The Rings of Power - Season 2, Part 1 - Project Geekology

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to episode 102 of Project Geekology.
This week we are going to becovering part one of season two
of Rings of Power.
This is a little bit of a Ringsof Power series that we've been
doing.
I am one half of your host,anthony, and joining me, as
always, is Dakota, and Eagles,Uruks and Ents.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Oh my, we have so much to talk about yeah, we do
uh when it comes to these firstfour episodes, and I'm super
thrilled that we stuck it outand actually made it to season
two, because this is the show Iwanted.
This is the show that I wasexpecting when season one came
out, so I'm happy that we suckit out, rich.
I'm happy that you encouragedus to stick it out.

(00:47):
Oh yeah, rich, you're here too.
Hi hi, rich.
How are you?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
hey guys, how you doing.
Thanks for having me reallyexcited.
You know to, uh, once againrepresent the rights of all out
there and I will be speakingabout that later, but no, really
, I'm really glad you guys stuckit out.
I mean, I had a blast talkingabout season one with you guys,
but like this is the moment I'vebeen waiting for right, like
this was.
They gave us so much.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, yes, so kind of like the last season.
Part one is going to cover thefirst four episodes of the
series.
So we're not going to betalking about the entire season
today series.
So we're not going to betalking about the entire season
today, and then next week wewill be talking about the rest
of you know, the last fourepisodes, and then, I guess,
maybe the season as a whole.
And yeah, there's definitely alot to talk and unpack, which is

(01:36):
like I'm glad that we cut thisshow in half, because there's no
way that, like even just in thefirst four episodes, that we
could have just covered this inlike one, a one hour episode,
you know, just like the wholeseason.
So I'm really excited aboutthat.
What have you been up to,dakota?
I know that we usually startthe show with what we have been
up to, so tell us not a wholelot as far as just consuming

(02:01):
entertainment outside of ringsof power.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
But well, actually that's not entirely true, but I
I have been playing astrobot ohokay, the game yeah, the game
astrobot on playstation 5 nicehave you given?
Have you given it a chance yet?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I?
I actually have not, but Iheard that it's actually like a
really really good likeplatformer game.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm super impressed with it.
It's basically playstation'smario, you know like it's a
super mario game.
you kind of think like one ofthe more recent mario games that
have come out and can't kind oflike odyssey or galaxy or
something like that, where it'slike kind of semi-open world
even though there's levels toeach location.
And what's cool about Astro Botis it's very clearly a love

(02:48):
letter to PlayStation games ofthe past.
So there's a good chunk oflevels that are themed to games
that have been popular.
Like we just went through a Godof War level where we had to
collect certain bots and wefound a Kratos and Atreus and we
had to go through certainthemed locations that were very

(03:10):
God of War-esque.
But there's a lot of likereally creative gameplay
mechanics and there's so muchwithin the controller that the
PlayStation has like in terms ofit produces audio, it accepts
different types of movements andstuff that is very uniquely
represented in this game, andeach level has a different

(03:32):
mechanic that you can utilizewith the DualShock controller
and it's just so cool.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Right, what Dakota is talking about is the actual
like Astro Bot game.
When the PS5 came out, therewas this Astro Bot game that
came out, but it was more oflike a showcase for the PS5.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
I think it was like Astro's World or something like
that.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Right, right and so, like it's almost like this.
That character kind of became alittle bit of a mascot for the
PS5, just to kind of showcasewhat you can do with this
hardware.
And yeah, when that game cameout, I saw nothing but rave

(04:17):
reviews for it.
I had listened to a couple ofpodcasts that talked about it
and pretty much I would say allof them are like yeah, this is
like such a good platformer,it's so solid.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
So, yeah, no, I'm interested in it's also it's a
contender for game of the year.
I don't know if you've lookedat the game of the year list yet
, but it's like a really bizarrelist like there's.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
There's a probably rebirth on there yeah, it's
final fantasy.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
7 rebirth yeah there's the.
What's weird is that it's not afull game, it's the dlc.
So elden rings latest dlc, isin contention for game of the
year, which is bizarre.
Um ash astrobot is incontention for game of the year,
and I feel like there's acouple more, but I just, I I'm

(05:05):
not in that sphere, so I I don'tknow yeah, there's usually
maybe about like five, six yeahbut uh, yeah, no, I'm really
impressed with it.
As far as anything else I'vebeen up to, I was talking to
rich right before we startedrecording.
There's a lot of avatar newsthat has come out in the past

(05:27):
two days and some of it israther spoilery.
I don't think I'm gonna talktoo much about all that, but if
you're interested, there hasbeen a lot of leaks regarding
the avatar series.
That occurs after the legend ofkorra, so so this is the next
Avatar.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
The Earth Avatar.
So there's been a lot of leakswithin the past two days that
have come out.
The Avatar's name has beenreleased, the premise and the
setting, and it's reallyfascinating, but it's like a
huge status quo change.
So look at that at your ownperil.
But as far as stuff that's notso spoilery, avatar studios has

(06:08):
you know, on top of all theseleaks that have been coming out
outside of avi avatar studios,avatar studios released their
official timeline of like the ofthe avatar show and everything,
and I'm pleased to announce the, the, the timeline structure,
that structure that I came upwith last week, where you know,
like I mentioned, that AvatarWan, like when he became the

(06:31):
Avatar, is the new Zero periodand, like, by the time the
second harmonic convergence withKorra comes out, is 10,000
years in the future.
That's exactly the layout thatthey chose.
It may not be ER era of Ravaand ea era of the avatar, but
the numbering system is on parwith what I've got going on, so
I'm very pleased with that.
I I kind of called it, I kindof just wish I had released my

(06:54):
avatar timeline earlier so thatI could have, like you know, you
could have been like hey theycopied me, yeah, they copied me,
but now I feel like I copiedthem and it's not the case.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
But yeah, anyway I anyway I've got it on recording.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's cool it was on our last episode, if you want
to check it out.
Yeah, I definitely talked aboutthat, so I'm pleased, but also
kind of like a little bit upset.
Between the first Avatar andYang Chen, which is the air
Avatar in the cycle prior toAang, there are 90 Avatars.

(07:31):
That's the first time thatthey've ever announced or over.
They said over 90 Avatars,which means that we're coming up
on 100 total Avatars once thenext Avatar comes out.
So I'm excited about that.
It's really cool.
A lot of stuff's coming out.
Also, I think we're probablygoing to have to talk a little
bit about this, just in general,just Skeleton Crew.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
You know, honestly, to tell you the truth, I have
not been able to actually sitdown and watch the two episodes
I went to.
Every time I go to sit down towatch it at night, because the
past couple of nights I've beenlike sitting down and watching
the this first part of seasontwo by the time I've just been

(08:13):
exhausted lately.
So by the time I go to sit downand watch it, dude, like I'm
knocking out and so like I'mlike, ok, I don't want to watch
this because I want to watch itwithout falling asleep.
So I really want to watch thisbecause I want to watch it
without falling asleep.
So I really want to watch it.
Like I've seen, like maybe thefirst, like 20 minutes of the
first episode and so far itseems pretty interesting, like

(08:35):
it's.
I like that.
It seems like they're trying todo something different the.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
There's a certain level of mystery within the show
that I'm really excited aboutrich.
I feel like you have somethingto say about Skeleton Crew.
Oh, I absolutely love it.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I mean it's kind of like Goonies in space A little
bit, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
I mean they kind of give you that suburban lifestyle
within the Star Wars universethat we've never seen before.
Yeah, it's awesome, we've neverseen that in 40 something years
and that's really cool.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
It's like we've seen what you know dusty deserts or
an overcrowded city, and that'sit.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Now that you mention it, I did find that kind of
interesting that like they areliving, the lives that they're
living, is very different tothan what we were used to in
Star Wars.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's.
I think it's really interestingthe dynamic shift.
But you obviously like, if youthink about it, suburbs have to
exist somewhere yeah so might aswell exist in this show, and I
like how the kids are veryclearly like from affluent
neighborhoods and like they'regiving the parents are giving
their kids the best possibleeducation that they can, and it

(09:47):
kind of just mirrors ourpersonal lives a little bit in
the sense that, you know, we'veall been to school, we've all
had to take tests that, you know, test our aptitude for certain
things.
So I think it's just a reallyfun twist on the genre by
incorporating a little bit ofreal life into it.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right and it definitely has like those coming
of age elements.
You know that that's what'sgoing to be happening in that
show and you know something thatit kind of reminds me a little
bit of is that there is thisthere's a series that I really
like enjoyed in middle schooland it was called star wars,

(10:30):
galaxy of fear, and it was likeit was goosebumps in the star
wars universe and it followedthese two kids and their uncle
and their uncle was like prettymuch like a jedi, and so it's
kind of reminding me like you'vegot this group of kids that's,
you know, following this likeJedi kind of character.

