Rings Of Power Finale - The Final Insult 

By the way, if any asshole claiming to be me replies to your comments saying you've won an amazing prize or some similar nonsense, ignore and report them immediately. Its a scam, and its happening everywhere on RU-vid right now.

In Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Bean has about 25 minutes of screen time. In that time, Boromir is initially established as a dutiful servant of Gondor, a battle weary warrior fed up with the lords of the lands kept safe by his people, a doubter of Aragorn, and someone with honorable desires upon The Ring. He's dismissive, weathered, prickly, and even a bit defeatist when the scale of the task is laid before the group. He's then shown teaching Merri and Pippin to fight, through encouragement and light-hearted instruction. He's horrified when he accidentally hurts Pippin, because his intention is to teach not humiliate or discourage them. So he's absolutely joyous when the hobbits gang up, shrug it off, and tackle him in good humour. This tells us a lot about Boromir as a person without needing to lean on dialogue-heavy explanations. Heck, it isn't even the main focus of the scene, but it's there, happening nicely in the background, laying the groundwork for his and the hobbits' characters. It shows us, gently, that even though he's doubtful about their mission, Boromir takes the initiative and recognises where his party needs to level up, and does it without making them feel small. He builds bonds that he knows will make the group stronger. Bear this moment in mind when you consider Galadriel's scene in RoP, where she, as the superior swords person, is tasked with instructing the Numenorean recruits and what her actions tell us about her character. Anyway, Boromir falls deeper under the influence of the Ring, but the film also shows him standing his ground and being brave against the Moria hordes and at every turn when the group need him. When the Fellowship is fleeing the Balrog and the staircase is collapsing, he instinctively grabs Merri and Pippin and, without a word, he leaps them both to safety, again establishing his big brother relationship with them. It's such a small detail but it's so consistent as it quietly builds his bond with those hobbits in particular and it's especially interesting to see him do it after Legolas, and even Gandalf, have jumped alone. All shown to you through small details and interactions that involve very little dialogue. All action. All intent. All with purpose and meaning. After Gandalf falls, Boromir pleads with Aragorn for more time just to let the hobbits grieve. He's compassionate, emotional, and caring. He is miles away from the dismissive, prickly presence he was at the Council of Elrond. He's truly a part of this Fellowship now, and he has a bond with the hobbits that goes beyond duty. It shows Boromir, while a good leader, also maybe thinks with his heart when he should think with his head, whereas Aragorn is more pragmatic and, in a way, ruthless. Both display different sorts of strength, but the situation calls for one over the other. And while Boromir protests, he doesn't argue further once Aragorn has made his reasoning clear. THAT also tells us a lot about both men. Boromir is revealed to be an incredibly layered human being, one who is brave, loyal, caring, passionate and patriotic, but the burden of his father's failing rule and the pressure of protecting his people is crushing him. Haunting him. That is on full display at the Council, during his first temptation on the mountainside, and when he breaks down after Galadriel looks right into his soul and shakes him to his core. And it's that very thing, that incredibly noble desire to see darkness and ruin expelled from Gondor that is his undoing. That desire is the ring's way in. He finally falls to temptation and this one moment of weakness almost destroys him, but rather than wallow in his failings, he rallies. He does all he can do to repent, and rescues Merri and Pippin in a desperate attempt to regain who he was. And he is struck down. His first words to Aragorn while he lies dying are to alert him that the Uruks have Merri and Pippin. His second statement is his confession that he tried to take the ring. He is broken, dying, and guilt-ridden, but still trying to protect the hobbits and act with honor. Then before he dies, in his last breath, he accepts Aragorn as his king and makes sure Aragorn knows it. Because Boromir has only ever wanted one thing - the strength to defend his people. And now, he sees that strength might exist in Aragorn, and he knows saying the words will help make Aragorn a stronger leader going forward. He now has hope even in his darkest moment, when he began the story defeatist, bitter, and hopeless. Boromir does all he can until the end, despite his flaws and failures. He's no longer the dismissive and doubtful captain of Gondor, but a man who calls Aragorn his brother, his captain, and the king he trusts to bring glory back to his people. It's a breath-taking moment. Resonant. Earnest. Earned. They accomplish all that, that entire emotional journey, that rise, fall, and rise again for his character, in 25 minutes of screen time. Now look at RoP. Galadriel is exactly the same callous, single-minded, revenge-driven asshole at the end of the series as she was in ep1. Actually, no. She's worse. Because now, she has actually discovered who the enemy is and smoked out his intentions... and chooses to tell no one. All to protect her own reputation. All so she can maintain an air of authority and superiority over her peers, because if they knew the truth, her name would be mud, and she'd be nowhere near the decisions taken to forge the rings, how many there'd be, and who'd get to bear them. She shouldn't be like this. I don't think they meant for her to be like this. Her character writing feels shallow, rushed, and poorly thought out and now, there's a big disconnect between how the audiences feels about her and what the writers intended. She tells other characters to be humble, while she's brash, condescending, and arrogant. She tells others not to pursue vengeance when that's all she cares about pursuing. She talks about the importance of saving lives in the Southlands, but she's never shown saving a single person. She's shown threatening to torture and murder Adar's orcs if she doesn't get her way and she's shown walking away from the volcano blast when others are screaming around her, begging for help. Then the showrunners assert that if you don't find yourself liking her, or find yourself uninterested in her character, it's your fault. You're the problem. She's not like Boromir. Not written like him. Not developed like him. Not treated with the same care, thought, and humanity his character was treated with. She's a statue, standing still in spiteful, vengeful self-righteous self-service. Just like she was at the beginning of the series. Nine hours ago. With over THREE hours of screen time just for her where her character barely moves at all, and the actress is given nearly nothing to do in terms of range, humanity, or even basic heroism. This issue isn't unique to Galadriel. In fact, no characters in RoP have changed or grown or shown any depth at all throughout this first season. How could they? We know so little about most of them to begin with, never mind how they might have transformed or grown, that they come off as one-dimensional NPCs who exist to move the plot along, who make baffling decisions because the story has to happen, with no agency or impetus to their actions. Except maybe Durin, I'll give them Durin. He does seem to go through something of a journey with his father, Disa, and his place in the kingdom... and then his storyline is ignored in the finale. And then of course, there's the bloody bad guy. Sauron gets more development and "growth" than Galadriel, Elendil, or Isildur. That's... wow. Some of the actors are trying their hearts out and their natural talent and charm helps elevate the material, but the writing itself is a anchor around their necks. In a world and with characters created by JRR Tolkien, the characters are being failed at every turn, and so is the story. That's criminal. That's a fucking criminal excuse for storytelling when a prestige franchise is in your hands.

“Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made." - JRR Tolkien

The most important take from this video: "Characters are only as intelligent as the people writing them" - The Critical Drinker, 2022

Suddenly, The Hobbit trilogy looks like a masterpiece!

I love how they tried to make Galadriel "strong" but instead they ended up making her a complete idiot 😂

I can't believe that the guy we all predicted was Sauron before the show even aired, turned out to be Sauron. Truly a historic day for fiction and entertainment.

"The Lord of the Rings is a monument to the power of one man's imagination, while Rings of Power is a monument to corporate greed and hubris." Sums it up perfectly.

I love how just Bilbo's chainmail could have save the whole Elven race several times over.

"So focused on an audience that doesn't exist" - absolutely NAILED it with that remark.

"A character is only as smart as the person writing them." That one sentence alone explains so much.

but.....why do boats float ? yeah the moment i heard that line i went cross eyed and nearly became brain dead from the stunning and brave writing

"They've awoken their very own drunken Balrog." Very nice.

Actual Quote from Peter Jackson about making Lord of the Rings. “We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we were not going to put any of our politics, our own messages, or our own themes in these movies. What we were trying to do was to analyze what was important to Tolkien & to try to honor that. In a way we were trying to make this films for him, not ourselves” - Peter Jackson

The ROP writers turned out to be way more talented than we gave them credit. They managed to make the protagonists more unlikeable than Sauron. That takes skill.

The saddest part is thinking about how many potential new fans were turned off by this series and will never read Tolkien’s work because of it. 😢

Those 3 women were meant to be based on the 3 Witches from Macbeth. Now I am thinking this show is an intentional insult to Tolkien, because he hated Shakespeare, but he reserved a special hatred for Macbeth above probably any other Shakespeare play.

Aragorn is actually the lovechild of Sauron and Galadriel's doomed love affair. This sets up the epic scene in LOTR where Sauron utters the immortal words, "Aragorn, I am your father!"

The moment Sauron whispered in Galadriel's ear "I am a feminist" was so beautiful, I cried.

Plot point: Sauron's whole 'reveal' could have been outplayed if he'd just looked at the parchment and said something along the lines of: "Yeah, that was _a thousand years_ ago. That might seem like a long weekend to you, but it's over 25 generations of us mere mortals. Did you expect us to just remain leaderless for all of time just because that one last king couldn't find himself a queen and 10 minutes of private time in a bedchamber? No. One line of kings ended, so we founded a new one. It's a mortal thing, I guess I can understand it if your immortal mind can't really grapple with having to live with death as a _fact_ of life, not just an unfortunate occasional event, but that's how it goes for us 'lesser races'. Now, are we done here?"

