The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power's fourth episode, 'The Great Wave,' was released on Friday, September 16, which means we are now halfway through the new Lord of the Rings series' first season (of a reported five), and it doesn’t look like things are getting much better when it comes to the reviews of Amazon’s latest high profile show.
Things have gotten so bad that The Rings of Power is comparable in low user ratings to the Disney+ series, She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law on not only movie and TV review site Rotten Tomatoes, but also Metacritic.
Consider it settled. Watch Episode 4 of #TheRingsOfPower now on Prime Video. pic.twitter.com/hDSIPSU55f
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) September 16, 2022
One would think this series would impress viewers a little more than She-Hulk considering Amazon’s final tab for the series will purportedly hit around a billion dollars. Ouch!
But not so much, Metacritic users are giving the series an unfavorable user score of 2.4 out of 10. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, the audience reviews are still hovering in the upper 30's (out of 100), which hasn't changed since the release of the first two episodes.
If you compare the numbers to She-Hulk, you will notice the two series have strikingly similar marks, high critic scores and low audience reviews.
The Disney+ series has been described as a "woke, feminist mess" by Newsbusters contributing writer Elise Ehrhard, and I couldn't agree more.
Now, if you were following the release of the series you may remember Amazon halted reviews to prevent trolling. According to the Hollywood Reporter, an Amazon source said that reviews were being held for 72 hours to "help weed out trolls and to ensure each review was legitimate."
Despite this effort to weed out the “trolls,” the show’s rating on Prime Video is at 3.3 stars out of 5, with thousands of viewers weighing in.
The Rings of Power even lost support from Forbes senior contributing writer Erik Kain, who covers entertainment and culture for the outlet. He penned an unfavorable review after the release of the fourth episode headlined, “The Rings of Power Has Inexplicably Terrible Writing.”
In it he explains why he thinks the series is too focused on "spectacle," while lacking not only substance but also good writing. His criticism was rather unexpected considering he admitted in his piece that he was impressed by the opening episodes.
Unfortunately, The Rings Of Power is written so poorly it defies even my worst fears. Oh yes, I was awed and impressed by the opening two episodes just like many others. But my how quickly a badly written TV series can wear out its welcome once the shimmer fades.
“All that glitters is not gold” is the old aphorism; it’s the one Tolkien flipped on its head for “The Riddle Of Strider”—all that is gold does not glitter.
But The Rings Of Power knows only how to glitter, and it’s certainly not gold. It knows how to shoot pretty slow-motion shots of elves on horses or orcs leaping through the trees. It gets the giant statues of ancient elven kings and shining cities just right. It has a sweeping score that’s lovely to listen to—but is, like the show’s melodrama, perhaps a little too incessant. This is a show of spectacle and it gets the spectacle mostly right.
His latest article didn’t go without ruffling some feathers. According to Kain, he received some negative feedback on his honest review of the show, which he posted on social media.
From a formalistic critical analysis point of view this commenter is a dumbass. pic.twitter.com/0K99sSp7Eh
— Erik 'daibo' Kain (@erikkain) September 19, 2022
It's funny. I've been accused of "hating" The Rings Of Power because I must hate "anything woke" despite arguing it's NOT woke. I have people mad at me for liking the show in the beginning, and people mad that I started liking it less as it went on. Everyone's a critic! ;) pic.twitter.com/PWNg3OxLBm
— Erik 'daibo' Kain (@erikkain) September 19, 2022
Some in the media and the "woke mob" have been labeling those with legitimate critiques about the series as "racists," including some of the hosts over at The View who went off on those who weren't gushing over the 'The Rings of Power' and other new shows with diverse casts.
CRITICS SLAM CASTING IN ‘LORD OF THE RINGS,’ ‘HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’: #TheView co-hosts react to criticism of the #TheRingsOfPower and #HouseoftheDragon series casting diverse characters. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/4XrGBJQspt
— The View (@TheView) September 6, 2022
You see, no one is allowed to have a negative opinion about the series because of Middle-earth’s new more diverse and gender-balanced characters - or at least that's what is seems like.
The problem with this idea is that it's intellectually dishonest. You're not by default an angry racist because you don't like the new series. Those who are going along with this notion clearly aren't listening to what viewers are complaining about in regards to the new Lord of the Rings series, which Kain perfectly describes in his article.
