Corporate Fantasy Screensaver: The Fellowship of Something or Other
***I saw the first episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - "Shadow of the Past". This review is specifically for that first episode, not the series as a whole (yet).***
So, what does one do telling a story whose ending is already known? I was always puzzled on a storytelling standpoint why Amazon Studios chose this over all other IP products they could have chosen to invest in, especially a story that looks 'back' instead of looking 'forward' in a narrative. For example, I think a large part of the difficulty of the Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars was due to the fact that we knew who would survive and who would (likely) die. Very little left to the imagination in terms of true suspense. I anticipate it will be a similar corner that Rings of Power will end up in. I hope I'm wrong.
First, what to raise a pint of the Green Dragon to - namely, the set design. I could tell the teams within the set designs, both physical and digital, poured their heart and soul in making it live and breathe as a place. It is always refreshing to be carried away by a world. I was more than impressed by their work and I hope they are commended and paid well for their efforts.
It is evident that this is a high budget production. There is some level of expectancy that it would need to be at a different level than most tv shows visually given the financial means they had to work with. To this end, it has succeeded.
And now, the longer journey through Middle-Earth that frankly, needs work….
The Prologue or The Absence of Morgoth (“By rights we shouldn’t even be here!”)
One of the key elements of any good visual storytelling moment is giving the audience the ability to 'see' what happens rather than 'tell' us what happens. I know many can draw upon the initial battle of Sauron vs Men & Elves in Fellowship of the Ring as one of the more powerfully filmed sequences to show us the enormous odds that the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth were facing against Sauron.
So why did it work in Fellowship? I think it worked because Sauron's size and power were shown with equal visual weight, and the iconic 'finger-slicing' sword moment of Isildur was shown through image, not simply dialogue.
The “Shadow of the Past" introduction depends far too much on the dialogue itself to carry the weight of the battle against Morgoth (which, on a pragmatic level, might be because of rights limitations). We see the hordes of orcs and the dragons, but only briefly (and flatly lit) where the color grading of the ground battle looks oddly out of place from the epic shots of gigantic eagles and terrifying dragons. She tells us “Morgoth was vanguished” and "Sauron had to flee" but neither of those moments are shown. This was a gigantic opportunity lost, for no one apart from those that read the books actually will see how treacherous and evil a character Morgoth was in the Middle-Earth world. As a viewer I don't understand why they could defeat Morgoth but not Sauron, who was Morgoth's lesser in terms of strength and size. I hope future episodes actually focus on that difference and not simply through thrown-in dialogue, however well-read the narration may be.
Galadriel's substance as a leader (“instead of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen!”)
Her leadership itself isn’t an issue. Who better to lead the Elves on mission into the darkness than one of the most powerful elves in the history of Middle-Earth? It is how the writers chose her emotional set-up of why she’s obsessed with taking down Sauron in the first place that I have to address. I was gobsmacked by how little I cared.
As a global audience, thanks to Peter Jackson’s trilogy, most of us KNOW how much of a baddie Sauron is (or are at least aware of it). The writers of “Shadow of the Past” seemed keen to emphasize that point without offering anything new in the process. We knew everything they told us. Nothing new was expressed. All we saw were flashpoints (almost video game cut-scene style) that told us how to feel, rather than draw us in.
There was an incredibly easy solution to this that would have made Galadriel a far more captivating character for me. She’s already a warrior at that point of the War of Wrath, correct? Why not SHOW her brother slain by Sauron in front of our eyes and more importantly, in front of Galadriel. Make us understand her centuries’ long obsession is based on an actual event she witnessed but could not stop. You could even throw in the High King Gil-Galad and her elven warriors fighting, but not willing to risk their lives to vanquish Sauron, thus sacrificing her brother to the slaughter. Make Galadriel’s anger at them for cowardice in her quest to track him down visually palpable.
I think Clark did a fine job as an actor portraying one as an elf kindled by rage and hatred of Sauron, but I as a mere mortal myself who is not a warrior, I found it difficult to really ‘feel’ for her. It made me recall that 10 second moment in “Fellowship of the Ring” where Isildur witnesses his father Elendil bludgeoned to death by Sauron. The grief, fear and rage is all shown within those 10 seconds. As the viewer I understand every piece of that because I was ’shown’ Isildur going through that moment, not ‘told’. I hope if anyone in the writing teams are reading this review, please, I beg you, don’t fall into that trap of telling us about events constantly and expect us to still identify with that character as strongly as we did with those in the original movie trilogy. Unless you show us, it will be hard to want to keep watching this for another five years, let alone the next season.
