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Lotr: TROP 2.05 + 2.06/ Agatha All Along 1.01 + 1.02
Rings of Power 2.05 and 2.06: In which things go really bad for dwarves and (some) Numenorians, but really well for Sauron.
Due to my British travails, I had only now the chance to catch up on the Rings saga. Wherein King Durin gets one of the Seven (well, he gets all of the Seven to disperse, technically) and promptly goes through movie Thorin's Battle of the Five Armies arc. More accurately, the way the show is presenting the rings is that both the Three and the Seven seem to enhance or bring out innate abilities of their wearers connected to their people's living environment - hence both Gil-Galad and Galadriel (and Cierdan, I suppose, but he's not been seen these last two eps) developing precognitiion (to a degree) which they did not display before, managing to hold the Fade and stablize the tree life while King Durin can now tell where in the mountain the connections to sunlight or the metallic riches are - while operating quite differently when it comes to what they do for personality traits. The Three enhance what's already there but so far in the positive way - i.e. Cierdan's serenity, Gil-Galad's responsibility, and while Galadriel hasn't lost all of her aggression or paranoia (but then was it ever paranoia if Sauran was really around, if not precisely as she thought he was) but is able to temper them now with prioritizing the good of her people - while King Durin goes from being cautious and conservative in terms of both digging for riches and making alliances to being greedy, reckless and exploitative, with the only remaining trait being that he's stubborn either way. Since Prince Durin and Disa note the ooc behaviour right away and Durin Jr. confronts Celebrimbor with it, we get this interesting debate between Attanar (aka Sauron) and Celebrimbor about the reason for the difference. I mean, obviously Attanar is extremely manipulative in how he steers the conversation (with the end result being him guilt tripping Celebrimbor into believing the Seven work differently because he, C, has been deceptive - i.e. directly lied to Gil-Galad via letter - while creating them and now has to atone for this by creating the Nine for Men as a counterweight), but this show's Sauron usually lies by selected truths or only slightly distorted truths rather than outright falsehoods and all the more efficiently for it. (Especially to Celebrimbor, right from the start of the season onwards, when he said he'd spoken to Galadriel, which of course he had - just not in the way the statement implies.) So while Sauron-as-Attanar certainly had the opportunity to alter the rings physically withhout Celebrimbor noticing, I think we're meant to take from this that what makes the Seven different from the Three (though whether the Three are indeed completely free is still up for debate) are indeed the mental conditions during their creation, i.e. the fact one of their creators, Sauron, was full on blast deceptive, and the other, Celebrimbor, at least partly so.
Having one of the (female) Eleven smiths working for Celebrimbor discover by accident that the rings can be used to access the Otherworld/become invisible/see everyone on their true spiritual form was also an intriguing choice. Given that Sauron will end up creating the One on his lonesome - which indeed is quintessential for the creation of the One - one could wonder why he needs Celebrimbor for the Nine (or indeed needed him for the Seven). And I think the way the show explains it is by presenting the whole ring creation as a work in progress for Sauron, too. Of course he knows what his endgame is, what he wants to achieve with it overall, but the finer details and side effects and all the effects are something he has to work out as well. Though of course episode 6 shows the other reason why he's putting so much effort in hanging out chez Celebrimbor in Eregion as Attanar, and I have to say I didn't work out out before Galadriel did, either, and it was a very clever move on the show's part in the way it connects the whole Adar storyline to the Ring creation storyline.
