The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: The Rings of Power EPISODE 4 "The Great Wave" - REVIEW!!

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

SAURON RETURNS AS A DARK ELF?? Best Episode Yet with Lord Of The Rings The Rings Of Power Episode 4 Reaction, Recap, Breakdown, &!Review as Queen Regent Míriel’s faith is tested in her negotiations with Galadriel; Isildur finds himself at a crossroads; Durin shares a secret discovery with Elrond; Arondir is given an ultimatum by a mysterious figure (Sauron?!); and Theo disobeys Bronwyn only to find himself surrounded by orcs... #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 there? Real Rejects. I don't know what this accent is. Hey, guys. How you doing? Listeners of the Reject Nation. The reject pod. The Pod. You're our pod. I don't know. I'll find a cool name for you guys at some point. Anyway, the Great Wave is the title of this episode. It's Lord of the Rings. The Rings of Power. Episode four. And this was a good one. I mean, I'm not going to sugarcoat it to you. This has been an up and down experience. But this episode was quite gratifying. I would say easily the best one yet. But I will save the opinion. for the talk. This is our immediate thoughts immediately upon finishing the episode immediately, immediately, immediately. And if you'd like to see our experience of the episode, come on over, check out the reaction highlights. Those will be on our YouTube channel, YouTube.com slash the Real Rejects. Got all the episodes up so far and we'll continue through the season. And if you want to sync up with your own copy, get the full experience. Enjoy the show along right side with us. That kind of worked as a phrase. Anyway, come on over to patreon.com slash the Real Rejects. We've got tons and tons of shows and movies over there with

exclusive watch-alongs where you'll sync up with your own copy as well as reaction highlights where you can see little snippets and our reaction to those snippets. So it's a lot more complicated for people to grasp the difference between the two than you would think. So yeah, if you want to watch the full thing, you will not get all of the footage. That's illegal. But you can sync up and enjoy alongside us if you'd like. And lastly, if you just want to support the channel direct, check out our, well, I mean, Patreon's the most direct, but also check out our zero zero edition.com store. One take, baby, one take. Check out our zero edition.com store. We got a bunch of cool designs, always dropping new stuff

each month, and yeah, that also supports the channel, and if you care enough to wear it out loud, you know, come on over there and check it out. But anyway, here are our immediate thoughts following episode four of the Rings of Powers. It's called the Great Wave this episode, and a pretty great wave indeed i would say let's do it well done well done wowie all right not just saying it i've nothing again if i like an episode

you gotta win the internet back When who back to the internet, it's so defensive. It doesn't matter. No matter who you win, you'll lose just as many people. All you have left to do is be honest, if you like an episode or not. And yeah, I would say that this is my favorite one so far of all four that we've gotten because I was genuinely interested in every storyline they were cutting to. I cannot say that about any of the other episodes.

Like this one, I was actually, it was easy to pay attention to. It was engaging. At times, the emotional parts were a little bit more swelling than I had expected it to be. And even by the very end of it, when they are uniting. Like, hell yeah, cool. Yeah. Oh, my God. I'm actually, I'm anticipating.

Yeah. What do you know? What an experience is starting to feel like an actual experience to me. And I feel like it's just, this has been like, you know what I would like in this experience? too have you guys seen the movie cloud atl have you seen it i have not okay cloud atlas is cutting between and maybe a lot of people don't share this opinion like me but cloud atlas i remember watching it the first half of that movie was very frustrating and very difficult to sit through because it's cutting between so many different storylines and they're very and it's not

like this because the cloud atlas is like different genres per storyline and and you have like same actors playing different roles and it was a little much and they're very and they're just completely different stories and eventually it around the middle like oh you know i'm starting starting to enjoy this and eventually i was like oh this is really enjoyable this is really great it starts to smooth itself out once you get acquainted i didn't think it would take like four episodes but this we've cut we've checked in with pretty much every storyline in this one right except the harfoot's yeah except the harfoots they're the thing that's holding this show back it's funny in the episodes that aren't as good they are the best part but then they are very

sparingly used in the best episodes so far they mentioned yeah the the you know the starfall the man of the earth but that's about it yeah but everything else no no i think i like the harfits for the most part and uh but for the most part they cut to everyone's storyline and I was I love the conversations between forgive me for not did you commit to memory the name of the queen John I not yet queen regent media we have the actual credits pulled up right here at the end episode I like the conversations between the queen and galadriel because galadriel's note starts to sound like the way she talks sounds like kind of repetitive after a certain point but I felt like her scene's actually allowed for some a little bit of layers with it even the scene where she's in prison and she's

