The Reel Rejects - THE RINGS OF POWER 2x02 Breakdown & Review

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Starting point is 00:01:18 What are you? This schedule is down below. Keep a look out. This schedule is down below. Without further ado, let's go back. back to Middle Earth and see the best show that all the money in the world has to offer. Let's do this.

Starting point is 00:01:40 And no one directed this episode. Thank God. Who's the director credit? What? I guess it must have been in the opening. No, we don't need it. It was Kieran Hines. I told you it was. You immediately rejected that idea. I don't recognize

Starting point is 00:01:58 anybody. I have face blindness, you know? Immediately. All right. Well, gang, we made it to season two episode two. Greg, listen, I don't want to influence you into liking this any more than you already have to. What did you think? I thought it was good.

Starting point is 00:02:18 It's a solid episode. The season so far. The two solid episodes all around. I actually, weirdly, even though it's not as. Exciting? I don't know. The exciting is right over for any of these episodes. Like, this one plays out more like a drama, right?

Starting point is 00:02:37 Yes. I found myself actually kind of getting lost in the episode and not paying attention to the time. Sure. Where I would find myself occasionally checking the time on the last one. Isn't that nice? But on this one, I was like, oh, I actually noticed I haven't looked at the time. Yeah. I noticed that funny enough.

Starting point is 00:02:55 I looked away from screen for a moment. moment and saw the counter here at 50 minutes and I was at 58. Sure. I was like, oh, yeah. This is flying. Time actually fast. Yeah, this is nice. I like it. Because yeah, there's something different about like the

Starting point is 00:03:13 first season I felt like was doing more like, look how epic it all is. And they're not doing quite as much of that. And they're just yeah, letting the drama play out. And then they're complimenting it with, you know, arresting imagery when it's, you

Starting point is 00:03:29 you know, the most appropriate. Yeah. I think there's some really engaging, like, not every scene is super engaging, but there are enough scenes that are genuinely engaging scenes. Everything with Sauron, I am really enjoying.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Funny enough, yeah. I thought, it's so funny. It is funny because that whole reveal was like, supposed to be such a huge deal and everyone's kind of laughed at that. And I feel like it's been the best part of this season so far. The part that I remember being, really bored during in season one was with the hobbits or not the hobbits were they called

Starting point is 00:04:06 the free foot hard foots yeah free foot and makeup whatever harbots literally reading a book right now this fantasy book called fourth wing and i forget everyone's names i'm like halfway through the book oh the more books you read like that the worst it'll get yeah i just keep caught like the main characters keep calling them the wrong names that i talk about them um but uh but yeah like whenever we cut to them for some reason I'm I can't even quite put my my uh my finger on it there's this uh literally it's what's fascinating about the experience of these two episodes so far is it doesn't feel like a drastic change it just seems like they tuned enough to make major differences like they didn't make major overhauls they change enough minor things that make a major difference it feels like

Starting point is 00:04:53 the same show but it's moving with better grace exactly it has slightly more a astute writing. Yeah, the potential that we saw in the last season that it just wasn't quite hitting there. I'm finding myself actually enjoying these. And I don't, like, we're watching this before it's aired. So we don't know what the hell anyone's saying, right? Those are just our own opinions.

Starting point is 00:05:12 It'll change by episode four when other people have opinions on and we just got to follow what people are saying. Yeah, and then we'll hate the show along with everybody else. Or we'll love the show along with everybody else. It's worth all that money. Depending on what everyone else is saying. So subject to change. Take this all with a grain of salt.

Starting point is 00:05:29 It's our opinion now. And then eventually it's other people. And I mean, you know, the true mark of wisdom is being able to, you know, update your opinion for new knowledge. To get bullied into thinking a different opinion. Exactly. It says, how you do, we're going to. But I found, like, that whole trio surprisingly engaging because, I don't know what, usually

Starting point is 00:05:49 even, that's the weirdest part to me. It's usually, like, desert stuff can kind of make me tune out a little bit. And I'm actually absorbed at it. I don't know why. I actually don't know why I've been enjoying this so much more. I think there is something to be said for when the storytelling doesn't rely as heavily on dialogue. One thing, too, I've noticed in these two episodes is that there's way less speech-giving. First season was like so many scenes would amount to like an inspiring monologue of some kind and...

Starting point is 00:06:18 It tried being rousing and shit. It tried being epic and rousing and like, oh, this is so damn important, but also these mysteries are so grand. And it's like the mysteries were not grand and the writing wasn't really far beyond the depth of the surface. So yeah, it's like here is something like that I think is interesting. A, because I think once they're off on their own as a duo and then a trio, you know, I think there's just a general underdogness that's different here. Like before it was like, oh, Nori is kind of like a black sheep among the harfuts. And now it's sort of like, oh, they're traveling off into sort of uncharted territory. and I think their plot line represents a their each plot thread I think has a different level of like you know broad expanses of ways it could pan out some things seem like they're leading in a particular direction whereas the stuff with the wizard and the harfoot seems like it's it's kind of there's a more vast potential there and I also think that the setting deserts can be drab but I think they chose good locations in that they're desolate in the right ways but they're also.