Galadriel and Adar together were compelling and didn't quote work the way I had expected - I had assumed she'd resist the idea of a team up longer, and I hadn't thought Adar would only suggest it to get intel from her, not because he really means it, though to be fair from his pov (meaning from what he knows right now, not with the benefit of hindsight) he's not wrong in assuming the Elves will never, ever, accept the Orcs, that once Sauron is gone they could be toast, and thus there can't be a real alliance. Part of what makes him such a tragic figure is that this might instead have been the one chance to prevent his children's future as Sauron's cannon fodder for the next millennium. If he'd listened to Galadriel who shows that even without Nenya, she's now able to a) think things through before she acts and b) figure out Sauron's plan as she couldn't last season, based on what she now knows of him, of Adara, and what she sees when Adar shows her the strength of his assembled Uruk army. As she says - Sauron has no army to begin with. (As Haldbrand, he'd have had what remained of the Southlanders, I suppose, but he knew that gig was up.) He also doesn't have access to the new Mount Doom. Not to mention he's got beef with Adar for killing him once and for that millennium it took to reassemble himself. He therefore needed to create a situation where he could take the Orcs from Adar in some finite way and become ruler himself. That's why he's lured them to Eregion. If Adar had remained in Mordor (as some of the Orcs suggested three eps back), it would have been near impossible to achieve this for Sauron in his current state - not not anymore. Not to dissimilar to Galadriel dragging Haldbrand with her to the Southland instead of leaving him in Numenor. (Now whether Sauron - speaking solely for this version of the tale of course - would have been content to remain there is entirely a different question, but it was Galadriel who did all the insisting on that point, and Haldbrand/Sauron who ran with the opportunity that provided.) I also loved the exchange between Adar and Galadriel about what Sauron offered each of them - children (i.e. the Orcs) and an army, respectively - because in both cases, they worked themselves to get this, and have to live with the results.
Unfortunately, I can't see a scenario where Adar doesn't die, if not this season, then surely before the show is over, because I certainly would like a story where LotR era Galadriel and he re-encounter each other, or maybe have met every century or so in a frenemy kind of way to talk about what's going on. But like I said: there's no way Adar survives.
Back to the Dwarves: after witnessing King Durin going more and more into ruthless capitalism and megolamania, and attempting in in vain to talk him out of it, Prince Durin and Disa start the Dwarven Resistance. Now given what happens to Khazad-dum in the long term, I expect them to be only half successful (i.e. they'll manage to get most of their people out when things go Balrog, but that mine city itself is doomed), but something that King Durin said in episode 2.06. made me wonder about something else. He says that there will be soon Middle-Earth scale war (he's not wrong), and that the army with the most Mithril armour will win, and that therefore the Dwarves will be able to name their price. This is actually the first time in showverse we hear about military application for Mithril. Now of course we know Mithril armour is a thing (see also Thorin's present to Bilbo which Bilbo later gives to Frodo), but within this show, Mithril has been presented as a very new discovery by specifically Durin's branch of dwarves, and it's been used solely for the Rings of Power so far. Now Prince Durin has promised Disa he'd never put on one of the Seven himself. But he may have no choice but to continue the Mithril mining because of the impending war situation, even out of Khazad'dum and at a time when King Durin is deposed or whatever will happen to him. (I don't think Tolkien ever committed to a defnite fate for the Seven, other than that they weren't of use to Sauron in the long term because Dwarves be Dwarves, right?) The scene where Disa vocalizes, makes the earth shake and calls down the bats was awesome, but I suppose she and (Prince) Durin will only be able to prevent actual Dwarf-on-Dwarf violence if King Durin is taken out very soon, and I'm not sure Prince Durin is able to do this.
Numenor: where Pharazon quickly decides that being King isn't enough and moves on the tale of Tolkien's Atlantis by increasingly tyrannical actions while Elendil, and he doesn't even have a Ring to prompt him to do it. (Though by the end of 2.06., he has a go at a Palantir.) Elendil remains the noble hero of this tale, though in a neat subversion of expectations it's Miriel who saves him (and gets herself from despised false Queen to hailed true Queen as a side effect) by becoming his champion (instead of he hears) in the trial by sea monster. Since especially in 21st versions of fantasy and/or mythological narratives, you can tell the good from the bad rulers by the fact the former are willing to risk their own lives (for more than their own survival, that is) while the later only risk everyone else's lives, this worked well and also connected to the Numenorian "the sea knows best" saying we've been hearing from the start. Given that Numenor is Atlantis, though, I expect Miriel and Elendil will still having to leave it sooner rather than later, with all those Numenorians who later start up Gondor.
