So after the optimism of Part I, time to turn to the dark side; because – let’s be honest – the series is FAR from being perfect.
If I were to break things down, there are three major axes of evil that bothered me : Pacing, Excess and character development. “so pretty much everything then?” You ask, and with a chuckle I answer “no…but….” Followed by a shrug of my shoulders.
Pacing & Excess :
I guess these two go together, and are pretty much different facets of the same problem, in a chicken-and-egg way. And if we were to get philosophical about things, we can generalize the phenomenon to just the TV-Serial format of shows these days.
It wasn’t long ago that season-long story arcs were much more of rarity. If I rack my brain I would go back to such ‘innovative’ shows in the 90s like Buffy and even Deep Space Nine (and I’m sure some geek friends would insist on including Babylon 5 in there, though I never got into it), as the avant garde of the movement, and I would put Battle Star Galactica in this bunch, though it came out a few years later. And then by the time we got to the 2000s we had such great series as The Wire, Sopranos, Dexter (and so on … ) that refined the genre.
I think the former worked because despite the large number of episodes per season there were standalone episodes that worked well in isolation, as well as episodes that contributed to the greater story arc; while the latter worked because they were lean enough to last only 8-10 episodes, but had enough time to flesh out characters and still have a certain unity to each episode (it’s a given that they were very well written).
And then suddenly story-arc driven series became the only show in town, so to speak. The problem often (and I think I would put much of the blame for that on entities such as Marvel and Disney) is that what has happened is that a series has simply become a long movie chopped up into episodes. And the problem with THAT is that I don’t think the creation and conception process is the same as a series. I think it screws up the pacing.
A movie is not MEANT to be that long, and so if you are writing a movie that is to last 8 hours, then you’re gonna have to put in a lot of filler material that doesn’t really contribute in a meaningful way to the story, but that isn’t anything self-contained in its own way either.
I’m not saying that is the intention of the writers here, but it definitely feels that way often. Maybe I’m just not fan of a few of the storylines, but … I don’t think that is quite it.
There are just so many things that feel like can be cut from this story thus far … let’s see if I can come up with a few :
- While I love the whole idea of seeing the “southlands” before they’re turned into Mordor … the whole story leading up to it seems so …superfluous! Especially all that has to do with Bronwyn’s son and the remnant of accursed sword hilt that eventually creates that flood, blah blah blah. Do we really need to go on and on about these people and this story only to have it lead to the creation of Mount Doom??? I mean we spend soooooo much time on this, and then suddenly over the span of one episode the whole of the south succumbs to the explosion of mount doom and BAM! Ladies and gentlement … Mordor! (also…i’m not a geologist but uh…that’s now how water and volcanos work).
- The whole storyline with Bronwyn and Arondir just makes me want to go … grrr! Yea, I’m a purist, Elf-Man (or woman) love is quite an exclusive thing in the world of Tolkien dammit! And it’s not about racism! It’s about differences in the natures of these peoples! I mean there is a reason why the ONLY Elf-Human couplings in the world of Tolkien have taken place when the human had spent a lot f time with or even grew up with Elves, and was almost adopted into their way of living … OR … because of some sort of cosmically ineluctable Love, that even the gods could not stop.
You simply cannot and should not make something like that BANAL!
The whole point is that such unions are terribly rare and the product of such unions are Universe-changing or at least History-forming moments. Thus, this whole “love story” between Bronwyn and Arondir feels so artificial and tacked-on, as if some sort of an excuse of such magnitude would be necessary to justify the time we are about to spend in the south. I mean honestly tell me, once the Mount Doom Mechanism is triggered, how much time do we really spend with these people spend ?
Addendum : Don’t get me wrong, I LIKE the idea of developing the nature of the Humans on middle earth (as opposed to the Edain on Numenor); it’s GOOD that we’re being told that (just like in Tolkien’s writings) most of these were aligned with Morgoth/Sauron; but this can be done without having to tack on the whole love story or the silly magical-sauron-sword-hilt.
