Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments is an old movie. Persona is not an old movie. Guernica is not an old painting. The Ten Commandments is an old movie. It doesn't reach beyond its time period because it doesn't take an artistic stance. It's just entertainment served to its contemporaries, so it never transcends them, it just stays old. In fact it dies with them. Future generations can keep The Ten Commandments around for a study of film history, but the spirit of the movie dies with the spirit of those for which it was intended. They're almost gone now.

I'm not excited about these deaths, I don't want people and things from the 50s to age, but we have to be honest. It'll be fascinating how organizations like AFI and Sight & Sound and the Academy evolve once people who grew up in the mid-century are gone. Will we still pretend the golden age was golden, or just age? The good old days good, or just old?

We have to be real: most classics are pretty worthless 20-40 years later, besides as historical reference. This is especially true of a medium like film, which is so dominated by the motives of mass entertainment, compared to forms more rooted in timeless artistic themes. Film often isn't driven by artistic vision at all, certainly not as a primary driver. Typically the primary is money or cheap stimulation, not emotional depth or artistic originality. So those films age very quickly, and we need to stop calling them the greatest ever made. Or we need to be more honest about what we mean by "greatest."

The Ten Commandments is entertainment for a 50s audience, and I bet it was grand. It even held my attention in 2025. But it aged very poorly, and doesn't boast anything very original or triumphant, just the technical feats of 1956 which are nothing in 2025.

Julie & Julia

I'm hard to please when it comes to movies proving themselves worth my time. But I'm easy to please when it comes to movies pleasing me in a basic sort of a way. Yet Julie & Julia whiffed so hard in both directions I had to stop it halfway. Maybe it was my concurrent dogsitting duties that got under my skin, but it might have also been Meryl Streep's incessant yipping. Look, I admire her, and maybe her Julia Child impression was hilarious for anyone familiar with Julia Child. I am not such a one, and can't vouch for the mimicry, so what I got was an alarmingly irritating performance. I say alarming because I don't think I'm easily annoyed by such things. When she joined forces with her sister (Jane Lynch) and they amplified each other like the inside of a laser... well, that's when I turned it off. I don't think the white noise of a thousand crying babies would sound very different from that scene, so meshed were these scraping overtones.

I am also not easily bored, yet I was having a hard time even before that scene. You might say the movie was just a repetition of the book, therefore unexciting for me, but Hannah beside me had not read the book and called out the movie as boring. I think it was just a boring movie. Besides, it's true that it was a tired repetition of the book. It stole some basic elements and depicted them without soul, like Sauron in his many guises.

I want to specifically call out how it lost all of the humor of the book. It depicted many of the same scenes, even in voiceover, so I'm not sure how it failed to communicate the bountiful humor in Powell's literary voice.

Kevin Can F Himself

I watched the pilot. I like the premise, though it sounds miserable to endure multiple seasons of this -- not that the execution is bad but the content is unhappy. I read the synopses of some future episodes and it doesn't sound like it gets much better. It doesn't sound like she gets her redemption to any satisfying degree.

It's a valuable episode of TV though. The moment it cuts from bright sitcom to her and her husband's boss sitting silently, grayly alone hit me pretty good.

Rings of Power S1+2

Gandalf: they didn't fail him, but they didn't actualize him. Surprisingly I'm ok with their approach. He's learning his powers as he learns his wit. He looks like a younger Jackson-Gandalf. He's pretty neutral, as an old gray man, meaning he's pretty blank-slate-god. This all makes sense. But they handled him far too slowly in S2. S2 needed more actualization from him. Instead he's still very confused and pitiful. His strides feel inauthentic, like when he pokes fun at Nori. Don't pretend this is a "fool of a Took" situation. He's nowhere near what he needs to be. You need to develop him further before the comfy old stuff feels comfy. He's still a little too foreign, because we've never seen him this naïve. We only know him wise.

