My overall thoughts, as I have now caught up to Other Minds and Hands and am almost caught up on Rings of Power.
Corey and Maggie were both crazily prescient and seriously mistaken about how RoP would turn out. Their crazy prescience was in spotting in the trailers what was misdirection, what was fundamental, where the foci would be. But. Hoping that the red-sea dead-Elves shot would turn out to be the Kinslaying and show the metaphysical curse--and yet was a throwaway scene. Debating which of Gil-Galad's ancestries would be emphasized. Wondering which two or three cities of Numenor would be featured. RoP has skipped past all of these with cavalier coldness. I think early episodes of Other Minds and Hands would be watched now as a series of odd debates about details which didn't make a difference.
In retrospect, very little of this was do-able or feasible. Corey and Maggie were right that the story would require massive compression, especially for the non-loremasters. I think it has been hard to watch, as someone who has followed HoMe with Corey. Yet Corey and Maggie also focused on what they would want to be presented to get Tolkien's vision as a recognized expansion of the brief summaries in existence.
The series has turned out to be serviceable, and the greatest service Corey and Maggie have done is to explain what sacrifices are required. A lot of silly objections (no hobbits! Galadriel is super-wise! Elrond is super-wise! the Elves are content to fade!) have been turned away by Corey's lore and Maggie's wisdom. But overall the greatness, the foundation for optimism--that something mythic like the Kinslaying's metaphysical impact on the Elves could be captured--seems to be eluding us.
Corey and Maggie with their curiosity, explanation of how a series must work, and patience, forces me to appreciate what has been done and to wait, keep watching. We are a few hours done out of many, many hours of content, where the rewards so far have mostly been fairly petty, sometimes amusing, occasionally visually striking and impressive. But not metaphysically moving.
And yet Corey and Maggie persist. Overall I am disappointed, but not dismayed. I had almost nil expectation of the series, prior to my watching Other Minds and Hands, and their discussion raised it a lot. Now I am in a middle-ground, a bit sad, glad to see someone's take on an interesting Age, doubting that anyone could render the entire Second Age in a visually coherent fashion.
But Corey and Maggie have convinced me that, although it may not be the series we deserve, want, or need, it will be a contribution to the overall lore. So I will keep watching, and be impressed by all the efforts, even if much of it is misguided.
Mostly, to summarize, I am sinking a bit back down to the low expectations I had when I first heard of the series. But because of Corey and Maggie, not quite as far as I had feared, and I am MUCH more patient. And my respect for Corey and Maggie has skyrocketed. Thank you!