I've not watched 1min of this show but the amount of entertainment it has brought me via these reviews is immense. I'm kinda very glad it was made for this reason ^ ^

This show actually has me rooting for Sauron.

I find it amazing that a huge amount of people like myself likely watched these videos and didn't even bother watching rings of power itself

Gandalf in the lore always looked like he did in Hobbit & Lotr, only changing when he became the white wizard. The 5 wizards specifically chose to appear in Middle Earth as older. Gandalf being younger here destroys the canon.

"So focused on an audience that doesn't exist" - Epic.

When Galadriel fought Thanos in Narnia and said "I am all the Jedi" I cried.

This show made me root for Sauron and all the other antagonists. Not in a "The best villains are the ones who talk sense" kind of way but rather a "I want all the characters to die horribly" sort of way.

The laughter that escaped my mouth every time he says "not-Sauron"...XD

The Show-runners were assembled and the youngest brought forth the Script of season one. The most brash among them stood up and proclaimed, “It is a gift. Let us use the Script to slay our critics. We can make season two, “Galadrielle, Attorney at Law.” “The Script cannot be used for good. It must be taken deep into Amazon and cast back into the void where returned packages end up. One of you, must do this. “ “One does not simply march into Amazon. It’s black gates are guarded by more than non-union labor. There is the great Bald Head that is ever watchful. It is a wasteland, riddled with time clocks and conveyers. The very air that you breathe is a demoralizing fume.” Nonetheless, nine of these were chosen for the task, a Fellowship of the Show-runners. Deep in a dark passage they paused. The young, altruistic Script bearer alerted the wisest of their party that something awful lurked in the darkness. “It is the Media. They were treated to the Script long before the rest. They both love and hate it as they worshipped it in solitude. Slowly, it destroyed their integrity. Their Precious.” Then a much greater danger arose. “What is this new devilry?” The wisest Showrunner exclaimed, “HOT D, fly you fools!” He struggled with the power of House of the Dragons, but fell into darkness. Resting in sadness, the bearer of the Script was consoled by a coworker. “This task has been appointed to you. If you do not find a way, then no one will. To be a show-runner at Amazon, is to be alone.” The brash Show-runner tried to take the Script, but realized his mistake and submitted a resume to Marvel. Finally, the Script bearer resolved to continue his quest alone. However, he was not totally alone. His most loyal companion was by his side, the Super Fan. “ I will never stop, just like my girl Galadriel!”

Props to Bezos and Amazon for caring about the planet. Now that Tolkien is spinning so fast in his grave, we can hook him up to a generator for cheap and renewable electricity!

It goes to show what an achievement it was for Peter Jackson to make high fantasy accessible to the masses.

All i can say is that to be given a chance to play with Tolkiens world and to fail this badly is like being given the Great Pyramid and use it to dry firehoses...

Your reviews are far better than the actual show--- it actually delivers a payoff for having to watch the writing, plotting, acting travesty. Sandman is one of the rare shows that delivers to the fans.

We all owe Drinker the utmost gratitude for subjecting himself to this filth so we didn't have to. Thank you, Drinker

"There's no nuance or layers to their personalities." Because this show has to reflect the world we live in today.

So glad I didn’t waste a single second on this show. Much happier I invested in this video instead. Thanks.

Celebrimbor is that guy at work who’s been there for ages and seems to possess all knowledge, until you find out he’s friends with the boss and has been faking it all along

This show is the embodiment of the words "My expectations were low, but holy shit..."

The ring forging scene almost killed me. They didn't even need to melt her dagger, and she gave it up immediately lmao. And they didn't even remove the steel blade! They could have just taken like 1 inch off the end of the butt and used that. They didn't need like 5 pounds of gold and silver to add a few grams of Mithril. And they just melted it all together, and somehow made 3 rings that are clearly made of different metals... They wasted like 99.98% of the total metal. And they call that forging. No songs of power, no spells, no chants, they literally just made rings and that's it. They clearly had enough mithril to just make three mithril rings lol. They didn't even consult a high school level jewelry shop teacher before making this....

When She-Hulk tore off Voldemort's head and fed it to Shelob, that was truly the moment I realized how strong and how woman she is.

