The Rings of Power – Season 2 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Eldest

Episode 4 of Rings of Power season 2 starts with Elrond and Galadriel contemplating what to do next. With no word from Celebrimbor, they decide to enlist their own set of Avengers – an archer and two swordsmen – to head off and find him.

After a couple of repurposed scenes from Two Towers of the motley group of elves heading across the landscape, the group contemplate which way to go to get through Eregion faster. Naturally, more repurposed dialogue from Fellowship of the Ring this time, with one of the elves claiming that “the enemy is watching both roads” and Galadriel realizes that the hills are evil.

Elrond makes the decision and decides to go south. Galadriel objects but she’s not in charge of this group so she’s snubbed out. She claims to still be here hanging around because she doesn’t want any of this group to be slain… brushing over the fact she led a horde of elves in episode 1 of season 1 to their doom against an ice troll and thought nothing of it. Anyway, I digress…

Meanwhile, the Stranger shows up at a random house which happens to be owned by none other than Tom Bombadil. Apparently there are stars above his house but a random gust of wind sees the map he’s holding go flying up to a random hill, resting on the branch of a tree. The Stranger believes this is what he’s looking for and tries to break the trunk. That’s a bad move though, given the tree is actually an Ent and traps him inside.

Elsewhere, Nori and Poppy find themselves forced to flee from a man on horseback. Remember in season 1 where we learn Harfoots are super adept at hiding? Well, these two kinda forget abut that and out in the open, they find a guy called Merimac. He takes a fancy to Poppy but when they find out he’s got water, they chase after him as he heads down to the village. Apparently the leader of this village is called The Gund but there are strict rules around exactly how to address her.

Nori and Poppy show up at the village where they learn there’s new types of Hobbits here, called Stoors. They live in houses and use them to hide. The leader jokes that the Stranger is some sort of “Grand-Elf” (get it? Because Gandalf?) and turn their noses up at the duo when they mention he’s a wizard. They claim the only wizard in these parts is the dark wizard.

The leader eventually talks to Nori about the prophecy regarding a suzat, which is basically the Shire. She claims that someone was sent back to collect the rest of them after finding this promised land, and Nori claims the Harfoots have continued wandering all this time. This Romiras they mention in the prophecy haven’t been there before, they just kept wandering all through the age. And of course, if anybody is left behind then the Harfoots leave them to die, let’s not forget that titbit either!

The Dark Wizard, adopting the role of Saruman, decides to take care of the wizard himself. As for The Stranger, he’s not dead and helped out the tree and given a bath. He admits he’s trying to find Poppy and Nori but Tom speaks in riddles. He calls himself the Eldest and upon seeing his powers, the Stranger takes a fancy and wants to be taught how to wield his power. Checking the roof of Tom’s house, he notices star markings and realizes that actually, he’s here to find Tom.

As horses approach Tom’s house, Tom reveals that the dark wizard controls much of Rhun but is hungry for more. He believes he’ll align himself with a bigger evil – Sauron. Apparently, the Stranger’s task here is to face them both.

Meanwhile, our cosplay fellowship show up at Tyrn Gorthad, which seems to be corrupted by evil. In ancient days, this was the spot where lords and king rested. Unfortunately, Daemor, one of the men, is sucked into a cave and in his place, a bunch of wights, called Barrow0wights appear.

Anyway, when the Dark Wizard’s men show, asking for the Harfoots, the leader keeps them hidden. Brank warns them and eventually leaves.

Elrond meanwhile, saves Galadriel from being taken as the Wights attack. Elrond reveals that according to lore, only blades with which these skeletons were buried with, will return the creatures to rest but for now, they do manage to stave off the threat. Galadriel believes that evil has awoken them. That being, of course, Sauron himself.

Galadriel believes the ring is no corrupt and is actually leading them to their path of success and victory. Galadriel wants him to put defeating Sauron above all else. However, their band is interrupted by someone claiming they can hear drums. It’s Adar, and he’s marching with his orcs toward Eregion. However, one of their party is hit with an arrow.

Galadriel uses the power of the ring to heal the guy. She decides to hang back and gives Elrond the ring while she buys them some time. Of course, Galadriel is our girl-boss warrior and she takes on an entire legion of orcs singlehanded because she’s that damn good. While she fights with them, she actually does so to save the ring. She more than holds her own… until Adar shows and extinguishes her flame.

Arondir and Isildur meanwhile, try to find Theo, and at the camp, Estrid suggests they head north. Arondir agrees and takes charge of the place. Arondir points out the wound on the back of her neck, and she claims she fell asleep by the fire but she’s not fooling anyone. Isildur and Arondir work together and decide they’re going to use her to bring her right up to the other Wildmen. These two go together alone though without the others. En-route, they realize that Theo was not taken by men, but actually by Ents.

On their way, Isildur gets stuck in quicksand. While he gets buried, Theo and Estrid work together to stop the creature knocking him down. Estrid tricks Isildur and holds him up at sword point, but Arondir is there with his trusty bow to watch them. As everything comes to a standstill, the Ent shows and absolutely smacks her down. Arondir speaks up to this female Ent, Winterbloom, before a whole bunch of others get involved.

Arondir tentatively touches the Ent, and it touches him back, claiming that it takes an Age to forgive. He promises that in that time he will see to it that the trees of this wood are left to peace. Either way, they give Theo back along with the other men, including Hagen. That doesn’t sit too well with Isildur, given he has the hots for Estrid…

The Episode Review

Rings of Power returns with another painful slog of an episode. Sure, we get some girl-boss action with our girl Galadriel at the end but in terms of content, this chapter is absolutely devoid of logic, reason or anything reaching entertainment. There are so many repurposed scenes in here from Peter Jackson’s film trilogy that you wonder just why J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are in charge of this production in the first place, given they clearly don’t have a creative bone in their body.

The whole show is so intent on ripping off what’s come before that they lack the knowhow, nor the power, to actually make interesting characters and tell a compelling story. We’ve seen films or shows in the past deviate wildly from the source material (most famously, The Shining) and done a damn good job of it. As for Rings of Power, there’s none of that here.

This is very expensive fanfiction and not very good fiction at that. The show lacks any defining stand out moment and it lacks the wherewithal to actually make you care about anything shown on screen. And the plots we do get here – like the Nori/Poppy subplot to see the not-Hobbits, or Isildur’s love triangle – just feel like padding to drag out an already bloated and oversized disaster.

The good news is, we’re halfway through the season. The bad news is, we’re only halfway through the season and judging by what we’ve seen, this is not going to get any better.