I’ll be crystal clear: just over a week ago, before hitting the play button and starting the first episode of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’, I didn’t give a damn about the Amazon Prime Video series; but the contact based – more or less freely, I have no problem with it – on the work of JRR Tolkien has ended up captivating me thanks to its dazzling technical invoicestill oversized production design already a few characters that, little by little, they are managing to captivate me.
However, despite my initial enthusiasm —not without buts, mainly focused on the imbalance of its plots in intensity and weight—, a great doubt circulated in my head: Would I be able to hold the guy ‘The rings of power’ after the replacement as director of a J. A. Bayonne who has done a truly spectacular job?
After seeing the third chapter, entitled ‘To give’, I have been able to breathe easy, because the director Wayne Che Yip has kept intact the essence of what has been presented so far; giving us another hour of premium television that returns to show off its huge budget to continue outlining the struggle for dominance of Middle-earth.
- From this moment the recap starts, so there will be spoilers for the third episode of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’. You are warned.
Welcome to Numenor
The first scene of ‘Adar’ places us alongside Arondir, who has been captured by the Orc hosts who continue to rampage through the Southlands, and forced to dig in a kind of forced labor camp that the creatures use to make their way through the terrain while protecting themselves from the sun. Bad business.
It doesn’t take long to move thousands of miles away; specifically aboard the ship that saved Galadriel and Halbrand from certain death In the past week. The meeting with its captain, Elendil, father of Isildur —yes, THAT Isildur— does not seem to be hostile at all and after a few tense moments the destination of the ship is revealed: nothing more and nothing less than the island of Númenor.
After a dazzling presentation of the island territory that once again reminds us of the millions that each chapter has cost, the cards are laid on the table. Specifically those that explain the enmity between elves and humans caused by the domain of Númenor; differences that seem irreconcilable as suggested by the tricky encounter between Galadriel and a Tar-miriel queen who seems to have enough to hide.
After agreeing to take into consideration the request of Galadriel, who demands a ship to take her to Middle-earth to continue with her mission, the queen allows her now “guests” to mark; but not before commissioning Elendil —whose name can be translated as “friend of the elves”— to keep a close eye on them after blaming him for having brought an elf to her territory, breaking the tradition of her great-great-grandfather.
While Halbrand, who seems desperate to start fresh and put down roots on the island, ends up in a cell for being smart and getting into a fight after trying to steal a forger’s emblem so he can work, Galadriel finds in Elendil an unexpected ally. The soldier leads our heroine to the Legacy House; only elvish building that remains standing in Númenor and that is loaded with documents and wisdom.
There, the elf discovers that the symbol that has been appearing in the series and that we thought was a seal is, in fact, a map of the Southlands; home of a Halbrad who, we later discover, is the heir to the throne and has fled to atone for his sins after his family fought alongside Morgoth. But this seems to be about to change after Galadriel proposes an alliance to clear the name of their lineages and end the dark menace.
hairy migration
In parallel, the endearing hairy ones continue preparing to begin their migration, marked by the appearance of the stranger —or the man with the meteor, or whatever you prefer to call him— in the life of Nori Brandipié, who continues determined to help her new friend no matter how many problems he may cause him with his community.
With Nori’s father’s injury endangering his survival during the exodus, and after a emotional ceremony in which the fallen in previous migrations are remembered, everything goes to waste after the stranger, in a show of boorishness —according to the much more friendly and familiar tone of this plot—, is discovered; putting the Brandipiés between a rock and a hard place after they are sentenced to leave the last in the caravan.
Although, of course, everything ends up going smoothly after the stranger, grateful to Nori for her help and defense —whom he calls “friend” without hesitation in a very emotional moment enhanced by Bear McCreary’s enormous soundtrack— which is still one of the best in the series. charge with the car of the Brandipiés ensuring, except for last minute surprises, the arrival at its destination.
Trouble in the Southlands
To wrap up, we return to where we started: to the labor camp in the Southlands where Arondir and other prisoners have a hard time surviving. After a confrontation with the orcs that claims the life of one of their companions, the survivors collude and try to devise a plan to escape that opens the way to the action scene that could not be missing from the footage of the episode.
After seeing their strength diminished by the sudden attack, the orcs decide to free a direwolf who begins to snack on prisoners mercilessly. Escape seems impossible, and when only Arondir is left alive after demonstrating his prowess in combat, the villains spare his life to introduce him to their leader, the mysterious Adarwho we will meet at least next week, because his out of focus shot is the last shot that acts as a cliffhanger.
Without having taken up the plots of Elrond, the dwarves, Bronwyn and company, this chapter it has evolved the rules of the game enough and has been powerful enough enough to make me count the hours until next Friday, when the next chapter of this pleasant surprise titled ‘The Rings of Power’ will be broadcast.