August 27, 2024 • 35 mins
In preparation for the upcoming new season, Jason and Rosie revisit Middle Earth and Númenor to recap every episode of The Rings of Power season one, from Galadriel’s blunders with Halbrand to Theo’s blunders with…well, everything.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Worrying. On today's episode, we're gonna be talking about Rings
of Power season one and where we talk about everything
that happens there later lele it all of it's pretty
full of spoilers, So if you haven't watched that yet,
do that first. But if you're like I just want
to jump into season two of Rings of Power and
I just want to download, guess what this episode is
for you, then listen to it all. It's gonna get
you ready for season two.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
My name is Jason Vitepsion and my name's risday Night
And welcome back to Expert Vision of the podcast where
we dive deep in your favorite shows, movies, comics, and
pop culture. Coming to you from iHeart Podcast, where we'll
bring you to action Pad episode every Tuesday and Thursday
of every week. And folks, it's all about Rings of
Power season one.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, in this episode, we are recapping every episode of
Rings of Power season one. So if you want to
listen to that, strap in, get your best Elvish bro,
you know, get ready to see a saucy sourn and
yeah and listen up because that's what we're diving into today.
The Second Age of Middle.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Earth, the season one, Rings of Power Speed Recap. First
of all, I think we should set the context. This
show is set in the Second Age. Rosie tells about
the Second Age.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Okay, So the Second Age is thousands of years before
what we see in Lord of the Rings, the movies,
and the books, and it's basically heavily centered on the
glory of Newmanor or basically like the world of Men,
the success of men. It also begins after the climactic
(01:59):
banishment of more Goth, who we will talk more about
in this who was kind of an evil lord. And
then you know, then we begin to see the rise
of Souron. It's essentially about thirty four hundred years in total,
and the main thing that we're going to be looking
for here is rise of sourn Ring Raiths Numanor, and
(02:23):
the first season of Rings of Power covers some of this,
and then when we're going to be getting into that
new season two, we'll be getting a bit deeper into
the Second Age.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So here we go. Speed recap Episode one, Shadows of
the Past. We open with Gladriel talking about the war
against more Goth, his rise, his fall, the devastation he
wrought he destroyed, the two trees and then he was defeated.
(02:56):
But after his defeat, his like top Lieutenant Sauron, continued
to sew dissension darkness at the elves. Now we then
transition to the young Galadriel. She is determined. She believes
that Saron is still out there, still doing.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Stuff, still up to stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Still up to stuff. So she goes off and leads
a force of elves against the dark Lord and they
don't find them, but they find like a sour on symbol.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, spooky symbol and evidence of his kind of continued
presence in Middle Earth.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
We go to the South Lens where we meet Bronwyn,
who is a human healer mother of theo and we
meet Aaron Deer, who is like the elf sheriff of
the region, and clearly these two have a thing.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
There's some sort of hidden romantic connection.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Little heat between the two. But you know, the relationship
between men and elves in the Southland and elsewhere is
it's rocky. Yeah, pretty rocky.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Because the men helped Morgoth and allowed more Goth to survive,
and the Alves blame them and still see them as
potential betrayers of this kind of new non morgof Age,
so he the elves being there is really like, we
don't trust you to not turn to the dark side.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And then meanwhile, in a village nearby known as Tyrhad,
there's strange stuff is happening. It's clear that we go
to Lindon to meet to meet Elrand, the wonderfully quaffed
el Rond, who has been tasked by High King Gilglad.
(04:51):
Gil Glad, who just has a stick up his button.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, he's got a bad, bad attitude.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Gilgilad wants el Rond to oversee, you know, the creation
of new weapons that can defend Middle Earth against evil. YadA, YadA, YadA.
El Rond isn't interesting in all that he hasn't seen
his good friend during the fourth Prince during the fourth
son of the King king during the third and misses him.
(05:21):
And meanwhile, Ellrond just has other hobbies. He loves architecture,
all that kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, building beautiful stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, he likes beautiful stuff. We go to the Harfoots.
We meet the Hobbits, a tribe of species tribe.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yea, they're kind of the predecessors of Hobbits in Tolkien law.
And they have a nomadic lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, they're good at hiding.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, they're good at hiding. Very much like that. So
the crew that Ezra is within Ahsoka, it's very much that, like, oh,
we're under a rock.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But there.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
They also they're very community minded, but as we will
find later into the show, they will just drop member
of that community if needed. It's a it's a strange
representation like keep up, you're out, you're out. And obviously
this is why we get another big kind of central
mystery of season one.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right a meteor streaks down from the sky crashes into
the earth right near the Harfoots and Eleanor Brandy Foot
Norri is one of our most curious halfoots. She's gonna
be our main halfoot. Along with her friend Poppy, goes
over to this crater and there's a strange guy in there.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He's like a scary he's a scary, flaming kind of
imprint too, So it's definitely mysteries abound.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Episode two, Adrift, Gladiol didn't want to go back to Vleanor.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh baby. She was like, I'm not gonna die. I'm
not going to I don't want to go.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
No, no, no, I've got too much to do Sar
and is still out there. I'm must avenge my brother.
This is a very angry Gladriel, and she jumps off
the ship that's taking them there and finds herself just
like flow, bobbing around in the ocean. She comes to
a group of human survivors on this like shattered raft
(07:17):
they're fleeing from. I guess some big sea serpent or something.
One of the survivors is a guy named halbrand Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
He's looking handsome, a very.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Handsome guy with a quite a piercing stare, and he
saves Galadriel from drowning, and the two of them kind
of gravitate to each other in a platonic way in
which it feels like they both understand that each has
like a secret and a mission that they're trying to do.
