The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2: A Shadow of the Past / Adrift
The highly anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres its first two episodes offering an interesting view into new parts of Middle Earth’s history.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power follows Galadriel who is taking up her brother Finrod’s quest to eliminate Sauron during Middle Earth’s second age. The events of the series take place thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Getting into The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is simple enough. It doesn’t feel like the viewer needs expansive knowledge of Middle Earth or Tolkien’s writings to enjoy the series and connect with the characters. With a series as popular as The Lord of the Rings, it would be easy to make a series full of inside jokes that “if you know, you know,” but The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been crafted to allow for the worldbuilding to come up naturally.
There’s a fair amount of mystery in how the series will get from its starting point to the forging of the rings and the rise of Sauron. While fans wait to connect the dots there are a series of stories that provide viewers with depth and intrigue while still giving viewers some of the Easter eggs they crave.
Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond’s (Robert Aramayo) friendship, for one, provides some depth to the interactions fans saw in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Elrond’s experiences in Khazad-Dun on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 Episode 2, “Adrift,” also lend some context to such a pivotal place in The Lord of the Rings. The production team did a spectacular job showing us a populated and healthy version of the dwarf stronghold and the dialogue surrounding the meaning of friendship, and who is called a friend provides a somewhat interesting banter
Of the two episodes, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 Episode 1, “A Shadow of the Past,” is the stronger of the two. Galadriel’s refusal to give up her quest to find and eliminate Sauron carries the episode and her ship departs to the undying lands serves as the climactic moment for her to make the jump.
Clark delivers a powerful performance as we see the elves who fought for Middle Earth slowly lose their armor before they enter Valinor. The scene carries a lot of emotional weight, especially since this voyage was alluded to so much during The Lord of the Rings. At the same time, Galadriel’s desire to stay and continue to seek vengeance for her brother feels like an equally strong pull, and the tension at that moment is one of the best parts of the opening episode.
In contrast, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 Episode 2, “Adrift,” drags a bit with the story. It’s fair to think that maybe as the second episode in the series, set in a time of relative peace that “Adrift,” has a bit of second-episode syndrome.
After Galadriel jumps ship, watching her swim in the ocean and encounter humans biased towards elves feels like a step backward. Yet, it also feels necessary, because she’s lost her war and now needs to find a way to continue her fight on her own. Hopefully, it connects the dots in such a way that story continues to move forward.
“Adrift” has some stunning performances, especially Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) whose attempt to warn the village about the Orc attack is meant with suspicion until she presents a severed head.
Similarly, Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and her interest in The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) produce some equally stunning scenes that draw viewers in. Nori’s friendship with Poppy (Meghan Richards) also has strong Merry and Pippin vibes from the original trilogy, although maybe with better balance.
At the end of these two episodes, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power sets itself up to tell an amazing tale. It looks visually stunning but needs to check its pacing.
What did you think of this episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power airs Fridays on Amazon Prime.
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Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.