(10:51):
So, like that, it brought thatmemory to me a little bit.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
So it's, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, I can't wait to actually like dive and watch a
little bit more.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
It was funny.
I watched the first episode andthen I texted jen and I
complained about something, youknow, I think.
I said I need dakota to make atimeline so that I know what the
hell is going on.
And then I kind of was like, oh, you just need to be patient,
buddy, like you just need to bepatient, you know.
You want to know the timelines.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
I could give you a brief little timeline.
I there's information that I'vealready gleaned from the
timeline that I think kind ofspoils certain aspects of the
show, so I don't want to get toodeep into it.
But it is concurrent toMandalorian and Boba Fett and
all that.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Okay, okay, so that's between.
That's after episode six,before episode seven yes, so
it's about five years afterepisode six.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
In that sweet spot.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
In that sweet sweet spot where there's very little
canon stuff that we know aboutoutside of the shows, but what I
find really interesting,Anthony, when you eventually sit
down to re-watch or watch theepisodes for the first time.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
I guess I'm gonna tackle at least the first
episode tonight after recording,because I didn't have enough
time to eat before we recorded,so I'm gonna eat after we record
and be able to actually sitdown and like eat and be able to
like watch something.
I won't be like laying down andwatching something, so I won't
be able to fall asleep.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
In the beginning scene.
Notice what the pirate holdswhen he picks up a New Republic
credit.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
And then, I think, by episode two, notice what one of
the kids is holding when theygive over their credits, because
they're not the same thing andI think that's a big clue as to
where they are in the universe,their home planet and all that.
And I think you know, if yougive it any thought, you can
kind of come up with a decentunderstanding of, like, what is

(12:54):
actually going on with thesekids, because there's more than
meets the eye, because they'renot the same credits, the that
the pirate finds in thebeginning, as well as what the
kid is carrying.
So really interesting stuff,sweet.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, I'll keep an eye out.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Anthony, what have you been up to?

Speaker 1 (13:11):
So the whole reason why we didn't record and get an
episode out the previous week,as this comes out, is because I
went out of town and I got tospend some time with some family
for Thanksgiving, and afterthat this past weekend I went to
Disney, we went to HollywoodStudios.

(13:33):
I always like going toHollywood Studios and so did
that.
And then I actually yesterday,as a recording recording, on
Wednesday, so yesterday,december 3rd, I went to go see
Moana 2.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh yeah, I got to see that as well.
Really quick.
What are your favorite andleast favorite rides in
Hollywood Studios?
Or you don't have to tell meleast favorite.
What are your top three?

Speaker 1 (13:59):
So my top three, I mean, obviously Rise of the
Resistance, just because thattechnology was just it's, it's
amazing and they use that samelike technology for that Mickey
and Minnie ride that they made.
So it's a trackless ride,trackless ride, yeah, which I
think is amazing that we're likeat that point Another one that

(14:26):
it's.
It's tough because there's a.
There's a lot that I do like,but I have to go with the
classics like rock and rollercoaster, like just the the dark
indoor coaster.
It's really fun but also kindof scary at the same time,
because there's a couple timeswhere you feel like your head's
gonna hit something, but likeyou know, you know that they've
like calculated that.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
But like, of course, you still have that, that like
inkling to like wanna kind oflike cringe or yeah same with
like space mountain, like youcan't see anything that's like
above or beside you but like, ifyou like, hold your arms up in
this in the air.
You're kind of worried thatthey're just gonna like be hit
off dude, exactly so I don'tknow if you've noticed or I

(15:07):
don't know if you know this, butrock and roller coaster is
going away in its current stateuh, that, so I didn't.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
I, I mean, I haven't really dug too deep into that,
like so I didn't know, but Iknow that the muppets ride is
going away in its current state.
That's changing.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes, so the Muppets 3D show is going away, which a
lot of people are really upsetabout, because that's Jim
Henson's last actual film.
Was that show for Disney World?
So that's supposed to be.
They're going to keep that insome form or another.
But the Muppets are going to bereplacing the aerosmith show in

(15:48):
rock and roller coaster, soit's going to be a muppets
themed roller coaster instead ofaerosmith oh okay, I wonder
what.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
What did they say?
The reasoning behind that?
I guess because, like aerosmith, they.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
Aerosmith has fallen out of public consciousness at
this point, right Publicconsciousness.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
I mean there's been allegations against Steven Tyler
that aren't very Disneyfriendly.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Fairly certain he's saying about that, so I don't
know why we're surprised.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, but again.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Makes sense.
Right, it's in the music guys.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
We also have.
They want to incorporate aMonsters Inc land and roller
coaster where the Muppets landis currently.
So they're going to gut theMuppets land, put all the
Monsters Inc stuff there, andthen they're going to ship the
Muppets somewhere else I don'tknow, and then also, I really
like Tower of Terror.
Tower of Terror is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
You know I like the Twilight Zone, I like the Outer
Limits, I mean like dude.
You know, like as a kid like Iloved those really creepy like
anthology series that likereally tested thinking and stuff
, so sure.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, so so it.
It definitely has that vibe andthat's one of my favorite rides
and and, honestly, that'sprobably one of the few actual
drop rides that I'll go on,because it's not that bad.
I will never go on Dr Doom'sFearfall.
Never in my life you will neversee me even put a toe on that
ride.
All right, Well you heard itfirst folks.

(17:20):
Tower of Terror.
I'll go on there.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Tower of Terror is fantastic.
It's one of those classic ridesthat I hope never changes.
I know in Disneyland they'vealready rethemed it to a
Guardians of the Galaxy ride andeveryone hates it, so I hope
they don't do that for DisneyWorld.
But anyway, right, right.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
So yeah, I got to.
I was going to visit somefamily that I hadn't seen in a
while.
It was good getting out toDisney and seeing Moana and
watching this.
I got to.
I was, you know, going to visitsome family that I hadn't seen
in a while.
It was good.
And then you know, getting outto Disney and seeing Moana and
watching this.
So Rich.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
What have you been up to?
Well, let's see, pokemon hascome to a grinding halt where,
since I refuse to pay money,I've gotten past the barrier and
I'm very displeased.
So I past the barrier and I'mvery displeased.
So I just turned to an oldfavorite, red dead redemption 2.
I think at this point Iprobably play it once every 18
months or so, like I.

(18:12):
I'm just like I've.
I've replayed the entire thing.
I still get upset at the samemoments.
I did find out new stuff.
Like you don't have to go getmicah and help him get back to
camp right away.
You can just kind of like nothave him around, and I hate his
character.
So I thoroughly enjoyed lookingat my map and seeing his name

(18:33):
on my map and saying, heck, no,I'm not going to go help you
Micah, because I didn't want himaround the camp.
It's just he annoys the crapout of me.
My wife walked in the other dayand I was fishing and the fish
was very large.
It was one of those large fishthat you have to put on, put on
the back of the horse, so I wasvery excited.
It was a.
It was a thrilling back andforth and then I went to go
catch another one and she saidare you really just gonna keep

(18:54):
fishing?
And I was like, don't tell mehow to play my game, I'll just.
I'll just go hunting.
I'll play texas hold'em pokerin that game with a glass of
whiskey, like I'm at a bar, foran hour and a half Just goes by
and I refuse to stop playing.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
That's how you do it, man.
Speaking of Red Dead Redemption2, IGN I guess for the 30th
anniversary of PlayStationreleased their top 100 games of
the entire PlayStation era andRed red dead redemption 2 was in
their top.
It was definitely in their top10.
I don't know, I forget if itwas a top five game, but it was.

(19:33):
It was definitely up there, soit's definitely gotten its
recognition from pretty much allsectors it's just there's just
so much to do.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Like I love the horse riding, you know I try to
replace skyrim.
The remaster is pretty good.
I downloaded that a while ago.
But skyrim is another gamewhere I played to level 84 and I
I would just kind of go andlike I.
When my wife found out thatthere was fast travel, let's
just say she was very upset withme because there were times I

(20:03):
was like I just gotta travel, Ijust gotta get to mark off, and
she'd be like, oh, all right,how far is that?
I show her the map and she'slike, okay, and it would be like
25 minutes.
And it was because I didn'twant to miss anything along the
way well, that's.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
A fun part about skyrim is that there's so many
little areas that, like you, canjust travel to and unlock on
the map.
That you know just heightensyour gameplay, because as soon
as you unlock that, there'seither like a little dungeon in
there or there's something likea chest within a tower or
something.
I love skyrim man.
I can't wait for elder scrollsto.
I just want to poke elderscrolls with a stick and be like

(20:38):
do something, come on well,yeah, but that's, that is just
they.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
They had released that little teaser just to like
kind of appease the the appetite.
But like now people are likedefinitely hungry for for more
elder scrolls.
But dude, like red deadredemption by far is like one of
the most beautiful games that Ihave seen in a long time and
like I mean outside of squareenix and square enix makes some

(21:06):
really beautiful games, but likerockstar killed it.
Like I mean on like red deadredemption 2 looks better than
any of the gta games that theyhave come out with, any of the
other games that they have comeout with, like just the
landscapes and just theattention to detail and like
just a lot of small stuff thatthey have done.
It's been a while since I'verevisited Red Dead Redemption 2,

(21:29):
but I would definitely go backshoot.
But I think that Overwatch 2might be taking a little bit of
a back burner because Rivals isfinally releasing tomorrow
Marvel Rivals, the Overwatchclone rivals, the, you know,

(21:49):
overwatch clone, okay, well, Iguess next week let us know how
the actual release goes.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
For, you know, I guess the, the, first week of
release, right?

