadriel. I don't know. Especially when the second I got on that raft, I was like, of course, the best-looking guy. he's going to be the one that's not the guy with all his hair pulled out it's not going to be the other guy or the lady no it's just going to be the sexy guy i think it's annoying cliche about fantasy stuff to me yeah what the fuck do i want to watch ugly people no no so come on we already got the dwarves yeah

already got to put up with their faces yeah let's watch two two good looking people yeah survive together They're in close proximity. I feel like the humans should, the human, the world of men should be portrayed exactly smack in the middle and everyone should be just okay looking. Because the elves are all gorgeous. And the dwarves are, you know, like portly and hairy and stuff. The humans are gorgeous too. I'm saying the ones that we have. The humans should all be met at best to look at.

Like they got the hot mom. I know. She's so hot. Brownie. What's her name? Bronwyn. Bronwyn. I'm a brownie.

Yeah, yeah, from how I met your mother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Bronwyn, she had a great... I love that sequence with that orc in the living room. Yeah. They go for some jump scares a lot in this show. I think that makes sense. I think that works.

It does. It's fun. I think only one got me, kind of. But most of the time, I'm like... come on well it's really predictable jumpscare and too i feel like a lot of times not every time but a lot of times when something that isn't primarily horror i mean horror has enough trouble selling a jump scare these days but yeah i feel like at times when other genres bring in horror and do a jump scare sometimes it can be easier to have that scene telegraphed yeah well um yeah you got some cool

plot stuff to Bobba there son Theo yes um he's going to become uh little little porn stashing his little backpack there that's right

he's just want to keep looking at it that I I get mom sorry mom I'm coming in I'm not I was not polishing my sword

did you go to my bag did you want knock first come on I know we're in grave danger there are creatures incoming but yeah yeah yeah i mean clearly yeah it is some type of beacon that was let off with it

yeah and it's like feeds on blood oh my god and uh arngear dude's in the descent dude's in the descent he's dead officially dead he's dead kill him off camera forever they heard all that that all those people who were like why's a black elf in this show they they they uh they were like we got kill him off the second episode we got to do something about that i got reshoot this whole show we already have a black dwarf i don't know 30 million more dollars per episode we got a black people must just exist in this world i don't know yeah yeah he's great i i think he does an excellent job at um he it's very few performers are that great at like being interesting to watch when they're barely speaking and he does a really good job at that he's

He's really natural, like, something as simple as, like, when he climbed out of the water and whipped out his knife. Yeah. Like, damn, he did that, like, a real warrior. Yeah. Something that feels is so natural about the way he did that. Like, it doesn't look like an actor who trained. Yeah, right. It's real natural.

And I love all the thoughts that you could see going on behind his eyes. I think he does a really great job. Like, a guy with not many lines, I always find him really compelling to watch. No, likewise. He's got a natural intensity to him, too. like when he's registering like there's something at the ends of these halls and he starts like hastening his way out there mustn't make haste I really I really like what he's doing a lot

I think he's really I think he's really interesting in the trailers that I was going to be some just like cliche like oh I'm a warrior elf or something I'm like no I like this brooding guy well yeah it's easy to make it's easy to fall into that pit pit pitfall that trap but also it's easy I think with this kind of of character to come off bland or come off you know just sort of one note and yeah i agree like he does that he does all the the parts of that character that you would want and enjoy the the badass mystique of that but it doesn't really seem concerned with being a badass and so like there's something

yeah it's the quality of the performance combined with the fact that he is just sort of so focused and observant that does make him yeah like even though we don't really know a ton about him i am i I'm always like, I just want to keep on watching you. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a other, there's so much that's happening. Sometimes sometimes it's, too, it's credit, but the fact that they cut around in so many things,

and sometimes it feels like it could be, because usually you build into cutting around in multiple stories. Yeah, where this show, this show, last episode was mainly Galadry, but we're still cutting around to a bunch of stories. Yeah. maintained that cutting around to a bunch especially into episode too because in this one i was like

oh gladriel's not even being cut to the lion's share of the time you know she might be the slightest in terms of screen time well it's because they gave her a bunch in the last episode yeah and i feel the main focus of the last episode yeah true i feel like in a show like that like so far i like the time geography because yeah it makes sense to me that while it might not make every story every so equally compelling for the same reasons. I feel like, yeah, you're going to have some characters who are dealing with a physical situation at the same time as other characters

are dealing with a more intimate diplomatic situation. And, yeah, just sort of like the breadth of relevant places and the different things happening, but that all seem like they're part of a growing, sort of malevolent happening within this realm. You know, I feel like all feels relatively well-coordinated and well thought out thus far anyway. Yeah.

