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The Rings of Power Ep 1&2
38 Plays1 month ago
The Rings of Power Season 2 is here and we decided to take a little side quest over to Middle Earth to check it out. We're talking clothes, lore, and whether Sauron was a black tar venom monster for 1000 years? Our chat on Episode 3 will be coming out in a couple days. Thanks for tuning in!
Music: Cassette Deck by Basketcase
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm Melinda. I'm Ariel. This is Hot Set, the movie podcast about costume design.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hi, welcome back. We are on our own little sub-adventure right now. We even have a cool nifty name for this little mini-series that we're working on. We are going to be covering Rings of Power Season 2. And what are we calling ourselves for this mini-series?
00:00:37
Speaker
seriously We are calling ourselves aware and back again and on of ah billlbo back in of who doesn't exist yet. Nope, but he is a glint in our eyes. ah We know that he's coming.
00:00:55
Speaker
So you are a little bit newer to the Rings of Power world. You've seen the Lord of the Rings movies and the Hobbit, right? Correct. Although, have I seen the fifth Hobbit or the, I'm sorry, the third Hobbit movie? I don't remember. And I think that says everything you need to know about that movie. But yes, I have definitely seen all Lord of the Rings movies. I saw them in the theater when they came out.
00:01:21
Speaker
I know I saw at least the first two Hobbit movies in the theater when they were released, ah but I had not seen Rings of Power until we decided to do this side quest. Yes, and then you had to binge.
00:01:37
Speaker
I sure did, which is fine. i I like binging shows. So yeah, I watched season one in the last like 10 days, I would say. Nice. ah one like fit What was your general general like opinion of this new part of the world being unveiled?
00:01:54
Speaker
I've never read um The Cimarillion or any of the more like obscure Tolkien writing, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It made a lot of sense to me that some of the elf characters that we know from Lord of the Rings would be in the show because they are so very old and have been alive for so long. So that made sense to me. I liked the show. It definitely felt like a different pace than the movies because they have obviously a lot more time to cover stories so that the pacing can be like a little bit more chill, a little bit more atmospheric immersion in the world. I didn't, I think because
00:02:38
Speaker
it's structured where we're like following more of an ensemble. There wasn't quite like that same hook of like, here's our hero, here's our protagonist, here's Elisha Wood and his giant blue eyes to like pull you in immediately. So I like kind of found myself like getting invested in the characters a little slower, but I have been enjoying the show, so.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, but you watched it ah when it first came out, right? I did. And I i enjoyed them. I am also, you know, were the same generation. And so I remember when the movies came out and they were a big deal amongst me and my friends.
00:03:19
Speaker
We saw them every year when they came out around Christmas multiple times. And then when they came out on DVD, we had the extended versions so that we could watch the appendices, which have all the behind the scenes stuff. So I know too many details. Thank you, Weta Workshop. And so Lord of the Rings was like a big, big, big deal in my.
00:03:39
Speaker
villain origin story. And um I also haven't read the Silmarillion. I haven't actually read the full Lord of the Rings books either. I had a really like fancy leather bound copy that I would break out so I could piss off my math teacher in high school. but important like I'm a big, absolutely canon event. like um i I'm a big fantasy reader, I'm a big sci-fi reader, but I was a teenager and for some reason the pacing of Tolkien's writing I could not focus on.
00:04:16
Speaker
So I was reading more like Game of Thrones I think at the time because the policing was slightly different. Super deep on like the political information, all that kind of stuff and the intrigue. But Tolkien, I just like, I remember getting as far as Strider and that was very early early in the fellowship. Very early.
00:04:33
Speaker
and so like The Silmarillion, I think I owned, and then I tried reading it, but my attention span at the time just didn't give me enough. I couldn't invest in it, but I have always loved the world-building of Tolkien, and I loved the the curation by Peter Jackson and all of those people with Weta who did the original series movies.
00:04:59
Speaker
And so like the illustrators who helped with the design, Alan Lee, who helped with the design of the um elves and John Howe, who helped with the design of the orcs and the world of Sauron and Mordor. I really love their work also independently. And so it's really nice to see how those things still influence um some design. And I when watching the first season of Rings of Power was a little bit indignant. I'm with you. Amazon have a lot of problems. like If you don't have problems with Amazon, I think you have your eyes very seriously closed.
00:05:37
Speaker
oh yeah but I remember before we were getting these massive scale, seriously done fantastical epics. And yeah I'm very happy to have access to these amazing movies. Do you remember Dungeons and Dragons, the first movie that came out in 2000?
00:06:00
Speaker
like or like 1999 with Jeremy Irons. like That is where we were. We never see it. But that's where we were before fellowship came out. Fantasy was always this like super campy and like there's a place for campy stuff. I love it. I love the 80s fantasy, 70s fantasy. like There are really serious classics in there.
