You know damn well there’s a ninja with a Hidden Leaf codpiece running around.
The guy in the back (over Elrond’s left shoulder) looks like he was just passing by and decided to photobomb.
Well, that was a satisfying finale for me. Won’t spoil it yet, but suffice to say some were right, and others were wrong 
And I. for one, am cool with being wrong about the thing I was wrong about.
The end credits music felt a little too Bond theme-ish for my tastes, but overall a solid conclusion to the season.
Halbrand/Sauron pointing out to Galadriel that he tried to abandon the path he was on and she kept dragging him back onto it was the perfect way to wrap up her story arc this season, calling back to Gil-Galad’s line at the beginning that she might wind up bringing the darkness down upon them if she keeps up her search.
I assume the Three Wise Men were supposed to be Nazgul, guessing from the skeletal form they took when our Istari friend banished them. Does that mean the Nine Rings are already in existence at this point? I guess we’ll find out in a few years.
I liked it. I thought it was not far from the style of Gollum’s Song from The Two Towers, which was a favorite of mine.
I wasn’t making strong predictions on who was who, but if I had to bet, this would have been it. Though I guess we still don’t know if The Stranger is Gandalf or not. I’m guessing he’s someone new.
They did succeed with the fake-out, though. I thought that was that when the triumvirate made their declaration of fealty.
A spoilerific interview with the actor playing You-Know-Who has dropped.
Ooh, so thankful for the spoiler policy. I forgot the finale had aired and opened this thread. I’ll be watching tonight, or possibly tomorrow night.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t divorce my watching the show from my knowledge. This and the last episode were very tough on me as they depart from the Lore we do know in so many ways.
That aside some things just seemed stupid anyway.
Spoilers
So if Sauron didn’t help Celebrimbor in this plot line of the writers, the Elves would have had to leave.
No mention of the Lesser Rings and the 9 for Mortal Men and the 7 for Dwarven Lords. Argh!!! Just right to the 3 Rings.
Those from Rhûn, were those Ringwraiths? Makes no sense of course. But they were Easterlings at least. I guess.
Then there is the much larger list of things changed from the Lore for little reason.
I had already noted the similarity of the actor playing The Stranger to Graham Chapman. Caught the fight on YT before the suits shoot it down: I can see his mother (if Istari had mothers of course) yelling from offscreen to the 3 Proto-Nazgul after their little non-revelation that “He’s not the Dark Lord, he’s a very good boy!”
Glad I didn’t pay 15 bucks for one episode. The entire mess is massively condescending to its audience.
No credit to Amazon and the two showrunner acolytes of JJ Abrams for producing this dreck. Credit due to the Special Effects & Score.
It is not worthy of review. Even seen as a standalone, Tolkien-adjacent tale it is not good, cohesive storytelling.
Trying to find any semblance of Lore one is only left to cite the total disregard for some major plots and themes as W_E did above.
I’m not trying to be original- I’ll just quote Professor Tolkien through his character, Treebeard:
There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.
I haven’t much participated in this thread since I don’t have the breath of lore as some here and I kept getting a bit too much in the weeds, but I have to say that I really thought that finale was quite excellent! Most of the season seemed ok to me, but a bit draggy and dull (but then again, I find the LOTR books to be a big draggy and dull, especially Fellowship). I’m glad that it went somewhere - and I really liked the fake out.
If anyone had bet me, I would have lost a million quatloos. I was wrong. 
Spoiler hidden by What Exit
Hey, hey, he is!
Careful please, respect the 24 hour spoiler rule from the OP.
I hid it for you.
For now, I will only say that I enjoyed the last episode. I have some gripes/observations as someone who is quite familiar with the lore, but I didn’t have any serious “WTF” moments (as in, “that was stupid, what are they smoking”), and there were some nice reveals I quite enjoyed.
I don’t feel like hiding comments under a spoiler that another person will have to reply under a spoiler ad infinitum, so I’ll wait until the spoiler rule expires before saying any more.
I agree that the final episode was great, but this episode should have been about episode 5 of 8, not the finale. If we hit these plot points then, it would be satisfying and feel like we’re having a good season. Waiting until the final makes all of season 1 just a big build up.
Agreed.
And not sure I’ve got it all right -
Summary
Galadriel really did force him along at all steps of the way? He really would have been happiest to just stay living life as a smith in Numenor if she hadn’t pushed him. This was not all his plan, it was his being pushed and then taking advantage of what presented? He really was seeing himself as potentially bound to the light with her and his return to darkness could have potentially been avoided if Galadriel had believed his current good intent?
Gawsh she really did screw things up and should have never jumped.
I don’t think I’ll bother with a next season. You?
- Yes, I’ll watch a next season.
- Nah. I don’t think so.
- Depends on what else there is to watch.
0 voters
Definitely watching next season. I did not absolutely love it, but it was quite good in the end.
I agree with the comments above. This was one of only two episodes in which it felt like plot was actually happening. Everything was so slowly padded out that it was ridiculous. There was no reason to drip by drop squeeze out the story of the Stranger at such a turtle’s a pace in five-minute scenes spread over an entire season.
Did I miss something or were Bronwyn and Arondir not in this episode?