Why were people hating on this show? Because, you know, not everyone's white, and the trailer lays out at steam is really bare. So it's just like, I don't know, people thought it was too woke. You got men and woman kicking ass in this show. I know, and you kind of always, I don't know, I mean... What are the rings of, Arwen? And Aowen.

I mean, I guess it's not as prominent of, like, there's leads and stuff. But, yeah, I feel like you had a lot of different, diverse, but powerful characters. Our main female character flat out got saved by a man in this episode. I know. Well, you'll have to remember that everyone who's been hating on this show has not seen an inch of it. That's true. Just a couple of trailers. That's true.

So, everyone's like, oh, first black dwarf, not on my watch. Watch the flip half and repeat for. Now it's the woke crowd who's like, I hate this show. I can't believe the main female character was rescued by a white man. It's clearly set up that she wouldn't need him. What does a woman always need a man in every situation? Yeah, I don't know. People, fans especially, I think fans of book series,

because there's something I feel like that's more you get a license to feel more academic. like I have read and dissected these, and with Tolkien, too, there is, you know, he wrote novels, but also wrote histories and, you know, linguistic texts and stuff about this world. So I feel like there is an extra ability for Lord of the Rings fans to feel, you know, kind of like experts among casuals. A lot of this show seems to be dealing with conquering prejudices. Well, and there's always been an element, at least from what I can recall, you know, you have the squabbles between the different races and things like that. Yeah. So, and I mean here, they're not like stopping everything to make it some kind of 2022 race relations allegory, you know?

That depends. I think there's a lot of commentary. about police brutality. That's right. Sauron is just a sheriff. He's just a corrupt sheriff and his whole police force just doesn't give a shit and they're just abusing their power left and right. All these police orcs out here

just taking it out on the you know that Theo is that sort is a metaphor for cell phones. That's right. That's his social media. That's right. It's just consuming his his mind and turning it into mush. He doesn't know how to interact with anybody out in the real world.

He's going to have no real world skills. I'm telling you, man. Metaphors. I know. Art is open to interpretation and I hate it. I hate interpretation. I hate what I interpret. Art is just a definitive text and nothing

more. Until I write some head canon fanfic about it. But that's different story. Guys, this is the best show of all time. I'm intrigued. I'm enjoying it, and I hope it keeps developing. I hope it keeps expanding.

Yeah, man, for sure. Listen, guys, Mel Brooks should have been the main elf. I mean, a dwarf. Yogurt. Yogurt. Your Schwartz is as big as mine. Got to

Forge the biggest Schwartz In all of Middle Earth I gotta forge the Schwartz crystals Gotta smash these stones with the Schwartz I'll never smash as many stones as me You lost it

Yeah I know I yes and it too hard Yeah You went into a different Yeah I went to more New York Instead of Jewish Yeah You got to know

what every single Jew on the planet sounds like, John. And be able to channel all of those at the same time into a mono. It's a hive mind. A hive mind of Judaism. The Le Hive mind.

The Hive mind. That's my contribution for the day. I'm a joke about that with my buddy all the time. Oh, really? You have a Jewish friend? one as i limit

i have a bingo card and once your slots full it's full until we decide to not be friends andrew gordon's also jewish too oh you can't be friends with him now nope nope spots already taken i know yeah too bit too bad i liked andrew gordon yeah but you know let's face it then i'll run only has like a one dwarf I have a dwarf friend, you guys I'm going to ask my one dwarf friend

for a favor All right This video is done It's not over Ever We'll talk to you soon Bye