talking with prison care uh what's his name brad bruh something cool bruh bro bro bro bro there it is that's his name bro win no brawn one's the lady god damn it brownwin's deos mom oh shit so many different names go forward we'll find it Get it. Get it. Bessert? No. No. No, no, no, you're not catching it. Hal the brand. How brand? How the brand? Okay. We did it. All right. So even the conversation on Hallbrand, where you do see her, you know,

as stubborn as she is, she's starting to learn. She is learning. And then even that conversation when she does talk with the queen with what I've always called sarahmon's ball seeing stone when she's talking with him and you get more of that you know they have that line in there earlier of you know cleverness versus wisdom and versus being wise

and her instilling some wisdom into the middle of negotiating for a specific thing I thought that was nice to get like a shade of that gladriel and and see more of the wise selfish side of her one usually will be even seeing is just kind of like the brooding angry kind of the warrior

yeah the uncompromising warrior with some like repetitive delivery in the way she talks but this one I quite enjoyed her and and still to me Elron and Duren are the best parts of the show like whenever

we're with them it's even with Elron's speech that he's talking about his dad I thought that was very touching and I'm like I don't know his dad I don't even know this guy I don't even know this character. Probably heard his name offhand at one point or another, but yeah. But the history of the effect that his dad had on him and then conversation of how he's using it to instill again, some wisdom to Duren during a time that is quite submerged for him and feeling like he's not worthy enough, not good enough, and a state of anger.

I thought it was a very moving speech and everything with Aaron Deere showing up being a badass and who is most likely Sauron, unless the show is doing one massive. lead who is most likely Zauron I thought had a really striking mood and tone and yeah I thought you know what it was too like this this was uh I felt like we actually had like character stuff yeah it felt like there was character detail on character layers with the plot stuff moving forward it sounds it seems like they finally managed to do both at the same time instead of just like dumping exposition into the like back backstory explanation while talking to each other yeah and sometimes people justify that as character driven dialogue but it's really not and here i i thought like something more character driven to me is like those conversations with galadriel and the queen and galadriel and halbron and you know those moments felt like oh this is like good character narrative for gladriel things to learn yeah no totally it's it does well to push her out of her comfort zone and that in and of itself creates a certain character moment because yeah you have to watch her overcome an obstacle and one that requires you to

you know kind of look within and also look at you know that whole thing about what does she fear look at you know what she's up against and and don't necessarily use it to exploit her but see if you can you know look past that and maybe offer some kind of aid and i feel like that speaks to you know the humanity within anybody but through that you know it's i feel like indirectly calling With Galadriel, up until this point, you know, as much as I like more Fifth Clark's performance generally, there is kind of like a, there's that one, one, this happened to me a lot in the Hobbit movies, too, and I feel like it is often the pitfall in fantasy where, yeah, it's like the character dialogue becomes, I'm just talking a lot about my mission and the mission that I'm on, and that's my focus. But yeah, you actually have to watch her kind of navigate a social situation and step beyond her comfort zone. and I thought that was that made for a really satisfying turn when by the end the pedals start to fall

and the queen actually does offer the aid and step into the conflict and bring that allied power and I thought they spread that out in a way where it felt actually satisfying and like it built upon something and you across this episode we're seeing various aspects of culture

whether that be unrest in the city of Newman, or just with the ground-level characters, or you're seeing into the actual rituals and, you know, practices that even the most, you know, scummy creatures on this earth have in the orcs, or even with the dwarves when they're doing the sort of ceremony to bring out the lost miners.

Like, there are so many things that I think blend over nicely with that plot stuff, basically. Yeah. And I like the way they're fleshing out a lot, of this it's it's starting to become something that is actually become you know what i've never said with the thing that was i could just never say prior to this episode was i never found anything compelling and i think there are compelling qualities too here everything with duron and durran and his father i thought was uh really interesting too like there is a complexity there

and this game that durran is sort of playing with elron where it doesn't kind of see he there's always a guard up and you for a time you think that guard is it's completely let down it's not that there is always a rising suspicion that there's something more there and you i do root for their friendship like i root for them to i'm like i feel like oh runs it's like that's care man i feel like he did come here but he did come here with an agenda and a favor but he's been pretty honest with you you know so i i root for that friendship uh quite a bit i like the queen a lot honestly i mean i said it last episode when the queen was introduced i was like here we go another stoic ass character and i i i think she she is her whoever this actress is i don't i don't

never i don't maybe i've seen her work before i don't know cynthia a day robinson i think the way the at least it might have something to do with the director of this episode i'm like i don't want to make this just a conversation i'm like what did this episode work for the other because it might have something to do with the way this episode in particular was directed but there was something about capturing the mood and then the expression like you know when she's having those those visions and the way she when she fears something I'm like she really does sell the fear in her eyes and she does sell without over emoting being torn between what to do even in her first conversation with galadriel I thought was really well done and even fleshing out the city of of Numenor, with Numenor and the political angles of how the society there feels about elves. It's starting to build a world that I am truly, that I feel an emotion towards now, something that has an emotional pull more than just facts about what's going on. It's starting to click for me.