(07:50):
Back in the Southlands, tensions between elves and men continues
to be building. It's bad over there around Deer investigates
mysterious tunnels that are spreading uh. Evil orcs are traveling
through these, perhaps only to find that there's much more
dangerous things out there. Bronwyn returns to her village to
(08:11):
warn folks about what's going on, but they don't believe her,
and then the Orcs attack and everybody's like, you're right
Togetherwin and Arondier discover that the Orcs are back and
they are more evil and brutal than ever. In Linda,
el Ronde convinces Killer.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Brimborg Kella Brimble, he's Killa Brim, we love to say.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
The great craftsman of his generation, although not as great
as his dad, who was like the greatest of all time.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Hard to live up to.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's hard to live up to. And that's a big
deal for Keller Brimborg Junior, who feels like I must
do more. I must something. Yes, convinces caliber Board to
visit Cause of Doom because they need the dwarfs help
in creating these weapons and stuff. We meet Prince during
(09:08):
the fourth el Ron's old friend. He's upset because el
Rond hasn't come to visit him in a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And this is a great.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Moment, like it's one of our favorite things in is
because like Elron's like, bro, I missed you, I love you,
and how's it going. And Durran it's like I am
now an adult, I have lived a century, I have children.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I have a wife. Have you been and I was like, oh,
I thought that was just like two days in elf time,
because I'm like two thousand years old.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Uh. They have a contest to see if el Ron's
even allowed to enter and hang out in Kose of Doom,
and it's great, great, great fun. Over with the harfootz
Nori wants to help the stranger. He's very weird. He
possesses powers somehow connected to the stars. He arranges pedals
(09:58):
to show like a constellation map up, but he doesn't
seem to have any memories, and the Haarfoots are definitely
definitely suspicious of him. We go to episode three A, Oh,
glad Reel and Halbrand arrive at Numanor, this grand city
of men and this is powerful human kingdom with a deep,
(10:23):
an old and ancient and deep relationship to the elves,
which actually the modern Numenorians largely reject. Haul Brand begins
dropping strange like nuggets about the Southlands.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Oh, maybe he's got connection to the Southland. I feel
like she shouldn't have taken him to Numenor. I feel
like she should have just gone by herself, even though
he's like a honky guy and he's like got an
enigmatic post I'm like, babe, just leave him on the raft.
You could have just gone yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Completely agree with you. Back in the south Lands, Arn
Deer has been captured. He encounters Adar, who is like
the first Orc.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, that's what we come to learn. And he's kind
of an Adam means father and Elvish, and he's sort
of the leader of the Orcs, it seems, which is
very unusual because obviously we all know the Orcs to
essentially just follow Sourn, that's what they do. But here
we have this new strange figure. Who is he connected
(11:27):
to Sarn? Is he not? I guess we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It's Yeah, what are his plans? We don't know. What
are they up to? We don't know. Meanwhile, Bronwyn and
her trouble making son Theater, whose fault all of this is?
Are you know, preparing to defend the village against the
Orc threat? And THEO uh Meanwhile discovers like a shattered
(11:54):
sword with Sren's brand on it, and he and takes
it like.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
This looks fucking great, I'm keeping this. He's like holding it,
this motherfucker. THEO just give that to your mom or
elf boyfriend. Bad choices Theo.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Meanwhile, over with the Stranger and Nori, the Stranger is
showing more magical ability, but also no ability to really
control what he's doing, and Noriri is becoming more concerned,
although she's standing by him and the rest of the Haarford.
So like, we don't agree with this, and we will
(12:32):
return to the Second Age of Middle Earth after a
word from our responsors, and we're back episode for the
(12:54):
Great Waves. We meet Queen Regent Muriel of New Manor.
Her dad is king, but he's really fucking old.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That's some old ass motherfucker. Lie. He ain't doing nothing.
Queen Wage and Muriel I love her. She's got good vibes.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
She vibes she's been seeing visions of this huge Titanic
wave that wipes out New Minor, and she's very concerned
about this. Because of this vision that she's having, she
knows that, despite the fact that it's extremely unpopular, she
needs to alige with Gladriel, who who whose Elvish ways
(13:33):
and Elvish society could maybe help them find a way
to avoid this destructive fate. Gladriel, meanwhile, is determined to
rally the men of Newmanor to her cause to fight
you know, the growing darkness in the south Lands. She
confronts Muriel and Farizon.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And he's like, he's definitely got some machiavellian plans.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Farison does not agree with the political direction and that
newmanor is going in and that direction is set by Muriel,
and that is a problem. Alo Farizon mainly keeps his
mouth shut, but he just makes faces like, you know,
he disagrees with everything. We go to uh more Halbrand stuff.
(14:18):
Halbrand continues to drop hints about his true identity. He
has lots of weird interactions with everyone.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, you look maybe like you're from the Southlands. You
look like you look like you could be one of USS.
And he's kind of like, is he a yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Maybe I am, Maybe I'm former royalty. Maybe who is he?
Is he good? Is he bad? Much like the stranger
we don't know yet from in the Southlands, Bronwin's village
is under increasing pressure from the Orcs. The villagers flee
to this tower that they then you know, try to
(14:55):
set up defenses to hopefully hold out there against the Orcs.
Aaron Deer is, of course, like organizing a lot of
this with bron Win's help. The situation becomes super super
bad as Theo begins playing more and more with the
sword and unlocking dark powers from it, and very very
(15:15):
clearly the sword seems to be influencing him in a
strongly negative way. Again, this is all Theo's fault.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's all Theo's fault. He's like getting weird, like sour
on tattoos. Bad times, bad bad times.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
In Kozudumelerondo Duran are reforging their friendship. They're working on
the forge. Duran reveals, although he shouldn't have, he should
there's been a discovery of a very very rare and
powerful and magical metal called Mythril, deep deep deep in
the minds. The thing about the Mythrill though, it's really
(15:52):
hard to mind. It's dangerous and difficult for the Stone Singers,
for anybody to get to, and it's tricky. We gotta
have Episode five partings. Gladriel continues to tell the new Menorians, Hey, Saarron,
we gotta fight them. Southlands are in trouble. We got
to go there because this is Saurn's doing. She convinces
(16:14):
Muriel to send an army on boats over to the Southlands,
and meanwhile Muriel kid is continuing to have these, you know,
increasingly desperate visions of the of the destruction of numnor
how Brand plays koy here.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, He's like, oh, I shouldn't go. I don't want
to go back there. And Galadriel is like, bro, you
gotta go. She's like, you gotta go, get on that boat, Galadrielle.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Why don't you come on, babe, come on back, come
on babe. In cause of Doom, el Rond learns that
not only is mythrill like this really cool metal with
lots of interesting uh properties, but it could heal and
(17:06):
rejuvenate the Tree of Lindon, which is shedding leaves at
a very disturbing rate.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's currently yes, And then elves light is fading, but
is this beautiful bright It's filled rerecious metal. So they're like, oh,
maybe this could be the key to preserving our immortality.
I feel like if the Elves just talked to Queen
Muriel and they were like, it feels like there's going
to be a bad downfall, maybe we can come together.
(17:36):
But no, I.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Agree with you. That should be a thing that happens.