Speaker 1 (21:53):
yes, well, you know I'll probably shoot, shoot you
in text and whatnot, but we'lltalk a little bit more about it.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Uh, next week in depth so we're entering, we're
we're like 27 minutes into ouractual recording.
By the time that you listen tothis, friends, it'll be probably
closer to like 24, 25 minutes,but we should probably get into
our discussion of the first fourepisodes of season two of the
Lord of the Rings, the Rings ofPower, the biggest show on

(22:20):
Amazon Prime Video.
We have a lot to talk about.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
So much happens in each episode and I think maybe
we should talk a little bitabout our expectations going
into this season, how they weremet, how they weren't, what we
were surprised by, before we getinto any real big spoilers,
because there will be bigspoilers in this discussion.
Anthony, how about you startthe discussion off?
What were you expecting goinginto this second season and how

(22:49):
has the first four episodes?
How have you accepted the firstfour episodes?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Well, coming into this season, we got that reveal
of Sauron at the end of seasonone and it ends with him
arriving to Mordor.
So we're like, okay, you knowhis plans are starting to kind
of like come together and so,like I knew that there was a lot
, we were going to start seeinga lot more of him being the

(23:16):
cunning individual that westarted to see towards the end
of season one.
And you know, obviously we alsoended with the three elven rings
being made at the end of seasonone, and so, like I was
expecting to see more of therings and you know kind of like
a little bit of like what youtalked about that you're like,

(23:37):
okay, we got the elven rings andso we're gonna probably start
seeing a little bit some ofthese other rings being made.
So, like, my expectations werekind of like that too, and you
know it's kind of tracking inthat kind of way, and so, yeah,
so far, like last season wasreally good, but like this one

(23:58):
has like really been blowing mymind, like it's just blowing a
lot out of the water.
I feel like there there was alot that they took from the
first season and they learnedand then they like, really like,
applied to this season rich.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
How do you feel?
I know you feel very vindicatedin the fact that we're finally
understanding the scope of whatthis series is capable of what
do you feel as far as likegetting to these episodes and
finally getting to discuss them?

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I'm just like super excited.
You know, the thing is, I thinkthis demonstrates in some way
the and I I don't know if therewere pratfalls in the first
season, right I'm trying to kindof look at this in a way that
doesn't kind of punish them ifwhat they are doing is taking
creative license to say this iswhat we wanted to do in the

(24:46):
first season and this is howwe're going to reveal it in the
second season, because there aremany storylines that start to
develop, that I think charactersmake more sense.
They're less like caricatures.
I feel like I'm with people now, right Not like just kind of
weird one-note characters.

(25:06):
I'm way more invested, I caremore, and everything that I
learned in season two makes mecare more about season one,
which is frustrating.
You know, but is that justAmazon saying you know or the
creators going we know, this isfunded.
We don't have to worry aboutpacing the story to make sure
that the network continues tofund this, like this is going to

(25:29):
happen.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well, that's an interesting thought and I'll
stop you there really quicklyand I'll just kind of address
what my thoughts are on that.
As soon as you give characterssomething else to do and their
new task or their new dilemma iskind of built on top of the

(25:49):
struggles that they experiencedpreviously and you can feel that
tangibly, then they startfeeling like real people instead
of the caricatures that youhave developed a one-note story
for.
And I felt that with a sealdoor this season, I felt that
with the Stranger this season,nori for sure, pretty much every
returning character that hasbeen given a new task this

(26:13):
season, I felt stronger forbecause they have that history
that is building up their story.
But yeah, no, I totally agreewith that.
And as far as what you weresaying, with season one not
necessarily delivering on, youknow all the expectations that
you felt it should have orwhatever you know, and you
mentioned three seasons ofavatar, but you need that season

(26:34):
for the following two seasonsto develop into something truly
great.
It's so maybe, maybe that's thecase for rings of power those

(26:55):
developmental seasons are reallyjust like tough man, you know.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Especially you have a show that's only eight episodes
and like.
So you only have eight episodesto develop, to introduce
characters, show them whatthey're about and develop at
least them somewhat so that youcan be invested into that
character, to want to even gointo a second season.
You know yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
So, and I think that that's kind of where I'm at with
these first couple episodes isthat I wanted to like the first
season a lot more than I did andI finally did.
You know, I admitted lastepisode that I liked where this
story was going.
By the last couple episodes Ithink it was by episode six or

(27:41):
seven I was just like, finally,I get this.
It feels like a fantasy storythat I want to be involved with.
And get this.
It feels like a fantasy storythat I want to be involved with
and I'm all in.
And I'm glad that I stuck withit because I'm all in.
The season is what I wanted.
You know, it's expandingMiddle-earth and the wider realm
of Middle-earth in a way that Idid not expect.

(28:02):
I'm excited with what they'redoing with Rune.
I'm excited with the.
Just, you know, they're givingus Barrow Whites, they're giving
us Entwives, they're giving usa whole bunch of stuff that is
like key to Tolkien.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
And I'm super, super stoked, yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
So I for one, I'm super happy.
I like that you had, you know,Spoken about what they're doing
with Rune, which I thought waslike really cool, Because
something that was likeintroduced or like a group of
people that were introduced Inthe Lord of the Rings films.
I don't think that they werereally Talked about in the books

(28:42):
.
I mean I could be wrong, Idon't remember.
But then, like, after you seethem at the Black Gate, you
don't see them ever again and so, like here we are in their land
.
You know we're seeing like theprecursor to those Easterlings
that we see in the movies.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
That's a really good point, and they're so cool.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
I'm like dude, like I'm actually like glad that
we're getting to see this land.
That is different, like allthese different places Like
Numenor.
You is different like all thesedifferent places like numenor.
You guys talked about thecaricatures.
They're still a little they'rethey're.
They're not my favorite, youknow they're not my favorite
either, still yeah I you knowthey're still like, very like

(29:27):
interested.
I'm interested in what's goingon over there, but it's not it's
not my tea they're kind ofthey're.
They're a bit pretentious, youknow, yeah, and there's a lot
that's going on.
But yeah, I totally agree withwhat you're saying.
I feel like Isildur isdefinitely.
You know, there's definitelygrowth.
I really do like the Stranger.
I did pick up the so far.

(29:49):
I did pick up that they'retrying to figure out a name for
him.
So I think you and I are right,dakota, I'm pretty sure that
that is gonna be gandalf what'sinteresting?

Speaker 2 (29:59):
interesting, my, my wife.
She noticed something in there,in like the way that they were
talking.
Whenever they were talkingabout like the stranger needed a
stick, they would call it agand g-a-n-d, which is the first
four letters oh, I, I, I did.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, they did say that you're right I didn't.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I didn't pick it up the first time I watched it.
I re-watched the first twoepisodes with her the other day
and, yeah, she picked it upimmediately.
So, uh, it's looking more andmore like our favorite.
You know, ishtar wizard isgoing to be showing up very soon
, or he's already showing up.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Rich is in the background like itching, because
he probably knows the answer.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Oh, he doesn't know anything.
Just keep it safe.
I mean, you know, it could be.
I still think Radagast is agood option.
Yeah, no, he gets somemushrooms, and maybe he just
becomes a different person it'slike I mean, yeah, it's possible
.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
I mean, you know, like, for me the biggest thing
is just like the personality islike very much so, gandalf, and
like now that, like poppy poppedback into this season, she, you
know, he's just like having somuch of this.
He's spending so much time withhalflings that, like you know,
now it, you know, if this isgandalf, I'm gonna understand

(31:21):
even more why he likes thehalflings.
Because, like, because of allthis time he's spending, like he
start, he sees the courage intheir hearts, like hey, look,
they might be small, but youknow they're, they've got a lot,
and I mean honestly, by the endof the lord of the rings, like,
let's be real, like a lot ofpeople you know even, like you

(31:43):
know, with the whole air going,like you know you bow to no one
and they're halflings dude, likecome on, man I.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
I think that might be my favorite scene in any movie.
I'm just gonna put it out thereyou bow to no One, brings me to
tears every single time I see it.
It's probably the most powerfulscene in all of cinema.
Just because, you know, justwatching this show you see these
Harfoots who the rest of theworld has no idea even exist.

(32:09):
The dwarves don't know, theelves don't know, the humans
don't know, and that's basicallywhat the hobbits are, and the
hobbits, just kind of like, holdthemselves up in a hill and
that's their lives for athousand plus years.
But the fact that they becomesuch a huge and incremental or
not incremental but instrumentalpart of the story of middle
earth and the third age, it'sglorious, it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
I can't believe you do not consider Evangeline Lilly
crying when Feely dies in theHobbit movie the Desolation of
Smaug.
I believe that's the one thatmakes me cry the most in the
series.
I mean, obviously the Hobbitsare very well-made movies.
You guys have to agree withthat right.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I agree that they're well-made.
They're not my cup of tea.
I'm going to stick with that,right I?
I agree that they're well made.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
They're not my cup of tea.
That's.
That's how I'm gonna stick tothat story.
Yeah, yeah, you know.
You know, dakota, and I havelike talked about that before
you know.
You know, to each their ownyeah, I, I don't want to.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
I do want to give those movies a second chance.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
We can't cover them too?

Speaker 2 (33:10):
I mean I don't think that they're bad movies.
I I don't think I've everconsidered them bad movies.
But next to it's like thismassive religious text that has,
like, withstood this the thetest of time and then, uh, you
know someone copying it like I.
It's, it's, it's a good movie,good series of movies even, but

(33:34):
it's just not the original Lordof the Rings by any stretch of
the imagination and I think it'sfor whatever reason.
I think the original Lord ofthe Rings movies were.
They captured lightning in abottle.
I don't know how they did itthree times in a row, but they
did it.
And yeah, I can't really put a.
I don't know what it is aboutthose movies that makes them for

(33:56):
me that much more profound thanthe original.
I guess it's like original StarWars trilogy fans watching the
prequels, maybe.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Yeah, and honestly they probably weren't the most
like perfect movies.
There's things that you couldprobably nitpick, but I agree.
But look, there's a reason whywe got movies like the hobbit
and then we got this tv show,the rings of power.
There's, there's a followingthere.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
There's a lot of people that want to see this
visual lord of the rings media,you know, like star wars yeah,
no 100, and in a couple weekstime we're gonna have another
lord of the rings film on ourhands the war of the rohirrim
which takes place yes like 183years before the lord of the
rings trilogy.