00:06:25
Speaker
But until we got the Fellowship of the Ring, we did not get, like, Sirius invested in fantasy. And so when people complain and they really complained about Rings of Power... Oh, they did. ...they still are really complaining. Oh, my God, they complained. And, like, some people have very legitimate complaints, sure. But I just found myself not really coming at it with that point of view. So I do remember when the first season came out that people were really really jumping on the costumes and so when I watched it I was trying to keep an eye out for like what are people talking about and I
00:07:02
Speaker
did not come into it expecting it to be the same as the Peter Jackson films because yeah they are completely separate. They're just separate. They're also thousands of years before, if you will. But like they're being designed by different people, so there's a different set of design tastes.
00:07:22
Speaker
and They have different goals. And yeah, they're trying to do they're not trying to do a reboot of Lord of the Rings. They're doing something else. Right. So I did not come into it with it has to be exactly the same. And I think that there are people who are fans of the Tolkien universe who really grip on like with white knuckles and go, if it does not meet my level of expectations, me, the person who did not design this or work on it, then they get really, really upset about it.
00:07:52
Speaker
And that's okay. Be up, study spaghetti about whatever you want. But I'm not going to take that on because I do think that people did a lot of good work. And I do see where some of the critique is legit and that will come up in this. But I just enjoy it. I get my little fantastical epic and I'm happy about it.
00:08:11
Speaker
so yeah I think best place to be kind of emotionally with properties like this is able to enjoy it not this you know somewhere in between the hater like if it's not exactly what I need it to be in my heart of hearts, then I don't like it, and 100 percent like slavish devotion to the property. like I think it's important to have a little flexibility within yourself to just take it in and obviously observe it and and see what it is. and Obviously, you can have we like we all have opinions about it. But to to have a just like an open mind, I think, is good without having to be like one polar opposite.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, and I also, not being a Tolkien purist, kind of love it when some Tolkien purists get really shitty about like rings of power, not really fitting into where they want it because it's like, oh, is it because there are people of color in the world now?
00:09:14
Speaker
Oh, that's so hard for you. Suck it because they're beautiful. And I love looking at them. I love looking at all of these people who have been cast. Everyone is like, it's a beautiful cast. Yeah. And when I say beautiful, I don't necessarily mean like, Oh my God, these are all like, you know, models and sister children. It's just like, no no, it's a range of people. And I like that.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, the idea that that would be a problem that somebody would have with the show, like, please don't listen to this if you fall in that category of people. Like, this is not... Yeah, if you have a problem about hair texture and skin color, you can.
00:09:59
Speaker
ah john on gay people walk in, take a very long walk off a very short pier and goodbye. I hope there are a few sharks down there because this is not the podcast for you. And that said, thank you.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah, let's let's jump in. on Let's ah dive in. Like, let's let's stay off off the bat that I'm sure we're going to spoil things about the show. So if you haven't watched it and you care about that, don't listen to this until you have watched it. Just a little FYI. I mean, we're recording this the day after the note. Well, the technically the day of the premiere, I think everything showed up like at midnight.
00:10:40
Speaker
But it's yeah, it's very soon. So if you haven't watched it and you think that we're not going to s spoil it, ah you're wrong. So. Yes. And today we're covering episodes one and two. We will be covering episode three soon, but that will also like give you a little bit more time and space to see episode three. But we're going to be combining our reactions to one and two today.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yes, and I have the absolute shortest summaries that you could possibly imagine um because these are the ones that are literally listed on IMDB, and I'm sure they're on there with the knowledge that the this show has literally just come out. So um maybe I'll start by just reading the summary for episode one, and we can talk about that a little bit before we move on. and So the summary for episode one.
00:11:31
Speaker
is as follows. Sauron bargains with Adar. The stranger and Norrie venture into new lands. The three elven rings face judgment. There you go. It's like you watch it. Nailed it. Perfect. And now we can talk about how everybody was dressed.
00:11:55
Speaker
yes So I was telling Melinda before we pressed record that my notes look like the outline to a paper. That's because the only way I could kind of organize my thoughts was to go basically location by location, which is how the show is edited, right? Like you're going to this group over here, this group over here, this group over here. And I had to do a little bit of Googling on a couple of the places because I did not know where we were at the beginning of episode one. And if it said it on screen, I blinked.
00:12:25
Speaker
I missed it twice because I watched episode one twice. ah The first time I missed it because I fell asleep. Cause it was very early this morning. It was on my phone. I do also want to say that, uh, I don't know if it was just me, but I was hit with a little bit of the game of thrones final season with a lot of darkness where it was hard. Okay. It was okay. So I know that it was like, first it was on my phone and I really put up the brightness on my phone, but it was still really dark and it was hard to see stuff. So when I watched it again on the TV, I watched it.
00:13:00
Speaker
where I changed the picture mode so it wasn't just the brightness it was like on vivid setting and all of a sudden all these details popped out and I was like oh like I had to I had to go through a few different settings to get it just right so that I could see clearly in some of the dark scenes and some of the night scenes still couldn't see super clearly but like when we were in Mordor I was able to see better but I definitely felt felt very like, what is this? Game of Thrones? What are we trying to do? and I am begging Hollywood to hire lighting designers. like i am I am begging you. I am so tired of not being able to see anything. I just want it to be bumped up.