I mean, I'm hoping it kind of stays this way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. he builds upon it you know uh but as it's going i mean what other storylines were there oh the the son with theo i thought that you know just love how whenever they go back to that home it's gonna be a tense horror film yeah i know uh with with theo i i liked how he the way that sequence was captured it felt very much like a video game um as he's like sneaking around and then you like you hide behind the wall the character could probably see you from if they just like looked a little bit if you don't make a noise you'll be fine yeah but but in terms

of obscured vision in video game levels yeah it worked for me I like the way that sequence was done and the other thought that that this this episode in particular really solidified for me other than a couple of shots where it feels like an actor and a costume like literally at the most nitpicky a couple of shots if so you could just pretty much ignore me saying that because I actually think the way they flesh out the orcs

in this show is better than the movies by quite a bit. Like I think they the personality they provide the no I mean there is a certain like or who's going to be nasty. The most grimy cockney fellows

yeah. But they actually feel threatening and when they show up in hordes you know that it had me for a brief moment admittedly just a tiny moment but briefly when Aaron Deere Theo and a hot mom were

in the woods I was like shit what a fuck mom might get killed her you know yeah totally because the when the orcs aren't that big of droves like that big of a horde it they are kind of scary and you do see that they are an actual threat that can kill you

and they're not just you know quantity henchmen while we wait for something bigger and batter to show up. They can show up in a mob, but in this show, like especially in the hiding scene with Theo, it does feel like they are all individuals sort of gnarled up characters and whatnot.

Like even though there is that sort of grimy quality still, yeah, there's something that feels a little more real and a little more alive about them. And I think, too, again, seeing that brief moment at the camp when, you know, they're laying that one guy to rest, I think even just that one beat really adds

a lot to just the, I don't know, weird communal. Like, even though they are evil ostensibly, they are still, like, a group communal trying to subsist and trying to find their land in this, you know, realm of realm. And, like, everyone thus far as being displaced to some degree. I mean, the Harfords are nomadic, but then you have, you know, Bronwyn's village who is now, you know, forced to flee and forced to find someplace new. And you've got Newman or looking like destruction may be imminent and things like that.

And so even though they are completely on the opposite side, there's still something like underlying that makes them just feel more, yeah, alive than, oh, here comes the big scary guys. And I feel like, too, the way they use the darkness that comes with them, like when they got back to the light, I was like, oh, it's not nighttime, actually, in this episode. And I thought the, you know, that...

Long from night into day. Well, I thought they left the shadow. I thought it's like the shadow consumed the village to such a point that, like, or even, Either way, the way they use the shadow when it sets in that first time when the sun is still out. Like, it does feel ominous and a little more palpable in a way than just like, ooh, a mystical force. You know, it feels more desolate, and that horror movie kind of tone feels like it gets an actual transition motivated by the surroundings. Wait, are you right about that?

I'm trying to, I want to make sure I'm understanding this. I'm not sure, because he gets back with the cart and it's like nighttime, right? Yeah, at the watch? yeah and pretty sure it's night time when he gets back yeah so i mean i guess it's like the next morning or something it's like a dawn when they get out of the out of the shadow into the light yeah so there is kind of they're both overlapping the shadow overlaps with the day into the night into the next day probably yeah um so i i think uh i think theo is but they're building up with theo i feel like you know if they keep building upon it

It could lead to something what could potentially be quite heartbreaking because she really cares about that kid her kid. She really loves that kid. And he wants so badly to help and is always getting in trouble doing it. She should just like a freaking angsty little ass. Yes. And now he's got the ultimate

angst machine in his case. Yeah. And I think I like, like, I find that compelling that amongst this camp of, you know, the people who have fleed from this village. that was it the bar keep the innkeeper um how he actually had a connection to i got to keep asking you for words what is the name that are they're calling it oh the the hilt the blade is it yeah the i guess it's just the hilt right yeah because it that yeah um that he had the connection to the hilt and it's like this is our little secret here like that that that is fascinating oh my god that this evil was lurking here already amongst someone else and now he feels like he's got a companion and and And when the Pthio has no idea what's going on, you should probably say something.

