Thousands of years before the Hobbit, during the second age. Long ago, a war opposed the evil Morgoth to the elves. To defeat him, the elves left their lands and fought in Middle-Earth. Eventually, they prevailed, but at a great cost. The events of the series begin when their sorrow has begun to fade away. But not for the commander Galadriel, who can’t forgive the death of her brother by the hand of Morgoth’s lieutenant, Sauron, and is still looking for him.
Other events shifts the balance of power : the elves are loosing their source of lives, and may even be in need of the dwarves’s assistance, since the dwarves discovered a vein of Mithril. Numenor is divided in two factions, those who want to fight the orcs on Middle-Earth, led by the Queen, and those who would prefer to stay hidden on their island. And far far away, among people nobody notice, the Harfoots, lands (literrally) a stranger, a sorcerer who soon becomes a target for an evil cult.
Spectacular images, costumes, sets, and part of the casting is good
No denying in the fact that this adaptation was a challenge… Some aspects are clearly a success : the beauty of the images, first. Bravo to the director of photography. The costumes, the sets, the special effects : all visual elements are really good, in my opinion. Most characters are doing honorably well : the dwarves, the harfoots, the men. Some scenes are memorable (princess Disa’s grief song), and some episodes clearly better than others. The music is not very subtle but still rather good.
But a disappointing scenario !
The quality of the script is to varying and doesn’t quite meet the expectations. Taking some liberties with the original material, the book, can’t been helped for a movie or a series. That’s not the problem for me. However, in between epic battles or beautiful moments, the audience is distracted by totally failed plots. In season 1 : guess who is Sauron ? In season 2 : guess who is the stranger? Well, in both cases, no mystery at all, it is the most obvious answer. There are also too many real WTF (a palantir as a way to predict the future ??). Besides, all the elves -Galadriel excepted- are disappointing : no noble phrasing or step, they speak, walk and behave as Mr Everybody. All other characters are more noble than them. As for Sauron, he has no charisma at all, unbelievable.
Season 2 is a little bit better, more coherent, with good intros, but it is still poorly written.
As a fan of Tolkien, and thanks to the positive aspects of the series, I will certainly continue to look at it anyway !
2 seasons, 16 episodes (60 mn), 2022- ongoing, Amazon Prime Video
Casting
- The elves : Morfydd Clark / Galadriel – Ismael Cruz Cordova / Arondir – Robert Aramayo / Elrond – Joseph Mawle the Sam Hazeldine / Adar – Benjamin Walker / Gil-Galad – Charles Edward / Celebrimbor
- The humans : Charlie Vickers / Halbrand – Cynthia Addai-Robinson / Queen Miriel – Lloyd Owen / Elendil – Maxim Bladry / Isildur – Trystan Gravelle / Pharazon – Nazanin Boniadi / Bronwyn – Tyroe Muhafidin / Theo
- The dwarves : Owain Arthur / Durin IV – Sophia Nomvete / Disa – Peter Mullan / Durin III
- Harfoots : Markella Kavenagh / Nory Brandifoot – Megan Richards / Poppy Proudfellow – Sara Zwangobani – Marigold Brandyfoot -Lenny Henry / Sadoc Burrows,
- Wizards : Daniel Weyman as the stranger, Ciaran Hinds / the dark wizard