Rings of Woke
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Fans were upset before they’d seen the first episode of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. There are many reasons fans are mad. Tolkien Scholars suddenly discussing transgender narratives in Lord of the Rings made fans suspicious. Some allege Tolkien scholars were bribed by Amazon. Also, an actress, Sophia Nomvete, boasted that she was the first female dwarf. She’s wrong. Several women play dwarfs in previous Tolkien movies. The production team gas-lighted fan claims that if they didn’t like the direction the Rings of Power was headed they were racist.
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power
The project seems to be making the same mistakes that Star Wars and other brands have made. Lie about the fans being racist or sexist while taking the project in a woke direction. You would think that with the investment of nearly a billion dollars, the showrunners would be careful not to take the project in a creatively bad direction. Surely they wouldn’t make the public relations mistake of creating a woke Middle Earth? With so much money, time, and effort on the line certainly the production, acting, and writing would be excellent, right? Let’s see.
First, the production setting is well done. One reviewer, Lauren Chen, thought it look cheap but I don’t agree. Though it doesn’t look like a multi-million dollar movie it looks like a high-end show for streaming. For the most part, it looks elaborate and expensive.
The biggest problem for Rings of Power is the writing. Woke writing has strict rules which this show obeys. Here are the Woke Rules that I’ve discovered by watching too much woke TV.
Men are wrong.
Men try to hold women back.
Men often can’t be trusted.
Men are mean or malicious.
Women must be the main heroes. Men should be secondary at best.
Therefore, because of the rules above, men are mediocre and of less interest.
Obeying these rules makes the story predictable, frustrating, and boring. The first rule, men are wrong, comes up when a man in Galadriel’s retinue wants to quit looking for the main villain and go home. The Elf king later states he knows the villain still lives but has another male friend lie to Galadriel. That brings us to the next rule men can’t be trusted, they lie to Galadriel even though they know she is right.
Early in the story, Galadriel defeats an ice troll. For several reasons, this scene adds little to the story. The other nameless elves are no match for the troll and get crushed. Galadriel defeats the troll with cartoonish efficiency. So all we learn is that nothing can defeat Galadriel. She defeated the monster without getting hurt and nothing is going to be much of a match for her. Boring. Also, in this scene, people died but they are quickly forgotten giving something of a continuity issue because the bodies of the fallen are not seen or maybe they just weren’t that hurt. It’s unclear. In another scene, it’s unclear if a character left friends stranded or they were eaten. Minor characters dying or just being forgotten by the story was an issue for me.
That brings us to another problem with Rings of Power. Lauren Chen stated that the introduction exposition scene was trying to be as good as the introduction to the Lord of the Rings movie. That movie had haunting music and an atmospheric voiceover. The Rings of Power introduction exposition let me know that the show would be subpar. Considering the budget they should have done better. See Lauren Chen’s review of the first two episodes in the embedded video.
The first two episodes were not entirely bad. The first scene introducing an orc was well done and suspenseful, after that though, it became cartoonish. Also, a young boy has the damaged magical sword of the main villain. They showed this in a well-done and ominous scene when the boy’s blood caused the sword to glow, grow, and smolder.
I’ve now seen three episodes and disagree with several reviewers, the series isn’t boring. It’s just not that good. Three reviewers Midnight’s Edge, Mediaholic (Lauren Chen), and Jerry Jahns suggested watching House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel, instead. Rings of Power is on a slow burn and that’s fine. I’ll watch the fourth episode but, at this point, I doubt it will get significantly better. I probably won’t be watching the entire season.
Have you seen Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power? What did you think of the story and overall production? Let us know in the comment section below.