(34:44):
So I'm I'm hyped for that.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
So yeah, I'm just angry that I have to go slight,
like we have a a very smallmovie theater over here by the
house and it just, you know,whatever movie we want to see,
it plays it.
So this is the my firstencounter that I'm gonna have to
, and it's not a big trip.
I mean, I have to go a littlebit further to new rochelle, to
the, the theater there, but I'ma little upset that it's not in

(35:08):
my secret little theater thatlike only people and basically
oh, no, yeah, I think we're usedto like maybe max 14 rows, you
know, like most of the theaterswhen we go, yeah, if there are
10 people, like when we go, it'sa shock, you know it's.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
It's like what this is very limited release this one
.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Yeah, I'm a little upset because I've been very
hyped about it, so I I'm goingto try to swing it, as my son's
birthday is two days before.
So and he's reading the Hobbit,like at nighttime.
My wife has been.
They've been reading the Hobbittogether before bed, so he's
watched the entire trilogy.
He's reading the Hobbit.
I think I can swing being like.

(35:50):
You know we got to go see themovie for him.
You know it's his birthday.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
The Hobbit is such a good like book for kids.
I I don't know I rememberreading it when I was in
elementary and then in middleschool.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
It's such a such a great read for that yeah, yeah,
that that was my first readbefore like actually diving into
the lord of the rings, becausethe lord of the rings is like
very, very extensive.
It's not as heavy as somethingfrom brandon sanderson, but
still what, what?

Speaker 2 (36:21):
I would say you know I, we're going off on a crazy
tangent yeah what I will sayabout brandon sanderson versus
tolkien is that brandonsanderson is the easier read.
It's a larger book but it's theeasier read by a long shot.
It's just way more consumable.
Tolkien is very heavy lore-wise, very heavy in description and

(36:45):
making sure you understandminute details.
So yeah, there's a little bitof a difference, but let's you
know.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Forget War of the Rohirrim, forget the Hobbit,
forget Lord of the Rings.
Let's talk about Rings of Power.
Let's start with we werealready talking about Rune.
We were already talking aboutthe stranger quote unquote that
we think is Gandalf maybe, orRadagast, according to Rich.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat storyline.

(37:13):
For the time being, youmentioned that Poppy comes back
and she comes back and shebasically says something along
the lines of you know, you guyshaven't really gotten very far.
And the stranger that might beGandalf says well, we've been
lost, or something like that.
Poppy basically says well, likeyou won't be for long because,

(37:36):
look, if you just follow thelyrics to this song that we've
been singing for thousands ofyears, you'll, you'll, you know,
you'll find your way reallyquickly.
And I loved that moment so muchbecause in the first season I
think that might be my favoritescene in the entirety of it is
the walking song, where Norisings or I think it's poppy
singing the, the walking song asthe harfoots travel across the

(37:58):
land.
It's just such a pleasant tune.
It's mixed in with some actualtolkien verses.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
And now that this show has a second season and
it's like incorporated into theplot, we have some like actual
reason for it existing and Ithink that that's awesome yeah,
yeah, like it's not random, it'snot just some sort of you know
nursery rhyme type thing thatyou know it's not as goofy as it

(38:29):
might come off, you know, rightoff the rip, like there's a
reasoning behind it.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I agree yeah, and the only thing that for me was a
little weird and if you watch ityou know if you're like so I
re-watched the first seasonbefore I started season two
again, right, so you have thisvery emotional right nori,
goodbye to, oh, she's leavingeverything she knows behind,
right.
And then it's like okay, sowe've got.
Oh, okay, so we're back to norithe stranger.

(38:56):
Oh, wait a minute, but poppy'sback.
And I'm like what?
And I, I get it and I'm happy,I love that she's there.
Right, it's like frodo withouthis sam, you know, like he needs
his sam and nori needs herpoppy.
But I don't know it.
Just it took away from it.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
There's a couple moments in this second season
where I can tell they'rerewriting the first season a
little bit, or like overridingthe ending of the first season
to get the characters where theywant them.
The biggest for me, outside ofPoppy, you know, showing up with
Nori, is Sauron.
You know.
At the end of season one we seehim go like stroll on into

(39:36):
Mordor newly christened Mordorand he's got this smile on his
face.
At the start of the secondseason he gets kidnapped and
he's just like, actually where Ineed to be is right where I
left at the end of season one.
So I got to go right back overthere.
Guys, I'll be right back.
I'm going to tell you all aboutthis guy, sauron, that's come

(39:56):
back.
So that's obviously like a plotcontrivance, in the sense that
they probably had to figure outa reason for him to show up to
Mordor and then go right back toCelebrimbor.
It's a little bit awkward, butit's obviously not something

(40:17):
that would naturally happen to acharacter.
You personally wouldn't.
I'm going to make a trip toCalifornia to start a new life.
Actually, now that I'm inCalifornia, I forgot I really
got to do this one thing that Ishould have done back home in
New York, so I don't look theHarfoots See, here's what I

(40:40):
don't get, all right.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
So, yeah, right before she leaves, they're
basically like OK, we don'treally do adventures and going
outside in the world, but it'sclear that somehow you're
different, nori, you're meantfor this right and it's
dangerous.
But the Harfoot saying, sincehe's with her, the stranger

(41:01):
Radagast we'll call him SinceRadagast is with her, they know
that she's going to be okay,right, and that's why they're
okay with her leaving with him.
What was the conversation?
I just need to know.
Like back at the Harfoot camp,poppy's like so I'm going to go
too.
And they're like wait, you'regoing to leave alone.
Yeah, are you sure about this?

(41:23):
Like you're going to travelalone and nobody's going to
escort you.
We're just going to trust thatyou'll find them.
Like is she a tracker?
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah, like, is she a tracker?
I'm sorry, yeah, I mean no, no,she hasn't shown any of those
skills.
I think in the first season, ifanything, all the tracking
skills were.
Nori's and Poppy just kind ofbumbled about a little bit
during the first season.
So it is interesting this newdevelopment on her end.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
But yeah, it's one of those things.
Poppy was the one that had thattracking skills all along.
She just, you know, we justthought it was Nori, so
something that I wanted to talka little bit about.
I mean, I don't know if youwere ready to pivot, but we did
get a.
We got a recasting At our likeone of the big yeah like one of

(42:18):
the big bads of this show gotrecasted?
Do we?
Do we have a reason why Ididn't actually look up?

Speaker 3 (42:22):
so I did look it up um I don't know you, you can say
rich.
Oh wait, I think you might.
You might be a little fresher.
I know that that that wasplayed by the same actor who was
benjen stark, and I think hewas doing another project, like
he got wrapped up in anotherproject, but I might be wrong on
that.
I just know that I don't thinkit was anything like somebody
did something wrong, but he just, yeah, wasn't available so.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
So I did look a little bit into it and, yeah,
pretty much the gist of it isthat he was looking to like kind
of expand his horizon and moveinto other projects.
I guess he didn't want to getlike lumped up into this long
term and, I don't know, gettypecasted or whatnot.
But I don't know.

(43:05):
Like to me, I'd be like okay,I'm doing something that's Lord
of the Rings, so unless I die inthis first season, I'm gonna be
expected to like you.
Like to me.
Like, if you make thatcommitment, unless you can't,
for whatever reason, you know, Idon't know pay discrepancy,
life stuff, health family, yeah,health Like actual, like big

(43:27):
stuff.
Or if you genuinely had aproject that, like you're like
I'm sorry, but I'm going to bemoving on to this.
You know, but for me that'slike quitting a really good job
for like no reason, you knowthis guy played for whatever it
is, you know, I wish, I wish himgood fortune, you know.
I hope he finds the successthat he's looking for, you know,

(43:47):
and whatever other projects hewants.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Yeah, I don't, I don't wish him anything yeah, I
don't, oh no, I don't want to bea part of another multi-million
dollar franchise that everybodyis watching, please.
I was already in Game ofThrones.
What a terrible experience.
But we did get a replacement.
I don't even just mean in termsof the actor for Adar, but we
got another character, anotheractor from Game of Thrones,

(44:13):
because the Dark wizard isplayed by none other than mance
ray.
Mance, what raider?
Mance warner?
No, mance raider from the kingbeyond the wall in game of
thrones.
So we lost one, but we gotanother one back.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
Wait a minute and and then like I mean, yeah, I guess
, and then in a way there isalso You're right.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
You're right about the whole recasting thing too,
because Sauron, he transitionsinto somebody else too.
Okay, yeah, we're talking aboutso many different things right
now.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
We got to lock in.
Well, I mean no, but we're, inthe light of recasting, so we're
not talking about anything deep, but yeah, so adar.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Adar was definitely a recast.
I like this new actor.
I do think it is, you know,coming directly off of season
one.
It is a little bit strange forme, um right.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Right, it was a little bit odd, like I was like
I don't think that's the sameperson I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
At first I thought it was.
You know, like this is at ourwhen he's younger, because the
scene takes place, like you know, thousands of years, or like a
thousand years prior oh yeahthat's what happened to me too.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
I was like why?