00:13:43
Speaker
a little bit. Like I understand and we all understand it's supposed to be dark. it's Like for instance, episode one, we come up on forward with I believe is what it's called 1000 years before the story. So this is where Sauron is wearing a different face than we've seen in any of the show.
00:14:02
Speaker
i was like so I was like about to google if they recast this actor for like i was so confused it wasn't until he like turned into his weird like the black bar and one body yeah. I was like, okay, it took me a minute to figure out where we were. ah but Yeah, and so I i had to go Google while I was doing that because I was like, we are somewhere on the map that I don't know. Okay, so I already told you this, but my first note is might as well just call the season, the bitch is back.
00:14:36
Speaker
because I was like, Ooh, here she is. And she is pre-Howl brand. What I loved about this like introductory scene was the et tu brute of it all. Like Sauron is totally, like really recall like calls to mind a Roman um Emperor like the red the deep crimson he stands out from all that works from Adar like all of them are in furs and leathers and blacks and just really dark colors and they have a lot of silver. I don't think any of them are wearing gold. He's the only one who has gold on him.
00:15:14
Speaker
And we're going to, as we usually do in our regular season, probably hop back and forth with different things because some things are going to refer to the others. Please just join us as we chaotically hop around. That occurred to me because there are some other costumes on two other people that call to mind this costume that Sauron is wearing right now. And I just really noted that and enjoyed it.
00:15:37
Speaker
But I just like love that the crown of Sauron is so brutal and so very John Howe in design where it's just like this just perfect murder weapon. so when he gets stabbed yeah like The purpose of it became so clear immediately because like my first note was literally like, okay, we have the most evil crown I've ever seen. And then I was like, do people think like,
00:16:02
Speaker
I love the idea of designing villains because it's like you have to ask yourself like, does this person know that they are evil? And the way that that becomes part of it. Yeah. And and that Sauron feels so showmany because of this set of robes, the gold, the tassel.
00:16:24
Speaker
situation that's like on his sides and like the the blonde hair that's like just so. All of these things you can tell that he holds himself apart from all of the orcs and everything. And even though he covets this crown, what I enjoy is that he does not look like he belongs to that crown yet, which is interesting because it's so Sauron, but the orcs and Adar look like they are from the same world that that crown is. So it's kind of it fitting that Sauron is um assassinated and later later he will come back and he will be like ready for that crown. It's a really interesting thing. I just really, really liked that. I also was like, did it take Sauron a millennia to roll down that mountain? Because that assassination was a thousand years before Rings of Power where we're at. And it like it took him forever to roll down. And he he like lands and eats the woman and steals her clothes. In her little covered wagon!
00:17:28
Speaker
When you're a little cover wagons, just she wasn't worried about everybody. This horrible, venom, black car, a monster just minding her own business. And then he ate her and Hal Brand walks out with like clean, fresh hair with little curls and he's I feel like.
00:17:44
Speaker
He didn't take all of her clothing. She's wearing just like, you know, basically but peasant dress, like probably a skirt and like, you know, different layers. Very rough. Yeah. um Very rough. And like the top is like a rough spun like cape with some furs. But he emerges just wearing, but from what we can see, the cape and the furs. He doesn't even put on like shoes because their feet are presumably differently sized. And so he like walks.
00:18:12
Speaker
and just walks in this, like, barely covered. And he almost looks like a monk, like, in the solitude that we see him in, so it's yeah it's kind of like he's... He was giving you a pilgrim. Yeah, and it's like he has spent some time as this, like, tar venom monster, and then he's, like, in the flesh again, and it's, like, at the beginning of season... Well, through season one, we find out that he's basically been beaten down and is given up, and it's Galadriel who gives him the, uh...
00:18:40
Speaker
pep talk. You can be whatever you want to be, girl. where she says And he's like, you know what, you're right. So this is like him starting this like monastic journey. And it really represents that like it's just bare necessity, but it also feels like mental bare necessity.
00:18:59
Speaker
There is a moment in episode two that I was just like, I literally wrote in my notes, like, is Dara on Jesus? I feel like that is the visual. Oh, we'll get there.
00:19:10
Speaker
because like like you know were talking about oh it's It's so fascinating because Tolkien was a very religious man and yet did the thing where he said, there's like a quote and I'm going to quote it wrong as per usual. But basically people were like, is this just like an allegory, you know, or like a giant metaphor for, you know,
00:19:29
Speaker
ah Christian religion and he was like, no. Yeah. I am a Christian person, and so my beliefs probably trickle through, and you'll see that, but it's not meant to be an allegory. And I believe that's what he said, and don't come after me because I don't care. um That's what I'm going to hold onto. If you want like a pure Christian allegory, like please go read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. like Exactly. like C.S. Lewis yeah did the opposite. And so C.S. Lewis was out and loud, and what's funny is that I grew up Catholic Church in a very small community. And the Narnia series was my favorite and I literally did not know it was a religious allegory until I was like 15. And my mom was like, you're dumb. And I was like, I really am though. Oh my God, I just took it at face value. And so I love it for what I took it for.