Starting point is 00:07:25 so interesting in the right ways and I think Lord of the Rings I rarely think of deserts I think of mines I think of forests I think I think of New Zealand I think of New Zealand I think of water I think of greenery I think of a lot of stuff that isn't the desert so I feel like it's for me been a nice visual and just like I don't know there's something about the way they capture the atmosphere where I'm like I can kind of feel the heat and most other places I can feel how cold and damp it is you often point out geography with these things and it does make the map feel bigger especially when you cut to where's a calabana calabrimbor uh he's it

Starting point is 00:07:59 edgio eggio something like when you catch the hand we're looking up it's like thunderous skies that feel appropriately theatrical you know like oh let's cue the the thunder right on time and all this like things that are just a little cheesy but it's like hollywoody you know yeah whatever i'm enjoying it's fun it's theatrical it complements in a cheeky way his yeah great power. Yeah, yeah. So I really

Starting point is 00:08:25 enjoy that. But then when you get to the desert, it feels like you're on a completely different side of the map here versus where he's at. Even that contrasts with where the other elves are at. So I think that works. Everything with Calabrowny. Calabrimbor.

Starting point is 00:08:42 It sounds like I'm intentionally doing it. I'm just not trying to remember his name. I'm just going with whatever comes out of my mouth. Calibrimbor. Calabrimbor. All right. Calabrimbor. It's force a lot. Yes. Calabrimbor. Calabrimbor.

Starting point is 00:08:58 He's good. I was worried he was going to, like, die for some reason. At first. Sure, they keep worrying me at the outset of things, and then, like, you know, the further we get into a lot of these scenes, the more I'm like, oh, okay, cool. Like, I think there's something to be said for. There's been no action. And it's, like, been enjoyable. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:15 No actions. And we haven't even seen badass elf yet. Like, you know, there's still stuff to come to be revealed. and I think there is something also in the way they're approaching this season where I think the first season made a mistake with a lot of its it's not going so much for mystery box anymore and I think it's kind of conscientious to go like we know where a lot of things are headed so actually let's get submerged in the debates let's get submerged in the temptations

Starting point is 00:09:46 because we all know the rings are the conduits for all this downfall But I do like that in the here and now of it, they're debating it and they're, you know, doing the, we're going to run the test of like the Boromere thing. I'm like, what if we could use it for good? What if we could harness the power for good? And because we're not as far along as that, it makes more sense to do that. And even here, Galadriel, Galadryl, is more of an underdog, too. And in the first season, she was just so assured and so single-minded and spoke to everyone the same way. Well, whereas here, you know, there's just more.

Starting point is 00:10:20 stakes with her character personally. Yes. I still find her to not be... She is not the most interesting character. No. And I think in the last season they were like, you're the lead. You're the lead.

Starting point is 00:10:37 You know, and it really feels more like a full ensemble. Yes. I don't get the sense that they've like pushed her to the... They've done it smart. They've done it in a wise way. I don't feel like they pushed her back, push her to the side, nor do I feel like they have made her the established

Starting point is 00:10:55 leads still. So I think they've done a nice job of not drawing attention to, oh, it's not like the Galadriel show and others now. Yeah. And I feel like that really helps it out a lot because she is not the most interesting character. But she works better in this fitting of this positioning of the character. She works better when we're not supposed to be locked into her POV. Yeah. And I think her inner i think everyone's interactions the character dynamics are better overall like there's there's more motion involved in it because we do know where the plot's going like it's kind of stupid to try to make a mystery box around like well we fucking know what's going to have yeah yeah the whole scene the goddamn movie just like we know what's going to happen so to make it more about these other things

Starting point is 00:11:41 about these interactions and watching the developments of these relationships is stronger and not everything is like firing you know sometimes it's a little bit of a drag at certain points this is way more proportionate for like what it is it's no I think yeah it's that thing of like it doesn't feel like it's working so hard to justify how expensive it is and to convince you that it's like earth shatteringly grandiose I can't think of a scene where I was like every part of this is boring like there's at least there's at least like sometimes you're like okay this is a bit dull sure but then something will happen that all right that was that's good you know like even with the uh even with the uh you with the dwarves. It's not the most exciting stuff going on. I really like the scene with the dude, I don't know anyone's name. The king and the wife. DeSah is the wife. They interact. And luckily for you, her husband and his father, the king, have the same name, so they're both Duren. Yeah, their interaction of like watching that this downfall is happening between them and they're so similar, I feel like is better fleshed out. And I guess the only thing I was kind of checking out during truly was the Kieran Hines scene.