Speaker 1 (45:28):
would they do that?

Speaker 3 (45:29):
he looks so different , just to stay younger.
And then it flashed back andI'm like wait a minute.
He looks the flashed back andI'm like wait a minute, he looks
the same what's happening?
And I'm watching it in a vacuum, like I.
I feel like you know, like youjust said at one point, because
of house of the dragon, peopleweren't.
There was like not a lot ofchatter about this show other
than negativity.

(45:49):
And then season two started andthere wasn't a lot of great
fanfare.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
So I'm just sitting there like I don't know what's
happening.
Yeah, yeah, like we thoughtthat maybe it was like a cgi
de-aging type thing.
Yeah, I think I was thinkingthe same thing.
I was like, okay, like I waslike why does he look weird?
I was like, oh, okay, this isin the past, okay, so maybe he's
younger.
And then, yeah, like when youflash forward to the future,
it's the same person, and you'relike, okay, so maybe he's
younger.
And then, yeah, like when youflash forward to the future,
it's the same person, and you'relike okay so rich.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
You mentioned that the actor that played man's
raider in game of thrones hisname is kieran hines is also the
the, the actor that plays thedark wizard in in rune, the new
land that we enter in.
For me, I recognize this actorfirst and foremost as playing
Julius Caesar in the two seasonRome show from HBO.

(46:40):
But yeah, no, I'm looking it up.
He's definitely a Mance Rayder,that's definitely him.
I liked what I saw of the DarkWizard.
We know that he's in search ofthis Ishtar that's come to earth
.
He's also in search of Sauron.
So he's he's trying to.
You know, I don't know whathe's trying to do.
He's trying to get as muchpower as possible.
We don't know enough about himyet.

(47:00):
But what do you, what do youguys think about that character?

Speaker 3 (47:03):
I think he's really all right.
So how do I do this?
My initial thought is the thepossibility of the blue wizards
that we never hear about.
Right, those are the wizardsthat go to the east, is it the?
They go to the east and they'renot seen from or not heard from
again.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Correct.
Yeah, I believe it's the east.
There's two wizards that arenever named in Tolkien lore.
That are the blue wizards.
We don't know anything aboutthem yet.
Lore-wise.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
I don't know if the show is going to bring that up,
or what?
Yeah, we have no idea, Dude.
They just didn't want anythingto do with all the malarkey that
was happening in Middle-earth.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
I'm right with them.
They're like man I came downhere for this man, I'm out of
here.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
So one of the acolytes that he, the dark
wizard, had sent forth tocollect the stranger, as we'll
call him here, is brought backto life through the power of
moths and blood magic.
But it's kind of cool seeing afamiliar face.

(48:08):
I think they made the characterless androgynous in the first
season it wasn't really clear ifit was a male or female
character.
I think they added a little bitmore makeup to make it a more
feminine character in thisinstance, but it's, it's an
interesting look for the.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
I don't know, it's an interesting look, but it's cool
seeing that that characterwho's very creepy back speaking
of the stranger, it seems likehe's starting to kind of, he's
starting to like use his powersa bit more, like he's starting
to understand a little bit more.
But yeah, he definitely needshis Gens, I guess, to help
channel that ability.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
In his dream.
I don't know if you noticed inhis dream that he had when he
like looking underneath thestars.
In Rune he sees a staff that'skind of like just out of reach
in terms of like this realm ofreality or whatever he's in, but
it keeps shifting from onestaff to another and it's the
curved staff that he picks up bythe well that he tries to

(49:07):
channel that sandstorm with andit goes totally awry and the
staff that he picks up, you know, disintegrates so clearly that
isn't the staff that he's meantto have yeah, I like it.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
It reminds me of a different franchise but just the
idea of, like jedi having tomake their own lightsabers and
get their own kyber crystals,you know, just like the hero
having to make to kind of getthe right weapon, like legend of
zelda and link needing to getthe master sword type, even
obviously, I guess now kingarthur back getting.
It's probably the original kindof inspiration, but I love it

(49:41):
the stranger meets aninteresting character and tom
bombadil probably the mostinteresting character in tolkien
lore, tom bombadil.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
Don't know.
I've gone down this rabbit holetrying to figure out who the
heck Tom Bombadil is, but he's aliteral character who is older
than the world itself, basicallyLike he's existed since the
beginning.
He's kind of like the firstbornof existence within this
physical realm.
He has powers of creation andpowers over creation that we

(50:16):
cannot fathom as viewers andreaders.
But he's this bumbling guy whojust exists and you know he has
no real care for the world atlarge.
He doesn't have any stake inthe War of the Rings and all
that.
But, dude, I'm happy that theybrought Tom Bombadil in because
that's probably the biggestmistake of the Rings and all
that.
But, dude, I'm happy that theybrought Tom Bombadil in Because
that's probably the biggestmistake of the Lord of the Rings

(50:39):
films Is not trying to tacklethat character.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
There was something interesting that he had said.
So the stranger, he's trying tograb this branch and it happens
to be a limb to an ant, and sohe gets pulled into this tree
and then Tom saves him.
And something that he says thatis very interesting is like you

(51:02):
know, you shouldn't be awake.
And then he said this line likeeat dirt, drink water,
something.
And I'm like dude Treebeardsaid that same exact thing.
Yeah, it's cool, it's cool.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
I was like what I was like dude Treebeard said that
same exact thing.
Yeah, it's cool, it's cool.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I was like what I was like?
Is that just like a saying thatEnts say?

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Yeah, no, good call.
I was thinking that that wasvery familiar.
But yeah, you're totally right.
In the extended editions, ifyou watch the films in the
extended editions when Mary is,I think Mary and Pippin are like
kind of sucked into those.
Yeah, trees, tree beard is theone who's like he lets them out

(51:40):
and he says that very same line.
So very cool.
Yeah, that's a.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
That's a really good callback yeah, that was a really
cool line.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
I was like man one thing that's worth talking about
with tom bombadil is, you know,know, in the book in the Lord
of the Rings anyway, he'smarried to or I don't know if
he's married but his significantother is a person called
Goldberry.
She's supposedly like a seriousbabe with a golden voice, but

(52:07):
in this show, it's interestingthey don't really show her, but
we hear her voice, you know, wehear her voice in the other room
, and when the stranger asks ifthere's anyone else in the house
, tom amado is just like well,you're here, yeah that was funny
, so I'm curious about that.
And I'm very, very curious aboutthat.
Yeah, rich.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
What are your thoughts on?
I mean, I think it was great.
You know they had to like, movesome things around.
I'm kind of going to skipslightly here, but you don't
know, you have the later on.
You have the barrow whites andtom's actually in the book if I.
If I remember correctly,bombadil saves frodo and them
from the barrow whites.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
So they kind of had to piecemeal a little bit some
of the stuff he does or but yeah, they introduced stuff from the
books that weren't included inthe movies in interesting and
unique ways for the current plotand I I totally appreciate that
.
I think that that's a reallygood way to, you know, tell
these new stories that you'retrying to tell, while also

(53:09):
incorporating tolkien lore thatyou know you didn't really get
with the films.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
I think what they did really well was it could be
really tough to introduce acharacter and have to kind of
like fast exposition them, right.
So you know you're talkingabout how he's like immortal and
he doesn't really care.
You know, it's just that it'snot he doesn't care.
It's like us being upset If,like, like an ant, a mole on ant

(53:35):
hill gets knocked over.
You know, like we just carry onwith our day.
So I think they managed toreally in these four episodes
right, really show us like he'sjust kind of absent-minded.
He's like oh yeah, I was herebefore stars, you know, I was
here before the first rate.
You like he's.
I really love that kind of theway they pulled that off.

(53:56):
And I think my favorite thingthat they did with him was when
he breathed in deeply by thefire and the fire Like it's like
he's a bellows-o-moch, he likestoked the fire, like oh, yeah,
it was just a little tiny thing,but I think that it went such a
long way in demonstrating howpowerful he is, because, if not,

(54:19):
the other stuff is just wordsand, to be fair, we heard
Halbron say words and he endedup being very tricksy and very
false.
So they had to kind of dosomething, and it's nice to
actually have them demonstratethat.
I thought that was reallyeffective.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yeah, so let's pivot a little bit.
We were talking about recasts.
One character that did not geta recast was Bronwyn.
Yeah, that was a surprise forme.
I did not see that coming,Because at the end of season one
and you know even why can't Iremember this elf's name every

(54:56):
single episode a rondeer uh,yeah, he yeah, a rondeer even
says exactly what I was thinking.
Bronwyn seemed like she wasgetting better at the end of
season one, and then there'sthere's a certain foulness to
orc arrows that the human fleshdoesn't quickly forget.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Yes, no, that is the actual line.
That's word for word.
I was waiting to talk about itbecause it made me so angry that
they just explained it away bylike yeah, you know infections,
you know how they can be right.
Sometimes they get you later onyeah so so she so.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
So it's kind of like a off-screen death between
seasons one and two and like wewe come to that with her like
already like passed away, andthen theo and arandir have, like
you know, theo has like hewants nothing to do with
arandondeer, like I you knowguessing he blames he part, he

(55:58):
partially blames a rondeer forhis mother's death and I think
he blames himself too yeah, Ithink he blames himself.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
I mean, there's that part where isildur is revealing
his own issues with his mom andtheo is like sobbing
hysterically, yeah, and you cankind of tell that it's a
therapeutic moment for him aswell, you know.
But again, like him blaming arondeer to me was a little.
I mean, it was just kind oflike typical, like the.