Agatha All Along: Episodes 1.1. and 1.2 A very enjoyable start. Keep it up, Disney, and Secret Invasion might be forgiven.
Backstory: I had enjoyed WandaVsion, with the one caveat of Monica's "if only they knew you are the true victim here" statement to Wanda in the very last episode. I also wasn't thrilled about Multiverse of Madness basically ignoring any progress Wanda did make in WandaVision (plus I still have trouble with buying Dr. Strange in all iterations being that obsessed with Christine). But still, Kathryn Hahn had been hilarious as Agatha in WandaVision, so hearing that show's creative team would go for a miniseries focused on her was good news, and I was looking forward to it. I wasn't wrong to do so.
I haven't seen the Kate Winslet starring detective show part of the pilot is spoofing while Agatha is still Agnes, but I gathered ennough via osmosis, because I certainly watched (and enjoyed) my share of messy female detective shows. Not to mention: LOL on the credits, complete with "based on the Danish series" . Agatha/Agnes' subconscious creating a detective show scenario for herself after Wanda's death (or "death") as it struggles against the loosing spell actually works (she's trying to figure out how to free herself), and it allows for Aubrey Plaza's character to be introduced looking stylish as an FBI Agent. I last saw her being fabulous in Legion, and I have to say, the genius idea of putting Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza on screen together playing foes wo almost certainly used to be an item, bristling with U(?)ST alone makes that show worth it, though it has lots of other virtues. The two most popular theories on Teen, aka the male teenager who first manages to break Agatha out of the Agnes illusion but whose identity she can't hear whenever he tells her, seem to be that he's either one of Wanda's now older (and reconstituted, given his fate in WandaVision) sons because that happens in the comics, or he's Agatha's son (the fact she has had one in the MCU firstly mentioned in these episodes, though I osmosed comics Agatha also has one). (If the give of one of Agatha's fellow witches is correct, she sacrificed him, though there might be more to it.) I've even seen the theory he's both, i.e. one provided the body and one the soul, which honestly would be my favourite solution, not least because if and when Wanda inevitably (though not in this miniseries) comes back as well, she'll have to co-parent with Agatha. Anyway, the actor has a good rapport with Kathryn Hahn and their scenes together are fun but not solely comic relief, as Teen proves once the witch recruiting starts he's actually able to be sneaky as well, and did his homework.
I also like that the show didn't do a sudden 180° on Agatha in terms of motivation and character - when last we saw her, she was a ruthless villain intending to suck Wanda dry of power, after all. And here this is definitely the fate she as of know has in mind for her fellow witches in the long term, even without some vengeful other witches after her. But said fellow witches are given plausible reasons to temporarily team up with her, and of course I adore the chance of seeing Patti LuPone again as a witch on my tv screen. With singing! (The other actresses are excellent so far, too, but I don't know them yet.) The music is done by Buffy veteran Christopher Beck which gives me major nostalgic feelings, and the various versions of the Ballad of the Witches' Road we hear through the first two episodes are all nifty, with my two faves being the hilarious Wire style version on the credits of 1.01. and the enchanting, pun inevitable, a capella version the women sing in 2.02.
Agatha being still powerless courtesy of the late Wanda provides an excellent gimmick, challenge and narrative hook as well as a dilemma. Having to master challenges by her wit instead of magical abilities in order to regain said abilities is how you show what a character is made of, but of course it can't end with her not gaining said abilities, so there's the danger of the show culminating in a special effects battle (the downfall of several Marvel stories). Also, Agatha needs to learn and change just enoiugh to justify why she won't go on a world dominating rampage (or at least a quest to find more magic users to drain) if she succeeds while still being the same character (I doubt anyone wants a reformed Agatha who swears off villaindom completely). But this opening was very promising indeed, and I look foward to waching more.