00:20:17
Speaker
But now I'm like, oh, dang, it was loud. But with with this, I feel like you can really draw some parallels to some things and it's like real loud because it's like, you know, Sauron is like in the Christian faith, like the the morning star, if you will. right yeah yeah you can You can really see that idea coming through a lot in some of the visuals through the show.
00:20:41
Speaker
So Sauron is- You should pick up the pace, I am. Yes, we should. So we moved to the south road. Halbrand Sauron meets up with the Southerlings. We're like looking back, seeing how he started to get to the place where he met Galadriel. He meets the Southerlings. His story is that he meets them, then he joins them at sea because this one man convinces him like, come with us, like have a new beginning. He was giving me like pastor vibes too. He was. It was very much like become clean.
00:21:11
Speaker
be born again like yeah kind of thing. So he- He's a righteous path kind of messaging. Oh, yeah. And he has he has like gathered new clothing in between eating the woman in the covered wagon and meeting the Southerlings, the South folk.
00:21:27
Speaker
And um sure he the the thing that he's wearing, the shirt that he's wearing, essentially the tunic, he will continue to wear ah throughout like these flashbacks. yeah And what I love about them to kind of like jump back and forth, as I said, is that there's beating.
00:21:43
Speaker
on it at the center front and at his like shoulder caps and at the top of the sleeves. and When he is being kind of like beaten in Mordor, when he gets captured later on in the episode, yeah there's a close-up of him laying down, kind of recovering from one of his beatings. and You can see the beads. They kind of look like freshwater pearls.
00:22:05
Speaker
that are like a dark blue like blue gray kind of situation and talk about bouncing back and forth. Galadriel I think has very similar beads and I was like ooh two things that I love seeing there. One connecting Galadriel and Sauron like this I love but also freshwater pearls if they were Because he was basically born again at sea. That's where Galadriel, for sure, gave him that pep talk. And that's where he was like, you know what? I am going to keep trying to take over Middle Earth. Thank you so much. I feel good about this now. So it's like, i like if they were freshwater pearls, I really love that. And if not, then I just love the beating because it brings him out of the darkness and it kind of makes him feel at home in the dark. And I love that. There's so much gorgeous beating in the show, just like. oh I love it. and I wish we could see some more up close. It's everywhere. and like these These South folk, before we move on from them, they're wearing like movable dark clothing that's made up of light layers and furs to protect them from the wind and exposure because they're on the road. They're escaping, but they're not like in an icy climate. they're just It's very feudal England. like I saw a lira pipe.
00:23:17
Speaker
someone. Did you really? I did. So it's like when Sauron is talking to that like pastoral man, there's somebody that walks by like a few hoods walk by and there's just a lyric pipe and I was like, hello, we are in feudal England after. That's a type of hat for people. It is. It's a hood that yeah can have like a shoulder portion and then the hood has this very, very narrow long tail And this one only goes I feel to like the shoulder blades but they can go very very long but if you wanna look it up you should cuz they are pretty hilarious. And if you want to see one good renaissance go Renaissance Go to the Renaissance Fair. Wear one. Wear it every day. um So now we go to the road to Linden slash Linden where Galadriel is chasing
00:24:01
Speaker
Elrond. oh and but just There's nothing more fantasy to me than like the flowing cape on horseback like going through the wood. like That is like the most fantasy coded image, I think, maybe like ever. And I just like loved it. It's incredible. And so like the elves, we see them in men in quite a few little iterations of outfits like Gil Galad, the High King, we see him with a few different outfits, but they're all in the same color palette, which are his autumnal golds.
00:24:37
Speaker
illogical days pretty much in the same colors I think like she's in green and that like very and blue green almost it's like it was kind of hard to tell because in certain lighting conditions it starts to turn a little bit like teal but it was that yeah that very like deep deep green and a lot of the elves are in that color palette with her. Yeah, Elrond as well is like really unified with that. And so I think in order to speed up our time, we can kind of just like cover the elves if we will. Yeah, let's talk about the elves. And so um like Galadriel is chasing Elrond down, but like, so we get to see, I bring that up specifically because we get to see her cloak, like, and we see the like the the gold painted leaves up the back.
00:25:21
Speaker
And I realized that I was kind of having a feeling about it that I had about the the gold dress and Beauty and the Beast because but less rude because When you're looking at her face on, it's a very, there's like no texture to it. It's a very solid fabric. That's very shiny. And so it doesn't feel like it doesn't, it doesn't make me go, Ooh, I want to touch it. And so having that, that paint or that in whatever it is at the back, the finishing yeah like emboxsing or something, I don't know.
00:25:52
Speaker
Yeah, whatever it is, it's like I want that to be present from the front somewhere, like at the yeah caps of the sleeves or or at the collar, you know, like just a little bit more. And she has this the little, the little leaf clap class breaks at the same cloak. Okay. Yeah, I think you're right. It's very green.
