**Spoiler Warning** Rings of Power S2E4 - 'Eldest'

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

[*]I giggled through the entire credits. They wrote! A Bombadil! Sooooong![/LIST]

The Tom Bombadil song sung by Rufus Wainwright was pure magic. Overall, the soundtrack has been the best piece of the series in my opinion.

Bear McCreary has done a wonderful job bringing images and memories of reading Tolkien to life through his music. I daresay, I actually prefer it to Howard Shore's.

This episode was the best of the series, then I watched Episode 5 last night. I won't spoil it, I'm just going to say wow...Charlie Vickers (Annatar) and Charles Edwards (Celebrimbor) are so much fun to watch.

[Formendacil]

To start the end: yes, the Bombadil end credits song was an excellent surprise! I feel like I said every episode last year that I loved the opening credits, and that's still true (and the broader statement, that I like the music generally, is true too).

Moving on to the baby-in-arm notes:

Originally Posted by Formendacil with a baby in the other hand taking notes on his phone

Looks like we're getting more B plot
Opening credits Msic.ofnthr Inur
New costumes I see
What ricer is thsi gorge? Baranduin or Gwathlo?
Ah. Thr Adrowndowns, so we're already across the Baranduin
Pretty sure JoN Now knowsnornthingsbtah the stranger
Bombadil int Rh eEasy?!?!?! But be longs I HiS land!!!!
Doesn't look small enough?
Od Man Willow inRhunbtoo?
EasternnHarfeet.eh?
Folk fmHolluem Nd Dwdgol vibes
Holes are rowrmhobbit homes to ensure ire
Stoors eh
Seeing the wizard through Stooe eyes us a good choice
We're just getting the bombafil chapters translated are we
Something menacing at Hombdils is wring
Bomdbqdil doesn't care
Wanderer! No he isn't
Gabdlf vibes kornethan Saruma today
The Barrows really SHOUDLNT BMbe the Barrowdowns yet. The Witchining hasn't sent the bareowighhts yet. Mishing all this tougher removes the opportunity foe a 3rd age of any consequence
Telling f us rheure eights doesn't tell us what they are
Wight nmadws??¿!?!?
Wild Men? We're just making all the LoTr scenes leftmost of the movies
At least we aren't dragging this reveal out.
Quicksand. Not a normal middleathntropw
Ah, yHysbwhat uts for--to prove she won't run to them. Or tonsu?
The Suzat?
Bit ofnArwennfireshadowing?
Betrayal. Of course.
Better Enta than the movie
Mire their from thr books though
Well,mfhere Isa. Fiancé then
Is Hagan a fiture Maxgil?
Hwo are young near Barrownfowns and approaching Eregion and seeing people.marchimg on Pelargir. The geography doesntlnwork.
I guess we're getting a Galadrike.kicks butt scene.
Guess Adar remembers Galadriel. Len sila license pmentolevw sounded preetybabdass NIT gonna lie

...which roughly means:

