REVIEW: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Season 1, Episode 4, “The Great Wave”

Television Reviews

The halfway point for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been reached with “The Great Wave,” yet barely anything of import has occurred. This show truly does redefine what it means to be bad television in every conceivable manner. All the rampant issues depicted in the previous episodes are still very much an integral part of the mess that is “The Great Wave.” Nothing is improved upon, and the quality is only affected slightly by the exclusion of one bad thing in favor of a slightly less bad thing. Of the numerous problems that plague this series, the chief among them is bloat. The actual events of note which occur in these first four episodes can be condensed into well less than an hour. If there is that much filler across four hours of television, there is a major problem occurring in the writing room.

There are just so many unnecessary sequences throughout these episodes that accomplish very little, especially when it comes to characters. None of them have changed or evolved in any way from episode 1 to episode 4. All that we know about them is either told to us by other characters or their actions, which unintentionally say the opposite of what the writers intend to come across. Primarily, with the exception of Galadriel, all the characters are cardboard cutouts that merely do what is necessary to advance the plot while offering nothing of substance for themselves. As a result, “The Great Wave” is just dull and uneventful. Without good characters, there’s nothing for the audience to connect with or make them even remotely care about the events that are transpiring on the screen.

A lot of “The Great Wave” doesn’t make sense from a narrative or character point of view, and what does make sense is explained in excruciating detail. The Rings of Power does not trust its audience to figure out even the simplest things. The writers spoon-feed what little plot they’ve conjured to us as if we’re drooling babies with no comprehension of the basics of human communication.

**Spoilers**

“The Great Wave” finds Galadriel convincing Miriel to join the war effort against Sauron, which she eventually does. Arondir is allowed to escape before stumbling crossed his son Theo and rescuing him from some orcs. Isildur gets kicked out of the Navy. Finally, Elrond finds out about Durin’s mine. That’s all of importance that occurs in this episode. Saying that “The Great Wave” is bloated is a monumental understatement; it could be reduced to roughly 15 minutes of screen time, similar to its predecessors.

The issues with “The Great Wave” abound, numbering far too high to be dissected in less than hours upon hours of inspection. There is far too much to criticize for this article to cover in but a few words. As such, only the most egregious of sins will be mentioned here.

“The Great Wave” makes Queen Miriel an angry idiot, retroactively far dumber than the previous episode. The prophecy mentioned last week is revealed; it states that Galadriel will begin the Fall of Númenor. If this were the case, why did Miriel not send Galadriel away the moment she arrived? Or, if she intended for Galadriel to aid in countering this prophecy, why didn’t she ask for Galadriel’s help outright? Those are the only two logical outcomes for Galadriel’s arrival. Instead, Miriel said, “You wanna leave? I don’t want you to leave. You can’t stay.” The courtroom scene in which these two characters met was already horrendous but is made worse by the revelation of this prophecy. Miriel constantly contradicts herself in what she wants Galadriel to do and what is the best course of action for dealing with her.

Additionally, the people of Númenor’s thoughts on Galadriel are made apparent throughout the episode. This, combined with the prophecy, should have compelled Miriel to get Galadriel off the island at the earliest opportunity. Instead, she just flip-flops between her two options like a maniac, angrily flaring her nose at everything and everyone. Miriel is again made worse when she suddenly changes her tune on Galadriel’s arrival and decides that they’re friends. There is no reasonable justification for her sudden change of heart in allowing Galadriel to leave the island. It’s simply, “The script says we’re friends now. Let’s be girl bosses together.”

This same rapid acceptance of the insufferable Galadriel occurs on a much broader scale at the end of the episode with the island as a whole. Suddenly, the petals fall from the tree of Númenor, and they’re all for helping Galadriel now. That is not a good enough reason for the entire town to change its anti-elf rhetoric. Without good three-dimensional character setup, there can be no logical justification for any decisions that they make. Miriel exemplifies this more than any other.

As usual, Galadriel is just as dislikable and insufferable as ever. She constantly yells at everyone and answers questions with random statements which sound profound but ultimately mean nothing and in no way answers the question. Even her line from the trailer, “There is a Tempest in me,” makes no sense in context. The question is basically, “Are you the powerful elf leader you claim or the outcast that washed up on our shores?” Galadriel’s response to this reasonable question equates to, “Hey, I have big feelings!” Luckily, she’s in this episode less than usual because she’s imprisoned early on and remains there for much of the episode. In the few prison scenes we do get, she just growls at Halbrand and chastises him for trying to help her. She even has quite the golden line of, “Don’t compare me to a horse.” Following the universally mocked slo-mo horse scene from the previous episode, it would seem likely that Galadriel would tolerate being called a horse, but it seems not. She seems to prefer the much more apt description of “cow.”

Galadriel’s escape from this prison features one of the worst hand-to-hand fight sequences ever put to screen. Once she’s released, she just knocks the handcuffs reaching for her out of the way and pushes a few guys. The five large and highly trained warriors get shoved a bit into her cell with little to no resistance. Two of them straight-up walk into the cell of their own volition without threat or cohesion. She’s busy karate chopping one soldier, and the two are just like, “Oh, I’m getting in the cell.” It’s asinine, poorly choreographed, and terribly shot and edited. It’s the height of nonsensical and exemplifies the effort put into this series as a whole, despite its large budget – the littlest possible.

The only wholly positive scene is a small exchange between Prince Durin and his father. Durin’s father is simply trying to be a good person and a good dad. It’s almost wholesome and is easily the best-written scene in this show’s entirety. There needed to be quite a bit more setup to justify the initial conflict between the two, and without it, the payoff of this interaction is far diminished. However, even with that exclusion, the acting and the writing in this scene are simply good.

Overall, “The Great Wave” is just as horrific as its predecessors, rife with non-sequiturs, terrible dialogue, absent characterization, and the ever-present insufferable lead character. All the costumes are still awfully cheap, as if from the corner Spirit Halloween store, and the set designs are equally lackluster. There is zero evidence of the astronomical budget that this show claims to have. The psychopathic Harfoots were excluded entirely, giving the audience a brief relief from their nonsense. The Rings of Power is boring and bloated with unnecessary scenes that serve zero purpose whatsoever. The show is halfway done, and barely anything has actually occurred – certainly nothing that could not have been translated to the audience in less than 1/4 of the time.

The Rings of Power is an abomination of a show, regardless of its adaptation quality. It is one of the poorest written series to come out in decades. It is, without question, a waste of time for all audience members. “The Great Wave” does nothing to change that.