The Rings of Power Episode 4 is a long, aimless slog

Another week, another episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video. We’re now officially at the halfway point of the show’s first season, which means the time is fast approaching where it will have to tie together all of its disparate plot threads. Yet despite having a promising third episode, The Rings of Power got quite a bit more scattered in “The Great Wave.”

As always, there will be SPOILERS for this week’s episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power below.

The Rings of Power Episode 4 review: “The Great Wave”

We’ve reached the halfway point on The Rings of Power, and I have to be honest, the show is starting to lose me. Don’t get me wrong: there’s still plenty to enjoy here, primarily the performances from the actors, the stunning visuals, and the majestic score. But considering that “The Great Wave” was over 70 minutes long, shockingly little happened.

As with last week, a large part of the episode revolved around events in Númenor. We learn a little bit more about why Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is so reluctant to help Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) in her quest to fight Sauron. Turns out, Míriel had a prophetic dream about a great wave coming and dragging Númenor down into the sea, and that vision begins with Galadriel’s arrival in the island kingdom. Again, the visuals of Míriel’s dream are great. But on the whole, this plotline just feels a little forced.

Which is too bad really, because Númenor itself is still pretty breathtaking. All Galadriel’s attempts to convince the Númenoreans to help their fellow humans in the Southlands fall on deaf ears. Ultimately, she’s expelled from the city after breaking out of her jail cell and discovering that the king of Númenor is bedridden and unable to form coherent sentences, let alone rule.

Yet right at the last minute, a storm of leaves fall off the tree of Númenor, supposedly signaling the Valar’s judgment that the Númenoreans have erred. So instead of sending Galadriel off, Míriel, Elendil, and a contingent of Númenoreans decide to help her. This is framed like its supposed to be a big twist ending that will make people cheer, but it fell totally flat in my opinion. Since the decision was made based solely on an omen, which would have presumably happened whenever the Númenoreans gave Galadriel the boot, it made all her toils feel utterly pointless. They could have literally kicked her off the island at the start and saved us all 40 minutes.

There were a few decent things going on in Númenor; Pharazon’s (Trystan Gravelle) politicking was interesting if a bit rote, and Isildur (Maxim Baldry) accidentally getting his friends kicked out of the navy gave the heartstrings the barest twang. But on the whole, Númenor was a far cry from how interesting it was last week.

The Rings of Power proves a big budget is not a substitute for good writing

Overall, the biggest issue to me with “The Great Wave” is its writing. There are two main ways that the show is stumbling in my opinion. On the one hand, the dialogue is somewhat flat and the events overall feel more like connecting the dots of Tolkien’s mythology than a compelling story.

The cliffhanger of last week’s episode that Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) was about to meet Adar, the mysterious being who commands the orcs in the Southlands is a pretty fair example of this issue. We resume that thread with a cringeworthy repeat of the exact same scene where Adar is walking through the crowd of orcs which we ended last episode on, which is the kind of thing I’d expect from a low budget cable program, as opposed to Amazon’s biggest attempt ever at prestige fantasy television.

Adar himself is cool, largely because Game of Thrones veteran Joseph Mawle is such a good actor, but like Galadriel’s travails in Númenor, the interaction feels totally pointless. We learn literally nothing about Adar in this scene aside from that he appears to be a twisted elf, and then he releases Arondir to go warn the humans of the Southlands to flee. Okay.

“The Great Wave” is littered with these kinds of somewhat lazy writing decisions, and it just generally brings the vibe of the show down, making it feel more like Xena or Beastmaster and less like the cinematic experience of the first few episodes. No offense meant to either of those shows — I love them both quite a lot — but the style is just different.

The other way The Rings of Power’s writing is failing it is that it’s over-relying on the audience’s investment in Tolkien’s legendarium. What are the Valar? If you hadn’t read The Silmarillion, I don’t know that you would have any idea based on the information put forth in the show. The dwarves have discovered mithril, but their king Durin III is wary of disturbing the mountain. Okay, that’s cool, but again the fact that mithril is even the plot point it is feels like it’s mainly to serve as fan service. And let’s not even get into the fact that Durin literally had a piece of mithril in a chest in Episode 2, and is now suddenly opposed to mining it.

Overall, there’s just not a huge feeling of stakes, or a reason to care about much of what’s going on. This is a criticism that I’ve seen leveled at earlier episodes as well, and I think it’s somewhat fair if a little harsh. But at this point, it’s become pretty much unavoidable.

The Bullet Points of Power

• I’ve gone back and forth on whether Halbrand is supposed to be Aragorn 2.0, a future Nazgul, or Sauron in disguise. The jury is still out, but after this episode it feels more likely that he’s Sauron than ever. Did you catch how he muttered advice in Pharazon’s ear when Galadriel was escaping prison? In Tolkien’s writings, Sauron has a particular influence over Pharazon, and that shot of the two of them together like that seemed very intentional. Add to it the fact that Sauron begins his time in the island kingdom as a captive in The Silmarillion, and the evidence is starting to pile up.
• Theo’s quest for rice didn’t go well, but the hints that the hilt of his sword is important are intriguing. This was another section where it felt like the show tried to make things very tense, but aside from the fakeout where Theo almost loses his arm, I was never on the edge of my seat.
• That said, I am curious where things are going with Theo and the old man who he stole the hilt from. That guy talks about Sauron pretty openly to him, so presumably betrayals are afoot.
• In a show with this many characters and plotlines, I’m kind of baffled that new minor characters like Pharazon’s son are taking up screen time. We’re halfway through the season, and it still feels like The Rings of Power is expanding with few signs of bringing everything together.
• There were no harfoots in this episode. They were missed.

Verdict

We’re at the halfway point in the first season of The Rings of Power, and its flaws are becoming harder to overlook. The show quickly established its splendor and scope, but it takes more than those things alone to create compelling television. At this point I’m less confident that The Rings of Power can pull its disparate plotlines together into a coherent tale. Here’s to hoping those fears are unfounded, but for now, I’m more nervous than I have been since the show premiered.

Episode grade: B-

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