    I don't mind the actor's performance. It's a good Gandalf approach. But you need to execute, and the writers dragged their feet in S2.

Galadriel: while Gandalf is ultimately my guy, Galadriel must be my favorite character in RoP so far. She's involved in meaningful things. Gandalf is wandering in the wilderness, not in a profound way, in a confused and highly side-quest way. He has nothing to do with the main events. Ah, that will be the episode -- when he strikes the main action like a lightning bolt. Anyway, Galadriel is in the thick of it. Even Elrond is too occupied with dwarfy things. Galadriel guides the action from S1E1, and I'm here for it. She's very intense, very unlike image of peace and grace Galadriel from the Third Age. She's emotional, fiery, troubled, angry. I think she's a little too fiery -- you really can't imagine her turning into Cate Blanchett's portrayal, can't imagine her finding that peace. What's going on with Celeborn? Did she imply he's dead? Of course he's not... Maybe when she finds Celeborn and when Sauron is temporarily vanquished she'll become grace-peace Galadriel. So, she's too fiery for the ideal, but not for the good. She's at the center of the most interesting events, she's strong, wise, graceful, serious, respected.

Elrond is also so serious. I like that. I like warmth in an elf -- his will be the Last Homely House -- but ultimately seriousness, joy ever mingled with sorrow. I like Elrond's personality a lot. I could complain about the actor's odd look, but it's not as odd as Weaving, thankfully. Weaving was not a good choice. Nothing about him shows the pinnacle of warm and good as it should. His eyebrows and widows peak are so angular. Elrond in RoP is odd-looking but gentler, sort of nerdy, yet strong. I like him. He's very right. I would trust him.

Nori was a good choice. You need hobbits -- who else would you have chosen? Some descendent I guess, Old Took or something, although he may come later. That would be cool, actually. There probably is some ancestral tie here, to the Baggins' or Brandybucks or Tooks or something. Anyway you need hobbits, and she was a good choice: brave yet simple, like the best of them. There are hobbits who would be irritating companions for me (I'm Gandalf in this scenario, naturally). She is not one of them. She's a solid, feel-good companion. People like Poppy and Pippin are a little too simple for me. I like the deeper hobbits, the sadder hobbits, the adventurous ones.

I'm disappointed by Elendil. He who could have been the height of man, the rival of his descendant Aragorn, is just not pleasing to me. I don't like his look, I don't like his acting, I don't like his writing. None of it is terrible but it's a missed opportunity. Maybe they're just killing time until they can elevate Isildur. Isildur, still so young and soft, could take a Jon Snow arc. That would be really satisfying, if they can manage it. You need at least two more seasons to make that happen, though, I think. Jon took 6. Isildur needs a couple more. So maybe Elendil is just paving the way. A little disappointing though, as I saw Elendil as the original king. I guess he's the original of Aragorn's line (in a way), being presumably the first to rule in Middle-earth as a Numenorean, but he's really just a captain in Numenor, and not a super awe-inspiring one. A respectable one, but not the glory of Numenor. I wanted he and Isildur to be almost gods, almost perfect men. That's what Numenoreans are. This show, being so focused on Numenor, evidently felt the need to ground them. This show didn't want to stay toooo high and mighty, considering its high and mighty context. Gil Galad is as elegant as I expected, but not as glorious, and Elendil is neither. But he's not bad.

Sauron is alright. I loved the plot twist, and I like the acting. I could use a little more abstraction -- it's mostly just been Halbrand -- but he who did Halbrand well is doing Sauron well, which is impressive for breadth.

I just can't adore the dwarves like the other races, but a good dwarf is always a good thing, and Durin (the younger) is a good sound dwarf.

Rings of Power S2

Like S1, S2 involved a disgusting amount of cheesy dialogue, ill-advised plot, and deus ex machina. Unlike S1, S2 found no epic redemption in the end.

