Charlie Vickers

It's perfect.

It really does kind of echo how Charlie Vickers has talked about the mask is off.

Like, you know, the facade has kind of cracked.

He's fully himself, the Dark Lord, this season.

And I think it's good that we are seeing this in the present rather than, say, seeing Jack Loud and Sauron doing it in the prologue because we're watching Sauron on his journey and his descent into madness and darkness.

it works for me that we are seeing him progressing into the worst parts of himself on the screen.

And we're seeing it in the form of Charlie Vickers-Saron, who we have seen on this more, if not fully repentant, like more of a morally grey, maintaining he's a hero path.

So I think seeing the evolution of that into him just sacrificing orcs, probably on a daily basis, if not even more frequently, is a lot more impactful than just seeing him doing that In the past, where we know how that plays out, I think this is a more effective way of telling the story when you have limited time, which we know the show does have limited hours to play with.

Gandalf will come to be an important foil for Sauron throughout the series.

I think Charlie Vickers was mentioning that back in season one, that Sauron would be aware of Gandalf and that he would see him as the biggest threat to him.

So I think it is important to be setting these two characters up as so different.

And I also think that's the reason why I actually quite like the really widely mocked line in series one of Gandalf saying, I am good.

for it.

And yeah, when you just mentioned the scene about him placing his head on the floor and when he's staring directly at the camera, I'm just like, oh, Charlie Vickers, just so good.

Yeah.

Oh, most of all, it's the other bit, which this is another bit I can't wait to see in season three, is him and his little wolfy walk.

I don't think I was not expecting it to be Sauron, but then I also don't know what else it could have been.

I like how they transitioned it to a point where we do get to see that earlier Sauron in time.

like you Rosie I wasn't I wasn't expecting Jack Loudon and I still sometimes when I re-watch it I'm I like it because it's a different aspect and character of Sauron it's not it's not Charlie Vickers or it's not the Halbrand and the Tar so it is a different face and a potentially different name and it's a different presentation I think he bit off more than he could chew and expected everyone to follow him without question whereas I think what the story now is throughout the Rings of Power is him actually making, I don't want to say making a name for himself, but he is building his own bridges for them to actually fear him where I think it was just more he's in command because the big guy's gone.

Yeah.