But as we've seen, the Newmonorians do not trust the elves.
It's it's it's a it's tricky. Meanwhile, this discovery of
mythrils rejuvenating properties with regards to the Great Tree of
Lindon means that Elrond, who has promised his that he's
(18:00):
like not he has no other motives. He's not hiding anything.
This is just about like us and our friendship and
the forge and that whole thing now has to weigh
the fact that he's got his greater duty to the
Elvish kind and his loyalty to his friend. Does he
(18:21):
reveal that Mithril can do this to the elves, thus
betraying his friend? What does he do? It's a big problem.
In the south Lands, the battle drums continue to beat.
Theo continues to play with himself and play with his sword.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
He would have been better off just playing with himself.
That's what is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
They need to do it is And meanwhile, the Harfoots
continue to make their trek with across the land with
the Stranger to make their migration. We see, as we
spoke about earlier, this part of Harfoot culture that involves
like keeping up, Like if you.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Don't keep up, if you twist your ankle.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Twist your ankle, get some plantar phieschitis. We're gonna leave
you behind, and you're just gonna get devoured by whatever
the fuck is out here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Bad times. I'm not fan of that.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Meanwhile, at a certain point, the Stranger uses magic to
protect the Harfoots and lose his control of it kind
of again, and then he like becomes like a like
a weakened little baby. And Norari continues to believe that
he's a good guy. But is he good? Is he bad?
We just don't know. Episode six, ooh, dude, the attack
on the Southlanders. Now it's coming. Now it's coming. It's
(19:43):
been building up for a long time. Erindeer and the
villagers have fortified this watchtower. However, the Orcs under the
leadership of Adar are just ruthless and relentless, and they're
brutal and they're getting in there and they're killing everybody.
Aaron Deer fights valiantly and almost gets killed. And just
(20:06):
as it feels like the Orcs are gonna win, the
south Landers are gonna get wiped out. Guess what here come?
The new Menorian there come off their ship. The cavalry
is here, led by Galadriel hal Brand, he's got to
be a good guy, right, He's gotta be great. And
Queen Regent Muriel they arrive, they're here, they turn the
(20:27):
they turn the tide. Halbrand and Gladriel run after Adar,
who we find out he's not sore On, but he
is this first Orc called an Uruk, remember that, and
is basically a corrupted elf.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yes, like the Orcs are corrupted elves or at least
the oracle the urk Haya, so very scary stuff at
DAWs had enough. But also he he recognizes.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Hal Brand, that's right, he's like, yeah, something about you,
What's what's what's up with you? Interesting little vibes there, big,
big battle. It's one of these victories for the Neumonorians
in the Southlanders, where like, if you have a couple
more victories like this, there'll be nothing left. Yeah, he's
(21:18):
freaking bad. It's not a great victory. And then as
this is happening, Mount doom erupts massive, massive, massive eruption,
desolating the Southlands, which previously was kind of nice, pretty
chill tree side, yeah, countryside, lot of clouds, but still
(21:40):
nice green grass and trees and stuff. After this, it's
full on mortor yeah, and guess what was key to
that explosion?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Uh, THEO stupid sword that he could.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Have just been here he goes again and guess what now?
Muriel is blind. She's been blinded by the explosion, and
she's gonna have to just use her sense of hearing,
much like us have to use our ears to hear
a word from our sponsors. Can be right back and
message and we're back. Episode seven, the Penultimate The Eye.
(22:30):
The Southands are fucked up, folks. Mount Doom is erupted.
Everything's a mess. Muriel is blind, glad Reel Holbrand, everybody
or like digging themselves out of the fucking ash. Glad
Reel feels terrible about everything that's happened and the events
that she's put in place that have led to the
(22:52):
deaths of many, many, many people and this huge disaster,
but she still wants to continue. How Brand is really
fucked up. He's wounded and he needs to be healed.
And Galadriel is like, I must heal my friend. How
can we get him help? I know, I'll take him
to the elf who can? Who can? Back? In cause
(23:16):
of Doom, Ellern and Duran are you know are having
it out because Elrond now has kind of revealed that
the mythrill would be important to the Elves for this
other thing, and Duran's like, how could you fucking do
this to Mets? Yeah, I thought we were friends during
(23:37):
three during King during the third refuses to can do
you mining for the mythrill because of the dangers the
fact that it could kind of undermine the entire costume?
Three and four fight over this, uh, and ultimately Elrond
(23:57):
is going to give the myth thrill to the Elves
because he asked you. The Hertos meanwhile continue their journey
and the Stranger's powers are developing even more, becoming more uncontrollable,
and the Heartfoots are like, we gotta leave this guy behind.
We go to episode eight, the finale, Alloyed. Okay, glad
Real Halbrand arrive at Iregon, the home city of Calibrimore.
(24:22):
He is he's working on a brand new project. He's
come up with a brand new.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Thing on his own. Definitely no weird influence him.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Power rings.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Oh that sounds good, that's.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
A good idea. How Brand is like, whoa, I'm feeling
much better. Okay, hey have you thought about it? And
they're they're doing stuff with the myth thrill and they
can't get it to work. And then a certain part,
Halberan's like, you know, I got a crazy idea. What
about an alloy? What if you combine it with another metal?
(24:54):
That's the way to do in calibrimber is.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Like, oh whoa, that's calibri was like, I'm so glad
you're coming up right now.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Gladriel is suspicious. Hold on a second, You've got all this,
all this like metallurgy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
She's like, oh, so, weren't you injured You're really sick?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, like what now you're just like fine. In the
presence of Calibrimble on the forge, they're out in the
woods and talking about it, and then halbrand all of
a sudden goes, you know, who the fuck I am.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He's like he's like, oh he prints up the southlide
and she's like in a way and in a way,
and then he gives that like a cool vision where
like they're like married next to each other. Yes, you
could all this could be your babe, I feel your anger, Like,
let's just roll together. It will be chill. Galadriel says no.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, she says no. So now Gladiel knows that uh
Soren is out there and.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
She bought him back. She's like, yeah, I bought him
to my home. I boy him to beat my parents.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Glad Reel, with all the strength she has, rejects this
vision of marriage to Sauron, who then escapes. In Kosa
Doom during the fourth continues to mind the myth Thrill,
despite the fact that his fathers don't want him to.
They have a big argument that's about like, you know,
(26:26):
the future of Kosa Doom and whether Duran will be
a worthy king and all that kind of stuff. El
ron presence there becomes a point of very sharp tension.
