#mi:text

The first reminded me again in how much details Tolkien envisioned his creation, even though he never treated it as his creation and more as his discovery. It reminded me how long and hard he worked on his writings and how much though he put into it. There are reasons for even the tiniest details, be it the development of various names or the phases of the moon.  And that with each text he brought his world closer together and made it fit a little bit more perfectly. And there is still so much that doesn’t fit perfectly together. Celeborn’s and Galadriel’s story for example. The number of Balrogs during the First Age. The origin of the Orcs. Gil-Galad’s heritage. The list goes on. But I love reading the tiny bits and pieces about what could work, and what could fit, and what possibilities there are and the consequences they have.

The second event – watching the three Hobbit movies in the cinema – made me realise what can go wrong when you try to bring Tolkien’s story on screen without really paying attention to the actual story, its elements and the world it’s set in. To me it was painfully obvious that whenever the script writers deviated from the book, the story took a deep dive in quality. Be it large scenes, like the Dwarves fighting the dragon and by stay completely unharmed making him look as threatening as a medium-sized troll, Thorin’s “gold sickness”, the completely useless attack of the Orcs on Lake Town and the annoying and irritating scenes with Alfred during the battle in the last movie – or smaller things like that strange plot about Thranduil‘s desire for that once necklace that got never resolved, Gandalf traveling in plot speed and idiocies as Gandalf re-entering Dol Guldur alone when he knows that Dark Lord himself is waiting in there.

All in all, these movies made me afraid of what could happen if anyone else would try their fingers on Tolkien’s writings. Especially since the most detailed stories are, more or less, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Sure, stories like Beren and Lúthien or Narn i Chîn Húrin are some of the more detailed stories, too. But it’s not much, and for Amazon these stories aren’t available since they’re from The Silmarillion.

However, Amazon can basically use the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, and with this they have access to the timetable of the complete Second and Third Age. But that’s the main problem: most of it is timetables. Sure, we have more accounts in text form, too, but any writer writing for that new Amazon series would have to come up with the details by themselves. And I’m afraid they will only try to make it look as impressive as possible on the outside while ignoring the actual heart of the creation. If they have no real love for the writings and the world they’re setting their story in, who will stop them from adding another Dragon or Balrog in every third episode? What will stop them from creating ten more romance plots between Dwarves and Elves despite the complicate relationships these two races have in the original writings? Why not throw in a dozen other Half-Elves, ignoring how special and rare they were in the complete history of Middle-Earth? Why not multiply the number of wizards by ten? As long as they can make it look as “epic” as Game of Thrones in the promos, why not – right?

I know of many stories by Tolkien that I would love to see in some form on screen. But if it actually turns out like described above, I’d rather not see it on screen at all. I’d love to see some stories brought to life by people who respect the original stories and try to stay faithful and true to them. People who ask themselves when writing an episode: does this fit in Tolkien’s world? Does something in Tolkien’s writings contradict what is currently written into an episode in a crucial way?

I know that not everything that is different-from-the-books™ equals bad. But the thing is: you already have to write your own plots and details for this show since there are no real dialogues and story details available. And if you stray too far from the facts and rules of the world of Middle-Earth, then what else is there that is still “Tolkien”? All that would be left is Tolkien’s name that they can use for marketing and luring fans in. In fanfiction that’s usually the part where I say: if you write different stories AND don’t keep the characters in your story in character AND ignore the rules and settings of a world, why don’t you write an original story instead? If Amazon does that with Tolkien, we know they are doing it because of money. It would feel like someone playing in someone else’s sandbox without having the decency to follow the rules.

I don’t want to be negative about it. I want this show to be good. But it’s really hard to ignore the impression The Hobbit left on me, or the state of the quality of TV writing on other shows that continue to ignore or tear down their own established canon just for the sake of unexpected elements that make no real sense and cheap plot twists that go nowhere.

