Review of Rings of Power Episode 5 – Partings

Today we are here to do a Review of Rings of Power Episode 5 Review and Recap

The Rings of Power’s strengths and weaknesses have become evident in five episodes. So far, one of the show’s shortcomings has been its politicking – the show is at its finest when it depicts excellent, dramatic moments of war or adventure and at its worst when it examines the different power plays and disputes between people. This episode moves in the latter direction, with conflict erupting between numerous factions and inside them, and we get a better understanding of what motivates some of them.

This post is full of spoilers if you haven’t watched the episode then watch it first.

What Happened in The Rings of Power Episode 5?

This is particularly evident in the Elrond/Durin plotline, in which Elrond faces actual inner turmoil for the first time in the saga. His conflict over whether to betray his promise to Durin for the good of his people reveals a lot about his personality. Although Elrond’s dilemma is quickly resolved because unlike almost every other TV character ever written, he does the sensible thing and talks to Durin about it, that scene does provide us with one of the best lines of dialogue in the series thus far – “A burden shared may be either halved or doubled, depending on the heart that receives it.” With its blend of relatable love, affection, and comedy, Elrond and Durin’s relationship is one of the essential partnerships keeping the show together, so it’s a relief to see them still together.

Galadriel also gets to deal with some of her inner conflict following episodes of repeating the same speech. When Halbrand doubts her rhetoric about battling Sauron and indicates that what she wants is retribution, we see another side of Galadriel, as she claims that Elrond and Gil-galad perceived too much resemblance in her to the enemy. We’re also reminded of her warrior status, and we hope to see her in action soon.

The Númenor plot, on the other hand, sorely needs more work on the human politics front. According to Tolkien’s outlines, there’s a lot of potential for highly intriguing developments in these individuals and their relationships. Still, none of that promise has yet been achieved in the series. The King Tar-Palantir is barely intelligible, while Queen Regent Mriel is embroiled in tales about cryptic prophesies and forebodings and dilly-dallying about whether she should go to Middle-earth or not when she should be at the center of Númenor’s politicking and power machinations.

In this episode, we learn a little more about Chancellor Pharazôn, but not much. Despite the scary music in the background, his strategy doesn’t sound too bad so far – he’s in favor of assisting the Southlands and repairing Halbrand so they may establish trading routes and so on, which is reasonable and signals an excellent possible monarch. Given that the program is establishing him as an Evil Chancellor, it could do with providing more than anti-Elf racism as an insight into his character and motivations to show us why his ruling, or advising the king, is a poor idea.

The Southlands require considerably more attention to their leadership concerns and interpersonal interactions. Bronwyn appears to have become their de facto leader merely because she suggested they leave, even though she is a healer and has no apparent motive to lead them. Arondir’s position as a leader makes it more logical because he has military expertise. Yet, half of the populace follows the old bartender to serve the Orcs instead, while the others just linger around waiting for Arondir and Bronwyn to decide what to do. We know their king has deserted them but isn’t anyone else in this group who has an opinion on who should lead them or what they should do?

This episode also goes some way toward correcting one of the previous four episodes’ other flaws: the series’ overreliance on some level of knowledge with Tolkien’s material – or, at the very least, the Peter Jackson films – for anything to make sense. “Who is the Stranger?” or “Is Halbrand a future Ringwraith, or possibly Sauron himself?” are entirely meaningless to new viewers, who merely observe a mysterious old man who does very little and a slightly dishonest king in exile.

We still don’t know who the Stranger is, but his mystery gets more pressing and understandable in this episode. Rather than “is he Gandalf, Sauron, one of the Istari, or Saruman?” questions that signify nothing if you’re new to Tolkien’s world, the question in this episode is simply “is he good or bad?” Obviously, practically everyone in this or any other world is some combination of those things, but the question here is how much of one and how much of the other.

On that note, for those who are familiar with some of Tolkien’s characters, we continue to believe that the Stranger is not Sauron, who has very little good in him, and that Gandalf is the most plausible possibility. This story does imply that he could be Saruman; Gandalf has always been linked with fire rather than ice, yet Saruman was the one who turned the snowy weather against the Fellowship of the Ring on Caradhras. And, before he became corrupted, Saruman was one of the good ones. However, based on how the program has attempted to imitate the vibe of the movies thus far, the familiarity of a wizard journeying with young Hobbits clearly suggests Gandalf.

Read More: Review of Rings of Power episode 3 Review

Whoever the Stranger is, he marks a departure from Tolkien’s sketch of the Second Age, as does the show’s explanation of what mithril is and why the Dwarves and Elves mine it. The notion that the Elves use mithril to retain their fading light is novel, as is the “apocryphal” mythology about its beginnings told by Elrond and Gil-galad. It adds some high stakes to this plot (and likely will be why Celebrimbor ultimately decides to construct some rings, which have been woefully absent in this series bearing their name). Still, it has the unfortunate side effect of diluting some of Tolkien’s concepts.

Tolkien’s most important themes are the dangers of greed, hunger for power, and hubris, and all of that is being lost in some of the modifications here. We discover in The Lord of the Rings that the Dwarves delved too profoundly and awoke a greater evil – but now they must dig these depths to save the Elves, which is not the same thing. They also appear to grasp better what might be lurking beneath… There is nothing wrong with making adjustments when adapting a story for the screen, but some changes might be annoying if they distort the story’s meaning. However, the alteration in Elrond’s mother’s origin is the most irritating in this episode.

Elrond’s mother (Elwing), according to Celebrimbor, pleaded with Eärendil not to travel to the Valar, asking, “why must it be him?” This is not the case in Tolkien’s legendarium when Elwing rises from the water as a white bird to join her husband on his voyage. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are both severely lacking in female characters, with no identified female characters in The Hobbit and Éowyn being the only genuinely active female character in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s First and Second Age mythology, on the other hand, especially the First, has several somewhat more active and daring female characters, Elwing being one of them. Reducing her to a wife left at home pleading with her husband not to leave not only diminishes the book character but also diminishes the role of women in these stories, even as the series introduces original characters like Bronwyn and Nori in an attempt to increase the role of feminine characters.

Finally, we see some significant plot development in this episode and the promise of more to come. There’s a strange new character known as “the Dweller” (Bridie Sisson) peering down at the Stranger’s crater, which we’ll leave for another piece. The Harfoots are still terrifyingly vicious, as one urges Sadoc to “Take their wheels and leave them,” which is much worse than we’ve seen before – they don’t just leave some of their friends and relatives behind, they physically take away their wheels so they can’t travel. Nori may be in big trouble here. Human sacrifice has been used by a splinter faction of Southlanders, which cannot be good. And the music as the Nmenoreans sail away suggests that something exciting is about to happen, so let’s hope next week’s episode lives up to that expectation. “Enough with the quail sauce!” says Durin in this episode. Give me the story’s meat, and give it to me uncooked!”

Tv Series: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode-5

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy.

Released on: Sep 23, 2022

Stream on: Prime Video