-Ken Blackburn gets a great moment where, as the King lays on his deathbed being sketched by Isildur's sister, he begins speaking with her with an almost scary lucidity about the coming doom. He misidentifies her as Miriel, and I'm not entirely sure him saying she (Isildur's sister) is not queen *yet* is entirely a case of mistaken identity and not some hint that she may have some part to play with Ar-Pharazon usurping the throne.

-Since she's had access to the Palantir, perhaps she'll be some kind of Cassandra figure?

-The Queen is in the hold of the ship counting steps, Elendil corrects her and says its *nine* steps to the main post - at first I thought her plan was to pretend not to be blind.

-Elendil's regret for his part in how things played out is much more gracefully presented here. The scene in last episode where he turns and tells the camera the same thing is even more unnecessary than it first appeared.

-They arrive in Numenor to find the black banners flying, signifying the king died offscreen while they were away. Elendil, who affirmed he'd stay with her and help her in the previous shot immediately lets go of her and steps foreward dramatically while she asks confused what happened and why he let her go.

-We close out on Numenor with a shot of Pharazon standing over the king's deathbed, ready to step foreward and be a much bigger problem in later seasons.

-Meteor Man is pursued by the three witches, their leader employing a shapeshifting magic that I'm actually OK with. They didn't really have any reason to use it any of the other times we saw them, and I think it supports my theory on what their nature is, more on that further down.*

-They've correctly deduced that he'd be drawn to the image of Nori because earlier she sprang to their defense (and their leader plucked some hair or an ornament from her head continuing her theme of casting spells based on things she must first touch) and while the bit where her eyes are the first thing to change, having the brass section loudly fart out a scare chord when it happens felt pandering and sucked the menace out of the scene.

-Also I believe that's the exact shot from the promos people were circling around and saying 'that's Sauron!'

-I groaned aloud when they announced that Meteor Man is Sauron and they're here to serve him. It's legit something I suspected from the moment he appeared in that crater, but by announcing it in the cold open they basically guaranteed he wasn't.

-That said, the show has been playing with biblical imagery throughout its run so far and the reveal that we have three wise women chasing falling stars to find their spiritual sovereign (who looks and acts like a thoroughly hemped up Jesus) is something I'm very much here for.

-They tell him they want to take him back east to Rhun, that a 'veil' has been placed upon him, cutting him off from his power.

-And even though we're jaded enough to know he's not really Sauron, I wonder if they're not actually wrong about the other things? He's clearly confused as to why he's here, but maybe he really has been cut off from his abilities for some reason related to his quest? At the very least, they knew he would come looking for that constellation, even if they didn't know who he actually was.

-Meteor Man has a sad, throws wind around, and they knock him out through more magic.*

-I actually like the little action sequence that follows, the hobbits fight in hobbity ways, sneaking around, making noise, throwing rocks and distracting while others sneak around and accomplish objectives, and in turn the witches use the tools we've been seeing them employ all this season, and the main one using her shapeshifting power to trick them into trying to rescue *her* is good fun menacing.

-The wizarding duel is a little too ostentatious to be authentic to anything Tolkien would wright, but it they're very deliberately invoking imagery from the movies here, which also has that problem. The short-haired witch again proves she's the most magically adept, capable of standing up to Meteor Man to some extent.*

-"Get away from me, or I will hurt you again." - I love the delivery of this line. Meteor Man believes he's Sauron and the only thing he can think to do is warn Nori to stay away so she won't get hurt, paying off a consistent unselfish quality that has been his throughline all season.

-And Nori, for her part knows she has no idea what the big picture in all this is and doesn't care, she's there to help her friend (and maybe save all her other friends who's she's inadvertently put in danger to save said friend) and cuts through all the doom and portent by being an earnest, uncomplicatedly good person.

-The witches realize their mistake, say he's not Sauron, that he's 'the other', 'the Istar', and Meteor Man declares 'I'm good!' and all of that feels added in post and is painfully awkward.

-When he banishes them, the three witches are shown in alternate forms (true forms?), all corpses in what appear to be different stages of decay, then they explode into moths and fly away.*

-*So... what exactly are the three witches? The first, loudest, and angriest voices cried out 'Ringwraiths?!' in performative outrage, but that's probably not the case, since the rings don't exist and the plot has made it clear that Sauron still hasn't figured out the recipe. Another potential option is that they are just ghosts, three generations of queens or mystics from Rhun all dedicated to serving Sauron - and while certainly possible as Tolkien allows for all manner of crazy ghosts in his setting, they also seem incredibly powerful, with the short haired one demonstrating mastery over fire and shape-changing stuff. I think by process of elimination they are supposed to be some kind of Miar, the same sorts of people as Gandalf, Sauron, the Balrogs, etc. many of which were turned to Morgoth and Sauron's service?

-RIP Sadoc, you defied every crotchety old hobbit authority figure trope you were supposed to embody and we didn't deserve you.

