The Rings of Power’s ‘Adar’ gets closer to the ideal Lord of the Rings show

polygon.com:

It’s fair to say the first two episodes of Amazon Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerleft me underwhelmed. The approach J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay took to adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s world in “A Shadow of the Past” and “Adrift” struck me as paradoxically over- and undercooked, with too many plot threads and too few new ideas. Where was the clearly defined quest set against a lived-in world brimming with unexplored new vistas that defined Tolkien’s own work? Waiting just around the corner in the Prime Video series’ third episode, “Adar,” as it turns out.

First and foremost, “Adar” is much more focused than either of its predecessors (especially the aptly named “Adrift”). Written by Jason Cahill and Justin Doble and directed by Wayne Che Yip, “Adar’’ zeroes in on Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), while also making room for new characters Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and Isildur (Maxim Baldry). While there are check-ins with Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh), however, this episode is more concerned with advancing the core “hunt for Sauron’’ narrative than it is with advancing every one of the show’s surfeit of subplots.

Putting the spotlight back on Galadriel and those in her immediate vicinity doesn’t just make for a tighter, more briskly paced hour of television — although it certainly does that. It also gives Yip, Cahill, and Doble space to broaden the scope of The Rings of Power’s vision of Middle-earth. Notably, “Adar’’ provides our first glimpse of Númenor on screen, and as depicted here, the island kingdom makes for a suitably impressive location. It’s reminiscent of Minas Tirith as described by Tolkien and later realized in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the