The Rings of Power Wrap-up

I look forward to each week’s breakdown of the latest episode. I highly recommend this show to anyone who wants greater understanding of Tolkien and the show.

I LOVE this podcast. I don’t understand the negative reviews. The quality is top-notch even if I don’t always agree with their opinions. The hosts are three Tolkien scholars who go through each episode scene-by-scene. They give their opinions and why, and they include Middle Earth history, events from the Ages, and quotes from Tolkien’s published works, letters, and interviews. You can tell they deeply care about Tolkien’s creation.

I can only listen to this is very short bursts. Listen to more than 1 episode in a row and it become insufferable how much they make the same jokes over and over and laugh at them just as hard every time. They get in these negative feedback loops too, where they complain about something legitimate about the Rings of Power adaptation but then they get into a downward spiral complaining about every nitpick thing possible, often things that get expanded upon and then make sense in the very next episode of the show. I like the lore talk but sometimes they forget they are talking to an audience, not just themselves, and a reference may not be automatically understood for someone who doesnt read Tolkien professionally. Searching hard for a better RoP podcast followup cause I just can’t with this one anymore.

Alan, Sara, and James have really clicked this season, and have developed an easy rapport that makes listening fun. I find them neither bizarrely positive (like Rings and Realms), nor disgustingly negative (like the trolls I won’t name)… it’s the Goldilocks zone! I think they should do a Jackson LOTR adaptation podcast… I’d listen!