-Later, Nori and Meteor Man discuss what he's remembered, more's come back to him but he understands now that he needs to go to Rhun to seek his answers.

-And, naturally, we get confirmation that he's one of the Wizards as he explains the meaning of the word Istar.

-And, naturally, he's Gandalf, right? Of course he's Gandalf!

-The Harfoots get ready to leave, Nori's family know she wants to stay with Meteor Man, and offer her her pack and well wishes. Her goodbye with Poppy was very sweet and I wish she'd gone with them - yes it would be way too Samwise Gamgee, but I don't care.

-The hobbit/Meteor Man arc closes off with wise words for the ages: "When in doubt, Elanor Brandyfoot: always remember that I am Gandalf. That's me. I'm definitely Gandalf- do you think the folks at home have figured out I'm Gandalf? Oh I hope so!"

-"The Sun began as something no bigger than the palm of my hand." Celeborn tries to tell Elrond that the Sun is a fruit from one of the two trees and bumps his head hard against the invisible wall of Silmarillion lore they're not allowed to talk about.

-Galadriel arrives and says they'd been riding six days without rest to get from the western edge of Mordor to west of the Misty Mountains. A figure I thought was completely silly but upon mathing it out... she probably could bypass the mountain ranges and take time off to sleep and still get there in under a week by horseback.

-Did they mention Halbrand had been hit by a lance in the previous episode? You'd think him having gone off and been the only one apparently attacked by orcs after the erruption would have raised more eyebrows.

-"And when I surfaced, all I could do was swim, and pray I had chosen wisely." - Galadriel and the showrunners acknowledging she went kinda crazy there.

-Halbrand discusses his past with Celebrimbor while tap dancing around the specifics "The Master I apprenticed to used to speak of the wonders of your craft.", "Nothing like your artistry.", "Where I came from...", "I've seen a trace of nickel added to iron..." and they all come rapidly one after another like an entire season's worth of suspicious dialogue all crammed into one conversation.

-In fact, this is probably the single biggest problem with this episode and its place in the series: After the Numenoreans decided to go to Middle Earth we had an entire extra episode where they decided to go to Middle Earth - this scene, this interaction with Halbrand and Celebrimbor is a point of similar significance: a point in which the destiny of the world changes, and it's been reduced to a *very rapid* back and forth quip fest because they simply don't have the runtime for them to interact and build a relationship. If this episode had been feature length (as had been rumored) or the extra Numenorean stuff hadn't happened and all the previous Galadriel events had been bumped up an episode then we probably would have been able to spend a good 30-45 minutes to build a rapport these two characters, give Celebrimbor time to open up to what he would assume is the secret wisdom of Iluvatar's impulsive second born children, and let the problems and their solution come up more gradually and organically.

-I love when they're discussing the size and shape of the object Galadriel asks if it can be a sword.

-The tree and the leaves being blighted is being treated less like an omen as the series goes on and more and more like the naked and unwelcome ticking clock added by the writers to up the sense of urgency that it is. It's annoying to see Gil-galad delivering most of these doomy portents too because when he isn't he's clearly playing the wise rational king he's supposed to be, not liking the idea of imbuing one person with the power to save the elves, even himself.

-Celebrimbor making the hard sell, and Galadriel subsequently confronting him about it is some great acting on the parts of Edwards and Clark, but its undercut by what I mentioned before about the problems of having Halbrand having arrived in Eregion all of 15 real time minutes ago.

-"Someone like me... Here... Working with the Elven smiths of Eregion. Thank you, Galadriel." You can hear the red alert siren going off in her head.

-"I'll never forget that. And I'll see to it that no one else does either." There's a little musical stinger here meant to make you feel uneasy, I think it's actually the first few notes of Sauron's big silly brass theme from LOTR.

-There's a mishap in the forge and Galadriel gets another scene where she's reminded of stuff she'd found while searching for Sauron. It's a reasonably good scene (that again feels rushed for being in the same episode as all these other ones) but I did notice two assistant elves adjusting beakers in the background instead of like, pulling shards of those beakers out of their bodies after that explosion which made me chuckle.

-This does lead into Galadriel confronting Halbrand on the very specific strange behaviour she's seen from him this epis- no wait, information about the Southlands' king she had one of the scribes dredge up.

-And for what its worth it's a good confrontation scene, she's already put the pieces together because of the stuff he's gotten up to since coming here, but she's clearly afraid of the answer. I'm not entirely sure why she choses to confront him at this point, she didn't chose the time or place, he came to her, could it be that she couldn't hold it in and wait until they were in a more crowded place with elven guards or something?

-"I have been awake since before the breaking of the first silence. In that time I have had many names." -Sauron legit hates the name Sauron, and I hope at some point we cover that the elves came up with it to make fun of his real name: Mairon.

