Swervon

If you like Melissa McCarthy’s dumber comedies, constant swearing, poop and fart jokes and a main character who constantly makes bad choices set to a jarringly inappropriate rap soundtrack, this show might be for you.

Tolkien had bad days. Tom Bombadil could have been less ridiculous, Goldberry more meaningful. However he had an instinctive knowledge of what makes something epic and resonant. Rings of Power doesn’t seem to have a handle on what makes people emotionally engage and empathise with characters caught up in events beyond their control, forced to rise to a challenge. Instead we have the usual roster of Mary-Sues contemptuously despatching monsters without effort while their adoring peons pick themselves up off the floor. If Frodo had Simply Walked Into Mordor after slaughtering everything that tried to stop him then tossed Gollum and the ring into Mount Doom while repeatedly kicking the Mouth of Sauron in the crotch for fun, Jackson’s trilogy would not have been as highly regarded. Rings of Power screenwriters take note. When you write characters that are unstoppable you run into the Superman Effect- there are no threats so there are no stakes. Learn to do better.