00:26:11
Speaker
It's very green and so it's very st solid because we see Gil Galad and Elrond has like tricked her and Elrond is wearing this cloak that looks almost like it could have been like a blanket or yeah like a rug that was like turned wrong side out and like cut to sit a certain way and like draped on him.
00:26:31
Speaker
It feels woven, it feels textured, it feels like you see, you get a shot from the back. It's really beautiful. And so even though we don't see all the layers he's wearing, it really, because it has so much depth in how it's draped, it really is like eye-catching. And Gil Galad, woo!
00:26:49
Speaker
All the layers of these textures of his fabric. Oh, the folding. Oh my God. The folding. What do you call it? I don't know. The gold crackular, like of this one texture of the fabric. Um, I wanted to see. wing Oh, shoulder yeah. The wing on the left shoulder, the asymmetry of Gil Galat. I really, really enjoy. Cause he's got these like peaked, um, like leaf, like circle thingy. And then he has like, yeah, the wing on his left.
00:27:19
Speaker
His sleeve is out on the right and I really wish that we had like a clearer close-up because there is beating to high heaven and there is solid embroidery on that right sleeve that we just get flashes of. and We do get to see his cuff the same with Galadriel when they put the rings on at the end of the episode and there is like significant beating. There's so much detail work.
00:27:40
Speaker
um But I really love that he is so autumnal and he so he looks like the land around him, and so do his guard also. people like yeah yeah They they like are fading the same way that the land is.
00:27:57
Speaker
And it really matters because it's like a whole thing with like the leaves on the tree. And they're that like, shocking gold. So it's very like, just like the composition of like when everyone's kind of assembled was just like, so amazing. And it, it started making me think of, like,
00:28:16
Speaker
the pre-Raphaelite paintings in the 1800s and I was wondering if that was like a reference that they had maybe looked at because it's like a time where people in the 1800s are imagining what the Middle Ages looked like. Oh, totally. It's very romantic and drapey and has all these jewels. Beautiful. And there's also this like messaging in it, because like the the elves that we're used to in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, have they are grieving. So they are not wearing tons and tons of colors. They are wearing colors of grief.
00:28:51
Speaker
They are at the end of their age and they know it. They are diminishing, they are fading, and so they are very ethereal. They're kind of like a star that's very cold. And these elves are like spring and autumn. like The king is like autumn. He's like a sunset. And then his people are all wearing very bright spring clothing, aside from the guards who are either in all silver or all gold.
00:29:16
Speaker
um or, you know, like the the people who are working who are pretty much wearing a lot of, like, people. The elves who are wearing, like, off-white. Very specifically not people. Very specifically not people. They are humans. um They are wearing, like, off-whites, whites, a little bit of gray, and, like, a lot of blue tones, blue and green, that ties them to water in in Linden and Eregion, like Linden the Grey Havens rather and Eregion, they're very tied together. So there's like chunks of color palettes that really make a lot of sense. And so like towards the end, here we are hopping around, but we're talking about elves.
00:29:54
Speaker
Celebrimbor, at the end of the episode, is wearing crimson. Oh, I loved that outfit. I loved it. I loved it. The gold leaves that are around like the yoke and collar. And he feels so tied to Sauron, because Sauron is the first person we see in Crimson. And Celebrimbor is a person who's been working just like Galadriel, one on one.
00:30:20
Speaker
with Sauron, but yeah I don't think that he's fighting as hard as Galadriel has been fighting. So it's like the color has united him to Sauron, which is pretty crazy. And if we're going to talk about elves, we might as well talk about Sauron at the end when he becomes the ant. Is that episode two or is that that's episode two?
00:30:41
Speaker
That's Episode 2. Should I read the summary for Episode 2 that is just in detail? We should, because I think we can just combine everybody. Yeah. Okay, Episode 2. This is the summary from IMDb, as follows.
00:30:56
Speaker
Darkness falls over Kazadoom. Sauron and Galadriel each seek new allies. The Stranger and the Harfoots encounter a growing threat. There you go! That's the episode. Boom! You got it. So now I can mention things. The other person who was also wearing crimson was Prince Durin in Kazadoom.
00:31:19
Speaker
And so it was just, and also King Durin, the two royal, the dwarfs, the dwarf king and prince. ok And so they were both wearing these deep reds. And it was just interesting to see where that feels like the influence of Sauron. Like, even though it's not like, oh, I'm going to wear a red shirt because I talked to Sauron today. It's like, it's also it's also a color in Earth's terms historically purple and crimson have been associated with royalty for a long time. So that also makes sense for the Durans to be wearing this crimson, but it was it's just like so stark when we're seeing so much black, so many earth and tones, so many blues.
00:32:02
Speaker
And then, boom, these dark reds. um So every time it popped up, I was like, mm-hmm, I see you. For sure. And if I'm putting something on it, that's fine too. How to Doom is the referenced in Lord of the Rings, right? like that's Oh, we're there.
