Rings of Power: episode 201 impressions

The hour was so late and the episode was so long, we’d no rest nor comfort, no comfort but song, not enough rest to tackle 202 and 203. Unlikely to watch them before Saturday, so any posts on them would go up Sunday at the soonest. These are impressions, rather than deep thoughts, and below the cut, they include spoilers for anything that crosses my mind, including rumors about late-season-two plot developments.

The Short Version: so far, I really feel like the events of season one should have been covered in about four or five episodes, and the events of this episode should have been part of the second half. If we get to a moment in a later episode where I can honestly say: “I think season one should have ended here,” I will try to remember to point it out. Maybe the editing geeks who spend their time endlessly recutting the PJ Hobbit movies and the 1980s Dune will take a shot at ROP whenever it ends. ROP’s acting and visuals remain good overall, but dark scenes are barely watchable even in a dark room, and the day for night shooting in the Rhun scenes could have come out of the old spaghetti westerns that the Spanish location used for Rhun undoubtedly hosted at one time or another. Thought the directing was good if self-indulgent. Writing seems somewhat improved, but is a long way from flawless.

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Monitoring the Rings of Power Season 2 “official” reviews…

This was the only one that seemed addressed to the kind of viewer I am:

https://decider.com/2024/08/28/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-season-2-on-prime-video-review

Yeah, I liked Krull, and the best fifteen or so minutes of Labyrinth and Legend, and the climax of Return of the Jedi, where Star Wars really doubles down on the fantasy. I liked Jason and the Argonauts and Seventh Voyage of Sindbad (even though I find stop-motion kind of overrated as a technique.) I liked Darby O’ Gill. I’m indulgent of the “Arwen and horse mystically rescue Aragorn” sequence in the Two Towers. I’m indulgent of the Hobbit movies, which somehow magically improve a fair amount in the extended version. This guy makes the case that ROP is flawed but also endearingly nerdy and mystical, and that’s probably the best summary of what it has going for it that I’ve seen.

(Disclaimer, watching at least the opener and maybe all three episodes this evening with my co-watchers; if I manage a reaction post it will probably land on Friday.)

Weird Wednesday: Rings of Power Rewatch: Episode 108

Note: my co-watchers and I were originally planning on watching 108 and 201 as a double feature on Thursday and maybe holding off on 202 and 203 until Friday, but a mystery anthology series we watch handed us one of those bummer episodes where the murderer is the only sympathetic character, and we wanted something to wash off the taste.

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Rings of Power Rewatch: Episodes 104-107

General thoughts: I feel like this series plays better in binges than dribbled out one at a time, even if it exposes some very repetitive bits of story telling. And knowing somewhat where it’s going, based on the season finale and the previews of Season 2, also helps. Is it good that my main reaction to our heroine’s activities tends to be “Welp, Galadriel stepped on another rake”…? – No, it is not…but it’s better than “these writers are morons for thinking this stuff makes Galadriel look smart or heroic,” which was my reaction on first viewing to alot of this.

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Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Sussex

S&S has more plot and arguably more appealing characters than Mansfield Park, but has a similar tendency to view character and plot developments from a thousand foot view, and also tends to focus a certain amount of attention on “alternate histories” that don’t come to pass, although it’s not as aggressive about it as Mansfield Park. Our hypothetical adaptation of S&S is a miniseries of four to six episodes of one hour+ apiece, on one of the major streaming services, with a hefty budget and a level of stylization similar to the 2020 Emma, although with a different color palette and “vibe.” I am breaking the story out roughly by location, to make these posts a more manageable size.

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Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Rest of the Characters

I felt that the Dashwoods, Ferrarses, and Edward’s secret fiancee needed to all be treated in one post, so here we are with the rest of this large cast of characters…

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Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwoods and Ferrarses

I recently finished listening to this book on Librivox (the Karen Savage reading), and decided to start blogging again about adapting Jane Austen. For an introductory essay on the subject, go here. For subsequent essay, click on the Jane Austen category in this blog. As usual, we start with the characters:

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