- A lot of what goes on in Numenor, especially with Isildur, seems like extra fat. Especially since it’s not that well-written. And so there is a bit too much fluff sort of tryign to tell us how we’re supposed to feel about these people. I’m sorry but the Isildur in the books is definitely not a whiny kid, if anything to me he comes off as rather a cocky dude (not that there is much direct characterization of Isildur)! And after spending all that time we simply let go of Isildur at the end … which bring me to another gripe
Enough with the Mysterybox !
I’m sorry but I’ve had it up to here (points to neck area) with prolonged mysteries which are not mysterious at all (or worse, nonsensical) in movies and series. I mean I understand that everyone in Hollywood is under a spell and believe that J.J.Abrams is some sort of genius but come on !
If everything is a mystery, then nothing is a mystery.
Why can’t we make just ONE thing mysterious (and prolong that mystery into a cliffhanger). One thing that actually matters; one thing whose knowledge would be a game-changer in our view of the story? Why can we not content ourselves with quality rather than quantity?
What does it change that we only keep the identity of Halbrand a mystery, and not also that of Adar, AND the mysterious stranger fallen from the sky? And if the story of the weird magical-sauron-hilt wasn’t also a mystery?
It feels cheap. We are being treated as children who’d lose interest in everything if it wasn’t mysterious. As if we wouldn’t come back and watch the next episode if the itch to solve that mystery wasn’t there! It underestimates the audience, and it desensitizes us to the allure and power of a TRUE mystery.
Character development & General Gripes :
- Isn’t it ironic that the downfall of a lot of our 8-hour-movies-cum-TV-series is the lack of character development? Or may I’m using the word wrong. Maybe it’s just bad character building.
There are so many characters in this series, and so many characters I just don’t feel any particular affection for other than meh. Is it just me or does anyone else have trouble caring for a lot of these people?
As of the writing of this, I cannot yet put my finger on what is the missing ingredient, but I suspect it is a mix of of various ingredients. - The writing and characterization of people like Isildur or anyone else is for that matter is cliché at best and forced and unrealistic at worst. Enough with the misunderstood maladroit adolescent archetype already! It’s so unfortuante given the utter importance of this character in the future of what is to come in Middle-Earth.
- Is there any reason to keep the identity of the ‘Stranger’ from the sky a mystery? Are we gaining anything from it? And what is up with the way the Harfoots react and relate to him? They honestly come across as pretty my gaslighting the guy whenever he starts to do something magical. Never letting him go all the way before reacting badly and never really taking into account anythign good that he does! It feels like the anti-thesis of character developement, we are supposed sway in our judgement of The Stranger based on the non-sensical behaviour of these proto-hobbits! And this leads to one of the silliest moments near the end when The Stranger / Gandalf half asks half declares “I’m good?!” Come on!
- Oh my poor Gil-Galad! What have they made of you, you used to be the noble High King of all the Noldor! Oh poor Celebrimbor, what have they dont to you, you who used to be the grandson of the Greatest of all the Elves (i.e. Feanor) and took most after him in craft! . Come to think of it, most of the Eldar are not portrayed in any sort of a flattering way, other than doing things slowly and with being arrogant snobs (and not in a good way).
- Galadriel !!! Grrr … but there is a whole post coming on that next.
- The Music : it .. is .. so .. constantly … epic !!! Please…stop. Silence is just an important part of music as the notes that you play! I feel like the music, is part of the gaslighting that the series is trying to do , by imposing what we are supposed to feel constantly through this music.
If everything is epic, which it seems to be the sound of it (see what i did there?), then nothing is epic! And i feel bad for Bear McCreary, who is a great TV/Film composer, but you are NOT Howard Shore, and this is NOT Peter Jackson “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, nor should you or it try to be! It’s too much.
I think it’s best I stop here, because at some point it just becomes ranting, once the point has been made. I guess i’m just upset because 1) I had told myself that i will NOT have any expectations of this series, and 2) I had told myself regardless of how this series ends up i wasn’t going to get upset and i wasn’t able to hold to that promise; and i failed on both accounts. But such is the lot of us Tolkien fantatics.
Next Episode : The Problem of Galadriel.