Due to my British travails, I had only now the chance to catch up on the Rings saga. Wherein King Durin gets one of the Seven (well, he gets all of the Seven to disperse, technically) and promptly goes through movie Thorin's Battle of the Five Armies arc. More accurately, the way the show is presenting the rings is that both the Three and the Seven seem to enhance or bring out innate abilities of their wearers connected to their people's living environment - hence both Gil-Galad and Galadriel (and Cierdan, I suppose, but he's not been seen these last two eps) developing precognitiion (to a degree) which they did not display before, managing to hold the Fade and stablize the tree life while King Durin can now tell where in the mountain the connections to sunlight or the metallic riches are - while operating quite differently when it comes to what they do for personality traits. The Three enhance what's already there but so far in the positive way - i.e. Cierdan's serenity, Gil-Galad's responsibility, and while Galadriel hasn't lost all of her aggression or paranoia (but then was it ever paranoia if Sauran was really around, if not precisely as she thought he was) but is able to temper them now with prioritizing the good of her people - while King Durin goes from being cautious and conservative in terms of both digging for riches and making alliances to being greedy, reckless and exploitative, with the only remaining trait being that he's stubborn either way. Since Prince Durin and Disa note the ooc behaviour right away and Durin Jr. confronts Celebrimbor with it, we get this interesting debate between Attanar (aka Sauron) and Celebrimbor about the reason for the difference. I mean, obviously Attanar is extremely manipulative in how he steers the conversation (with the end result being him guilt tripping Celebrimbor into believing the Seven work differently because he, C, has been deceptive - i.e. directly lied to Gil-Galad via letter - while creating them and now has to atone for this by creating the Nine for Men as a counterweight), but this show's Sauron usually lies by selected truths or only slightly distorted truths rather than outright falsehoods and all the more efficiently for it. (Especially to Celebrimbor, right from the start of the season onwards, when he said he'd spoken to Galadriel, which of course he had - just not in the way the statement implies.) So while Sauron-as-Attanar certainly had the opportunity to alter the rings physically withhout Celebrimbor noticing, I think we're meant to take from this that what makes the Seven different from the Three (though whether the Three are indeed completely free is still up for debate) are indeed the mental conditions during their creation, i.e. the fact one of their creators, Sauron, was full on blast deceptive, and the other, Celebrimbor, at least partly so.
Having one of the (female) Eleven smiths working for Celebrimbor discover by accident that the rings can be used to access the Otherworld/become invisible/see everyone on their true spiritual form was also an intriguing choice. Given that Sauron will end up creating the One on his lonesome - which indeed is quintessential for the creation of the One - one could wonder why he needs Celebrimbor for the Nine (or indeed needed him for the Seven). And I think the way the show explains it is by presenting the whole ring creation as a work in progress for Sauron, too. Of course he knows what his endgame is, what he wants to achieve with it overall, but the finer details and side effects and all the effects are something he has to work out as well. Though of course episode 6 shows the other reason why he's putting so much effort in hanging out chez Celebrimbor in Eregion as Attanar, and I have to say I didn't work out out before Galadriel did, either, and it was a very clever move on the show's part in the way it connects the whole Adar storyline to the Ring creation storyline.