The hobbit trilogy: Had some serious flaws, but had a very likable main character, scary villains, decent enough action, brought back some beloved characters and were respectful to them. Rings of power: had 2 positives in total, crazy unlikable main character, joke villains who are barely intimidating, horrible action choreography, and brought back beloved characters only to ruin them for modern politics.

When Galadriel told Sauron to “stop mansplaining,” I was moved to tears

When Guyladriel tells Daredevil “You have NOT seen what I have seen” & he’s like “Riiiggghhhht” it brought a tear to my eye

The horses are my favorite actors, because they don't know the abomination they are a part of, and just try their best.

This is a masterpiece of an insult. It's beautiful. This man sat for absolute hours, furiously crafting this 100% accurate summary of sins of these fools. While my knowledge of deeper lore of Tolkien is on the casual side and i didn't even catch quite a few of them... i understand completely. I am Polish and have been a fan of Sapkowski's work since i was about 10 i think? I believe these people used to be quietly executed untill maybe a few hundred years ago. Truly great video and thank you

Sauron was basically the only likable character in this story thanks to Amazon, he wanted to live a peaceful life and mend the damage he did as the Dark Lord but thanks to Galadriel constantly using him and then rejecting him; he’s going to go back to the old ways and try to conquer Middle Earth once more. Then again if he does manage to put the Harfoots on the endangered species list, he would have unironically done more good for that world than Galadriel did throughout the entire season.

Celebrimbor: Alloys? You mean a severely basic form of metallurgy that humans figured out during the Bronze Age? Not Sauron: Yeah. Celebrimbor: Never heard of it.

The part where vice-admiral Galadriel flew her ship at Lightspeed and took out all of the 1st Order ships!!! That was truly inspirational.

when no longer technic is the porblem but, creativity and "coming up with a GOOD story"

When Guyladrrrrriäl refused to be mansplained and rejected the white guy because he hadn't checked his privilege I got literal goosebumps

Let's not forget this is the culmination of Sauron randomly encountering Galadriel in the middle of an ocean on a raft.

I can feel the anger over this sh!tshow resonating through my house even while playing this video on a whisper volume level. Total insult to the greatest trilogy ever made

This is nothing more than a slap in the face to J.R.R. Tolkien and his great work.

My second favorite part is when a several hundred years’ mission to find and murder Sauron ends in a blocked back handed knife thrust, a dream sequence, and almost drowning in the nearby creek. A total master class in writing.

I loved how Celebrimbor, the master elven craftsman who's lived for thousands of years and is famous to all races in Middle Earth has to be taught the concept of alloys.

Lol your videos always nail it spot on, and at the same time you leave me in stitches laughing. Thank you! 😂

This show was so stunning and brave I only got three episodes in before giving up

As a person who didn't see a second of this show I can pretend it doesn't exist.

One of the weird parts that nobody talks about in the finale was the fact that Sauron took the form of Galadriel’s brother in an attempt to seduce her. Her brother. Not say, HER (missing) HUSBAND. The fact that they think a single woman would be easier to seduce with “brotherly love” over seeing her presumed dead husband tells me a lot about these people.

6:29-6:53 🤣That was so funny, I just HAD to pause this video to laugh at that nonsense for a full minute. Thank you for making your review of The Rings of Power miles more amusing to watch than The Rings of Power itself. December 9, 2022, 8:40pm

The sunrise call-out was hilarious. Well done.

It was so inspirational and brave when Galadriel said ''Welcome to Jurassic park'', and then flew off on her broomstick and won the Triwizard cup

I swear if the drinkers tombstone doesn’t begin with “ya know” and end with “go away now”…a tragedy has occurred.

The best thing that came out of this billion dollar production was your reviews.

The moment where Sauron admitted he was transexual and that he only wanted to make the ring to better be himself a 100% was what I loved the most:) Cheers everyone

I really like how this show reflects the world we live in today.

Tolkien: Galadriel was not deceived by Sauron. RoP: Galadriel was deceived by Sauron. “We’Ve BeEn TrUe To ThE sPiRiT oF tOlKiEn”

That is not a ring. That is a plot hole.

Can't help but noticed that Isildur's sister Eärien is stacked AF. 😂

I don't hate myself enough to give this show one second of my time.

Funny how the dark lord Sauron, adar and the orcs are the most relatable and likable characters of the show. It's kinda impressive in a way.

This isn't tarnishing Tolkiens legacy, this is fan fiction that a billionaire paid far far too much to see made into film.