The harfoots meanwhile, or like what do we do about
this stranger. There's these white witches that are like sending
(26:48):
things on fire, and like what's going on. All of
this comes to a climax when the stranger uses powers
and then all of a sudden there's like some of
his memories come back and he can talk. Then there's
this flash of power and we come to realize that
he is an istar, which is a type basically a wizard,
(27:13):
but he doesn't have memories.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Who could he be?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Could he be? And the episode ends with kelabrimbor Iny.
He's making the Rings of Power the alloy thing work.
Cal Brand had a great idea and it works. We're
looking at these three beautiful Elvin.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Ring have to say, the design of these rings very stylish,
very like, very beautiful. Like I'm looking at that, I'm
thinking like, Keli Brimble, you really did design those rings,
like you didn't just do three similar rings. You were like,
I'm doing three different ones for everyone's personality.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And Keller Brimble, he does he feel a shadow over himself,
the shadow he thinks of his fire other kele brimboor
the Elder, who is the greatest. No, it's not the
shadow of kelib brimboor the Elder. It's the shadow of
sorrow sorry, who has touched these rings at certain points,
(28:12):
meaning they are tainted with his energy.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
And his power.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
His power and his corruption will follow them. And we
head on to season two. Let's talk about it. What'd
you How did you feel about season one?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I really loved season one of Rings of Power. I
from the beginning, I just thought that the Galadriel arc
was really cool. The show just smells of money, like
it's you can see where the money went. I really
love this stuff between Laron and Duran. Now, I will
say I I love to know things. I am like that.
(28:49):
I love like knowledge based stuff. So I know a
lot about Lord of the Rings. But I and I
really enjoy those movies. But the movies are not necessarily
to me as hall ground as they were for other people.
So I think I was able to go into this
in a more open minded state. Like I really loved
the new iteration of the Harfoots until like the weird
(29:10):
like they'll just leave you behind with a broken ankle.
There's like the smacks of abolism. I'm not into it,
but like I loved it. I thought that they had
fun with the central mysteries without making them. Yeah, this
kind of puzzle box, like you're never gonna get a
satisfying answer. It was all quite clear to all of
us that Holbrand was probably sourn but it was fun
to have that little bit of knowledge over Galadriel. It
(29:32):
was like watching a horror movie. You're kind of yelling
at her, going don't do it, girl, like please, like,
don't take him back there. But he you know. Charlie Vickers,
who plays Holbrand, did such a good job of being
the enigmatic lost soul that Galadriel felt like she needed.
So for me, I really thought it was a great
season of TV.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
It is.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It is kind of a slow burn one, but I
did enjoy it, and I personally felt like, if you're
going to invest mill of dollars into a TV show, like,
why not do it in a crazy fantasy world like
this that you truly bring to life. How did you
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I liked it quite a bit, same as you. If
I have any critiques, it's small stuff, like I think
pacing wise, yes, I would agree, particularly the bee in
this in C plot, so uh, you know, the overall
kind of mystery around how brand develops pretty slowly, and
(30:29):
that turns out to be kind of the main thrust
of the season with you know, strangely, the threat to
the South lends ending up feeling like more of a
B plot, and so I think that the way that
emerged made the pacing feel a little just a little
slower times. And I think that the sea plot being
(30:50):
you know, nor poppy and.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Probably two even though I enjoyed them. Also, I will
say I do definitely think pacing is an interest thing
with this show, because when I was watching the show,
I was just like, ooh, slow burn, I'm enjoying it.
But when we were recapping it, I was like, I
realize nothing happened. And I was also like, wait, some
stuff happens really fast, Like halfway through the season. That
(31:14):
was when Mordel was created, Like I felt like that
was the end of the season. So there were definitely
some interesting choices there that didn't always land. But generally,
one of the things I found most interesting is really
enjoyed the show when we covered it last time, but
when I was actually watching the new episodes, I was
surprised by how instantly I was hooked back, and that
(31:34):
to me was proof of the fact that I care
about these characters.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I did not to jump ahead. We were going to
be covering the first three episodes of season two of
Rings of Power upcoming in this week, but not to
jump ahead too much, but to underline your point, I agree.
I think one of the things that I also appreciate
the slow burn in the moment, but looking back, it's like, Okay,
(31:59):
what could we have done to make this feel a
little bit more pacy. I think one of the things
that I've liked from season two that they're leading into
is that slow motion car crash element. Oh yeah, where
you know, certainly once once we had figured out who
how Brand is, then it becomes oh no, how can
(32:19):
we avoid this? You know that this is coming and
that our heroes are going to get chewed up by
this destiny that is coming, and you just want them
to be able to avoid it. And I think in
season two, what I've seen thus far is it's all
about that dark fate that is coming, and it leans
heavily on the charm and cleverness of Souron, and that
(32:48):
part of it is really really compelling. Like that. I
love that, Like over the first three episodes that we've
seen so far, in season two, Souron is really just
like breaking people's says, oh yeah, pulling every string. So yeah,
small notes about season one, I think pacing wise, but
(33:09):
other than that, I really liked it, and it really
you have to say, I find myself having to stop sometimes.
It'd be like you're watching Lord of the Rings on
TV and it looks as good as the movies, Like
this is incredible. It's just amazing, and casting wise, everybody
looks great. You just feel like they're completely embodying their
(33:33):
characters and for me a clear highlight. L Rondon Durance
just an incredible fasship.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I love them so much. I really want I know,
like obviously things are going bad for them at the
end of season one we didn't mention, but we get
a glimpse of the bow Rock being awakened, you know,
under chasm chasm doom, So like things aren't gonna go great.
But I hope that we get to keep that like
chuppy little like boise own friendship, because I really do
(34:01):
think that the show just sings to a level of
like a House of the Dragon or something like the
relationship between those two. It elevates it to like some
of the best TV. But yeah, it just crackles so good.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
On Thursday's episode, we've got screenwriter and Batman expert Mark
bernardin on the show to talk about the second half
of Batman Cape Crusader on Amazon Prime Video. Then on Friday,
we're diving into the first episode of season two of
Rings of Power and speaking with executive producing director Charlotte Branstrom.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Oh she was great. Call wait you guys to have them.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening. X ray
Vision is hosted by Jason Gisubsion and Rosie Knight and
is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are
Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer is a
(34:57):
Booze Afar. Our producers are Carmen Lawn and Mia Taylor.
Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Lord. Kenny Goodman
and Heidi are discord moderator
Worrying. On today's episode, we're gonna be talking about Rings
of Power season one and where we talk about everything
that happens there later lele it all of it's pretty
full of spoilers, So if you haven't watched that yet,
do that first. But if you're like I just want
to jump into season two of Rings of Power and
I just want to download, guess what this episode is
for you, then listen to it all. It's gonna get
you ready for season two.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
My name is Jason Vitepsion and my name's risday Night
And welcome back to Expert Vision of the podcast where
we dive deep in your favorite shows, movies, comics, and
pop culture. Coming to you from iHeart Podcast, where we'll
bring you to action Pad episode every Tuesday and Thursday
of every week. And folks, it's all about Rings of
Power season one.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, in this episode, we are recapping every episode of
Rings of Power season one. So if you want to
listen to that, strap in, get your best Elvish bro,
you know, get ready to see a saucy sourn and
yeah and listen up because that's what we're diving into today.
The Second Age of Middle.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Earth, the season one, Rings of Power Speed Recap. First
of all, I think we should set the context. This
show is set in the Second Age. Rosie tells about
the Second Age.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Okay, So the Second Age is thousands of years before
what we see in Lord of the Rings, the movies,
and the books, and it's basically heavily centered on the
glory of Newmanor or basically like the world of Men,
the success of men. It also begins after the climactic
(01:59):
banishment of more Goth, who we will talk more about
in this who was kind of an evil lord. And
then you know, then we begin to see the rise
of Souron. It's essentially about thirty four hundred years in total,
and the main thing that we're going to be looking
for here is rise of sourn Ring Raiths Numanor, and
(02:23):
the first season of Rings of Power covers some of this,
and then when we're going to be getting into that
new season two, we'll be getting a bit deeper into
the Second Age.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So here we go. Speed recap Episode one, Shadows of
the Past. We open with Gladriel talking about the war
against more Goth, his rise, his fall, the devastation he
wrought he destroyed, the two trees and then he was defeated.
(02:56):
But after his defeat, his like top Lieutenant Sauron, continued
to sew dissension darkness at the elves. Now we then
transition to the young Galadriel. She is determined. She believes
that Saron is still out there, still doing.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Stuff, still up to stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Still up to stuff. So she goes off and leads
a force of elves against the dark Lord and they
don't find them, but they find like a sour on symbol.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, spooky symbol and evidence of his kind of continued
presence in Middle Earth.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
We go to the South Lens where we meet Bronwyn,
who is a human healer mother of theo and we
meet Aaron Deer, who is like the elf sheriff of
the region, and clearly these two have a thing.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
There's some sort of hidden romantic connection.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Little heat between the two. But you know, the relationship
between men and elves in the Southland and elsewhere is
it's rocky. Yeah, pretty rocky.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Because the men helped Morgoth and allowed more Goth to survive,
and the Alves blame them and still see them as
potential betrayers of this kind of new non morgof Age,
so he the elves being there is really like, we
don't trust you to not turn to the dark side.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And then meanwhile, in a village nearby known as Tyrhad,
there's strange stuff is happening. It's clear that we go
to Lindon to meet to meet Elrand, the wonderfully quaffed
el Rond, who has been tasked by High King Gilglad.
(04:51):
Gil Glad, who just has a stick up his button.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, he's got a bad, bad attitude.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Gilgilad wants el Rond to oversee, you know, the creation
of new weapons that can defend Middle Earth against evil. YadA, YadA, YadA.
El Rond isn't interesting in all that he hasn't seen
his good friend during the fourth Prince during the fourth
son of the King king during the third and misses him.
(05:21):
And meanwhile, Ellrond just has other hobbies. He loves architecture,
all that kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, building beautiful stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, he likes beautiful stuff. We go to the Harfoots.
We meet the Hobbits, a tribe of species tribe.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yea, they're kind of the predecessors of Hobbits in Tolkien law.
And they have a nomadic lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, they're good at hiding.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, they're good at hiding. Very much like that. So
the crew that Ezra is within Ahsoka, it's very much that, like, oh,
we're under a rock.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But there.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
They also they're very community minded, but as we will
find later into the show, they will just drop member
of that community if needed. It's a it's a strange
representation like keep up, you're out, you're out. And obviously
this is why we get another big kind of central
mystery of season one.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Right a meteor streaks down from the sky crashes into
the earth right near the Harfoots and Eleanor Brandy Foot
Norri is one of our most curious halfoots. She's gonna
be our main halfoot. Along with her friend Poppy, goes
over to this crater and there's a strange guy in there.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He's like a scary he's a scary, flaming kind of
imprint too, So it's definitely mysteries abound.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Episode two, Adrift, Gladiol didn't want to go back to Vleanor.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh baby. She was like, I'm not gonna die. I'm
not going to I don't want to go.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
No, no, no, I've got too much to do Sar
and is still out there. I'm must avenge my brother.
This is a very angry Gladriel, and she jumps off
the ship that's taking them there and finds herself just
like flow, bobbing around in the ocean. She comes to
a group of human survivors on this like shattered raft
(07:17):
they're fleeing from. I guess some big sea serpent or something.
One of the survivors is a guy named halbrand Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
He's looking handsome, a very.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Handsome guy with a quite a piercing stare, and he
saves Galadriel from drowning, and the two of them kind
of gravitate to each other in a platonic way in
which it feels like they both understand that each has
like a secret and a mission that they're trying to do.
