Everyone, each of us, needs to decide who we shall be

Continuing my trip down Empire's Top 50 TV Shows of 2022.  

#17 : The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

It was Amazon’s multi-million dollar gamble that paid off, with the streamer splashing enough cash to fill Mount Doom in order to bring a new age of Mordor and Middle-earth to life. Set a few thousand years before Frodo and co. formed the Fellowship, Rings Of Power spun magic from the stories of a younger Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, living up to a role made famous on the big screen by Cate Blanchett) and her quest to track down Sauron when everyone around her seemed convinced he was gone for good. Spectacular visuals and storytelling that took in a variety of characters made for compelling viewing — from the wise and earthy Harfoots to the aloof elves and the grounded (literally) Dwarf kingdoms. Money well spent!

I watched this and have to say I wasn't entirely convinced - but it does feels very Empire, so I'm not surprised to see it here.  Where I can't argue with them is "spectacular visuals and storytelling that took in a variety of characters" - this was most definitely true.  Where I have a few more doubts is "made for compelling viewing"...

At this point, I'd generally give you a précis of the plot (or as much as I feel the need to do so) but given it all happened well over a year ago and it was extremely convoluted, you'll just have to read it all up on Wikipedia if you really care.  The story was made up of multiple threads most of which (I think) made some effort to intersect but you very much had to pay attention and stick with it for the duration - and some of them were a) less than fascinating and b) had far too much time spent on them.  So even I, who can forgive most LOTR-based nonsense (except for the multiple endings of The Return Of The King and the dwarf songs in The Hobbit), found myself getting somewhat frustrated by the pacing of it.

It did, however, always look good and, for the most part, was well acted.  Stand-out performances I remember are Morfydd Clark as Galadriel who does a great job in a role much expanded from Cate Blanchett's "just hang about and look mystical" thang, Markella Kavenagh as Nori who is a curious Harfoot and Owain Arthur as Durin, who feels he's been dropped in directly from the LOTR films.  I'm also going to give Lenny Henry a namecheck for just being Lenny - who doesn't love him?  It's a very big cast though so I'm struggling to remember some of them, but I don't think anyone was dreadful.

Did I mention this looked good?  Because it looked sooooo good - it really looks like Amazon spent all of the gazillion dollars that they threw at it.  And you certainly can't fault the ambition and scope of it - I got dizzy in trying to understand where everyone was in the world.  I did stick with it until the end and I'll probably watch the next season, but I do hope they learn some lessons about the pacing - some of it was a challenge to love, even as you were admiring the view.

#18 - Just really good telly
#4 - Beautiful, but very confusing