The case of the week was stupid for several reasons: the most upsetting thing about it was that it kinda made hellhounds boring. They were one of the few monsters that still seem dangerous and creepy to me, and because we haven’t met many of them it’s always been special to me when they get mentioned or appear. And now? A girl is able to drivce them off with an axe. And apparently shoting them chases them away, too. Oh dear, if only Bela, Dean or Jo would have had a gun... It’s even made worse by the fact that it’s Lucifer’s dog. Even real flesh-and-blood dogs gone mad seem more dangerous than the most vicious hellhound. On top of that, the animation of that thing was not well done. The one in season 8 look so much better... =/  

Sam's plot: My problem with this is that it doesn’t make sense. Sure, Sam knows that Dean doesn’t like the BMoL, but he also knows how hurt Dean was about Mary lying to them. He also knows that lying never ends up well, they’ve been down that road often enough. So how would Sam think it’s a good idea to lie instead of just directly going “here’s what I want to do and these are the reasons for it”? Instead we need to have a girl crying about her dead boyfriend for Sam to realise that lying isn’t the best way to go? Seriously? If someone never would have seen an episode of Supernatural, I’d understand when they would come up with this kind of plot. But surley a Winchester doesn’t need a soppy story of regret about lying to figure out that it is a bad idea. That is a diservice to Sam as a character, and while I don’t like that he lied at the beginning, I’m much less upset that he did it then I am about the sheer ignorance of thinking this random talk about regretting lies will mean more to Sam than all the times of experience that the Winchesters have with lies. Character development is nice and all, but not if you develop something that should have been there by now through means that are utterly ridiculous.

Dean’s non-plot:  I guess I have to say it up-front: I don’t mind Sam having great moments in these last episodes. I really do enjoy when he gets stuff to do! I just want both brothers to do some meaningful stuff and have interesting plotlines. So it’s sad to see, that - again - a topic related to Dean gets touched on without showing any connection to Dean at all. Remember when Dean entered Hell in s11? Any throwback to his 40 years down there? Nope. Remember Dean being Michael’s vessel, his “weapon”? The writers apparently didn’t when they brought up Michael’s lance. Or remember Dean being turned into a vampire and having some sort of connection to the Alpha vampire? Too bad, when the Alpha vampire shows up one last time, Dean’s not there. Remember Dean being killed by hellhounds? I had high hopes for Dean to kill that thing this time, since Sam got the last one, but nope - Dean’s going for a stroll through the forest with Crowley, making smalltalk about how they’v gone soft and all... basically a similar talk like the one in Inside Man.  Another episode where Dean is little more than decoration - which seems to be a pattern in this writer’s episodes.

There are other little things that annoy me: one is, when people write episodes with Dean apparently not knowing anything technical. That’s out of character for me, but that’s nothing new. What I also dislike is ignoring little bits of his characterisation and turning it upside down. It’s small, but it shows that the writers really don’t know or don’t care. Remember Dean’s repeated need for cleanliness? It’s never been the focus of attention, but it’s been a constant thing over many years. Last seasons though, Dean suddenly doesn’t care about being dirty or smelly or whatever anymore. Of course people change, but for me that just feels like the writers don’t even know about it. It’s just suddenly there, and I don’t like it because I enjoyed that little particular character trait of Dean. -.- 

Castiel's recycled plot: Been there, done that. Castiel searches for a part of the myth arc, and then angels are happening. Again we have that but-the-angels-are-Castiel’s-family-plot that never goes anywhere interesting. If that whole reconciliation thing would work out this time, I’d be positively surprised. But the chances are small, and like this it’s just the same plot over and over and over again.  

Crowley & Lucifer: It’s hard for me to watch, seriously. I hate all the scenes of humiliation with Lucifer and Crowley in s11, and I hate the other way round just the same. There is nothing clever about these scenes, not in the dialogue, not in the setting, and nothing is happening. It’s just a cringworthy display of vengence and sadism, and at the end of the episode we’re just were we started. Wasted minutes that were neither funny nor scary nor thought provoking. You can cut those scenes out of the episode and you wouldn’t know that there’s something missing. 

Sam’s view of the BMoL:  it didn’t make any sense in the last episode, it doesn#t make any sense in this episode - Sam insisting that the Alpha vampire is dead bc of the BMoL. It’s bullshit, because the BMoL did a terrible job at last week’s mission, and Mick would be dead if it wasn’t for Sam. Sam came up with the way to make bullets, Sam and Mary where the ones who fought the vampires, and Sam was the one to kill the Alpha vampire.  I don’t see why he attributes that victory to the BMoL. So yes, maybe they told him they succesfully found other nests before, and yes, they can be of help when it comes to tracking and doing research, but the actual difference is still made by the people in the field. And in that case, that was Sam. I have yet to find an explanation for this, but I assume it’s just another ooc element. 

Thwo things I like to mention that I liked: director Nina was great again - the episode looked good, and I liked the teaser setting for it’s mood.  The guest actors also where good - Angelique Rivera was great as Gwen and I loved her little Crowley-hug. And Nathan Mitchell is reeeeally handsome and has a very pleasent voice. :)