00:32:20
Speaker
that We we don know yeah okay you know the fate. I'm pretty sure that I know what's going to happen here. I'm sure I know a lot of the things that are going to eventually happen. too yeah um We've seen the Grey Havens and Khazad-dun in Vodirang, so we've seen the end of these places.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, so it was really beautiful. And we saw the end of the Southlands and what it was going to become. We did. So it's really interesting that so far we've seen a lot of men in the Southlands who are all wearing these dark um clothes, they do not have a lot of riches, they're in the mud, they're in the dirt, they are surviving. We've seen the elves who range from like almost like maritime colors and like earthen tones and then like bright spring with like really beautiful chest pieces and jewelry and like gorgeous veils. Everything like is so delicate and yeah everything is so delicate and feels so tied to the wind and to like the movement of the trees and there are like
00:33:25
Speaker
These ladies in waiting who follow the king, who have veils that match the same colors, the dress and head pieces, they're gorgeous. And they're silver and gold. ah The soldiers, like we talked about, are silver and gold. And we see different breastplate designs, different helmet, like the armor is different for each. There's definition in each, like, role.
00:33:49
Speaker
it yeah makes sense very thoughtful it's yeah It's all very thoughtful and it goes really quickly and some of the armor feels like it has texture and some of it feels like it does not have texture but relies on layering and shapes. So that's interesting to see those two things kind of at play.
00:34:05
Speaker
um Okay, who else do we want to talk about? We can't forget to mention all the orcs. I was really enjoying looking at that ragtag crew of costumes because, you know, we've seen a lot of a lot of the stuff in the show you see, like,
00:34:24
Speaker
ah woven textures and things that are like armor that looks very like sculptural and you see all this stuff and obviously the orcs live in the same world but you can tell you know the it was very purposely put together like very chaotic very haphazard things are just kind of like thrown together obviously they're not in the best shape so like different pieces are like heavily distressed in different ways, but ah it was it was obviously a very stark contrast to everyone else, and everything is very black and gray and dark and metallics and all that kind of stuff.
00:35:00
Speaker
they've harvested their armor from those that they've killed. yeah and so like it like works rap yeah and like the orc I think it's the orcs and not the urakai, but like, because I think orcs are orcs and maybe the urakai are the ones who were elves before, but like they're um I think it might be the urakai. So we might not have the urakai at this point. It might just be the orcs. But Adar was once an elf. And so like there's a Adar also has some hint of his past in his costume. Like his his breastplate kind of looks like an oil spill in a way. Like there's a really cool texture or it looks like when the water pulls away from wet sand, like like waves coming away.
00:35:48
Speaker
And he also has some embroidery on him as well, which is like the callback to the Elven like sensibility, because he's the only one aside from Sauron that we've seen that has like that little hint, but everything else is yeah, like a thousand years worth of like dented and ruined armor that's still purposeful, but like has seen a lot.
00:36:10
Speaker
attached back together. and yeah oh It's so great and and layered. like Looking at it, if you pause it and if you're able to see like a clear scene, there's just like so much going on. I love it. and It's just like such a great juxtaposition from the elves. We also have our crew in the desert. We have um Nori, the Isthar slash Nameless Wizard, last this flash track the stranger, and Poppy, who turns out has been following them.
00:36:39
Speaker
and i There were a lot of people who were upset at the design of the Harfoots, partially because of the the massively broad Irish accent and the fact that there are all these people who are super sophisticated who have an English accent, which I can totally see the opposition to that. And I understand that that's a choice to make. um Yeah, but it doesn't happen by accident.
00:37:04
Speaker
it does not happen by accident and i I can see why that would upset folks and I i do understand that. um But the visual design is what we're talking to and I really love the visual design of the Harfoots because they feel especially the distressing from the journey that they've been on. They have been beaten up. They've been s sweating. They've been rained on. like They are tired. But like I love that Poppy and Nori are together. They're united because they they died that their clothes were dyed using the same dyes. they were the The fabric was spun by the same hands. and so it's like They came from the same exact people. and I love that the Harfoots have flora in their hair. part of that And it like changes based on where they've been. I love it so much. I love it. And I also love that it works for camouflage. But I was also that weirdo when I was younger who would stick shit into my hair, because I had really, really long, really big curly hair. And so I would like stick stuff in it. And I was like, oh. And I also love that the the stranger, because they do clothe him, they are the ones who find him poppy and nori. And so he is tied to them.
00:38:16
Speaker
but he also fits their surroundings more than they do. like just by you know like He's wearing this rough-spun tan robe. Yeah, which I loved it so much. I loved it, but i was also like I hope that that is lined, at least on the body. It wasn't on the sleeves because when he lifts his arms, you can see through, you can see light.
00:38:38
Speaker
And so I was like, oof, I wonder what the hand is because it looks rough or at least like itchy, you know, yeah which is great to act because make I hope it's for the actors sake. Yeah. Also for sweat sake, you know. And then we are also introduced in the desert scenes to these masked hunters who are rad looking. We have some new villains on the scene.
