Here's how to watch and enjoy The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:

Just pretend it's Sauron Propaganda. The in-universe explanation is that Sauron commissioned the story and had it written from his perspective. And this TV show is being 100% faithful to Sauron's vision.

Then, there's no reason to get all bent out of shape over what it's saying. If they get anything right, that's fine. If they get anything wrong, that's fine too. Then it all works out as lore that exists as fiction within fiction.

That's it. That's why it's so bad. It's not Tolkien, on purpose. It's pretentious and has a bad message, like touching the darkness and ends justifying the means.

If you don't want to spend time watching this show but you still want to see all the cringe, I recommend the above series by Charlie Hopkinson. He does impressions then deepfakes himself into the characters. It's hilarious.

inertia