Galadriel and Adar together were compelling and didn't quote work the way I had expected - I had assumed she'd resist the idea of a team up longer, and I hadn't thought Adar would only suggest it to get intel from her, not because he really means it, though to be fair from his pov (meaning from what he knows right now, not with the benefit of hindsight) he's not wrong in assuming the Elves will never, ever, accept the Orcs, that once Sauron is gone they could be toast, and thus there can't be a real alliance. Part of what makes him such a tragic figure is that this might instead have been the one chance to prevent his children's future as Sauron's cannon fodder for the next millennium. If he'd listened to Galadriel who shows that even without Nenya, she's now able to a) think things through before she acts and b) figure out Sauron's plan as she couldn't last season, based on what she now knows of him, of Adara, and what she sees when Adar shows her the strength of his assembled Uruk army. As she says - Sauron has no army to begin with. (As Haldbrand, he'd have had what remained of the Southlanders, I suppose, but he knew that gig was up.) He also doesn't have access to the new Mount Doom. Not to mention he's got beef with Adar for killing him once and for that millennium it took to reassemble himself. He therefore needed to create a situation where he could take the Orcs from Adar in some finite way and become ruler himself. That's why he's lured them to Eregion. If Adar had remained in Mordor (as some of the Orcs suggested three eps back), it would have been near impossible to achieve this for Sauron in his current state - not not anymore. Not to dissimilar to Galadriel dragging Haldbrand with her to the Southland instead of leaving him in Numenor. (Now whether Sauron - speaking solely for this version of the tale of course - would have been content to remain there is entirely a different question, but it was Galadriel who did all the insisting on that point, and Haldbrand/Sauron who ran with the opportunity that provided.) I also loved the exchange between Adar and Galadriel about what Sauron offered each of them - children (i.e. the Orcs) and an army, respectively - because in both cases, they worked themselves to get this, and have to live with the results.
Unfortunately, I can't see a scenario where Adar doesn't die, if not this season, then surely before the show is over, because I certainly would like a story where LotR era Galadriel and he re-encounter each other, or maybe have met every century or so in a frenemy kind of way to talk about what's going on. But like I said: there's no way Adar survives.
Back to the Dwarves: after witnessing King Durin going more and more into ruthless capitalism and megolamania, and attempting in in vain to talk him out of it, Prince Durin and Disa start the Dwarven Resistance. Now given what happens to Khazad-dum in the long term, I expect them to be only half successful (i.e. they'll manage to get most of their people out when things go Balrog, but that mine city itself is doomed), but something that King Durin said in episode 2.06. made me wonder about something else. He says that there will be soon Middle-Earth scale war (he's not wrong), and that the army with the most Mithril armour will win, and that therefore the Dwarves will be able to name their price. This is actually the first time in showverse we hear about military application for Mithril. Now of course we know Mithril armour is a thing (see also Thorin's present to Bilbo which Bilbo later gives to Frodo), but within this show, Mithril has been presented as a very new discovery by specifically Durin's branch of dwarves, and it's been used solely for the Rings of Power so far. Now Prince Durin has promised Disa he'd never put on one of the Seven himself. But he may have no choice but to continue the Mithril mining because of the impending war situation, even out of Khazad'dum and at a time when King Durin is deposed or whatever will happen to him. (I don't think Tolkien ever committed to a defnite fate for the Seven, other than that they weren't of use to Sauron in the long term because Dwarves be Dwarves, right?) The scene where Disa vocalizes, makes the earth shake and calls down the bats was awesome, but I suppose she and (Prince) Durin will only be able to prevent actual Dwarf-on-Dwarf violence if King Durin is taken out very soon, and I'm not sure Prince Durin is able to do this.
Numenor: where Pharazon quickly decides that being King isn't enough and moves on the tale of Tolkien's Atlantis by increasingly tyrannical actions while Elendil, and he doesn't even have a Ring to prompt him to do it. (Though by the end of 2.06., he has a go at a Palantir.) Elendil remains the noble hero of this tale, though in a neat subversion of expectations it's Miriel who saves him (and gets herself from despised false Queen to hailed true Queen as a side effect) by becoming his champion (instead of he hears) in the trial by sea monster. Since especially in 21st versions of fantasy and/or mythological narratives, you can tell the good from the bad rulers by the fact the former are willing to risk their own lives (for more than their own survival, that is) while the later only risk everyone else's lives, this worked well and also connected to the Numenorian "the sea knows best" saying we've been hearing from the start. Given that Numenor is Atlantis, though, I expect Miriel and Elendil will still having to leave it sooner rather than later, with all those Numenorians who later start up Gondor.
