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Episode 3! So I do still think there's a fair bit of clunkiness to this whole thing, but it's overall much more enjoyable than that bad episode 1 first impression for me. Nori and Poppy are definitely the show's highlight for me so far. But dear lord, I absolutely do not understand why they decided to make Galadriel such an unpleasant, unlikeable person. She's been rude and arrogant to practically everyone she meets, including people who are being kind and helpful. She's had her life saved twice by someone now, and she acts so above everyone she won't even show them the slightest bit of gratitude! If she were a guy, I'd say she's being a huge dick to everyone, but she's not so.

While I don't disagree with you, what makes it work for me is that I don't think the show writers expect her to be likeable. No one likes her in the show. She's got no friends except Elrond, who is friends with everyone, even dwarves.

Presumably, she is going to grow into a more gracious Galadriel over the course of the show.

If making her unlikable was intentional then, well, that certainly is a choice!

Is everyone cool if we go ahead and make this a thread where we can post spoilers without worry?

Well, I would say "just use the spoiler tags", but since our spoiler tags aren't working, I'd say use your best hippopotamical judgement.

Maybe put SPOILERS in the thread title? If anyone wants a spoiler-free discussion, they could be a separate thread.

This could be a clever use of the Ahsoka Tano approach. Dave Filoni knew that any new flawless "Young Jedi" was gonna be hated by the fans, so he deliberately gave her huge character flaws in the early episodes so he could control what the fans disliked, then fixed those flaws slowly so people could see her growing and maturing. She then became an absolute fan favourite.

Of course, its trickier to do that with Galadriel, but unlike twitterverse, I agree that a younger version of Movie Galadriel would have nowhere to go over 5 years if she already started out like Cate Blanchett's Galadriel (who I personally was never sold on despite the entire Tolkien fandom disagreeing with me ) This Galadriel is at least interesting.

I keep thinking that they are writing her like Eowyn - cold, hard, stubborn - but without any of the more beautiful, loving qualities that make Eowyn so compelling.

I agree about the clunkiness, yov. I'd been having no luck describing how I felt about this show, but clunky is pretty spot on in my opinion.

I'm not getting drawn in at all by the story. Name-dropping and pretty scenery and there's not much else.

yovargas wrote:

I keep thinking that they are writing her like Eowyn - cold, hard, stubborn - but without any of the more beautiful, loving qualities that make Eowyn so compelling.

On reflection, I think Eowyn is a harsher character than ROP Galadriel. Galadriel knows who she needs to fight and why. Eowyn wants to win battlefield glory, and the field just happens to be Pelennor. She is angry at being forced into the "softer", more traditionally feminine, role of caring for her uncle, and even Gandalf agrees she has a point.

Even her crush of Aragorn takes form of the desire to fight at his side.

She does get her character growth after Pelennor, which would probably be two seasons after her introduction, if LotR was filmed as a streaming show.

ROP Galadriel reminds me, not of Eowyn, but of iconic male heroes like James T. Kirk, who always know best, do whatever they want without regard for authority, and of course turn out to be right all along. Except Galadriel is beginning to learn diplomacy only 4 episodes in.

Man, I know we're a small group and all but I still expected people to be more interested in talking about the show here. Has everyone kept going with it?

Yeah, but most of the conversation is over on HoF

I'm not watching it, but I'm interested in following the conversation and reading the vastly different opinions (it sucks / it's the best thing ever).

It's neither of those things, TBH, but it's excellent quality TV, although whether it meets people's expectations as a Tolkien is a personal matter. It is beautiful visually, manages to have exciting action without being gory, and the plotting is so clever that no two people agree on where it's going, and yet most theories sound plausible and logical.

Alatar wrote: *

Mon 19 Sep , 2022 12:32 pm

Yeah, but most of the conversation is over on HoF

Sure, but I'm not over there so where's the fun in that.

I'll say after feeling more positive in ep2 & 3, I found ep4 to be a bit of a slog. For one thing, there's too damn many plot lines going on at once and most of them feel like they have little to no connection to each other. But more than that is I'm finding the Numenor stuff pretty hard to follow, in part cuz I don't think the writers are doing a good job at making the storylines and character motivations there clear (or interesting; am I supposed to care about Isildur passing a sailing test or that Faux-Aragorn is some lost king?). It's not terrible IMO but it feels like a bit of a mess. And Galadriel still sucks. (My eyes were rolling out of my head when Faux-Aragorn had to teach Galadriel that sometimes it's helpful to be diplomatic. What a brilliant revelation! )

I haven't watched beyond episode 2. (I don't mind spoilers, though, so I'm reading along here.) I have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it AND have the time. I live with a physically energetic person who always has a zillion ongoing projects, and I feel guilty for watching TV. Plus I am on high anxiety alert for Katie's wedding. Soooo... I'll watch the next episode as soon as I can.

So far here's what I have. I like Nori and her friend. That storyline is intriguing. Galadriel is pretty but needs to lighten the fuck up. The Black elf dude is hot, as is the woman who's in love with him. Not buying the super scary underground Orc. Who is the giant? I should know this.

See? Deep thoughts by Lali.

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The black elf dude (I think he may be Hispanic actually) is as handsome as Elrond isn't.
But Elrond has a personality, unlike the other guy so Elrond wins. (I assume he and his lady have a names but I have no idea what they are.)

(Also, why does Celebrimbor (sp?) look like a middle aged accountant?)

I enjoyed the first two episodes, then it became a bit of a slog. The Harfoot storyline is the most engaging, maybe because the writers aren’t constrained at all? Elrond is growing on me. Galadriel reads as neurodiverse in her single mindedness and complete lack of social awareness, which just makes me like her. Celebrimbor is just so badly cast.

I definitely think the Nori/Poppy and Elrond/Durin/Wife stories are the best part of the show, and it comes down to the characters being likeable and enjoyable. While some of the others are good actors and such, they don't really have anything to spark my interest so far.

Estel wrote: *

Tue 20 Sep , 2022 4:48 pm

I enjoyed the first two episodes, then it became a bit of a slog. The Harfoot storyline is the most engaging, maybe because the writers aren’t constrained at all? Elrond is growing on me. Galadriel reads as neurodiverse in her single mindedness and complete lack of social awareness, which just makes me like her. Celebrimbor is just so badly cast.

Every sentence here is basically the polar opposite of what people are saying on HoF. It amuses me how much opinions can vary.

And as I said there, it's one of the strengths of the show. You can go get a snack while your less favored storyline is on screen.

Which is how I missed the whole bit with Pharazon in e3.