It makes me wonder if the wonder of S1's end was but a dream. It stands so tall above the rest. Was it a different writer?

The best part of S2 I can recall is Celebrimbor falling into madness, especially the moment his illusion crumbles. But why would the best part of the season feature a secondary character?

That's just it: I'm a little infuriated by writers' obsession with ensemble casts. GoT committed this crime in the first degree. I established my alliances in S1 of GoT, and they never changed. Through scores of new characters I remained interested in the players of S1, which means GoT was an awful wanderfest (just realized that's probably a niche climbing term). RoP hooked me with the familiar players: Galadriel, Elrond, Gandalf, Isildur,... and while I can forgive some new ones (I like Nori, and the Arondir/Bronwynn stuff is fine, you know, whatever), RoP follows GoT's miserable example in ever-bloating the ensemble, at the expense of those who actually matter. Stick to your guns, I say -- your guns being your main characters. Pick a few at the beginning, and stick to them, for the most part!

Celebrimbor is a secondary character I'll easily forgive, and I liked his role in this season. He's a great elf, one I'd heard of. But he shouldn't be the emotional core of the season, and certainly the season shouldn't be dripping with so many empty characters.

What even happened this season? It was so disappointing? Look, Gandalf developed 90% of where he's at now in the first season. He didn't get anywhere in S2! He's my favorite character ever! Why can't you do anything with him? In fact I don't really remember anything happening at all between that wandering clan, other than Poppy joining, which I said I didn't want. What a letdown. Isildur literally did nothing. Arondir is just awkwardly hanging around, having lost his love, being kind of a bummer of a guy now, but somehow always popping up to do some magic acrobatics at impossibly coincidental moments.

I don't know what the writers were thinking. You have a whole season. If you would have thought at the beginning "what do I want done by the end of the season" surely you'd have said more than this. Or you'd have said the same general scope but let's enjoy it along the way! Instead, they kept the scope very unambitious, yet packed every available moment with crap that didn't matter.

I'll correct myself -- I know what the writers were thinking, and it wasn't about their writing, it was about the business constraints. They're expected to draw out this story into several seasons without losing viewership. So they try to trick us into paying attention the whole time, waiting waiting for it all to coalesce. If you're only going to cover this ground in a season, let me enjoy it, let me deeply understand it, let me soak in it, don't splatter me in empty chatter. RoP is a shower of white noise typically drowning out the deep resonances echoing through the ages of Middle-earth. I don't mind a couple of easy plotlines to ground the grandeur, but those should be spare. RoP is obviously not made with my taste in mind. It's made to draw out what really matters for the fictional world (what Tolkien actually wrote about) for the sake of mass consumption.

S1 redeemed itself. I got to thinking it might be a new canonized love of mine. S2 had none of that. S2 was pretty disappointing, even if no more than most of S1.

Sable, Fable

First impressions, hearing it 2 days before release while running through a park in Eau Claire:

The new tracks redeemed some of the EP. The only bright spot of the EP was uber-folksy "Speyside", while Fable delivered some pretty cool beats. I'm glad of it. I like his sense for tight beats, also his sense for soul, which appears here. I liked a few of the songs. I don't think he's really a great band anymore. He's kind of a one-album-wonder, a wunderkind who evidently lost his precision after losing his 20s. But I'm glad Fable redeemed Sable.

Rings of Power S1E8

Halfway through:

I might have known a Gandalf origin story would be the first thing in 2025 to launch a tear to mine eye. As he rules the swirling fire, so he commands my swollen heartstrings to knot themselves. In spite of his alien transcendence, how can this not be my favorite character in all of fiction. Who else stirs the cold mines of my feelings; plunges straight down, sword in hand; quickens the dormant; smites its ruin upon the mountainside?

Finished:

Holy smokes that song nearly ruined a sick ending. That song sounds like the first song I ever wrote.