00:39:01
Speaker
Because we are not only introduced to them, we're introduced to, in this like, what ah in rune, I think is where it is, um the dark wizard and his priestesses. So in the first season, we have these like priestesses who are hunting the stranger. And they're wearing these white robes with like harnesses and they have like interesting face paint. like They are terrifying and eerie, and we see where they came from. There's like this society but is like of these like robes. and they're just like very yeah They're very cool and cold, and I really like their design. and These masked hunters, I love it in episode two when we see them in a line.
00:39:45
Speaker
like a high noon line. And we see that each mask is skeletal, but each one is unique. So there are ones that are like pretty high on the face, completely obscure, the people underneath. But it's like some are very long and go past the chin. And so it's just like each one i has something unique and hard and like. I wrote that they had burning, I wrote they had Burning Man steampunk energy. Yeah.
00:40:11
Speaker
yeahs They do kind of have this like steampunk thing and their horses also have armor and I like wrote what the head pieces are for the horses and I can't freaking remember. Oh gosh. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know a single thing about horses. But there is like a specific name for the armor and I guess I'm never going to find it again, so that's fine. we I'm sure we'll see them again in episode three so who you can talk about it then. Hopefully so that we can get some more information. about oh it they the the The face armor, yeah each one is a little bit different. Some have horns, like horns on the side, plus like a unicorn horn that's like ah so a giant spike that is like they're brutal and they have like studs all over the armor so that the horse head can do damage just by hitting somebody.
00:41:02
Speaker
like It's a beautiful, beautiful design in total. Who else do we see? Kazad Doom. So we talked about ah Prince and King Durin very briefly with their crimson colors. King Durin's crown. How did you feel about that? It's like a take on a crown of thorns slash like, because it's Brutal and very angular and the metal looks like it's hammered metal. so It reminded me a bit of the Sauron crown if I'm being honest. like yeah that It looks like a weapon. I would like personally want to wear that crown.
00:41:41
Speaker
No, because I also trip and it would not be cool. Like the dwarves I love are not as rounded and soft and curvy art nouveau as the elves are. They are more geometric and like angular. It's like, you know, mineral and gemstoney and geo. Exactly. and Yeah. they're Exactly. Like I love that um Disa, who is Prince Durin's wife,
00:42:06
Speaker
she is one of the stone singers and she reminded me of a geode because she's wearing what looks kind of like a a chitin in like a du like a dark dove gray like a warm gray. Yeah and also like a fortuni like it looked like a fortuni gown also. It totally did and like but every time she moves it catches the light because there's gemstones everywhere. And so on every one of a certain class, I'm assuming, but there are gemstones and gold and like all of these precious metals kind of everywhere. It's a culture that knows what they what they have and they're rich and they wear it. But I just love that Disa had this very like geode-like attitude where it's like,
00:42:47
Speaker
you know a Geode is the stone that looks very plain on the outside, but then it has like this gorgeous shininess on the inside. and That's kind of what that dress reminded me of, and I really, really loved it. It was beautiful. Who else? to wrote I just want to, one last thing, keep an eye out for the beating and the embroidery in this show. Keep an eye out for the finishing because even our villains have these beautiful, beautiful moments. The last thing I think we should talk about are two things. One, the Sauron revealing himself moment as Annatar, an envoy of the Valar, which you kind of said was like a Jesus-like moment to me yeah when he comes out of the flames. It's so dramatic that it feels like Thranduil in the Hobbit movies with his It's Me Anastasia moment where he drops his robes.
00:43:37
Speaker
And I was like, this is so, girl get it, like just shimmying shoulders. It's me, the Annatar. And it was like his hair is like blowing in the flames. And it's just like, oh my goodness. And he has kind of simple robes, but there there is detail on like the collars and things like that. So there's a lot to look for. And we haven't seen too much of him up close except for like, you know, neck collar area.
00:44:06
Speaker
I think for me it was the way he was coming out of like sunbeams and clouds. And I was like, oh, he is Jesus. Where the flames turned into the sun. It was so, so ridiculous. And I was like, okay, first of all, you blew out all the lights and then you're like, I'll give you the big light.
00:44:24
Speaker
It's me, Anastasia. And then the last thing that I really want to enjoy about episode two is that episode one, Elrond, we have seen his costume over the process of episode one and two has been kind of like disheveled, which really, and so has his makeup. He looks messed up, like he jumped off of a cliff through a waterfall to get away from Galadriel to take the rings away from her.
00:44:50
Speaker
And he is not okay. He is pissed and rightfully so. Like he's the one person making sense. Like, why would you take a gift from our greatest enemy? Why would you do this? And then try to make it sound like it's a good idea. So at the end of episode two, Gil-galad, the High King, brings Elrond in um to meet Galadriel, and Galadriel's like, yay, Elrond, we're going to go on an adventure together on my mission. And Gil-galad's like, um by the way, it's not your mission, it's his. And Elrond is wearing this really beautiful coat that like is closed until like the bottom of the torso, I feel like, and then it kind of swoops out. And it feels, it's a cutaway, yeah, and it feels like a fuck you, we're not friends anymore coat. like He went, to a tailor and was like, I need to look good. And what was interesting to me was that everything we've seen Elrondin and all of these elves together has been very drapey and it moves in a liquidy way. This coat felt almost like if you were to make a coat out of like buckram, like a stiffened fabric, it felt like it was stiffened. So there's a movement that he makes to get her around a table and it just like as like a unit instead of flowing.