1. Looks like we're getting more B plot
2. Opening credits music is making me think of the Music of Ainur. If you told me that the showrunners had the Ainulindalë in mind when planning the opening credits, I wouldn't say the evidence really PROVES it, but I did find myself with some half-formed thoughts about it.
3. New costumes for Elrond and Galadriel, I see
4. What river is this gorge supposed to be crossing? The two major rivers beween Lindon and Eregion are Baranduin or Gwathló.
5. Ah. Well, if they're going through the Barrow-downs, we're already across the Baranduin... but we can't have reached the Gwathló... so what?
6. JoN Now knowsnornthingsbtah the stranger<-- My attempt to make a "you know nothing, Jon Snow" joke about the Stranger.
7. Bombadil in the East?!?!?! But he is the personification of the vanishing Oxfordshire--he's a genius locii--he belongs to HIS land!!!!
8. Is Tom small enough?
9. Wait, is Old Man Willow in Rhûn too?
10. Eastern Harfeet, eh?
11. Folk of Sméagol and Déagol vibes
12. Holes are proper hobbit homes, to be sure.
13. Stoors! So my "folk of Sméagol and Déagol vibes" was actually spot on!
14. Seeing the wizard through Stoor eyes is a probably a good choice: the best way to give us "local" yet "sympathetic" eyes with which to see the East.
15. We're just getting the Bombadil chapters translated in this weird timeline, aren't we? I suppose, since they were completely excised from the movie, it's not really duplicating anything in-universe... and I could almost get on board with this just being where Tom's land is in this world... except that they have to name-drop the Withywindle. I know Tom used to wander more than he does at the time of the War of the Ring--but this is ridiculous.
16. Something being menacing while at Tom Bombadil's is wrong. "Sleep! Heed no nightly noise!" Bombadil isn't supposed to care about things beyond his land (which is where he should be!). So something feels off here.
17. Tom is a wanderer! No he isn't--he's a moss-covered stone, not a stone doomed to rolling!
18. Getting Gandalf vibes more than Saruman ones today
19. The Barrows-downs really SHOUDLN'T be the fully-menacing Barrow-downs yet: though there is some history of them in the Second Age (maybe even going back to the first), The Witch-king of Angmar (whose Ring hasn't even been forged yet), hasn't sent the Barrow-wights yet. Mushing all this together--while admittedly allowing more LotR to get "captured" into the show--removes the opportunity for a 3rd Age of any consequence: it's telescoping the timeline not just of the 2nd Age, but of all Middle-earth outside this combined story, the Hobbit/LotR, and the First Age.
20. Telling us they're wights doesn't tell us what they are if we're not already book fans--why should it mean anything in-story too? This is just an excuse to get the word "Barrow-wight" onto the screen. Something is too exposition-y here.
21. Wight blades??!?!?
22. Wild Men? Do they mean the Drúedain? Are we just making all the LotR scenes left out of the movies? (Apparently that's not what they mean, but that's where my brain went).
23. At least we aren't dragging this reveal of her secret loyalties out.
24. Quicksand? That's a trope I don't associate with Middle-earth
25. Ah, that's what this scene is for--to prove she won't run out on them.
26. The Suzat? Is that an Appendix F reference, of all things?
27. Bit of Arwen foreshadowing there, in Elrond saying that the defeat of Sauron will always come first? Because he endures forever-separation from Arwen for roughly that purpose.
28. Betrayal. Of course. Too neat, taking the manacles off and having that happen.
29. These might be better Ents than in the movie (smaller sample size and worse lighting, of course--but they're good).
30. More things stolen from the books, obviously.
31. Well, there IS a fiancé then.
32. Perhaps this Hagan will be a future Nazgûl?
33. How are Elrond's troop near the Barrow-downs and/or approaching Eregion and ALSO seeing people marching on Pelargír (they did say Pelargír, right?). The geography doesn't work.
34. I guess we're getting a Galadriel-kicks-butt scene. Not bad, as action movie scene go... certainly, it should be in-character for this world.
35. I have to admit that Elen sila lumen omentielmo sounded pretty badass as a menacing line here--not gonna lie

Overall, I found a lot to like in this episodes: much like the Movies, whenever the dialogue comes from Tolkien, it tends to beat what they come up with themselves. I like the actor portraying Tom and the fact that he's taken seriously, but I can't quite get over anything to do with geography here--for a franchise where The Map has SUCH an important value, it's amazing how little this show seems to understand it.

[Alassë Estel]

I concur, taking Tom Bombadil from his wood is just wrong.
Sure, he probably wandered a little in the older days, but living in the middle of a desert??

I really dislike this injection of Tom as a mostly irrelevant character in a mostly irrelevant plot.

Everything to do with him felt off.

And Old Man Wil-- er, I mean "Ironwood" was the biggest eye-roll moment of the episode. They don't even bother pretending that they aren't copy-pasting things from the books into their capricious plot.

I also appreciated that they didn't drag out Estrid's "betrayal" all season long.

This plot-thread with Isildur and Theo (whiny emo-child though he is) I like the most, which is ironic condsidering that it is totally original and also the least pertinent to the overall story.

The quicksand scene felt suspiciously reminiscent of that bit in the Princess Bride...but they needed a redemption bit somewhere, I suppose. And the Princess Bride can't boast a man-eating quicksand worm anyway.

Their music really is the shining point in the series. The dwarven/Khazad-dûm theme especially is really well-fitting.