Spoilers

It’s a trap!

Four down; four to go. The season reaches the halfway point. The cast continues to shine despite some weak (i.e. soapy) dialog. This episode focuses on the elves (Galadriel and company, and Arondir), and on the halflings and Gandalf, with no glimpse of Sauron, the dwarves, or Númenor.

The interplay between Galadriel and Elrond remains as plodding as ever. He distrusts her and despises the rings, yet chooses her as his second in command when their High King orders him to take a group to ensure Celebrimbor has received the warnings regarding Sauron’s identity as Halbrand. He also ignores her warning they are walking into a trap which – naturally – leads to preventable ambushes and casualties.

Her point proven, alas, Galadriel sends her fellow elves away and covers their retreat. This gives us some absolutely fantastic battle choreography of Galadriel’s fight against a band of orcs. We see again why she commanded the northern troops. It’s also a welcome reminder of how formidable elves are in combat. Here, finally, the show makes good use of being a sequel, as it’s the final scene of the episode.

Much ado will no doubt be made about the appearance of Tom Bombadil, the titular “eldest”. So far he has little to do aside from proclaiming cryptic warnings, not that he had much to do in the books anyway. His scenes with Gandalf were nicely done and a welcome respite from all the gloom, doom, and darkness – even if Tom did need to rescue Gandalf from a tree eating him. The dialogue along the lines of, “Well why didn’t you ask him?” is particularly fitting.

It was nice to see an Ent or two. I’m not sure if the series’ creators were going for gender equality in giving an Ent a woman’s voice, or if they were straying from (?) the books by showing an Entwife. Regardless, it makes for a welcome inclusion. Thanks to the Ents, Isildur and Arondir succeed in their rescue mission.

How this plays in to the overall story arc remains to be seen. Likewise, the halflings’ side of the story, although it’s pretty clear we’ve already met Saruman.

After surviving Gandalf’s tornado, Nori and Poppy stumble upon a lost branch of their tribe. A few brief scenes do a masterful job of conveying a lot of history. Their village, different though it is, is clearly a precursor to the Shire. As the village leader feared, the arrival of the dark wizard’s minions destroys their peace.

Both of those storylines end on effective cliffhangers, which is good and long overdue as the episodes are clearly sections of one long story rather than eight connected tales. Nevertheless, bring on Númenor and Khazad-dûm.

Verdict: Overall not much better, but finally ends on notes of, “Wow, how exactly will this resolve?”– three episodes late but welcome regardless. I bumped my rating up a point because of that . 7/10

Rigel Ailur