(56:26):
There's that scene wherethey're like emptying the pails
and a rondeer tries to give himsome good advice about kind of
the process of grief and he'slike you know, the only only
person or the only thing thatwas keeping us together is now
ashes, which on the secondrewatch I thought he just meant
like just generally, like youknow the way the mountain went
up and everything's gone, butthen I was like, oh snap, he's

(56:48):
talking about his mom, what?

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
And then he's like he's not, not you know and
you're not my father, and Ireally want to find out.
I so badly want him to actuallybe theo's father, like it would
just burn him.
I just I don't know, I thinkI'm wrong, but there's a part of
me that just wants to be rightyeah, no, you're definitely
wrong, but you know, like comeon, like why are you so hanging

(57:16):
dakota like wow, I mean justlike striking this man down like
that I, I'm not trying tostrike down, but it's just like
we.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
We know what half elves look like we have.
We have one in the show withelrond, yeah, but we never say
hey, when have you seen theo'sears?

Speaker 3 (57:34):
show me you know, you got a really good point until
that boy's hair is moved justonce, I'm gonna stick by this
theory all right, all rightwe'll put a stopper on this
theory for now he said in inlet's.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
I want to just I'm still not over the fact that you
you know the actress left theshow, because I was very
confused by it.
So I looked it up, the actressher name is Nazanin Bonyadi.
I guess she literally just quitacting.
It wasn't even just like a, youknow, conflict of interest.
I guess it was because shewanted to focus more on her

(58:11):
activism.
I guess.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Yeah, I had looked a little bit into that and I think
it was something about fightingfor rights in Iran or something
like that.
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
So more power to her.
But yeah, I just thought it wasa really strange thing and also
it's kind of weird that theycast.
I guess they can't really.
They need Adar, they don't needBronwyn for the story to keep
going.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
I think it makes.
I actually obviously I'm notprivy to anything, I don't know
if at some point she was goingto die later, but I think that
especially that scene withIsildur, where he's sitting
there sobbing, it doesn't workout the same way.
Where he's sitting theresobbing, it doesn't work out the
same way, you know.

(58:57):
I actually think that it workedreally well to their benefit,
so that you kind of have nowthese two motherless, you know
oh you're.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
You're suggesting that because the actress left
the show, it made thisparticular season stronger
because of the theme of loss.
That's an interesting thought.
So you mentioned to seal door.
He introduces this concept thatwe didn't know previously.
That and this is this isknowledge that he alone fully

(59:24):
comprehends is that he went outto swim.
He was caught in a riptide.
His mother went out to save himand ended up drowning trying to
save him.
Nobody knows.
Obviously.
They know that the motherdrowned, but they didn't know
that it was his fault that themother drowned and I thought
that was a really interestinglittle concept there.
I I.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
That was a nice scene from a silver, pretty sure that
the reason she drowned was thewater in her lungs and not
sildor.
But that's just.
That's just me, you know.
I think he's really givinghimself a lot of power when he's
like you know, it was my fault.
No, it's the riptide, it's thewater.
Also, you guys are from numenor, so it's a little sad that your

(01:00:05):
mom wasn't a better swimmerlike I.
They're just you know rich.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
You're totally right.
I I my mistake.
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Usually water is what drowns people so preaching,
preaching to the choir man it'sjust like if namor the
submariner drowned, right you'dbe like what?

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
but you know you're namor?

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
should we touch on numenor or should we finish with
that subplot with theo?

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
and yeah, let's, let's continue with theo and all
that yeah, well, well, there,there's a lot that happens in
that, because you know we've gotnow like the wild people and
there is the introduction ofwhat's her name Ingrid.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
No, istredd, ingrid, Istredd, istredd, yeah, right,
right, you're literally thinkingabout Ingrid from Beyond the
Wall in Game of Thrones.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
I am.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
It's kind of the same character, to be honest.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
I mean mean, excuse me, egret has red hair okay and
estrin has black hair okaydefinitely very different.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
No, yeah, you're right, you're right, you're
right, yeah, no, my again, mymistake, it's ridiculously.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
I'm all over the place today.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
I'm sorry I think that she's supposed to be like
the, like the, the strong femalecharacter, like for that group
of people, in a way, like notreally to replace bronwyn, but
like to kind of like bring back,I guess, like the female energy
to that group.
But yeah, now, well, she's, butshe's like a wild person,

(01:01:31):
though you know, she's part ofthat group that serves at our
and I guess I don't know Like.
So I mean, from what I'mgathering is that she has, she
started to have like a change ofheart.
But she said that like a lot ofpeople, uh, or they said that a
lot of them like when they getcaught, they burn like whatever

(01:01:52):
the mark of Adar so that they,you know they wouldn't be caught
, but like now people are kindof like caught up, like oh, this
is what they're doing.
So like, did she do it to hideor did she do it because she has
a change of heart?

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
That's a really good question and I think, to be
honest, I think that her totalconnection to Adar was
survivalist.
You know, I think maybe she andher fiance, her betrothed, saw
that you know to exist in theSouth as they were.
They needed to show fealty tothe guy in charge and they saw

(01:02:27):
that as Adar and they got thebrand, whether or not she is a
good or bad person.
I think, you know, there'salways room to debate with that.
There's always room to repentand change with that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
And.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
I think that she makes the right moves in trying
to save Isildur and Arandir whenthey get sucked into that
sandpit slash worm monster thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, no, no.
I agree so that they do thatwhile trying they're tracking
down theo, because theo getslike kidnapped by ants and you
know that that like littleprison that they put the, that
theo was put in with the otherpeople, that kind of reminded me
of like that like trap slashbasket that the aliens had in

(01:03:17):
War of the Worlds?
Yeah, no way, I was thinkingthe same thing dude, it was like
high up dude, like I, really Icannot believe that we were
thinking about literally theexact same thing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
That's hilarious.
I love the the shot.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
I thought like so, even before we get to see the
cage right, the way the episodeends.
When the end grabs theo, I meanit's so nerd fulfilling right
because he doesn't show you theend right, but all you get is a
kind of a change in camera angle.
You get theo's reaction.
Yes, and then you hear thecreaking right like the tree
beard walking and you know it'sso satisfying, like that's a way

(01:03:58):
to end the show on acliffhanger.
That's not a cliffhanger ifyou're nerdy enough to know the
sound and yeah, it's just um, Iremember, like I recognize, like
I like I recognize sounds ofthe animals and red dead.
Now I'm like oh, there's araccoon and I jump off the horse
to go get it and like you knowmy wife's like how did you learn

(01:04:18):
that?
And I was like it's a level ofnerd dumb that you just when you
reach you know it's sofulfilling.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Well, what would you have done if it cut to the next
episode and it was that, likethat hill troll?
Honestly, I would have been sofurious because it would have
been like wait, say what thatsounded like a tree.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
So I think the best word for how Theo is picked up
off the ground is not kidnapped,not stolen.
He was literally absconded.
He was just like scoop.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Literally picked up with the rest of like, with
those like wild people, becauseIsildur was trying to save his
horse.
Yeah so yeah and it wasinteresting like they did that
because, like I think, becausethey saw the weapons and they
thought that there were axesyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
so even like the swords they assumed were axes
Were axes, which I mean honestlylike your tree.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
I mean, it's a sharp looking edge.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
Very cool.
Speaking of the Ents, we haveour first look ever at a live
action slash CGI project of anEnt wife.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
Not just an Ent, but an Ent wife, an ent wife which
you know by the time of lord ofthe rings, several thousand
years in the future, they don't.
Not that they don't exist, butthe ants have lost them dude
just lost that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
That one always made me laugh.
Oh I'm sorry.
How did they die?
We just lost them it's like.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
It's like they went to the mall together, right
can't find them and they saidlike oh hey, we're just gonna go
to this store for a second,we'll meet you at the other
store.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
And you know, they got lost they all went to the
bathroom together and you know,by the time we picked up the
check they were gone it justalso yeah it gives me it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
It does gives me, like, some questions.
So do the entss?
It seems like now they're nottogether either, right?
So do the Ent wives and Entshave to travel in separate packs
?
Can they never be together?
That's a really tough.
Long-distance relationships Idon't know if you guys know are
very difficult Extremely, andthey can't even talk to each

(01:06:32):
other.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
All right.
So we've talked about the runeside of things, we've talked
about the Southlands slashMordor.
So what I thought was reallyfunny was there was a character
you know in the humans' camp,you know, like in the camp with
Theo and Erandir when they wereburning the pyre of bronwyn.

(01:06:55):
Shortly thereafter someone says, you know, like someone
mentions mordor and I'm thinkingI forget if it was estrid or
not, but someone mentions mordorand I'm I'm thinking how the
heck would anyone in this groupknow what mordor is?
Because no one has evermentioned this out loud before
in this show.
It was previously thesouthlands until, like, a

(01:07:18):
subtitle on the screen changedfrom southlands to mordor.
So, like, how would anyone knowthat this place is called
mordor now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
I mean, unless they they had a running in with uh
orcs that were they probablyhave.
Yeah, yeah I mean something offscreen whoa, listen.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
All right, anthony, I gotta confront you about
something.
Okay, the reason that dar saysthat he wants to be referred to
as eric is because that's theway it's pronounced in the black
speech.
Black speech, all right.
So it's like you going tomexico city and being like I
want, quiero avocado.
Nope, it's aguacate man, allright.

