Last week’s episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power renewed my wavering interest in the show. This week’s episode primarily focuses on the aftermath of last week’s events, in which the volcano we know as Mt. Doom erupted, transforming the verdant Southlands into the Mordor we know and, er, hate. Things begin in medias res, as Galadriel, last seen staring wordlessly into an oncoming pyroclastic flow, awakens in an ash-covered, red-orange landscape (made all the more striking given the relative paucity of either color in the show thus far). The opening minutes show the graphic carnage left in the eruption’s wake. Some characters survive this rattled but fine, while other are more permanently damaged (now we know why the father of Númenorean ruler Miriel warned her why “darkness” awaited her in Middle-earth), and the fates of others remain unknown.
Much of this week’s episode centers on the unlikely pairing of Galadriel and Theo, the young Southlander. The two of them, haphazardly united after the eruption, journey through the smoke and ruin searching for the Númenorean camp. Interacting with him, Galadriel is subdued, even somber — she has clearly changed, blaming herself for the catastrophe, and urging Theo to abandon thoughts of vengeance. A highlight of their journey is a tense sequence in which they hide from marauding orcs. Through it all, a chastened Galadriel struggles with a very familiar dilemma: If there truly are greater powers guiding the course of events, are their designs evident in adversity, even calamity? In these and other ruminations, Galadriel begins to show a wisdom, born of failure, more befitting the figure we know she will eventually become.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Middle-earth, intrigue continues between elves and dwarves. Elrond formally requests mithril of dwarven king Durin III, who declines despite the entreaty of Durin’s son (who is also Elrond’s friend). When Elrond and Durin IV go prospecting for the mythical mineral, which a previous episode established as (allegedly) the key to keeping elves from fading to nothingness, against the dwarf king’s wishes, Elrond is banished, and the two Durins have a dramatic falling-out. Of fittingly Tolkienian significance amid this back-and-forth is a single leaf, from the elf-kingdom of Lindon. Apparent proof of the elves’ fading light, it seems to be restored by proximity to mithril, inspiring Durin IV to try to help his elvish friend. And then, near the episode’s end, it drifts deep into a mithril cavern, where it is consumed by the flames of a balrog.
That leaves us with the harfoots, whose storyline continues to be the show’s weakest. The Stranger does something magically chaotic again, this time finally forcing him out of harfoot company (though they later realize he was trying to help; not only is the tree he tried to heal restored, but so also is the entire grove which the harfoots had initially found barren). But the mysterious cultists who seem to be pursuing him have nearly caught up with him; Nori, who seems to be a real idiot, confronts them, and they burn the harfoots’ entire caravan in retaliation. Then Nori, Sadoc, and some of the only other interesting harfoots decide to go on a journey to reconnect with the Stranger. Though I quite enjoy Daniel Weyman’s portrayal of the Stranger, who seems to be some kind of spiritual being getting acclimated to a physical form, and I also like his musical theme, the harfoot saga has really struggled to be of interest to me so far. I have a hard time seeing how it can get much better with only one episode to go (though I’d be happy to be proven wrong).
The harfoots’ story illustrates one of the main overarching questions I have about the show’s quality. A lot of characters are engaging in, at best, questionable behavior, with their emotions or other factors seeming to manipulate them to do things they otherwise ought not to. Each time this happens, it makes me wonder if their behavior is being endorsed, or if it is being set up as folly. Galadriel’s relentless drive to the Southlands, for example, has been proven as folly, the revelation of which has made her story the best part of the show so far. But when it comes to the elves of Lindon, I don’t really credit the explanation about mithril being this mysteriously restorative mineral the elves need to stop from fading. This, and the way Durin IV (and Disa) are motivated to help Elrond, both feel like forms of manipulation (unwitting or not) that take advantage of characters’ emotions for some uncertain end. And the way the harfoots keep indulging Nori’s idiocy likewise seems contrived enough that it’s possible I’m supposed to wonder if it’s stupid. (Though of these lingering threads, the harfoot one seems the likeliest to be ultimately chalked up simply to bad writing.)
So as the first season of The Rings of Power comes to a close, I am waiting for some of these lingering mysteries and threads to be wrapped up. This episode moved us closer to a point where that might happen in a satisfactory manner, but with so much to conclude, I have my doubts that I’ll get all the answers I am looking for, even if I do get some of them. We’ll know soon enough.