The Diversity of Language as a Showcase of Culture (“cannot be concealed by the power of the Elves”)
The lack of Elvish itself within the narrative of the Elves themselves was bewildering. JRR Tolkien's expertise as a fantasy fiction writer was largely based on how detailed he went to make the races within those world so uniquely specific through language and culture. Professor Tolkien created almost 12 languages single-handedly.
I had to recollect after the fact why the Elves felt so similar to the world of Men in the first episode and then it hit me: they chose to NOT use the Elvish language in scenes that were featuring only Elves. The main scene I refer to is when High King Gil-Galad of Lindon makes his congratulatory speeches to Galadriel and her warriors. If I'm to truly believe that the Elves are the lords of Middle-Earth, especially at Lindon's height of power, everyone in Middle-Earth would recognize that Elvish is the main language people would want to speak, not the other way around. At the very least, that should have been the focus within the Lindon sequences. All I heard was the Common Tongue (aka English). My guess is that Amazon is attempting to make the story as wide-reaching as possible for all their Prime users, but I could not find it more ironic of them assimilating the Elven culture to the Common Tongue for the sake of ‘universality’ all the while celebrating other choices they made. This is a lost opportunity to welcome in new watchers into the Tolkien world that felt like Tolkien’s making, rather than a company attempting to convince us they can mimic it.
The ending - “my people are leaving these shores”
Galadriel willfully plunging into the middle of the Sundering Seas after what seems like hundreds (if not thousands) of miles was one of the more blatant uses of a future Deus Ex Machina I’ve seen in decades for a big-budget production. It reminded me sadly how different a TV show set in Middle Earth will be structured than a film, with each ending of an episode leaving you dissatisfied with some mystery yet to be discovered (unless you watch the next one). But here’s the thing, and it galls me because I WANTED to like this episode - I felt no urge, no compulsion, no interest whatsoever to know about Galadriel’s plight. Frankly, that moment felt written forcefully to move the plot, not an organic choice that sprung out of creativity.
A simple change in the story would create a desperate situation for our hero that would kindle our interest and sympathy. Why not have her elven warriors turn on her? If they were fed up with her relentless drive and ego to take down Sauron, why not one of her fellow warriors push her off the boat, denying her entrance into the eternal bliss of Valinor? It might have been initially cruel (and certainly a shock) but then the questions would percolate and make me want to see how she survives, rather than knowing in episode 2 she will be picked up by some kind of raft/ship/boat/etc. And why not we thicken the plot? What if the High King gives that order as his final command to the other elves? “Leave no trace” or something along those lines, and whisper that line in elvish in secret after the ceremony? Show that the corruption of Sauron, though still invisible, is starting to trickle into the veins of Linden itself.
“Here at the end of all things”
Bilbo Baggins was right, the power of the Ring does make one feel stretched and thin. Already I see the unfortunate gathering of what looks to be a beautiful-looking juggernaut of corporate fan fiction that cares not a button for what fans may or may not like. This I would be fine with if the show runners had insisted on better writing, which in turn would create engaging storytelling, regardless if they are taking Tolkien’s characters in a completely different direction than one would expect (or hope for). The Goodwill of all Free Folk will only go so far with this mindset.
So, for those of you who continue to watch, I wish you all the health that the Shire can muster. For I will not be continuing to watch, as I have yet to encounter a person who tells me “you HAVE to watch the rest!”. Until that point comes, I will keep my Middle-Earth adventures tied more closely to Tolkien’s literary rendition, rather than that of a corporation insistent to regurgitate drone-shot-after-expensive-drone-shot, 3D printed armor (my personal theory, some of the costumes have that look rather than organically made by hand), the writing playing Balderdash with the Fellowship of the Ring prologue, and characters that are telling us their importance, rather than showing their importance through their actions. Like Samwise Gamgee said, “if I take one more step, this is the furthest from home I’ve ever been”. I felt like this show was leaving the home of Middle-Earth into a void of strangeness with no real voice of its own nor language than that of the Tongues of Men. And the “hearts of men are easily corrupted”. I hope I’m proven wrong but until then, I have other roads to walk on.
Last thought - I have absolutely no problem with the show runners themselves. Frankly, I was impressed as first-time directors they were given the project and pulled off the season with the scale they had to handle. I’m hopeful that if they stick with it, and make a point to improve the writing, that their gamble will pay off to create a story that is memorable and brings people together in hope and one people will want to turn back to again and again.