Hi , this was a nice calm discussion to listen to. I agree with most of what was said. The actors were definitely the highlight, all the leads were fantastic and even most of the extras were great. The aesthetics, costume and camera work for action sequences (particularly Isildur's) were really well done. The writing and direction were a big let down. I also agree that the show in season two feels more sexist and racist. With the queen regent becoming this helpless demurely suffering figure; getting publicly slapped by a random woman and then comforting her (like what?), then the onslaught of Pharazon outing her, then the trial with the serpent. Its textbook misogyny in fantasy where men who tend to think depicting strong women means they suffer stoically and silently under constant humiliation or prosecution. And as you said, it feels a little like female characters are being pushed out of the way for white male leads. There is a decided lack of diverse elves, the only second black elf I remember seeing outside of Arondir is in the expedition party with Galadriel and Elrond, and the black guy dies first basically immediately. We also have one Asian woman as an elf archer, who also dies. I just googled the cast now and noticed that most non-white actors seem to play half-foots. I dont have much hope for season 3 I'm afraid.
Hi , this was a nice calm discussion to listen to. I agree with most of what was said. The actors were definitely the highlight, all the leads were fantastic and even most of the extras were great. The aesthetics, costume and camera work for action sequences (particularly Isildur's) were really well done.
The writing and direction were a big let down. I also agree that the show in season two feels more sexist and racist. With the queen regent becoming this helpless demurely suffering figure; getting publicly slapped by a random woman and then comforting her (like what?), then the onslaught of Pharazon outing her, then the trial with the serpent. Its textbook misogyny in fantasy where men who tend to think depicting strong women means they suffer stoically and silently under constant humiliation or prosecution. And as you said, it feels a little like female characters are being pushed out of the way for white male leads.
There is a decided lack of diverse elves, the only second black elf I remember seeing outside of Arondir is in the expedition party with Galadriel and Elrond, and the black guy dies first basically immediately. We also have one Asian woman as an elf archer, who also dies. I just googled the cast now and noticed that most non-white actors seem to play half-foots.
I dont have much hope for season 3 I'm afraid.
Its CRAP. That's all you need to know.