(07:50):
Back in the Southlands, tensions between elves and men continues
to be building. It's bad over there around Deer investigates
mysterious tunnels that are spreading uh. Evil orcs are traveling
through these, perhaps only to find that there's much more
dangerous things out there. Bronwyn returns to her village to
(08:11):
warn folks about what's going on, but they don't believe her,
and then the Orcs attack and everybody's like, you're right
Togetherwin and Arondier discover that the Orcs are back and
they are more evil and brutal than ever. In Linda,
el Ronde convinces Killer.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Brimborg Kella Brimble, he's Killa Brim, we love to say.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
The great craftsman of his generation, although not as great
as his dad, who was like the greatest of all time.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Hard to live up to.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's hard to live up to. And that's a big
deal for Keller Brimborg Junior, who feels like I must
do more. I must something. Yes, convinces caliber Board to
visit Cause of Doom because they need the dwarfs help
in creating these weapons and stuff. We meet Prince during
(09:08):
the fourth el Ron's old friend. He's upset because el
Rond hasn't come to visit him in a long time.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And this is a great.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Moment, like it's one of our favorite things in is
because like Elron's like, bro, I missed you, I love you,
and how's it going. And Durran it's like I am
now an adult, I have lived a century, I have children.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I have a wife. Have you been and I was like, oh,
I thought that was just like two days in elf time,
because I'm like two thousand years old.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Uh. They have a contest to see if el Ron's
even allowed to enter and hang out in Kose of Doom,
and it's great, great, great fun. Over with the harfootz
Nori wants to help the stranger. He's very weird. He
possesses powers somehow connected to the stars. He arranges pedals
(09:58):
to show like a constellation map up, but he doesn't
seem to have any memories, and the Haarfoots are definitely
definitely suspicious of him. We go to episode three A, Oh,
glad Reel and Halbrand arrive at Numanor, this grand city
of men and this is powerful human kingdom with a deep,
(10:23):
an old and ancient and deep relationship to the elves,
which actually the modern Numenorians largely reject. Haul Brand begins
dropping strange like nuggets about the Southlands.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Oh, maybe he's got connection to the Southland. I feel
like she shouldn't have taken him to Numenor. I feel
like she should have just gone by herself, even though
he's like a honky guy and he's like got an
enigmatic post I'm like, babe, just leave him on the raft.
You could have just gone yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Completely agree with you. Back in the south Lands, Arn
Deer has been captured. He encounters Adar, who is like
the first Orc.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, that's what we come to learn. And he's kind
of an Adam means father and Elvish, and he's sort
of the leader of the Orcs, it seems, which is
very unusual because obviously we all know the Orcs to
essentially just follow Sourn, that's what they do. But here
we have this new strange figure. Who is he connected
(11:27):
to Sarn? Is he not? I guess we'll find out.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It's Yeah, what are his plans? We don't know. What
are they up to? We don't know. Meanwhile, Bronwyn and
her trouble making son Theater, whose fault all of this is?
Are you know, preparing to defend the village against the
Orc threat? And THEO uh Meanwhile discovers like a shattered
(11:54):
sword with Sren's brand on it, and he and takes
it like.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
This looks fucking great, I'm keeping this. He's like holding it,
this motherfucker. THEO just give that to your mom or
elf boyfriend. Bad choices Theo.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Meanwhile, over with the Stranger and Nori, the Stranger is
showing more magical ability, but also no ability to really
control what he's doing, and Noriri is becoming more concerned,
although she's standing by him and the rest of the Haarford.
So like, we don't agree with this, and we will
(12:32):
return to the Second Age of Middle Earth after a
word from our responsors, and we're back episode for the
(12:54):
Great Waves. We meet Queen Regent Muriel of New Manor.
Her dad is king, but he's really fucking old.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
That's some old ass motherfucker. Lie. He ain't doing nothing.
Queen Wage and Muriel I love her. She's got good vibes.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
She vibes she's been seeing visions of this huge Titanic
wave that wipes out New Minor, and she's very concerned
about this. Because of this vision that she's having, she
knows that, despite the fact that it's extremely unpopular, she
needs to alige with Gladriel, who who whose Elvish ways
(13:33):
and Elvish society could maybe help them find a way
to avoid this destructive fate. Gladriel, meanwhile, is determined to
rally the men of Newmanor to her cause to fight
you know, the growing darkness in the south Lands. She
confronts Muriel and Farizon.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And he's like, he's definitely got some machiavellian plans.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Farison does not agree with the political direction and that
newmanor is going in and that direction is set by Muriel,
and that is a problem. Alo Farizon mainly keeps his
mouth shut, but he just makes faces like, you know,
he disagrees with everything. We go to uh more Halbrand stuff.
(14:18):
Halbrand continues to drop hints about his true identity. He
has lots of weird interactions with everyone.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Oh, you look maybe like you're from the Southlands. You
look like you look like you could be one of USS.
And he's kind of like, is he a yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Maybe I am, Maybe I'm former royalty. Maybe who is he?
Is he good? Is he bad? Much like the stranger
we don't know yet from in the Southlands, Bronwin's village
is under increasing pressure from the Orcs. The villagers flee
to this tower that they then you know, try to
(14:55):
set up defenses to hopefully hold out there against the Orcs.
Aaron Deer is, of course, like organizing a lot of
this with bron Win's help. The situation becomes super super
bad as Theo begins playing more and more with the
sword and unlocking dark powers from it, and very very
(15:15):
clearly the sword seems to be influencing him in a
strongly negative way. Again, this is all Theo's fault.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's all Theo's fault. He's like getting weird, like sour
on tattoos. Bad times, bad bad times.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
In Kozudumelerondo Duran are reforging their friendship. They're working on
the forge. Duran reveals, although he shouldn't have, he should
there's been a discovery of a very very rare and
powerful and magical metal called Mythril, deep deep deep in
the minds. The thing about the Mythrill though, it's really
(15:52):
hard to mind. It's dangerous and difficult for the Stone Singers,
for anybody to get to, and it's tricky. We gotta
have Episode five partings. Gladriel continues to tell the new Menorians, Hey, Saarron,
we gotta fight them. Southlands are in trouble. We got
to go there because this is Saurn's doing. She convinces
(16:14):
Muriel to send an army on boats over to the Southlands,
and meanwhile Muriel kid is continuing to have these, you know,
increasingly desperate visions of the of the destruction of numnor
how Brand plays koy here.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, He's like, oh, I shouldn't go. I don't want
to go back there. And Galadriel is like, bro, you
gotta go. She's like, you gotta go, get on that boat, Galadrielle.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Why don't you come on, babe, come on back, come
on babe. In cause of Doom, el Rond learns that
not only is mythrill like this really cool metal with
lots of interesting uh properties, but it could heal and
(17:06):
rejuvenate the Tree of Lindon, which is shedding leaves at
a very disturbing rate.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's currently yes, And then elves light is fading, but
is this beautiful bright It's filled rerecious metal. So they're like, oh,
maybe this could be the key to preserving our immortality.
I feel like if the Elves just talked to Queen
Muriel and they were like, it feels like there's going
to be a bad downfall, maybe we can come together.
(17:36):
But no, I.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Agree with you. That should be a thing that happens.
But as we've seen, the Newmonorians do not trust the elves.
It's it's it's a it's tricky. Meanwhile, this discovery of
mythrils rejuvenating properties with regards to the Great Tree of
Lindon means that Elrond, who has promised his that he's
(18:00):
like not he has no other motives. He's not hiding anything.
