The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4 Spoiler Review
Episode four of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ teases a huge battle to come in the future, setting the pieces ready to expand the scope. It has a slower pace than the prior three episodes because of this, punctuated only by small beats of action. It’s very much a setup episode, hinting at a large scale battle to come. The Stranger and the Harfoots also get their episode of setup, with conflicts to come.
Galadriel and Elrond continue to tussle over Sauron’s ring, with Elrond refusing to listen to Galadriel’s suggestions due to his fear that the ring is corrupting Galadriel. It’s not an unreasonable worry, it’s clear that the elf worries for his friend. This is further extended as Elrond is the commander of the company, being forced to make decisions, which literally come back to haunt him, as he and the others are attacked by undead beings. This is a rather bland beat, as the undead nightmares largely just stand there and wait while the elves realise they can only be killed by the weapons that they were buried with. It’s rather static.
The episode does introduce the idea of the Siege of Eregion in a couple different ways in this segment. The first is that the ring gives Galadriel a flashforward of a deadly battle to come, in which she forsees her death. It causes her to force Elrond to promise that he will put stopping Sauron above everything, even saving her. It’s a rather fruitless attempt at raising tension, as audieneces know Galadriel will live on, but it’s something that’s tried.
The other, which is far better, is the elves stumbling onto an army of orcs, making their way they realise to Eregion. This Siege does play out in Tolkien’s novels, though vastly differently – the siege is led by Sauron and not Adar, it comes later in the timeline and so on – and so it makes comparisons irrelevant. It’s not clear what Adar’s goals are yet, other that to claim more space, but these designs will hopefully become clear, especially as Galadriel is captured by him. Elrond and the others flee in possession of the ring, which is a great development for Elrond.
Isildur, Arondir and Estrid work together as they attempt to find Theo, who was captured by a mysterious being earlier in the season. During their search, Arondir realises that Estrid has attempted to burn away the mark of allegiance to Adar, signalling her as a traitor. He then puts her in binds and takes her with them. It’s a reveal that drives the conflict, though it’s clear Estrid wanted to leave Adar entirely.
They eventually find out that Theo (and men that chased him) were taken by Ents, who have a more angry demeanour than fans might be first used to. But this is for good reason, as Adar’s orcs have been taking apart trees, both saplings and older oaks, to feed his war machine. The Ents have a ferocious attitude, and nearly stomp on the trio. Arondir displays a persuasive speech to get the lead female Ent to calm down, and in exchange for letting Theo and the men go, agrees to chase the orcs. Audiences learn Estrid’s betrothed is one that chased Theo, though it’s unclear if he’ll renounce the violent ways of Adar. Hopefully this will be picked up, can the villiagers forgive Estrid and the others?
A final plot thread that runs throughout the episode is the Stranger and the Halflings. The Stranger runs into Tom Bombadil, perhaps most notable in pop culture for being cut out of Peter Jackon’s adaptation of ‘Lord of the Rings’. Bombadil is slightly cooky, and he appears to be at one with nature. The Harfoots stumble into a community that they realise they have more in common with, but a continually harrassed by the Dark Wizard’s men. His inclusion, as well as the confirmation that he is an Istari, is intriguing. His identity is unknown, but it would fit the idea of a blue wizard, who started cults of magic in Rhûn. The costume and hair evoke Saruman, but hopefully that isn’t the case as it would make no sense.
Overall, this episode is full of setup for what’s to come, which isn’t wholly engaging. There are small bits of conflict to keep things ticking, but for the majority audiences are just waiting for something for more exciting to happen. Hopefully future episodes can fulfil this setup.