What a finish. The last few episodes skyrocketed the emotion and the intrigue. This episode kept getting emotional, even long after Gandalf came into his own. The hobbit goodbyes, Galadriel's desperation, every recall to LotR ("stronger than the foundations of the earth", "always follow your nose", cresting toward the volcano as the final shot of Part I). And the plot twist -- I didn't believe it even after it was clearly suggested. I said no way, it's too far-fetched, and then they made it make sense. Now as I'm writing, I faintly remember something about Sauron disguising himself to help the elves make the rings, but none of this occurred to me while watching, until they made it make sense. That's the best kind of plot twist.

This seriously calls into question my supposition that it's always better to have read the source material first. If I'm right, and the above is in the books, it wouldn't come across dramatically, it would come across like holy scripture. So that may be the difference: when the book intends to deliver a dramatic experience, you should probably read it before watching the movie/series. But when the book is just history, it may be superior to watch the dramatization first. You'll lose some of the fascination of adaptation, but you'll gain a shocking experience like I just had. It was as though I remembered Christ was crucified but forgot who betrayed him; what a thrill watching his final week unfold and wondering who's going to do it; what a drag reading the source. Likewise, I knew the rings would come and Sauron would rise, but I didn't remember how, and so seeing such a dramatization makes me glad I forgot Tolkien's dry history of it.

This episode was just phenomenal. The Southlanders made no appearance, justly so -- this episode was all about cohering RoP to LotR, to prod everyone on to the next season. What a relief; what a gift.

I totally thought Nori's friend was having a Sam moment. That might have been too on-the-nose. Regardless I'm very excited about Nori and the big guy branching off. Probably more excited than I'd be if her friend followed, though I love Sam. One wonders if one would have preferred a LotR without Sam -- just Frodo suffering alone, or perhaps with a loftier companion. Hard to find a word for the type of companion that could be any better than Sam. You might say wise, as Sam comes off like a fool, but he isn't; you might say noble, but Sam is as noble as anyone; you might say strong, but Sam is the strongest; yet there's something he's missing compared to Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. I would have loved to see Frodo questing with one of them, or Galadriel, Arwen, idk. Someone epic. Sam is not epic. Sam is not a warrior. But he is. Sam is everything you need him to be. Anyway I couldn't complain about a Sam-like companion in RoP, but Nori setting off with just Gandalf is really satisfying. I'd love to be on either end of that partnership. I love both characters. Nori's friend just has a bit of that intangible case of the Sams -- just a bit too jolly or something. Nori+Gandalf is a perfect pair. How I'd love to be on either side of it.

So let's try to figure this out. Sauron was lost at sea for some reason, having stolen something from the dead king of the Southlands. Perhaps he sought Galadriel. He saves Galadriel, possibly because he hopes she'll be his queen. Why her? I suppose she's the commander of some elven armies... perhaps has some inner quality though. She doesn't have this fire in LotR, I wonder what that's all about. They probably made up that personality for this show. So he saves Galadriel, wants to stay in Numenor for some reason -- to corrupt them? He follows her to Middle Earth to fight a common enemy, supposedly -- who? Adar? Is Adar stealing Sauron's orcs? Perhaps Adar is one of the original fallen elves of Morgoth; perhaps Sauron is too? I thought Sauron was a maia. Either way, perhaps Adar is ruling these orcs that Sauron wants, creating Mordor in what should be Sauron's rule. Perhaps Adar doesn't serve Sauron at all.