Starting point is 00:12:56 I was like, I'm a little bored here. And I like that. I know you liked the visual a lot in the mood. I wasn't, I just wasn't clicking with that. I like the moth stuff. But yeah, I mean, we have like little association with that to go off of. So it's more just, yeah, like, oh, cool. Actor who I assume because they cast a recognizable actor, this character will come back and be, you know, a bigger part of it.

Starting point is 00:13:15 But like, yeah, as much as I thought the execution of that was pretty cool, it's not a Among the scenes I would point to anywhere close to the middle or top of the good scenes of these episodes. I would say I've ventured into its enjoyable territory. I'm not like, the only real, like, okay, between the two episodes, the only real, like, tension scene I was really feeling it was the scene with Calabrimbor and Sauron. like that was the scene where I was I was really feeling I'm like really hooked into this what's going on in this scene right now yeah absolutely and what it even involved into that was the one but I'm not really generating much like like I'm not like this is exciting or this is tense but I'm enjoying it you know that's the thing is I've at least entered I'm enjoying it right yeah it's it's it's clearly building off of as as we've said it's clearly building off of some constructive criticism and I think that if they just just continue to do that, this could crest eventually into something that is truly great, but right now it's, it's gotten pretty good. It's gone from being very hit or miss to being like, it's pretty good. It's way more enjoyable. And I will happily accept that. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:36 just, yeah, here's- I like Elron way more to the season. Yeah, and I think so much better. And I think that's a cool dynamic they've drawn with him because obviously we have the association and, you know, the the uh hugo weaving elrond is so collected and he has a calming presence for us the audience and here he is the one one of a very few characters we like know is kind of on the right track yeah you can see how this guy got laid and got a little arwin that's right you can definitely he's got that he's got that charm with just the right amount of james dean yeah he but uh to have him be in this position where he's I don't know, everyone's gotten a bit of an underdogish or everyone's kind of on a back foot this season.

Starting point is 00:15:20 And he is like right about so many things. So it's a little bit of a contrast with him, but he's still got that like pathos of like shit. No one's listening to me. And we're in a pretty bad place where we may lose, you know, our entire future because of these decisions. More people should listen to Elron. But even that, even him and the ancient guy who he goes to who loves the rings and the ancient guy who seems like he could be creepy. but we don't know, old elf man with the fish. Even that, I was expecting at the outset not to be as interesting as it eventually.

Starting point is 00:15:56 Like them having the debate by the water with the fish thing, as much as you can tell, like, man, this isn't going to go well. You know, you can't harness this power. Like, I think sometimes you can get around the we already know it with just having the debate and making that compelling. And while that wasn't the most, like, rich scene in the. episode even that was something where i was like i don't know about this and i'm you know was pretty enjoying that too that's the other words um so yeah so far so decent so far so decent and uh and the whole thing where they did the singing i do i do appreciate too that it seems like these episodes these two episodes have taken time for sequences that involve just physical action and not

Starting point is 00:16:41 dialogue always not to slight the dialogue there's some lovely appropriate deliberately Tolkien-esque dialogue here, but scenes like that were they do the ritual, they sing the song, and you're just observing, you know, some kind of tradition, some kind of process that is just of these people and just of this fantasy world. I think those do a lot to transport us and the way that, like I was even struck by the times in the first two episodes where there was like a song or music and they just let you bask in that for a minute. Like those kinds of things go a long way and just immersing you into the world, I think. So yeah All right Well until next episode where we get some kind of rousing speech We're doing good So hey leave us your thoughts Earn the rousing speech

Starting point is 00:17:25 Yeah you can't It's not You can't go into a Lord of the Rings show being like Well one of the major tropes We have to have rousing speeches So we got to get at least a few rousing speeches Yeah Earn the moment

Starting point is 00:17:38 And leave the space between it And embrace the space between it But anyway, what did you guys think? Leave us your thoughts. Tell us what to think. And we'll be back before you know it for season two, episode three. Stay powerful. Michael B.

Starting point is 00:17:57 Michael is covering rings of power as well. So I guess you should watch his shitty-ass reaction channel. If you were a shitty commentary with a shitty face, go ahead, watch it. Oh, as an octet. Oh, M as in Miguel. N as in Niagara Nancy. One as in I need to go take a number one right now.

Starting point is 00:18:22 M as in meteor right. E as an egg savior. D as in ding-dong ditch-de-ditch. I as in igloo igniting, interesting. A as in asshole, which is OmniMedia. That's what you are, man. Go watch his asshole channel. Watch his assholes sing.

Starting point is 00:18:44 Yeah, buddy.

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The Reel Rejects - THE RINGS OF POWER 2x02 Breakdown & Review

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