It feels like finally by this episode, we've got all the main places set, so now we can actually start developing each camp of the story. And the geography between them feels more palpable, too. Yeah, I think the one storyline that I'm waiting to, that I'm only interested in only because I know the end result is Sealedor.

but what they're currently doing I'm not that into I like the dad with Valadale is that not not Alan Deal I'm looking for his name oh Captain Ellen Deals

I was correct that that's really all right yeah I like the dad a lot I think the dad brings a lot of history and so he's great to watch and everyone he's bouncing off of he feels like a traditionally stage play actor

like something like really great about the way he is yeah um the presence he provides it feels very natural with the world uh and but isildur himself uh i feel like even some of the way they orchestrate the dialogue surrounding him seems to be you know it's cool with him yeah yeah i feel like for me assildur is most interesting because of everybody else around him in his story like whether it's elendial or his sister or the two guy like the two sailors who he is discharged with i was pretty engaged by that alone.

And I thought that at least made for a nice turnaround at the end where they are the ones who are like, we will volunteer and then they kind of inspire him. Like there are little notes there, but yeah, it is, I think you hit it on the head.

It's like the one, even though there's a lot of stories that harken to certain archetypes and certain outcomes, that one is so obvious because, you know, it's so important where he goes. So yeah, I'm waiting for that to settle

or to have some kind of real character beyond, like a lot of his character beats thus far have been pretty general for what his journey is, you know, he's dreams of exploring and, you know, he's trying to satisfy expectations. And that's fine. But I would like to see that character open up a bit. Because even with like Arundere, like he's very stoic, very quiet. But in those moments, like when he is talking to Adar, the character they call Father, like there is, you, you, I don't know there's something compelling even though he is so kind of stoic and quiet well he's a great actor he is he's he i've i've said it since this first episode like he's great he he really even in the third episode which i thought was really dull i thought he was great yeah because you can see you can he has that that that rare it's not common amongst actors where you can see what he's thinking without him having to say it and it's really difficult to find an actor

who can do such a thing like his scene with i'm just going to call him sarah it's probably sarah all right so his scene with saron um you know when he has that blade and you could tell like he's scared he's he's he's on the defense he might want to fight but he knows he'll lose he doesn't even know who this person is yeah he has he does not even sure who this is but he knows something very like he has to be very intent on this moment like the way he it comes to what is the message you can just feel that that pain of defeat and loss

and losing in that very moment like it's like that the scene there in general was a was a great tense scene it was a really well done scene and I like the buildup of this guy who's probably sorrow and like it is right

like who else would it be yeah I well even again back to the orcs though really quick back to the orcs like him I feel like if in the movies at least you know I can't attest to the books

but I feel like in the movies it would have just been like another fucking orc is that you know yeah they wouldn't have cared at all yeah but I like the connection that he has when he is like gives a mercy kill yeah

and he stays connected and it's like the way with the smile with the orc and the eyes the eye connection they have of like you're dying it's okay now you did you did good you're at peace yeah like weirdly you're at peace yeah it feels like you really actually has a connection and cares and they are his children and you served us you know yeah yeah um so i i really uh i really i really like the the way they've didn't think i'd say that about this show but because like when i saw the amount of orcs in the

trailers it just seemed like yeah orcs okay what do you do you throw a bunch of orcs yeah how do we get some instant action orcs But I think the main thing, the one thing I'd really give to this show that I think they've elevated above the films is the orcs. The arcs are great. Yeah, no, and I hope that that trend continues here. And two, I think this episode, I think it's just a testament to, like, when it's working, then the stylistic flourishes work.

Because, like, it's clear that within the style of this show, most episodes, I would expect some kind of grand sweeping couple, maybe even slow motion sequences here. it was you know the battle in the woods comes to mind and and those things play a lot better in an episode like this when you really can be pulled into yeah i feel like they have when you get a character driven or a more character driven episode like this that does have moments of levity but also never forgetting what the stakes are then you can sell your more ethereal moments or your moments that have these grand sweeping choruses singing beneath them or these disparate like single

voices singing under them like all those things that you know come across as so you know huge and again ethereal and of such circumstance like those they work a lot better when you can feel both the life but also the desperate tension of the circumstance oh yeah like when uh oh my god fucking names what is uh turin's wife's name oh her name is oh go back one page i Disa. When Disa, when they were singing to the, I didn't know what ritual they were doing. And then when you find out that they're talking to the walls