-Sauron begins talking to her in visions, first as her brother in Valinor, then later as Halbrand. He gives her a very broad explanation as to what his intentions are, that he wants to fix the damage he's done to Middle-Earth, that he wants Galadriel to guide him as his queen, that she's his only hope for redemption and she must help him.

-In the past few weeks since this episode has aired, a lot of people are arguing that he's being honest here, and that Galadriel doomed Sauron and Middle-Earth because she couldn't let go of her hate. This is a bad take, and I'm going to outline why further down, but for the sake of argument here let me sum it up as: He's lying, she knows it, he bails.

-The visions close out with that scene of her drowning in the ocean, tangled up in debris, while explosions (thunder and lightning? war itself?) rage above the surface of the water, she's pulled out of it by Elrond, and I love that when he tells her the work is almost completed she runs into Celebrimbor's forge still gripping that knife and ready to go.

-She tells them Halbrand has left, and that he is dangerous and not to be trusted, but not exactly why- and when confronted on that part by Elrond she makes it clear she expects she'll get banished or something if the real reason comes out and she's probably right about that much.

-Celebrimbor is obviously upset but willing to stop the project based on her words, but she gives him an out: Halbrand's first choice was one thing (to rule them all) and his second choice was two, she sees how either option could sow division but if they dilute the power down to three beings that seek consensus or at least check each others balances they may be able to harness the power without playing into Sauron's plans.

-And while it is a bit of an ass-pull, Celebrimbor saying he needs gold and silver from valinor in order to do it gives Galadriel the moment we've been waiting for all season since the introduction of this dagger, where she has to let it go literally in order to, at least to some extent, step away from the raw grief for her brother that powers her quest for revenge, and start to take steps towards healing into the person we see in LotR. The line about true creation requiring sacrifice finally shows up and its not nearly as menacing as it was made out to be.

-The actual sequence where they forge the rings is pretty well done. I have literally no idea how jewelry is created so how much of this is fantasy world stuff and how much of it is 'real' jewelcraft I have no idea but that kind of adds to the mystique.

-The rings themselves look good, and distinct: can you imagine the uproar if they had just re-used the lotr props?

-With the rings forged, we close out on Sauron, still in the form of Halbrand, descending into Mordor, and the credits close on the ominous leitmotif we've had at different points in the show expanded into a full song with lyrics. The song itself discordant and unpleasant, but I wouldn't necessarily say 'bad' - just deliberately discordant and unpleasant by design.

So. At about the halfway mark of this episode we get the big reveal that Halbrand is Sauron. We've had some clues (along with a number of red herrings) all through the show and he truthfully admits point for point that his helping Galadriel has served his interests. He also offers Galadriel a very specific bargain: He tells her he wants to repair the damage he's done to Middle Earth, that he needs her help to do so. He offers her a position of equal power, an equal share of his plans, if only she will ally herself with him they will accomplish great things together and change the world for the better. He tells her she's already helped him, literally saved his life, and that only she can truly direct him towards redemption.

Here's the thing: He's lying.

How do we know he's lying? Ignoring source material that says wanting to fix Middle Earth was a favourite lie of his that he maybe, just maybe believed once, very early on, ignoring the future lore knowledge that the bargain he's offering is by and large the same one he offers Saruman in the 3rd age, ignoring the ways he's been lying to her from the very start with no indication of reluctance or doubt. Look at the way he reacts when Galadriel finally catches him:

-His first choice is to appear to her in the form of her brother, Finrod.

-As Finrod, he tells her what she wants to hear, that he's happy she kept his dagger, acknowledging her courage, how difficult it's been for her fighting for so long, etc. and then he says she completed the task that he could not.

-Galadriel catches this, and calls him on it right away: Finrod's task was hunting Sauron. She has not completed it.

-Sauron, as Finrod, lies again: Saying Finrod's task was to ensure peace, and that he realized that's what Sauron wanted too.

-Galadriel catches him again: Finrod didn't realize anything, or have a change of heart, he died.

-Sauron continues, tells her she can heal middle earth, all she has to do is lie by omission, let the others complete the work - and if she's considering it at all he manages to sink the idea by slipping back into character as Finrod, reminding her again that he murdered her brother and is now dangling him like a puppet in front of her.

She rejects his offer, and the vision changes. He subsequently feeds her new excuses, and in turn, offers new rewards for her cooperation - instead of a vague promise of healing middle earth by not blabbing to her friends, now he *needs her help* to fix it - and when that doesn't work, no actually he needs her to be his partner in this, his queen!

It's a desperation play on his part, ever more extravagant promises he has no intention to keep, (plus an unhealthy sprinkling of 'I'm the only one who sees your worth' that cuts a little close to Kylo Renn's abusive boyfriend talk in TLJ) which in turn become threats as she continues to resist him.

He also lets slip at this point that he knows about the magic blight stuff and the elves diminishing, despite them making a point of having Celebrimbor not tell him about it. Which probably means he's had an active hand in that part too - with the ultimate goal of dominating Gil Galad and his people.