Okay, part 2 now. This was from the most recent version as it had the interval in the middle.
I’ve watched series 1 a few times since it came out but I’d not rewatched series 2 since it released despite thinking it was mostly improved so I was less familiar with the overall structure. I do recall most of the things that were cut (some for the better like the whole Elrond in Adaar’s shack, some for the neutral like the Troll or Sauron’s return).
Overall, the biggest takeaway from this film edit is it’s incredibly tense. It is a constantly building feeling of doom that makes the culmination in Eregion feel earnt and really hinges on the Annatar/Kelly B relationship which feels so much more satisfying to see uninterrupted over at least 2 hours without wasting time on Númenórean politics or proto-Hobbits.
The focus on the rings and the constant use of the RoP ring theme works surprisingly well considering the whole beginning was lifted from series 1 but (barring a few issues) flows into the series 2 material well.
The Khazad-dûm stuff works really well as well with only vague hints of the Balrog being present and not actually awakening until Annatar shows up then not actually bothering with Dwarves until Durin starts getting closer. Nothing, unfortunately, can be done about how quickly the ring takes over Durin (despite that being the literal opposite of how Dwarves work) but I could possibly be generous and attribute that to Sauron’s physical presence in Khazad-dûm and really close in Ost-in-Edhil. I assume the show’s eventual plan is to have the Balrog go back to sleep even deeper and the Dwarves to start mining the Mithril in the third age once they’ve all forgotten about it and their rings to work slower after the Battle of the Last Alliance.
The issues I thought the edit still had though were:
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Firstly, though we do start off in the Númenórean camp after the eruption, it might have been nice to show a few shots of them as it looks a bit like Galadriel rescued only Theo then ran off. I don’t think any speaking parts are needed, just something to show they mostly survived.
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Secondly there’s some timeline issues mostly from the original. I don’t quite think the week of travel between Eregion and Lindon is enough time to build a new forge, I would probably just let that be intuited as a different workshop lower down the tower. The next is the constantly changing times of day across the siege of Eregion. I recall that being a massive issue with the show as it was as it looks like they couldn’t decide how long the siege was supposed to be lasting for and how much filler to add. I don’t know if it’s possible to grade the scenes differently.
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Lastly, Elrond still says ‘look to the north’ when referencing the Dwarves. It’s not massively clear where Ost-in-Edhil specifically is as it’s built into a mountain with another range to the west (which don’t appear on the maps) but it is at the least west of Khazad-dûm and the sun rises in the east, neither sunrise nor Dwarves are coming from the north.
Overall I think this was better than the first film even, and again, the only way I’ll watch the show now. Hopefully there’s a nice way of integrating series 2’s Númenórean material with series 3 when it’s out. But above all, thank you for removing the intensely uncomfortable moment between Elrond and the woman who is older than than the Sun, the cousin of his great-grandfather, and his future mother-in-law.