    So Sauron fights Adar with Galadriel and wants to kill him in the forest. Galadriel stops it. Does Adar know? Boy, you almost need to watch the entire season again, to spot holes in Halbrand's character. After defeating Adar (seemingly) Halbrand returns to Lindon (where's Lindon?) to guide the forging of the rings. Does he know that's why he goes there? Either way he spots an opportunity. You think "this is kind of dumb, Halbrand is advising Celebrimbor on smithing; once may have been a fortunate fluke, but he keeps having the right insights; how is he so wise at this?" Well, Sauron is egging on the forging of the rings, presumably because he sees an opportunity. The power of mithril, which is the light of the Valar or something. He wants Galadriel to rule with him. She remembers this, centuries later, when the One Ring tempts her again. She denies it again, knowing she can't use it for good. Sauron claims to want peace, but he wants to rule. He wants peace through slavery, according to Galadriel. What if she's wrong? What if he seeks power to do good, and could do good, and it's her decision to rebuff him that determines the fate of many? He claims to have distanced from Morgoth, shed that influence. Perhaps with power, ruling Middle Earth, he could actually be a good ruler... Galadriel's claim is Sauron is evil in his very nature. What a strong claim. Who could be so permanently evil, and even if so, who could confidently claim it? Maybe Sauron could turn. That would surely be better than what actually unfolds, even if he's vanquished in the end; consider the loss of life. Perhaps I must simply trust Galadriel's intuition -- that Sauron can't turn -- but if I'm into trusting intuitions, I'm in a lot of trouble in this universe. I know what Sauron is capable of, courtesy of LotR, and I guess Galadriel has a strong idea, from his past deeds, so I guess I have to side with her that he's pretty evil. But imagine if she turned him in this moment.

    So the elves forge the three. I forget their relation to the rest. The One is secretly forged... when? Must be after this. It's forged in Mount Doom, which only just got doomful. Unless it's been going all along. Well, I bet the One is not forged yet. I bet Celebrimbor has shown Sauron the way, which he uses to return to Mount Doom and forge the One. But where does he get the mithril? Perhaps his next stop, soon into next season, is Durin's mine. How sad that Durin has unveiled Sauron's new secret in an effort to save his friends. The Balrog is there too. So older Durin, for all his stubbornness, may have been right. But then many fair things would not have happened, and perhaps Sauron would have ruled anyway. Some paths even the wise cannot see.

    So the elves forge three, by some improbable stroke of Galadriel's instinct: one rules, two fight, three are balanced. For some reason mithril in a ring gives such power to the bearer, and also provides excellent chain mail. How do the rest of the rings happen? How is the light of the Eldar (Valar? Elves? Silmarils? Tree?) captured in this material?

RoP became complex and epic, like my favorite fiction lately (Harry Potter, GoT, LotR). Slow start, big build. It's a real show now. It's inching its way into the canon.

Rings of Power S1E7

Like "Many Meetings" after the "Flight to the Ford," E7 is a slow digestion of fiery E6. Like the rest of RoP's conversational fluff, that means, well, fluff: Hallmark rally cries, soap opera tension, more sap and cheese than the Canada/Wisconsin border. But all of that was baked, deliciously, into Tolkien's originals, reprised by Jackson, and persists in the culture of the franchise. I can't expect them to detach from those sappy roots, though I desire it, similar to how The Batman got modest and gritty. I'd love a gritty take on Tolkien. Almost Game of Thrones-level thematic and sensory maturity... but actually mature in dialogue.

I like this attitude of "I don't care how white-patriarchy Tolkien was, we aren't going to do that in 2022 because we don't believe Tolkien would have done that in 2022."

The Numenoreans disappoint me. They're supposed to be proto-humans: wise, elegant, noble, closer to the elves and to the gods than anyone else. Granted they're proud enough by this time to earn an oceanic apocalypse, so the pride in the portrayal is warranted, but otherwise they don't stand out with those Numenorean traits. If you lined up a few Numenoreans, a few Southlanders, and put them in the same clothes, could you really tell the difference? Halbrand and Bronwyn are attractive and valiant Southlanders, for example. There are some meager Numenoreans. I don't really see that this is the greater race other than their wardrobe (which tells more about material wealth than spiritual wealth) and their city.  I will say the city is inspiring. But the Numenoreans are not.