This is just about like us and our friendship and
the forge and that whole thing now has to weigh
the fact that he's got his greater duty to the
Elvish kind and his loyalty to his friend. Does he
(18:21):
reveal that Mithril can do this to the elves, thus
betraying his friend? What does he do? It's a big problem.
In the south Lands, the battle drums continue to beat.
Theo continues to play with himself and play with his sword.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
He would have been better off just playing with himself.
That's what is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
They need to do it is And meanwhile, the Harfoots
continue to make their trek with across the land with
the Stranger to make their migration. We see, as we
spoke about earlier, this part of Harfoot culture that involves
like keeping up, Like if you.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Don't keep up, if you twist your ankle.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Twist your ankle, get some plantar phieschitis. We're gonna leave
you behind, and you're just gonna get devoured by whatever
the fuck is out here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Bad times. I'm not fan of that.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Meanwhile, at a certain point, the Stranger uses magic to
protect the Harfoots and lose his control of it kind
of again, and then he like becomes like a like
a weakened little baby. And Norari continues to believe that
he's a good guy. But is he good? Is he bad?
We just don't know. Episode six, ooh, dude, the attack
on the Southlanders. Now it's coming. Now it's coming. It's
(19:43):
been building up for a long time. Erindeer and the
villagers have fortified this watchtower. However, the Orcs under the
leadership of Adar are just ruthless and relentless, and they're
brutal and they're getting in there and they're killing everybody.
Aaron Deer fights valiantly and almost gets killed. And just
(20:06):
as it feels like the Orcs are gonna win, the
south Landers are gonna get wiped out. Guess what here come?
The new Menorian there come off their ship. The cavalry
is here, led by Galadriel hal Brand, he's got to
be a good guy, right, He's gotta be great. And
Queen Regent Muriel they arrive, they're here, they turn the
(20:27):
they turn the tide. Halbrand and Gladriel run after Adar,
who we find out he's not sore On, but he
is this first Orc called an Uruk, remember that, and
is basically a corrupted elf.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yes, like the Orcs are corrupted elves or at least
the oracle the urk Haya, so very scary stuff at
DAWs had enough. But also he he recognizes.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Hal Brand, that's right, he's like, yeah, something about you,
What's what's what's up with you? Interesting little vibes there, big,
big battle. It's one of these victories for the Neumonorians
in the Southlanders, where like, if you have a couple
more victories like this, there'll be nothing left. Yeah, he's
(21:18):
freaking bad. It's not a great victory. And then as
this is happening, Mount doom erupts massive, massive, massive eruption,
desolating the Southlands, which previously was kind of nice, pretty
chill tree side, yeah, countryside, lot of clouds, but still
(21:40):
nice green grass and trees and stuff. After this, it's
full on mortor yeah, and guess what was key to
that explosion?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Uh, THEO stupid sword that he could.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Have just been here he goes again and guess what now?
Muriel is blind. She's been blinded by the explosion, and
she's gonna have to just use her sense of hearing,
much like us have to use our ears to hear
a word from our sponsors. Can be right back and
message and we're back. Episode seven, the Penultimate The Eye.
(22:30):
The Southands are fucked up, folks. Mount Doom is erupted.
Everything's a mess. Muriel is blind, glad Reel Holbrand, everybody
or like digging themselves out of the fucking ash. Glad
Reel feels terrible about everything that's happened and the events
that she's put in place that have led to the
(22:52):
deaths of many, many, many people and this huge disaster,
but she still wants to continue. How Brand is really
fucked up. He's wounded and he needs to be healed.
And Galadriel is like, I must heal my friend. How
can we get him help? I know, I'll take him
to the elf who can? Who can? Back? In cause
(23:16):
of Doom, Ellern and Duran are you know are having
it out because Elrond now has kind of revealed that
the mythrill would be important to the Elves for this
other thing, and Duran's like, how could you fucking do
this to Mets? Yeah, I thought we were friends during
(23:37):
three during King during the third refuses to can do
you mining for the mythrill because of the dangers the
fact that it could kind of undermine the entire costume?
Three and four fight over this, uh, and ultimately Elrond
(23:57):
is going to give the myth thrill to the Elves
because he asked you. The Hertos meanwhile continue their journey
and the Stranger's powers are developing even more, becoming more uncontrollable,
and the Heartfoots are like, we gotta leave this guy behind.
We go to episode eight, the finale, Alloyed. Okay, glad
Real Halbrand arrive at Iregon, the home city of Calibrimore.
(24:22):
He is he's working on a brand new project. He's
come up with a brand new.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Thing on his own. Definitely no weird influence him.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Power rings.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Oh that sounds good, that's.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
A good idea. How Brand is like, whoa, I'm feeling
much better. Okay, hey have you thought about it? And
they're they're doing stuff with the myth thrill and they
can't get it to work. And then a certain part,
Halberan's like, you know, I got a crazy idea. What
about an alloy? What if you combine it with another metal?
(24:54):
That's the way to do in calibrimber is.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Like, oh whoa, that's calibri was like, I'm so glad
you're coming up right now.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Gladriel is suspicious. Hold on a second, You've got all this,
all this like metallurgy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
She's like, oh, so, weren't you injured You're really sick?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yeah, like what now you're just like fine. In the
presence of Calibrimble on the forge, they're out in the
woods and talking about it, and then halbrand all of
a sudden goes, you know, who the fuck I am.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He's like he's like, oh he prints up the southlide
and she's like in a way and in a way,
and then he gives that like a cool vision where
like they're like married next to each other. Yes, you
could all this could be your babe, I feel your anger, Like,
let's just roll together. It will be chill. Galadriel says no.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, she says no. So now Gladiel knows that uh
Soren is out there and.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
She bought him back. She's like, yeah, I bought him
to my home. I boy him to beat my parents.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Glad Reel, with all the strength she has, rejects this
vision of marriage to Sauron, who then escapes. In Kosa
Doom during the fourth continues to mind the myth Thrill,
despite the fact that his fathers don't want him to.
They have a big argument that's about like, you know,
(26:26):
the future of Kosa Doom and whether Duran will be
a worthy king and all that kind of stuff. El
ron presence there becomes a point of very sharp tension.
