Charlie Vickers, who plays Halbrand, and Morfydd Clark, who plays Galadriel on Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, revealed their favorite episodes in the ongoing epic fantasy series.
While Clark told Collider she favored the first episode, Vickers revealed his favorite is "the last episode, the eighth episode." He added, "I'm not going to say why, because I'm going to leave a few details unexplored." The interview noted many of the Rings of Power cast members expressed a similar preference for the show's later episodes, specifically Episodes 6 and 7, which have not yet aired.
The long-awaited show's premiere managed to impress critics, but struggled with regular audiences, according to recent reports. Following the two-episode premiere, The Rings of Power currently has a low 38 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a critic score of 83 percent. It should be noted there have been concerns over review bombing.
To combat the practice, Amazon recently announced a new policy where reviews of the show will be held for 72 hours to ensure that they are not intentionally negative. Despite the initial negative response from audiences, the first few episodes of The Rings of Power have seen record-breaking viewership numbers. During its first 24 hours, the first two episodes of the show earned a whopping 25 million global viewers, making it the most watched series premiere on Prime Video ever.
Some criticisms of the first few episodes of The Rings of Power seemingly target the depiction of Galadriel the Elf, played by Morfydd Clark, and the apparent deviation from J.R.R. Tolkien's books. The show portrays her as physical and action-heavy. Clark defended the choice, explaining, "I don't think you get to that level of wisdom without going through things. She actually speaks about [how] with wisdom, there is a loss of innocence... So it was thinking of what innocence she lost during this time."
Clark also expressed surprise by the way Galadriel was written in the show. "I had no idea about the First and Second Age," she admitted, adding, "I think it's really interesting that she is so conflicted and going through so much because I feel the people in my life who ended up the most kind of chill and serene as Galadriel... have usually been through a lot."
The first two episodes of The Rings of Power are available to stream on Amazon Prime. New episodes premiere every Thursday.
Source: Collider