Jackson also failed me in that respect. Faramir and Denethor were supposed to have the blood of Westernesse running thick. Instead Denethor was uncomely, Faramir was sensitive, and Boromir ironically boasted the double-edged pride of Numenor.

I do like Isildur, which is always fun, since you know he ruins everything. Jackson is none too favorable, casting Isildur as just a guy with an evil smirk who refuses to save the world. Tolkien is more favorable; we know Isildur is a great man of Westernesse, and his ultimate failure more symbolizes his species than degrades his character. RoP makes him a likable young man, whom you can't quite imagine inheriting the kingdoms of men and then betraying all life, but all that should be fun and tragic since we already like him.

I'm much more reserved on Elendil, of course. I would have been so excited to meet him, had I known he was involved. He's actually one of the characters in all of history I would have been most excited about. I thought he'd be such a tall, noble demigod really. All he has for that is a trumpet voice; the rest of him is pretty average.

That's actually one of my broader impressions of the series: what Tolkien treated as lofty is too normal. The Numenoreans, even the elves are not graceful enough. Elrond is, for a youngish elf, but Gil-Galad isn't for a "high king," and Galadriel is moodier than I ever would have expected for an elf.

I entirely expected Elendil to be king of Numenor. Who are these rulers?? Do they have any relationship with Beren? Maybe all of Numenor has some tainted descent from Beren? If I recall right, Elendil and his two sons are the only survivors, who cross to Middle Earth and evidently come to rule all humanity there; Elendil probably dies at the Last Alliance and Isildur inherits. Fascinating that they don't rule anything in Numenor.

One more quick miscellaneous note: kids look nothing like their parents. Isildur/Elendil, Theo/Bronwyn, Nori/her mom... It's related to the show's devotion to mixed-race individuals and couples, and it kinda conflicts with Tolkien and with the idea that all of this happened in our own world, long ago.

Rings of Power S1E6

Ok WHAT? Intensity before this episode: sure. Intensity now: boy. The violence got brutal, the valor was elevated, the despair total. We get rumors of ancient power. We get a volcano -- is that Mount Doom? I actually need to comprehend several key things. Where are we in Middle Earth? Are we near Mordor before it was Mordor? What's Udun again? I know Gandalf says "flame of Udun" on the bridge of Khazad Dum... is Udun just Morgoth? Super interesting that Adar is one of the original fallen elves. I'm super interested to see how the show treat's Sauron. Actually I guess it'll have to be in some similar vein to Sauron in the LotR flashbacks. I'd forgotten he never takes bodily form in LotR, so I'm just remembering those flashbacks. That was around this time period, so presumably Sauron has a body but not a very human one. Anyway I like seeing one of the original orcs / twisted elves.

The orc siege in the Southlands was absolutely what I needed. Those kinds of battles are so desperate, those sieges, like Helm's Deep or the Long Night or the Pelennor or the Blackwater. It started distancing RoP from its YA origins. It was bloody and despairing. Super interesting that twisting the sword of Sauron (?) breaks a dam which erupts the volcano (?). It's one of those stupid things that are actually not stupid when you dig into the lore... unless they fabricated the whole affair for this series, which I think is partly true, but I bet there's some real lore to it. If Tolkien had anything to do with this dam/volcano situation, I bet it's going to be awesome.

The show stepped up in this episode. It feels real now.

Obviously still way too much deus ex machine, way too much riling up a crowd, way too much being interrupted at the moment of most tension.

Rings of Power S1E5

Lol that was one of the most dramatic fanfares I've ever heard in film or TV, and I'm merely on episode 5, and they're merely departing for Middle Earth, and I'm merely beginning to build affection for these characters. Bah, you done overcooked it!

Things are starting to feel good though. Durin and Elrond aligning; Galadriel and Halbrand doing the same; things are beginning to weigh heavier; Bronwyn and her son racing for sunlight was superb.