Agatha All Along: Episodes 1.1. and 1.2 A very enjoyable start. Keep it up, Disney, and Secret Invasion might be forgiven.
Backstory: I had enjoyed WandaVsion, with the one caveat of Monica's "if only they knew you are the true victim here" statement to Wanda in the very last episode. I also wasn't thrilled about Multiverse of Madness basically ignoring any progress Wanda did make in WandaVision (plus I still have trouble with buying Dr. Strange in all iterations being that obsessed with Christine). But still, Kathryn Hahn had been hilarious as Agatha in WandaVision, so hearing that show's creative team would go for a miniseries focused on her was good news, and I was looking forward to it. I wasn't wrong to do so.
I haven't seen the Kate Winslet starring detective show part of the pilot is spoofing while Agatha is still Agnes, but I gathered ennough via osmosis, because I certainly watched (and enjoyed) my share of messy female detective shows. Not to mention: LOL on the credits, complete with "based on the Danish series" . Agatha/Agnes' subconscious creating a detective show scenario for herself after Wanda's death (or "death") as it struggles against the loosing spell actually works (she's trying to figure out how to free herself), and it allows for Aubrey Plaza's character to be introduced looking stylish as an FBI Agent. I last saw her being fabulous in Legion, and I have to say, the genius idea of putting Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza on screen together playing foes wo almost certainly used to be an item, bristling with U(?)ST alone makes that show worth it, though it has lots of other virtues. The two most popular theories on Teen, aka the male teenager who first manages to break Agatha out of the Agnes illusion but whose identity she can't hear whenever he tells her, seem to be that he's either one of Wanda's now older (and reconstituted, given his fate in WandaVision) sons because that happens in the comics, or he's Agatha's son (the fact she has had one in the MCU firstly mentioned in these episodes, though I osmosed comics Agatha also has one). (If the give of one of Agatha's fellow witches is correct, she sacrificed him, though there might be more to it.) I've even seen the theory he's both, i.e. one provided the body and one the soul, which honestly would be my favourite solution, not least because if and when Wanda inevitably (though not in this miniseries) comes back as well, she'll have to co-parent with Agatha. Anyway, the actor has a good rapport with Kathryn Hahn and their scenes together are fun but not solely comic relief, as Teen proves once the witch recruiting starts he's actually able to be sneaky as well, and did his homework.
I also like that the show didn't do a sudden 180° on Agatha in terms of motivation and character - when last we saw her, she was a ruthless villain intending to suck Wanda dry of power, after all. And here this is definitely the fate she as of know has in mind for her fellow witches in the long term, even without some vengeful other witches after her. But said fellow witches are given plausible reasons to temporarily team up with her, and of course I adore the chance of seeing Patti LuPone again as a witch on my tv screen. With singing! (The other actresses are excellent so far, too, but I don't know them yet.) The music is done by Buffy veteran Christopher Beck which gives me major nostalgic feelings, and the various versions of the Ballad of the Witches' Road we hear through the first two episodes are all nifty, with my two faves being the hilarious Wire style version on the credits of 1.01. and the enchanting, pun inevitable, a capella version the women sing in 2.02.
Agatha being still powerless courtesy of the late Wanda provides an excellent gimmick, challenge and narrative hook as well as a dilemma. Having to master challenges by her wit instead of magical abilities in order to regain said abilities is how you show what a character is made of, but of course it can't end with her not gaining said abilities, so there's the danger of the show culminating in a special effects battle (the downfall of several Marvel stories). Also, Agatha needs to learn and change just enoiugh to justify why she won't go on a world dominating rampage (or at least a quest to find more magic users to drain) if she succeeds while still being the same character (I doubt anyone wants a reformed Agatha who swears off villaindom completely). But this opening was very promising indeed, and I look foward to waching more.