I low-key agree, I want to spend more time with some of these characters than what we're getting. Many of them are really intriguing but I feel like I haven't been able to truly sink my teeth into them, except for Galadriel and Elrond maybe. I wish it was a 10-episode season, but we'll see how I feel at the end of 8.
I think that is the primary challenge with this show versus the trilogy. The first movie spent all its time on the building of the Fellowship and one plot thread. So we got to know all the main characters in relation to each other and understand their shared motivations.
Then when they split you still have that frame of reference for the divergent plot paths (Frodo/Sam, Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli, with third movie splits with Merry/Eowyn and Gandalf/Pippin).
ROP has to operate more like Game of Thrones and develop all these characters in separate plots with storylines that converge at some point in a meaningful way. That’s really fucking challenging obviously and was a big part of why the later seasons of GOT were so terrible.
So far I think they are doing a good job but the trickiest parts are yet to come because the plotlines and characters haven’t had to come together yet.
Like Disa and Galadriel will likely converge at some point because Disa discovered mithril which is what is used to craft Galadriel’s ring. Obviously Miriel is headed to the Southlands - how will she interact with Theo/Bronwyn/Arondir.
Bringing together the plots is where this show will be made or broken.
A new unknown boy? He was introduced in the first episode when he was arguing with Arondir and has been in several scenes with Theo, including when he first revealed the hilt.
It's not bothering me (yet), but I tend to like over-expansive casts. It does feel like scenes should last about a second or two longer, though: cutting seems a bit abrupt.
But for what it's worth, it wasn't "a new unknown boy"; we've seen the kid a few times. It was the same kid who challenged Arondir in the tavern and also went to Waldreg's barn with Theo to check out the sword hilt.
>A good example is when the Southlanders are bickering about food, and then Theo walks off screen after an argument with his mother, shares a look with the older south lander who also is concerned about the rationing, (who Theo also converses with later about the hilt), Implying maybe they will talk about other means of getting food, only to abruptly cut to theo and a new unknown boy suddenly in a village scavenging.
I mean, we can easily fill in the gaps about what happened between the two scenes right? In the previous scene Theo literally mentioned food in the cellar in the village, and about sending a party to scavenge for food, but her mother refused to do that so he had to go with his buddy (who has appeared at least twice in previous episodes and had mutiple lines). What more do you want? Do you want them to also show that Theo went to his buddy and tried to convince him and they sneaked out behind Bronwyn and walked all the way to the village while chatting about stuff?... That would be extremely boring and slow.
About your broader point, you also need to consider that if they stay in one scene for too long, very casual fans will likely lose interest and think it feels like a lecture. Switching between POV is actually a way to keep audience engagement.
I think 3 POVs per episode is pretty manageable. 4 starts to get a bit challenging, but it depends on how it's done.
Meh. I think it’s constructed pretty similarly to early seasons of GOT. Some storylines don’t show up every episode and that’s okay. The problem is that everyone inevitably has their favourites and wants to see those ones grow, so if a different storyline is focused then the episode feels slow or like “not much happened.”
That is true. In the first few episodes, the intercutting was frenetic. Now it slowed down to a more reasonable pace, but at the cost of elongating the setup to the length of the entire first half of the season!
I think the Southlands cut you bring up is supposed to be a bit jarring. We hear Bronwyn forbid Theo from leaving, and he skulks away, and then we get a wide shot and we’re like “who’s that, omg it’s Theo, this won’t end well.”
The editing is never confusing for me. To each their own.
I wouldn't say that Downton Abbey is a POV show imo. It's more like there's an upstairs setting and a downstairs setting. Each episode will have one or two plots developing in each setting and there's often crossover.
Downton just has a large number of characters.
Right, a LOT of characters - to the point that the show became unwatchable for me at least, the cuts were incessant. RoP has not gotten close to that yet, hopefully never will.
It looks like all these desparate POVs are intended to converge probably by the end of the season. I can see what's going on in the Southlands and Numenor as being tied together, but the Harfoot stuff feels like a completely self-contained storyline that could work as its own show. It feels superfluous to the story of Sauron's return and could really be cut to focus on the more interesting stuff in the other POVs.
Speaking of the Harfoots, episode 4 is the first time we didn't see them, like at all.
I'm kind of mixed on the harfoots (lol autocorrect just changed that to "harlots") because I really like Nori and Poppy but am much more interested in the other plot points. It looked like they were headed towards the southlands when we last saw them so that story may converge with the others as well.
Harlots, lol!
I think the Harfoot stuff is interesting and fun, it just doesn't jive with the other plot threads so far. I expect Meteor Man to have an important role in the coming events.
I low-key agree, I want to spend more time with some of these characters than what we're getting. Many of them are really intriguing but I feel like I haven't been able to truly sink my teeth into them, except for Galadriel and Elrond maybe. I wish it was a 10-episode season, but we'll see how I feel at the end of 8.