Interesting choice, making Gandalf (I think) an amnesiac. I don't remember a thing about that in the books. I think he just shows up, sent from the Valar, and gets to work wandering. This interpretation is interesting -- he's saved by a hobbit-like girl. Explains his later trust for hobbits.

Many storylines to manage: Galadriel, the Southlands romance, Halbrand's ascent, Numenor, Gandalf and the hobbits, Elendil's family.

Rings of Power S1E4

Rings of Power, like the rings of power, is skillfully wrought and comely; it turns any blade meant to wound its gilt; it beckons one onward; and for all its gusto it is potentially unwholesome in spirit.

You can call it corny; but you can call Jackson's LotR corny; what you can't call the latter is unwholesome; it fought for authenticity against financial prospects; RoP runs the opposite risk. I don't keep up much with Amazon's saga, so I can't blemish RoP too much for suckling at that breast, but I am cognizant of its relative position in culture. I hear it got a lot of money; Amazon isn't known for the purity of soul you like in a Tolkien adaptation; it can enjoy surfing the coattails of Jackson's toils, the enormity of Tolkien fandom now, the prevalence of CGI, all of that; I know these things. So I reserve my love, for now; yet I also reserve my resentment. I am enjoying it well enough, and I do applaud its production. I just need to see how it all falls together; does it feel true?; does it leave a mark?; or are the Rings all glitter, no gold.

It's astonishing they acquired such obscure actors. Benjen Stark is the only one I've recognized, and he's not exactly famous. It's an interesting decision, depending such an enterprise on, seemingly, amateurs. I kind of like it though. It feels more escapist. Denzel as Sauron (not unthinkable considering some recent castings) would have been unbearable. These amateurs just need to prove themselves; you have no pre-seeded affection for them, so they have to earn it from scratch.

Rings of Power S1E3

Alllright this is the right story to do for this series. Elendil showed up. That means RoP is filming exactly the right moment in Middle Earth history... or they're crunching hundreds of years into one season. Either way, these are the best events to do.

Familiar events in ME history:

• the creation (nigh unfilmable -- where Malick at)
• Beren & Luthien (highly filmable, and I wouldn't be surprised if the next spinoff is this, though it's more detached from the LotR everyone knows and loves, so it's a slightly harder sell. RoP is a step in this direction. I bet Beren & Luthien is adapted in the coming years)
• downfall of Numenor, Last Alliance of Elves and Men (apparently this is RoP, great choice)
• Bilbo's journey and ring-finding (Hobbit)
• War of the Ring (LotR)
• Fourth Age (anti-climactic. You know it has to be peaceful, so there isn't much tension, however much you think you want to watch Sam rule the Shire)

Downfall of Numenor + Last Alliance is the obvious choice, so I am pleased.

I suppose history is broken into ages for a reason. Each represents a distinct drama. Makes sense to step back to the Second Age, which precipitates LotR with some familiar names. Maybe RoP even condenses the entire Second Age... an understandable idea. Next I wouldn't mind seeing the First Age. I want to see Morgoth/Melkor, Earendil, Manwe, Luthien,... Also I wouldn't mind some more Third Age stuff, although then you're in hot water trying to redo Aragorn and the like. You're getting closer and closer to Jackson, so your task gets harder and harder, meaning fans get more and more sensitive.

I sadly but seriously can't wait for Nori to be permanently traumatized. That seems to be how these things go, and should go -- Frodo, Sansa, Harry Potter, Liesel in The Book Thief, all of it. The series can't really actualize without such loss of innocence. It's too bad it has to happen, but as an adult viewer, I need the innocent storylines to convert into fierce drama to stay interested.

Taking after Jackson: Nori's father looks like Merry... ancestor? Elrond and Galadriel look like their Jackson versions. Best of all... the guy on the shipping calling "Isildur" just like Hugo Weaving.

Obviously Halbrand is very Aragorn: insecure heir to a bloodline fallen from highest heights, needed to unite a cynical diaspora, also rugged.