(01:07:57):
So basically, the orcs justdon't they, they like, call us
by the way.
We say it all right, we're notchinese type a, we're my mr.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
You know like they want to own their name they like
literally refer to themselvesas orcs, though yeah, that the
the actual.
Yeah, yeah, yeah you know, Iwas at the the the thing.
It would be valid if, if youknow, yeah, if you had like a

(01:08:27):
mexican, I was like avocadoinstead of avocado.
But yeah, no it's.
We didn't.
Oh, I mean, we kind of glossedover it.
I mean, I don't know if you'relike ready, but like there's the
whole sauron and calabrimbor ohyeah, we should definitely talk
about that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Well, really quickly, I want to talk a little bit
about.
I feel like this is going to bea two-hour episode.

Speaker 1 (01:08:48):
I'm already looking at it now um, I mean it'll be
less, but I mean, like, this isjam-packed so yeah, there's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
There's a great scene in the beginning where they
show, like the, the dawn of thesecond age, where sauron like
first tries to take over thefurrow draith, which is like the
, the land up north, where the,the orcs like lost their last
battle and like they kind ofeventually kill him and he turns
into like a goop monster ohyeah that's a fascinating scene

(01:09:21):
and I was very confused thefirst time I watched it.
I had to watch the second timeto understand, like, the time
passage between when he waskilled and when he came back as
Halbrand, because there is atime period of almost a thousand
years that passes.
So one thing that's reallyclever and you have to really be
paying attention is when theyshow the goop going down into

(01:09:46):
the cave and into that littlepuddle and then it zooms out and
then it shows you what the cavelooks like and then it like
zooms out and then it's like youknow.
It shows you what the cavelooks like and then it fades to
black and then it fades, youknow, back into the cave and
then it zooms back into the goop.
But if you look at what thecave looks like, zoomed out both
times, in the first scene thestalagmites and the stalactites

(01:10:07):
are a lot smaller, and then thesecond scene, like literally
seconds apart, the stalagmiteshave grown like several feet.
So it's clear that like manyhundreds of years have passed in
this cave system that he's justbeen sitting in this pool of
goop.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
I thought that was a really cool feature.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
Yeah, he was just muck, he was noodles in a pond.
I thought that was cool, butall right, we should really like
move on, let's.
Yeah.
So he makes his way over tokela brimbor.
Kela brimbor has been told bygaladriel do not treat with this
dude, do not let him in, do nothave any more dealings with him
, especially do not make morerings with this guy.

(01:10:47):
And you know he just kind ofstands outside for a couple days
waiting for Celebrimbor to likeshow pity on him, blah, blah,
blah.
What I love about Sauron thisseason is that we find Rich
mentioned it last coupleepisodes his story makes so much
more sense going forwardbecause he plays off of everyone

(01:11:08):
that he's with.
Because he plays off ofeveryone that he's with, he
wants everyone that he's with tofeel like they're doing
everything that they can for him, and that's such an interesting
concept to me.
When he was with Galadriel heplayed on the fact that
Galadriel needed a savior figureto show up to help take her

(01:11:31):
perceived notion of what Sauronwas down in the Southlands.
He played that character to a TWith Celebrimbor.
I'm fascinated by what he'sdoing with Celebrimbor Because
it's very biblical in the sensethat the biblical account refers
to the devil figure Satan.
The biblical account refers tothe devil figure, satan as

(01:11:52):
someone who will make themselvesinto an angel of light to
deceive you into believingsomething or to doing something.
That's something that the Bibletalks about.
So with Tolkien, who was verybiblically minded he was a
Catholic, he was very biblicallyminded he's always thinking
about these things.
No-transcript makes himself outto be this angel of light.

(01:12:37):
Basically, he's the Lord ofGifts.
Yeah, I'm helping everyone inMiddle Earth, and it's the most
amazing twist and it's it'ssomething that I I have been
thinking about since I was a kid.
How did Sauron, who has beenbad for well past the creation
of the rings, how did heconvince the elves, the dwarves,
the men, everyone to put ringson his fingers if he was giving

(01:13:00):
them?
How did the evil guy convinceeveryone that this is a good
thing to put on your finger tofix your people?
And this totally makes sense.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
Right.
He plays that angle so well andthis totally makes sense, right,
he he plays that angle so welland like pretty much the way
that, like he's gonna be likekind of playing adar against,
like you know, the elves and youknow, like he's like really
just like playing everybody likea fiddle and you see him like
masterminding this stuff overtime and it yeah, you're right,

(01:13:30):
it makes so much sense becausewe're so used to seeing sauron
as this, like big kind ofhulking in the black armor and
the black helmet, like you know,just imposing individual, so to
see him as this deceiver,somebody that can actually get
along with anybody and deceivethem and, yeah, like you said,

(01:13:50):
play to whatever it is that theyneed.
Yes, that it makes so much moresense.
Yeah, like that he was able todeceive all of these people yeah
, I, I'm, I'm really you see,like what he's doing with the
dwarves I was blown away.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
I was blown away.
Oh, let's talk a little bitabout the doors, uh, or unless,
rich, you had something to sayabout anatar, and I mean you
guys touched most of it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:13):
I mean, yeah, I mean it was great to see the way it
actually he's, actually hismachinations are working out.
You know, previously I just hadto imagine in my head that he
went up to them and just playedsingle ladies over and over
again until they were like, ohwe gotta put.
You know, I'm gonna put a ringon it.
So they finally did.
But now this, and I loved thepassage of time, I loved how the

(01:14:35):
ooze took over a rat and cameout and then took over a woman
in a car, like I just loved theevolution of the entire thing.
I think the only thing I wouldsay is like, unlike you guys
like my confusion, so, but justlike at our the recasting, I
didn't look it up, so I'm justwatching it.
I'm not, I'm not looking onsocial media, so I don't know

(01:14:56):
what.
I'm like what.
And then bronwyn just beinggone, I'm like what.
So I was a little, I think,when we got to that sauron part,
it made me, it kind ofstabilized me a little bit
because I I was like, okay, I'mgetting more backstory on this
guy, this is working, and Ireally I said before, it's kind
of just the realization of fullpeople, right, or characters,

(01:15:21):
because of this extra stuff thatwe're getting.
So it just makes it so muchjuicier, totally yeah, yeah, yep
, no, I totally agree.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
We have to jump over to the dwarves and their current
plight, because somethinginteresting is happening.
One thing that happened to theelves in the first season was
that the light of their treeswas fading.
The leaves were falling fromtheir, their trees that were
saplings of the great trees fromvalinor, and basically the
light of the eldar was fading.
The the eldar being like theirliteral life force, they needed

(01:15:53):
to go back to Valinor to liveout the rest of their days there
instead of Middle-earth,because they were losing their
ability to do so in Middle-earthwith the tree fading.
I always liked the tree astheir almost symbolic
representation of their own life.
But, yeah, so with the rings,their problem was fixed with the

(01:16:16):
, the mithril that was createdwith one of the powers of the
silmarils from like the firstage.
The mithril that was embeddedin that mountain was able to,
with, in conjunction with thering and, somehow, saran's power
, they were able to fix whateverwas going on that was poisoning
their trees in the light of theEldar.

(01:16:37):
I like that.
So, with the creation of MountDoom now being an active volcano
, the seismic activitythroughout Middle-earth has
increased to a point where thepeople of Khazad-dum are now in
a position where they'rereceiving aftershocks that are
cutting off their light flow andthey are no longer able to grow

(01:17:00):
crops for themselves.
And what I like about this forthe first time, they show what
happens in Khazad-dum is that weget a little bit of glimpse of
how their light system works andhow their irrigation and
agricultural system works.
I thought that was really cooland it totally makes sense that
without light they can't growanything.
You can't grow a plant indoorswithout light, so yeah, so I

(01:17:24):
thought that that was aninteresting concept and even
like Disa, who is one of Iforget what they call them like
mountain singers or somethinglike that I forget the actual
term, I feel like that's not thecorrect one, but she's not
capable of reaching some sort ofunderstanding with the mountain
.
Even she makes it worse bytrying to connect with it
through song and reverberation.

(01:17:45):
I thought that was fascinating,and obviously this is another
machination of Sauron long inthe planning process finally
taking shape, and the dwarvesnow this season need the help of
Celebrimbor and his rings.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
Yeah.
So yeah, like now that that'swhat what I was kind of talking
about, like it looks like it'skind of tracking.
So you know, I'm feeling thatby the end of this season we're
going to be getting the dwarfrings.
You know'm feeling that by theend of this season we're gonna
be getting the dwarf rings, youknow I think, yeah, I think
that's gotta be the case, right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
Well, I mean, I did see it in the trailers too.
Like they do, the dwarf ringsdo get made, okay, um, according
according to the trailer.
So, yeah, that's definitelyhappening.

Speaker 1 (01:18:26):
So like I'm trying to think I don't.
There's a lot of stuff that Ithat like I don't remember.
So I know that the soeventually we're going to get to
the rings that go to the men,but those nine rings or those
nine ring bearers becomeringwraiths.
Right, correct, yeah, whathappens?
I don't.

(01:18:47):
I don't think anything reallyhappens to the dwarves or the
elves in that kind of sense Ithink there are.