00:46:01
Speaker
If he wasn't in it, you could like set it down and it would stay yeah in the shape. Yeah, it would hold its shape. Yeah, so I really am looking forward to seeing that more. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Sauron and his fabulous, um, Annatar self very much. But, uh, I really enjoyed these two episodes. I think that, um, I'm looking forward to where the costumes go and like we haven't seen Numenor yet. We still have to see them and I'm really excited because we have a project that we will be doing. As we cover this season, which is only eight episodes, both Melinda and I will be choosing a character and we are going to be making a very miniature costume from rendering stage to actually sewing and beading and finishing.
00:46:51
Speaker
um yeah and what What scale are we doing it? Is it quarter? Actually, it's called half size, but when you look at it, it looks like a quarter of the size of a person. and I think the best way to describe it for people that haven't seen one is like if you took a person and you wanted to shrink it down by half, you couldn't just shrink it height-wise by half because that wouldn't be the right proportions for a person anymore. So you have to shrink it sideways and Like vertically, vertically and horizontally. So it's like if you took um like if you took a piece of paper and you folded it in half and then folded it in half again, you keep the proportion of the paper, but it's little now.
00:47:37
Speaker
It's teeny tiny. In that way, it's going to make this project um ah doable because yeah I have chosen my character and you've chosen yours. I've chosen to do Muriel, the queen of Numenor. I believe she's queen. I think she became queen. I think she became the queen. Yeah, she didn't yeah start out that way. Yeah. So the queen of Numenor, Muriel. There's a photo um because we haven't gone to Numenor yet. I haven't seen her in the series, but there is a photo when I Googled rings of power season two, Muriel.
00:48:06
Speaker
where she is wearing this beautiful white gown with this like amazing collar headpiece. Everything is like really, really gorgeous. There's a lot of beautiful beading and you know extra little finishing details. And so I'm going to make that in tiny scale.
00:48:23
Speaker
And what are you going to work on? I'm so excited. So I picked one of Galadriel's costumes. It's the first costume that we see her in in episode one. Technically, we also saw in episode eight of season one also. So it's this beautiful deep forest green. It's got this beautiful beaded neckline and cuffs. And then it's got this lovely delicate sort of pleated situation going on and this beautiful gold ah chain beaded drape going on. um So I'm very excited to work with all the like beads and jewels and things because that's not something that I get to do a whole lot of in the real world. So yeah I'm going to do it on the tiny one. Yeah, when we're working, we don't really get the opportunity to do a ton of finishing like this.
00:49:16
Speaker
because we're working at the level of theater that we are. And so this is like a a dream little fun time project. Yay. And so we're going to be ah learning how to make Instagram reels grandpa's ride again. Eventually we'll probably cut all the footage into a YouTube video so that we can show you the process and talk about the research that we've done because this is based on somebody else's design. This is, you know, we're basically making a little tiny cosplay, which is pretty exciting and fun. Yeah, I did learn that season two has a different costume designer than season one had. Cool. I'm excited to see how that changes things. Yeah, season one. Yeah, absolutely. I think and especially since we have certain costumes that are we're in season one that are in season two, so it's like coming into a world and
00:50:06
Speaker
putting your own mark on it, but having stuff that you have to keep the same from the previous yeah designer. um Yeah, so this this season the costumes are designed by Luca Mosca, and last season they were designed by Kate Hawley, and I'm sure we'll get into that a little bit more later, so yeah. Yeah, and I'm looking forward to talking about even more details, because even though some people were complaining that there's not enough detail, yada, ya yada, yada, there really is.
00:50:33
Speaker
It's just a different visual language than the other Lord of the Rings properties. That's all. But there is a lot of hard work that went into these, and there's a lot of beautiful stuff to see. So thanks for talking about it with me, Belinda. Yay. I'm so excited that we're doing this this. I have to give all the credit to this season to Ariel. This was her brilliant idea. And also, I can blame you if it goes wrong. So it's perfect. I will take that. ball I will take that. No, I'm really excited to watch the rest of the show with you. So at the beginning of this season, we're going to be hammering you with this episode, which covers one and two. We're going to be releasing our coverage of episode three, and then we will be following episodes four onward, week by week, as they come out. So it will be more reasonable.
00:51:21
Speaker
But yeah. And you can blame Amazon for that. Yeah, thank you Amazon. How dare you, Amazon. But follow us on Instagram. Follow us on our budding social media to see, to follow along on this whole sewing project if you. Yeah, join us. Thanks for listening. Yeah, join us.
00:51:40
Speaker
and