and like that connection they have to the walls. I thought that was really neat. It actually imbuted in, again, emotion. Yeah. And not just like pretentious. Yeah. Yeah. It's a real like this episode, like in the previous episode,

that might have played very. silly, but yeah, with everything working together, it really bolsters moments like that. And even the thing with the Mithril, I thought, like, that could easily have been just like, oh, there's a thing, you know. But that even was like a nice, compelling plot point. You get to go, oh, yeah, I know what that is. But at the same time, you know, the gravity of that discovery and also the tension of being like, well, now because of this interplay between Elron and Duren, the fourth, now they're, at least for the moment, barred from even pursuing that. And so, yeah, they're, there, They just managed to bring everything up with, like, a good, interesting twist on each detail, yeah, to make everything a bit more rich, I think. Yeah, man, that's a good one. Good, good one. The only one thing that's not that interested to me right now is a sealed door, but I'm holding out faith. Yes, faith. That it will become more interesting.

I know some people already on board for a cell door, but for me personally, I'm like, he's going to, whatever. He looks like a friend of mine And it hasn't gotten past the point Where I just keep seeing my friend You're friends with Tony Reveloire. That's right man Me and Tony go way back, bro Hit me up

Why don't you return my calls, Tony? Yeah, and the sister Honestly, the sister's more interesting But Like They are the least interesting characters Out of this episode They remain the slightest to me

Like, even for how little we've seen Hallbrand over the course of this. Like, he seems more meaty than his ill torso. Yeah, well, Hall Brun's been developing a personality. He's been hanging out in that prison cell just rehearsing. How to talk to people. Yeah, I thought, who directed this episode again? I've never heard of this director. Wayne Cheyip.

That's an interesting name. Spanish? Asian. Why do I think Spanish? Yep. Che. Che is. Yeah.

It's Che. Yeah. It is. Mainly just the TV director. Doom Patrol. I wonder how much creative... You never know how much creative freedom. Like, some of these shows...

Yeah. How much creative freedom. I imagine on Lord of the Rings. They gave me a little more creative freedom to kind of do some shit. I would imagine, they bring you in and especially it seems like he's directed at least a few of these so he amazon director this guy hunter's wheel of time yeah amazon or is that abc i forget i think

wheel of time was an amazon yeah yeah and i feel like yeah especially on a show this is expensive is this i feel like you would get a few directors together and they would be part of your think tank yeah um but all right all right guys cool a good episode uh i like this one more than the second so favorite everyone so far i hope they stay on this path i like the course they are charting and i'm excited for it i'm excited all right well you guys can subscribe click that bell leave a like last month lees with a patron mark leach now mark i know you've been having an insanely rough time lately so we looked up your name on urban dictionary and um I hope you like what it has to say.

Mark, a really funny guy who likes to make people laugh. This is very accurate. Even during a hard time, he's got a great soul, and it's all he wants to do is help others. Good nature, good humor. He probably has a meme account and is happy to send you memes. The dankest. He has really fluffy hair and amazing brown eyes.

His hair is just like a garnet. frutis commercial with amazing brown eyes piercing his smile is so warm it will make you want to smile whenever he smiles it becomes like a mirror that makes me smile it's almost like a horror movie he is extremely attractive and has really nice hands oh show me those hands one of the first things you ever say when you meet mark leach is like whoa those hands i've never seen hands so visually striking before he makes you happy it makes you feel better he is my therapy he's my cure he's he's really good at cooking ramen and loves dogos i don't even know what dogos are dogs but i love dogs they're just regular dogs yeah it's just a fun way of saying dogs oh i thought

they were a fun guy you put cooking ramen and dog goes in the same i thought it was food um i thought it was like a bacon wrap sausage could be mark also maybe likes a bacon I'm cooking ramen. He's a great college roommate. He is all the good things in one. He will always be on your mind, even when you try to get it out there. You would be the luckiest girl on earth to have him because Mark is a master in the bedroom. Dude.

I mean cleaning and keeping frames organized and closing the drawers. And he will only please you in bed if requested formally. via email and only once the bed has been made that mark is a very organized person and covers all his tracks to make sure he's doing the right thing at all times

make way for those nice hands and trust me those emails are flooded who flooded with requests batting them off lifting right but he can't just go he can't respond to everyone there's just too many requests for mark to be in the bedroom with them consider yourself lucky if he gets back

to you even if he just respond even if it's an automated reply i mean that's probably enough for most of us to get where we need to go an automated reply makes me feel special so mark thank you for doing such a wonderful human deed my friend you are the bomb being you