The harfoots meanwhile, or like what do we do about
this stranger. There's these white witches that are like sending
(26:48):
things on fire, and like what's going on. All of
this comes to a climax when the stranger uses powers
and then all of a sudden there's like some of
his memories come back and he can talk. Then there's
this flash of power and we come to realize that
he is an istar, which is a type basically a wizard,
(27:13):
but he doesn't have memories.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Who could he be?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Could he be? And the episode ends with kelabrimbor Iny.
He's making the Rings of Power the alloy thing work.
Cal Brand had a great idea and it works. We're
looking at these three beautiful Elvin.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Ring have to say, the design of these rings very stylish,
very like, very beautiful. Like I'm looking at that, I'm
thinking like, Keli Brimble, you really did design those rings,
like you didn't just do three similar rings. You were like,
I'm doing three different ones for everyone's personality.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And Keller Brimble, he does he feel a shadow over himself,
the shadow he thinks of his fire other kele brimboor
the Elder, who is the greatest. No, it's not the
shadow of kelib brimboor the Elder. It's the shadow of
sorrow sorry, who has touched these rings at certain points,
(28:12):
meaning they are tainted with his energy.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
And his power.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
His power and his corruption will follow them. And we
head on to season two. Let's talk about it. What'd
you How did you feel about season one?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I really loved season one of Rings of Power. I
from the beginning, I just thought that the Galadriel arc
was really cool. The show just smells of money, like
it's you can see where the money went. I really
love this stuff between Laron and Duran. Now, I will
say I I love to know things. I am like that.
(28:49):
I love like knowledge based stuff. So I know a
lot about Lord of the Rings. But I and I
really enjoy those movies. But the movies are not necessarily
to me as hall ground as they were for other people.
So I think I was able to go into this
in a more open minded state. Like I really loved
the new iteration of the Harfoots until like the weird
(29:10):
like they'll just leave you behind with a broken ankle.
There's like the smacks of abolism. I'm not into it,
but like I loved it. I thought that they had
fun with the central mysteries without making them. Yeah, this
kind of puzzle box, like you're never gonna get a
satisfying answer. It was all quite clear to all of
us that Holbrand was probably sourn but it was fun
to have that little bit of knowledge over Galadriel. It
(29:32):
was like watching a horror movie. You're kind of yelling
at her, going don't do it, girl, like please, like,
don't take him back there. But he you know. Charlie Vickers,
who plays Holbrand, did such a good job of being
the enigmatic lost soul that Galadriel felt like she needed.
So for me, I really thought it was a great
season of TV.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
It is.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
It is kind of a slow burn one, but I
did enjoy it, and I personally felt like, if you're
going to invest mill of dollars into a TV show, like,
why not do it in a crazy fantasy world like
this that you truly bring to life. How did you
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I liked it quite a bit, same as you. If
I have any critiques, it's small stuff, like I think
pacing wise, yes, I would agree, particularly the bee in
this in C plot, so uh, you know, the overall
kind of mystery around how brand develops pretty slowly, and
(30:29):
that turns out to be kind of the main thrust
of the season with you know, strangely, the threat to
the South lends ending up feeling like more of a
B plot, and so I think that the way that
emerged made the pacing feel a little just a little
slower times. And I think that the sea plot being
(30:50):
you know, nor poppy and.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Probably two even though I enjoyed them. Also, I will
say I do definitely think pacing is an interest thing
with this show, because when I was watching the show,
I was just like, ooh, slow burn, I'm enjoying it.
But when we were recapping it, I was like, I
realize nothing happened. And I was also like, wait, some
stuff happens really fast, Like halfway through the season. That
(31:14):
was when Mordel was created, Like I felt like that
was the end of the season. So there were definitely
some interesting choices there that didn't always land. But generally,
one of the things I found most interesting is really
enjoyed the show when we covered it last time, but
when I was actually watching the new episodes, I was
surprised by how instantly I was hooked back, and that
(31:34):
to me was proof of the fact that I care
about these characters.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
I did not to jump ahead. We were going to
be covering the first three episodes of season two of
Rings of Power upcoming in this week, but not to
jump ahead too much, but to underline your point, I agree.
I think one of the things that I also appreciate
the slow burn in the moment, but looking back, it's like, Okay,
(31:59):
what could we have done to make this feel a
little bit more pacy. I think one of the things
that I've liked from season two that they're leading into
is that slow motion car crash element. Oh yeah, where
you know, certainly once once we had figured out who
how Brand is, then it becomes oh no, how can
(32:19):
we avoid this? You know that this is coming and
that our heroes are going to get chewed up by
this destiny that is coming, and you just want them
to be able to avoid it. And I think in
season two, what I've seen thus far is it's all
about that dark fate that is coming, and it leans
heavily on the charm and cleverness of Souron, and that
(32:48):
part of it is really really compelling. Like that. I
love that, Like over the first three episodes that we've
seen so far, in season two, Souron is really just
like breaking people's says, oh yeah, pulling every string. So yeah,
small notes about season one, I think pacing wise, but
(33:09):
other than that, I really liked it, and it really
you have to say, I find myself having to stop sometimes.
It'd be like you're watching Lord of the Rings on
TV and it looks as good as the movies, Like
this is incredible. It's just amazing, and casting wise, everybody
looks great. You just feel like they're completely embodying their
(33:33):
characters and for me a clear highlight. L Rondon Durance
just an incredible fasship.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I love them so much. I really want I know,
like obviously things are going bad for them at the
end of season one we didn't mention, but we get
a glimpse of the bow Rock being awakened, you know,
under chasm chasm doom, So like things aren't gonna go great.
But I hope that we get to keep that like
chuppy little like boise own friendship, because I really do
(34:01):
think that the show just sings to a level of
like a House of the Dragon or something like the
relationship between those two. It elevates it to like some
of the best TV. But yeah, it just crackles so good.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
On Thursday's episode, we've got screenwriter and Batman expert Mark
bernardin on the show to talk about the second half
of Batman Cape Crusader on Amazon Prime Video. Then on Friday,
we're diving into the first episode of season two of
Rings of Power and speaking with executive producing director Charlotte Branstrom.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Oh she was great. Call wait you guys to have them.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
That's it for this episode. Thanks for listening. X ray
Vision is hosted by Jason Gisubsion and Rosie Knight and
is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are
Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer is a
(34:57):
Booze Afar. Our producers are Carmen Lawn and Mia Taylor.
Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Lord. Kenny Goodman
and Heidi are discord moderator
Hosts And Creators
Jason Concepcion
Rosie Knight
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