My favorite part by far was near the end when the Rings are finished and Galayyydrielll picks up the Ring and says "These will be perfect.... As soon as they fit a woman", and Celebrimboring turns to Howbland and says "YOU HEARD THE BROAD MAKE IT SMALLER!" 😆😆

I was in tears when Halbrand said "It's Saurin' time!" to Guyladriel.

I'm a huge Tolkien fan. That being said, I can proudly say I've never watched a single episode of this. Thank you Drinker for your insight. EDIT Aw, it seems I've triggered a few snowflakes. 😂😂

The fact that Galadriel, Celebrimbor, Gil-Galad, Elrond and NO ONE in Numenor knew that there hadn’t been a king in the Southlands for 1000 years other than the servant of Morgoth Sauron, and then embalking on a campaign to put a mysterious dude who they know lies and has links to Sauron back in charge of the Southlands. Then once learning he was Sauron, after he directly influenced a major decision, they decide that he was actually onto something and then just let Sauron go back to the Southlands. Make it make sense, because I can’t get my head around it.

Before watching this series, I did not think that Sauron would show up at all in season 1 because I was told Sauron got no screen time in all of cinema except a few minutes in Shadow of War and some seconds in the trilogy and in the prologue for this show. As a result, I never bothered to look for or predict what character might be Sauron.

how they came up with a character that's isildur's sister and they didn't call her isisdur is beyond me.

I like how the show runners actually made Sauron the good guy corrupted by Galadriel to be bad. Exactly how Tolkien intended it to be.

Sad fact: This got an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. Welp, ya know what Tolkien said: "But the hearts of men are easily corrupted"

WHREEEEEERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OUR LIVES!?!?!? i cant wait to show this channel to my boyfriend!!!! i swear Somebody put a mic inside our heads and recorded our convos! YOU SIR ARE MY HERO! 👏🔥👏🔥

Even Adam Does Movies, who was incredibly glowing and open about ROP, turned on this series by the end. If that doesn't say how bad they messed up, I don't know what will.

The fact they had the balls to made an isildur fake death plot when everyone knews that some of these characters had plot armor is baffling.

Having almost finished my adventure into indie filmmaking, I support your efforts. It is very daunting to put anything together with little or no resource💸

My favorite moment is when Sauron says: "it's ringing time" and then crawls out of the TV.

For anyone who hasn't checked yet, Drinker crushed his initial fundraising goal like he crushed the Rings of Power. On to his stretch goals! EDIT: And the amount has tripled overnight!

You hit the nail on the head mate and good luck with your short film looking forward to watching it

This is one of my real favorite of your criticisms, it is spot on, thank you.

That one scene where Sauron said "If you liked it, you should've put a ring on it" and broke into song & dance was truly an emotional scene I cried.

"Grit our teeth and push this turd out!" Words to live by. Thank you Drinker!

Well I thought about watching this series but I was too scared it would hurt my image of the original LOTR, which I love. Happy with my decision I'd say

Superbly done vid! Well said! ♥ Great commentary! Glad yo see there's still some ppl that have not lost the ability to distinguish good from evil.Thanks for saying it as it is, Thanks for respecting those beloved original IPs and great works that are systematically vandalized... thanks for standing for Justice!

One more part of established lore that the rings of power writers completly ignored is this: In the source material sauron did approach the elves of eregion under the name of "Annatar" which roughly translates to "Master of gifts" and he brought many gifts. Especially gifts of knowledge. Celebrimbor at the time was the master of goldsmiths and he was esepcially thirsty for knowledge and skill seeking to rival even his grandfather Feanor in his craft. Feanor as a sidenote was maybe the most gifted elve in the entire history of the world, the creator of both the Palantiri and the silmarill. Sauron lived in eregion for almost 300 years before he approached them about forging the rings of power. And when he did he did as a respected teacher, a skilled craftsman and a benefactor to the elves of eregion. And so the elves forged the rings of power under saurons instructions and with his help. However, the three rings of the elves were forged by Celebrimbor alone and while sauron knew of their existance, he never even saw them once and that's how they were kept pure of Saurons influence.

I still can't get over the master smith elf who's unaware of alloys.

good luck with rogue elements. seem to always be on the same page when it comes to film/show reviews, and come from the same neck of the woods, so excited to see what you produce. also happy to help if you ever need it.

I got Amazon Prime just for this show. Laughed, cried, got angry and canceled it 😅

I love how every character prediction you made in passing way back during episode 2 all came true.

“Broadcasting good vibes to all of elfdom” literally folded me in half

It used to be you made a movie because you had a great story to tell. Now its "we need a movie made, someone come up with a story, and quick."

Love your commentary!🥰