First Impressions: 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' Season 1 Episode 1

So the most expensive series ever made in Television history, Lord of The Rings (LOTR): The Rings of Power, aired a little over two weeks ago and I have now only gotten the chance to watch the season premiere, and I can genuinely say that the prequel has a lot of room for improvement.

I had to re-watch the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy movies before tuning in to the series, just to remind myself of what transpired in Middle Earth prior to the prequel show, but it was a welcome experience to relive the legendary adventures of Frodo Baggins and his cousin Bilbo and I'd suggest you do the same.

As always, I will try to cut back on major spoilers but you have been warned; there will be spoilers ahead.

The episode opens up with a flashback, told by Royal elf Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), in a sequence that mirrors the Peter Jackson-directed LOTR and The Hobbit movies and it is quite clear, from the get-go, that she will be our main entry point to this world.

Galadriel, who was played by Australian actress Cate Blanchett in the original films, is seen as a child in Valinor, the Land across the Sea, where all elves head to when they sail West from Middle Earth.

We are soon after introduced to her brother, Finrod, who unfortunately dies before the sequence ends in a scene that sets up Galadriel's personal grudge against the Dark Lord Sauron, which will play out later during the episode.

Die-hard J.R.R. Tolkien fans, the author of the LOTR books the films are based on, will however notice a few changes to the original novels' history. This is largely because The Rings of Power's showrunners did not have the rights to use one of Tolkien's books, The Silmarillion, as source material for the new TV show.

What you should take note of first is that in the show Morgoth, the original villain in Tolkien's books, was defeated 1,000 years before the series begins and his army scattered across different parts of Middle Earth. His former right hand man, Sauron, is now the big baddie of the prequel series.  

The episode then cuts to present day Middle Earth where Galaudriel is searching for Sauron who hasn't been seen in centuries.

Galadriel is in the company of elves in the far north of Middle Earth where they discover a fortress marked with the symbol of Sauron.

It is the same symbol that marked Finrod, Galadriel's brother, when he passed away but nobody seems to know its exact meaning, a plot point that will likely be pursued in subsequent episodes.

After discovering some evidence of dark sorcery and dispatching a snow troll, there's a disagreement. Galadriel wants to go further North to keep searching but her troops do not.

After some back and forth, they all go South back to Linden where the High King Gil-galad is as well as Elrond, a much younger version than the one we saw in the films.

It quickly becomes clear that although Galadriel acceded to her troop's wishes, her real reason is to get a new company and continue the search for Sauron further North.

To do that, she will need Gil-galad's authorisation but he has another idea; he rewards her for her work and books her into a ship heading West to Valinor. She doesn't want to go but is persuaded by Elrond.

Gil-galad's actions don't come across as particularly wise but he claims that if Galadriel had kept up her search for Sauron, she might have inadvertently kept alive the evil she sought out to destroy.

I suspect that Gilgalad's attempts to stop Galadriel from inadvertently keeping alive the evil she sought to vanquish will actually cause her to unearth it instead. 

I will leave it at that in terms of the episode's plot but if you ask me, Galadriel is unlikable as a lead character. She is so focused on finding the Dark Lord Sauron that she is ready to send her men to their deaths.

The show also seems to have no tension at the core of its story since it fails to showcase how Morgoth fell and how Sauron rose to become the Dark Lord. We also know that Sauron survives through the ring and Galadriel makes it to the films.

Newly introduced characters, not captured in the books, will also likely meet their ends by the end of the first season so where is the tension?

Some of the dialogue is also underwhelming and sounds like gibberish to be honest, despite the grandiose visuals and production values of the show.

A well-written script and good characters can carry any show but as it stands LOTR: The Rings of Power falls short in both departments. The showrunners definitely got off on the wrong foot with this one but things can change (I hope they do) in later episodes.