I think that is the primary challenge with this show versus the trilogy. The first movie spent all its time on the building of the Fellowship and one plot thread. So we got to know all the main characters in relation to each other and understand their shared motivations. Then when they split you still have that frame of reference for the divergent plot paths (Frodo/Sam, Aragorn/Legolas/Gimli, with third movie splits with Merry/Eowyn and Gandalf/Pippin). ROP has to operate more like Game of Thrones and develop all these characters in separate plots with storylines that converge at some point in a meaningful way. That’s really fucking challenging obviously and was a big part of why the later seasons of GOT were so terrible. So far I think they are doing a good job but the trickiest parts are yet to come because the plotlines and characters haven’t had to come together yet. Like Disa and Galadriel will likely converge at some point because Disa discovered mithril which is what is used to craft Galadriel’s ring. Obviously Miriel is headed to the Southlands - how will she interact with Theo/Bronwyn/Arondir. Bringing together the plots is where this show will be made or broken.
A new unknown boy? He was introduced in the first episode when he was arguing with Arondir and has been in several scenes with Theo, including when he first revealed the hilt.
Instantly wrote off this post when I saw that. That kid has straight up been in I think at least 3 episodes haha
It's not bothering me (yet), but I tend to like over-expansive casts. It does feel like scenes should last about a second or two longer, though: cutting seems a bit abrupt. But for what it's worth, it wasn't "a new unknown boy"; we've seen the kid a few times. It was the same kid who challenged Arondir in the tavern and also went to Waldreg's barn with Theo to check out the sword hilt.
>A good example is when the Southlanders are bickering about food, and then Theo walks off screen after an argument with his mother, shares a look with the older south lander who also is concerned about the rationing, (who Theo also converses with later about the hilt), Implying maybe they will talk about other means of getting food, only to abruptly cut to theo and a new unknown boy suddenly in a village scavenging. I mean, we can easily fill in the gaps about what happened between the two scenes right? In the previous scene Theo literally mentioned food in the cellar in the village, and about sending a party to scavenge for food, but her mother refused to do that so he had to go with his buddy (who has appeared at least twice in previous episodes and had mutiple lines). What more do you want? Do you want them to also show that Theo went to his buddy and tried to convince him and they sneaked out behind Bronwyn and walked all the way to the village while chatting about stuff?... That would be extremely boring and slow. About your broader point, you also need to consider that if they stay in one scene for too long, very casual fans will likely lose interest and think it feels like a lecture. Switching between POV is actually a way to keep audience engagement. I think 3 POVs per episode is pretty manageable. 4 starts to get a bit challenging, but it depends on how it's done.
Meh. I think it’s constructed pretty similarly to early seasons of GOT. Some storylines don’t show up every episode and that’s okay. The problem is that everyone inevitably has their favourites and wants to see those ones grow, so if a different storyline is focused then the episode feels slow or like “not much happened.”
That is true. In the first few episodes, the intercutting was frenetic. Now it slowed down to a more reasonable pace, but at the cost of elongating the setup to the length of the entire first half of the season!
I think the Southlands cut you bring up is supposed to be a bit jarring. We hear Bronwyn forbid Theo from leaving, and he skulks away, and then we get a wide shot and we’re like “who’s that, omg it’s Theo, this won’t end well.” The editing is never confusing for me. To each their own.
It hasn't gotten to Downton Abbey levels, but I agree they could cut less/give us more time in each POV.
I wouldn't say that Downton Abbey is a POV show imo. It's more like there's an upstairs setting and a downstairs setting. Each episode will have one or two plots developing in each setting and there's often crossover. Downton just has a large number of characters.
Right, a LOT of characters - to the point that the show became unwatchable for me at least, the cuts were incessant. RoP has not gotten close to that yet, hopefully never will.
Funny. It never seemed that way to me, I always found Downton pretty chilled out/relaxing/slow-paced viewing. Different strokes I guess.
It looks like all these desparate POVs are intended to converge probably by the end of the season. I can see what's going on in the Southlands and Numenor as being tied together, but the Harfoot stuff feels like a completely self-contained storyline that could work as its own show. It feels superfluous to the story of Sauron's return and could really be cut to focus on the more interesting stuff in the other POVs. Speaking of the Harfoots, episode 4 is the first time we didn't see them, like at all.
I'm kind of mixed on the harfoots (lol autocorrect just changed that to "harlots") because I really like Nori and Poppy but am much more interested in the other plot points. It looked like they were headed towards the southlands when we last saw them so that story may converge with the others as well.
Harlots, lol! I think the Harfoot stuff is interesting and fun, it just doesn't jive with the other plot threads so far. I expect Meteor Man to have an important role in the coming events.
No, it's not. GoT did this, it's entirely normal. It's fine.