Tamar is giving a speech to the people about the dangers of elves taking their jobs. Is this an allegory? You betcha! The same sort of allegory that Tolkien despised, which he wrote about in several letters. ..
Queen Pharazon of the Numenorians arrives at the elven kingdom to find that many of her subjects are distrustful of her. She reminds them that this is still a kingdom of men, not elves, and offers them drinks to calm the mood. ..
Galadriel returns to Miriel and points out that Halbrand (aka. evil Aragorn) is the lost heir in exile to the throne of the Southlands. Miriel doesn’t believe her, but Galadriel is persistent, pointing out they should fight together to save the people of the Southlands before Sauron strikes. ..
Miriel rejects this again, until Galadriel decides to steamroll over the Queen Regent, pointing out she has a “tempest in her” and it brought her to Numenor. After threatening the queen, Galadriel is predictably put behind bars. Miriel’s negotiation skills are amazing!
Arondir is chained and meets Adar, who seems to be an elf with scars on his face. He points out Arondir has been told many lies and that he wants the world to be changed - but only Gods can do that. Adar doesn’t answer Arondir when he asks what Adar actually is, but instead tells him to go “to the Men who have taken refuge in the old watchtower.” He’s to deliver a message and with that, he’s let go. ..
Bronwynn and Theo debate whether or not they should go back to the Guardtower for food. Bronwynn thinks that they should hunt, but Theo disagrees. They end up going into town separately and Bronwynn grabs a cart with supplies while Theo grabs a weapon and goes into the forest. ..
Rowan, Theo’s friend, gets spooked over the growing shadow of the clouds and decides to high-tail it out of town. Unfortunately, he leaves Theo behind who happens to be inside one of the houses. An orc shows up, prompting Theo to grab that strange sword hilt. It turns into a sword and after fighting his way out, he hides in a well.
Elrond returns to Celebrimbor, who reflects on how Elrond’s father once said that his future would be in Elrond’s hands. The next scene, Elrond is back at the mines. Just like that. How quickly did he make it to the mines? There’s no establishing shot this time to show him moving there, nor is there an Indiana Jones-esque map. Instead, we get one little shot of the outside of the mine before heading in with Elrond.
Durin claims he’s mining quartz but in reality, he’s digging in the old mine. Elrond happens to be listening from afar, realizing they’re referencing the old mine below Mirrormere.
Elrond finds a hidden door in the rock and enters. He’s met by Durin, who makes him promise not to tell anyone what he’s up to.
It turns out that Prince Durin has found a new ore, explaining what was in the mystery box several episodes back. It’s mithril. Durin believes this could be a new era for the dwarves but he’s acting in secrecy because his father has strict rules about mining too deeply.
In episode 2, Elrond says that it has been “20 years too long” since the Fellowship left Middle-earth. In episode 3, he says that it has been “another 20 years.” ..
Durin and his father have a touching chat, as Durin III patches up his issues with his son. Prince Durin eventually decides to go with Elrond to Lindon.
Meanwhile, Galadriel paces in her cage as she reflects on her negotiation skills, or lack thereof. Halbrand points out that Miriel’s real anger stemmed from mention of her father, the king in the tower whom no one has seen in years.
The Queen Regent makes her decision and chooses to send her back to the Elves under armed escort. This is good news, given this is what Galadriel wanted when she decided to swim hundreds of miles in the open sea back to land. ..
When the cell is opened, an unarmed and armoured Galadriel single-handedly bests 5 armoured men, pushing them into the cell and locking them up. She looks over at Pharazon and smirks before walking away. ..
The army rallies to try and find Miriel’s father, who is in bed and badly ill. Galadriel apologizes, believing there should be truth between them. Miriel decides to trust Galadriel after all and leads her to a lost palantir. She touches it and experiences that same flood scene that Miriel dreamed of. Miriel wants to send Galadriel away to prevent this future from coming to fruition. ..
Arondir and Theo head through the forest, where they are able to find a place to rest. They discuss what happened and Arondir tells Theo that he was let go by Adar. Theo is relieved and Arondir tells him that he will help him escape from the tower.
After leaving Middle-Earth, Galadriel’s boat sails back to Numenor. Miriel decides to personally escort Galadriel back to her home country.
The Episode Review
Durin perfectly embodies some of the issues with worldbuilding here. Elrond claims that it’s been “20 years since he last saw Durin” which could be seen as a reference to the fact that Durin has only been alive for 10 years. This leaves a lot of questions about how this timeline works and whether or not everyone else is in on the joke.
We’re not getting any Harfoots this time around, which may be a small mercy given their story hasn’t really added anything.
This is not a journey of humility. This is a journey to power and control. Galadriel is a powerful being, but she’s not working towards anything good. She’s working towards her own goals and those of her people. And while this may be frustrating for some viewers, it’s ultimately disappointing because we’re not getting any sense of what Galadriel’s story is or why she’s on this journey.
We’re now halfway through this season, with 4 hours of content having passed us by. So far, we’ve advanced very little of the plot and this is moving at a glacial pace. Will the second half of this pick up the pace? Will we see some advancement of the story?
This show is still really bad, even though the budget is most expensive of all time.
