The Rings of Power – Season 1 Review

We’ve finished the first season of The Rings of Power. It failed to meet fan expectations. However, it did manage to trigger a wave of criticism and negative viewer feedback like perhaps no other series before it. Distinguishing between deserved criticism and just loud noise is difficult these days.

Amazon took on a massive project. They spent a record-breaking amount of resources and hoped for the best. But they ran into fans who know how to fight for what they love and are sensitive to things being different than expected. I get it. I’ve been there. Satisfying a die-hard fan is sometimes impossible. If something changes, they complain; if it’s exactly like the source material, they complain that it’s unoriginal. It’s a lose-lose situation. Moreover, Tolkien holds a unique position in pop culture. He has influenced the lives of several generations. Yet, Amazon decided to borrow only a piece of his work and believed they could fill in the gaps their own way. Bold! But I don’t understand how they entrusted all of this to writers without experience or vision.

A Good Start

The first three episodes didn’t start off badly at all. We were introduced to an old, different, yet familiar Middle-earth. A host of new characters and old-new characters in new contexts were introduced. We explored the unique visual style outlined by the illustrations of John Howe and Alan Lee, which were perfected by Peter Jackson in his two trilogies. We got a glimpse into places we only knew from fragments and hints. Basically, it worked.

But then the introductions ended, the creators had to rely on their own strength, and suddenly it became painfully obvious that they couldn’t even come close to measuring up to Tolkien (who can?). They started changing and adding things insensitively, speculating, and in the end, everything fell apart more epically than Sauron’s tower in The Return of the King.

A Screenwriting Dragon Desert

Imagine how many people are involved in filming a project like this. Today, the credits are often longer than the film itself. It’s a wonder that among this crowd, not one person said, “That’s nonsense, let’s do it better, we have enough money.” But the writers probably thought it was more reasonable to ditch logic, interesting dialogue, or the philosophy of the source material. Most of the main characters lose their depth, their motivations are strange, and the words coming out of their mouths are confusing. Not even decent acting can save that.

Somewhere in the middle of the season, it dawned on me that I might be torturing myself for no reason. I’m not watching a cult adaptation of a cult source material that will change my life. I’m just watching a series… Eventually, I caught myself having a heretical thought – is it my problem that I love Tolkien’s work so much that I can’t enjoy this with a clear conscience? I understand, however, that this is the wrong approach.

Jackson’s films are far from perfect. They left out or changed quite a few things. I remember well how many people were fuming back then. But in the end, the fandom accepted them because love and respect for the source material radiated from them. Jackson himself often said that whenever he was in a tight spot, a simple thing always saved him: going back to the text of the books. Amazon, on the other hand, entrusted everything to writers who probably thought today’s consumer wouldn’t think about the logic of the plot and scenes. Wrong!

Beauty Hidden in a Pile of Manure

When you shovel all that away and your headache from all the regular facepalms subsides, you’ll find plenty of nice things in the first season. They clearly saved a lot on writers and directors, so there was enough budget left to make everything look beautiful. Few series today have such an expansive production. Truly a joy to behold. A strong whiff of Middle-earth often flashes across the screen. The atmosphere regularly works very well, and tension and mystery are built skillfully. You can even believe some characters and watch their development with satisfaction. Even Galadriel doesn’t end up being just an arrogant harpy blindly chasing revenge.

It’s All the Dwarves’ Fault!

Clearly, the best storyline of the entire series is the friendship between Durin and Elrond. It’s beautiful to see that when you dial back the vain attempt to create something epic at any cost, it can work. Here, a simple Tolkien truth surfaces: friendship and love always win. But immediately after, the plot with Mithril comes along, and you’re back to shaking your head in disbelief at the screen. Why?!

I even enjoyed the straightforward, almost naive “hobbit” pathos, which fits into the later provincialism and kindness of the Shire. In the end, even Sauron’s reveal worked, even though it didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. It’s a wonder there was space for drivel like “The sea is always right.” :)

The Rings of Power will hardly satisfy a fan of Middle-earth and its history. It’s hard to say if that would even be possible. Even if you approach this work with a truly open mind, you’re still left with a strange aftertaste of disappointment and indignation. Especially when some random idiot on Reddit writing on their phone in the bathroom comes up with better plots and dialogue. Hopefully, the creators will learn from this and understand that they must approach this brand with more respect. They certainly have the potential. Unless there’s some major production intervention, we have seven more seasons to go. All we can do is hope. So far, we’ve only gotten a very average (and at times, severely below-average) fantasy series. But I’m curious to see what happens next.