Speaker 2 (01:18:54):
So you have to really get into the lore of tolkien to
understand, like why theyaren't corrupted to the same
degree that men are well, I knowthey say a lot that they're
easily corruptible it's, it'sthroughout the entirety of lore.

Speaker 3 (01:19:09):
Yeah to be fair, that is galadriel's kind of the
recanting of it right, and elvesare, as we know, a little
snobbish.
They look down on other races alittle bit, so I I'm actually
actually that's a really goodpoint.
Yeah, keep going.
I want to know like I'm excited.
You know like, look, we talkedabout it last week where you
thought that it's going to bekind of like elves first season,

(01:19:31):
dwarves second season.
You know kind of like a layout,like I want to see what happens
when the men get the rings.
You know eventually when thathappens the only.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
Thing because, that's .
That's a huge part of it, youknow, like them becoming
eventually ringwraiths becausethey corrupted by them.
I think that that's afascinating concept.
But you mentioned the elvesbeing a little snobbish in their
interpretation of men and otherraces.
And it's interesting becauseElrond seems to be the only one

(01:20:02):
who is not enamored by the rings.
Everyone who comes in contactwith them is, you know, even
Círdan, who is like the eldestof the elves on Middle-earth.
You know he was ready to throwthe rings out and get rid of
them to a point where they couldnever be found again until he
sees them.
And he's like you knowperfection does not exist solely

(01:20:23):
in Valinor Like he was totallyswayed by the creation of these
rings by Celebrimbor and Sauronthat he was willing to shove one
of them on to his middle finger.
It was interesting.
They all put it on their middlefinger.
I don't know if that's.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
I did like when they put it on the way it.
You know the kind of recreationof the original shot Of the
movie, I wonder if you know, wedo know that Celebrimbor is one
of the greatest smiths of youknow or kind of of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:20:54):
But I wonder I like that pronunciation.

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
I love, I love the over.

Speaker 1 (01:20:56):
I'll call it like the super latino pronunciation of
all the stuff like I, justanything with an, anything with
an r and an e.
I want to watch it.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
I haven't done this yet and I will do it before next
episode.
I I want to watch Lord of theRings in Spanish, just to hear
if somehow they roll their Rslightly differently, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:18):
Like you know, like I just.

Speaker 3 (01:21:20):
I'm very, very excited.
But I think I wonder like, doeseverybody behold these items so
much because of Celebrimbor'slike skill level, or is it
because of the combination withsauron?
But then, if you kind of thinkforward, we do know from the

(01:21:42):
lore and if they go by this,that sauron basically forges the
ring alone in mount doom, sothat one is still that one is so
beholden that everybody callsit precious.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
So I don't know.
That's a really good point.
Yeah, no.
So that is something that theyneed to get right, specifically
with the one ring.
We know that the other ringsare created with at least the
forge that Celebrimbor is thecelery rainbow.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
Yes, so much better.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
What he's got going on, but the one ring needs to be
created.
Yeah so we got a lot going onthere.
So, as of this point, we knowthat the dwarves have gotten an
invitation from Celebrimbor tojoin them in Eregion to
basically create the seven ringsfor the dwarf lords.
So very excited to see wherethat goes.

(01:22:40):
And I think the last plot pointthat we need to like just, I
think, briefly talk about iswhat happens in Númenor, because
they have their own littledrama going on.
I'm really starting to not likeIsildur's sister.
I thought she was a coolcharacter in the first season
and this season she seems like Ididn't know you at all, girl,

(01:23:00):
what's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:23:01):
Yeah, she's causing a lot of drama.
There's this whole powerstruggle thing going on with the
Queen Regent, and what was hercousin's name?
Farazan yes yes, farazan, yousaw, you saw the whole instance
between because I I don't thinkhe knows that, she can't see.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
I think that they've been kind of keeping that under
wraps and so I think he kind ofpicked up some I think, you know
, I think when, when that womanslapped her and she didn't react
prior to being slapped, like Ithink, at that point people
realize, oh, this is a crippledlady I actually on rewatch.

Speaker 1 (01:23:41):
I think he was trying to test it though, with the
whole dress thing, oh yeah, butI thought that what?

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:23:48):
I know it's silly but I don't know why, on this
rewatch, watching her walk downthe steps, I just I sat there
and I thought to myself how manytimes did she have to do that
to be like OK, 17 steps, ok,three steps, ok, five steps
forward, turn left, slightly,acknowledge Farazan who might be

(01:24:08):
standing there, and then, likeright, like right, like yeah, I
noticed that too, like she.

Speaker 2 (01:24:13):
There's that one scene where you know in her
coronation, where she knowsexactly when to turn towards the
throne.
It's impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:24:23):
That was really interesting that's the, that's
the occasion to uh statescraft,you know, statescraft or
whatever.
That to being a leader right Islearning how many steps exactly
you got to take.

Speaker 1 (01:24:34):
Alenio probably helped her with that too.

Speaker 2 (01:24:36):
Yeah, alenio definitely helped.
But what's fascinating is thatwe know that her father, the
actual king previously, hiscoronation was attended by an
eagle and that was considered avery auspicious omen.
You know, like this was thesign of a good king.
What's funny is that hercoronation is also attended by

(01:24:57):
an eagle, but pharazon decidesno, it's my eagle.
Um, and I dude.
I was so pissed, I was likethat guy.
I wanted the eagle to just likegrab him and throw him off like
he hijacked that eagle he's sohijacked, he's so deliciously.

Speaker 3 (01:25:18):
I, I know that he's so, almost one note, but there
was a moment where, when thepalantir is thrown down and you
know he goes, surely that itemdoes not belong to our queen,
who would not rely on an elvenartifact?
Right, but he like pausedbefore he said it.
It's like he processed and hewent.

(01:25:39):
I'm going to take my shot here.
Right, I'm going to say this,and if she, she takes ownership,
like I've got everyone and Ithought I just thought it was
kind of a brilliant scheme.
Right, I've got everyone and Ijust thought it was kind of a
brilliant scheme that he pulledBecause he couldn't have known
that that was going to go as itdid.
I mean, well, pardon me, that'snot right, because when they

(01:26:05):
were in the tavern I can'tremember Elendio's daughter's
name, but she says I know asecret, and that's when they're
interrupted for a second, Ithink, by Sildor's buddy, whose
name also escapes me.

Speaker 1 (01:26:16):
Yeah, to defend the queen.
Yeah, I remember that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:18):
So I think that that machination was.
So now I have to autocorrectmyself.
My apologies.
You know what, farazan?
I don't think you're as cool asI thought you were before,
because I thought you were supersmart on the spot.
But now I know you had plottedthat line and kind of bet that
Muriel had touched the Palantirat some point.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Guys, I think we should bring our discussion to a
close, but before we close out,what are our final thoughts for
the first four episodes?
Rich, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:26:47):
I mean, I couldn't you know, it's this.
I've never really watchedanything where I felt rewarded
for sticking around right like I, I feel you know I watched it
right away when it came out andI was, you know, into it and
obviously re-watching way toomany movies that I shouldn't
have, just to kind of get moreinsight into it.

(01:27:08):
But it really is something thatjust got me so excited and you
know, I mean we'll, we'll talkabout the next four next week,
but I, I'm almost, I'm almostsad because I now I want, I want
the next, I'm hungry, I wantthe next part.
So bad, you're hungry.

Speaker 2 (01:27:26):
how do you, I guess, if you could leave us with like
an idea of, like a feeling for,what we can expect for the
coming four episodes, like, doyou feel like these four
episodes are a good qualityindicator for the next four, or
are we expected to get somethingtotally different?

Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
from that.
I think there's going to be Ithink we're all going to be big
smiles, and I don't know how wekeep it under two hours next
week.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
I'm going to say that Very interesting, okay, that
very interesting okay veryinteresting, all right okay what
do you feel about these firstfour episodes of season two?

Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
so far it's been good .
I'm looking forward to seeingwhat happens next.
I know that things are bound toget crazier and, yeah, I'm
Excellent.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
I also am stoked.
I'm excited to see what happensnext.
I'm thrilled by the way thatthese first four episodes have
come together.
I'm really excited specificallyabout the Dwarven plotline.
One thing that we didn't reallyget to touch on is the
continued, I guess chemistrybetween Prince Durin and his
wife.
I feel like those twocharacters have such great

(01:28:32):
chemistry together they dohopefully we'll get a lot more
opportunity to talk about, likewhat they have to go through
going forward.
So I'm really excited to talkmore about that in the next
episode.
And, guys, thank you so muchfor listening to us here for our
102nd episode of projectgeekology.
Please be sure to find us onall of our socials.
You'll find that in the shownotes down below, and if you'd

(01:28:54):
like to give us a review of yourpodcast, application, wherever
you're listening, allows you todo so, please be sure to give it
.
Wait well, anthony, is it afour?
No, it's five stars, right.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
Five juicy stars, only juicy.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
Yeah, you don't want to.
You don't want to cut into thatturkey, and it's just all dry.

Speaker 1 (01:29:15):
You want a little bit of juice in there.

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
You want it to be substantial, so hopefully your
review in this case is a juicyfive star review.
Thank you guys for listening.
I hope you check out our nextpodcast and we'll see you in the
next one.
Bye y'all, adios.
No Wolverines today.
No Wolverines today.

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The Rings of Power - Season 2, Part 1

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Rings of Power - Season 2, Part 1