Adrift (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power)

"Adrift" is the second episode of the first season of the American fantasy television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The series is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, primarily material from the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Set thousands of years before the novel in Middle-earth's Second Age, the episode introduces the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm. It was written by Gennifer Hutchison and directed by J. A. Bayona.

"Adrift"
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode
Cover art for the episode's soundtrack album
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Directed by	J. A. Bayona
Written by	Gennifer Hutchison
Cinematography by	Óscar Faura
Editing by	Bernat Vilaplana Jaume Martí
Original release date	September 1, 2022 (2022-09-01)
Running time	67 minutes
Additional cast
Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma Berynn Schwerdt as Eamon Virginie Laverdure as Abigail Jane Montgomery Griffiths as Astrid Geoff Morrell as Waldreg Peter Tait as Tredwill Peter Mullan as Durin III
Episode chronology
← Previous "A Shadow of the Past" Next → "Adar"
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 1
List of episodes

The series was ordered in November 2017. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to develop it in July 2018, and Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes a year later. Filming for the first season began in New Zealand in February 2020, but was placed on hold in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in September and wrapped for the first two episodes by the end of December. Dwarf culture was defined through design and music, and different techniques were used to show the size difference between Dwarves and Elves. The episode's ocean sequences were filmed in large water tanks. Olympic swimmer Trent Bray taught the actors to swim and free dive.

"Adrift" premiered on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on September 1, 2022, with the first episode. They had the most viewers of any Prime Video premiere within 24 hours and received generally positive reviews. Particular praise went to the visuals and production value, but some critics were unsure if the storytelling and slow pacing justified this. The episode received two nominations at the 21st Visual Effects Society Awards for its depiction of Khazad-dûm and the ocean storm sequence.

Plot

Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow struggle to move the Stranger from inside the meteor crater and into a makeshift shelter. The next day, Nori gives him food and realizes that he does not speak their language. Nori and Poppy later find the Stranger looking at the stars. He uses magic to arrange some fireflies into a constellation that Nori does not recognize. She believes they can help him by finding that constellation. When the Stranger stops using the magic, the fireflies all die.

In the ruins of Hordern, Arondir and Bronwyn find no survivors or bodies. Arondir enters a tunnel below one of the houses and is captured. Bronwyn returns to Tirharad to warn the other villagers, but they dismiss her. At her home she finds Theo hiding from an Orc that has burst from beneath the floor. Bronwyn and Theo kill the Orc and use its head to convince the other villagers to flee for the nearby Elven tower Ostirith. Theo brings the broken sword, which appears to draw power from a bleeding wound.

Celebrimbor explains to Elrond that he is building a powerful forge and requires a workforce that High King Gil-galad cannot provide. Elrond suggests they travel to the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm to ask his old friend Prince Durin IV for help. Elrond is surprised to find that he is not welcome and invokes the rite of sigin-tarâg, a rock-breaking contest between himself and Durin. Elrond loses, which means he is to be banished from all Dwarf lands. As Durin escorts him out, Elrond learns that he is not welcome because he has not visited in 20 years and missed Durin's wedding. Elrond apologizes to Durin and his wife Disa, who encourages the pair to make up. Durin agrees to hear Elrond's proposal, which he relays to King Durin III. The latter is concerned that Elrond's arrival relates to the Dwarves' secret new discovery.

Swimming back to Middle-earth, Galadriel encounters a raft of stranded humans escaping from a sea monster that destroyed their ship. The monster attacks the raft, leaving only Galadriel and one of the Men alive. He introduces himself as Halbrand of the Southlands and says he is escaping from Orcs. They are caught in a storm and Halbrand saves Galadriel from drowning. The next morning, the pair are found by an unknown ship.

Production

Development

Amazon acquired the television rights for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55) in November 2017. The company's streaming service, Amazon Prime Video, ordered a series based on the novel and its appendices to be produced by Amazon Studios in association with New Line Cinema. It was later titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Amazon hired J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay to develop the series and serve as showrunners in July 2018, and J. A. Bayona was hired to direct the first two episodes a year later. Gennifer Hutchison joined the series as a writer by then. The series was originally expected to be a continuation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) film trilogies, but Amazon later clarified that their deal with the Tolkien Estate required them to keep the series distinct from Jackson's films. Despite this, the showrunners intended for it to be visually consistent with the films. Amazon said in September 2019 that the first season would be filmed in New Zealand, where Jackson's films were made.

The series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings. Because Amazon did not acquire the rights to Tolkien's other works where the First and Second Ages are primarily explored, the writers had to identify references to the Second Age in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices, and create a story that bridged those passages. The first season focuses on introducing the setting and major heroic characters to the audience. Hutchison wrote the second episode, which is titled "Adrift".

Writing

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault inspired the scene where Galadriel comes across a raft of survivors in the ocean.

After Galadriel's "leap of faith" into the ocean at the end of the first episode, she is forced to start swimming back to Middle-earth. The showrunners envisioned the episode as a survival story but in the ocean rather than a more traditional environment like a desert. They took inspiration from the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Her coming across a raft of survivors was inspired by the painting The Raft of the Medusa (1818–19) by Théodore Géricault. The showrunners felt Galadriel's meeting with new human character Halbrand on the raft was in-line with other chance meetings in Tolkien's writings. They enjoyed the ambiguity of whether this is truly an accidental meeting or if other forces are at play.^{: 2:21–38:35} Halbrand actor Charlie Vickers said his character initially trusts Galadriel out of his survival instinct and becomes fascinated with her, leading to him saving her life during the storm sequence.^{: 4:04–24:22}

Each group of characters in the series is introduced at "a time of enormous change in their worlds" which the showrunners hoped would help make the series more dramatic. This includes the Dwarves, who the showrunners said "are in the middle of a great change in their society. And the arrival of an Elf is sort of upending the way the established order is there." They felt the series was a great opportunity to show the Dwarf realm of Khazad-dûm in its full glory compared to the desolate ruin that it is in the Third Age. The episode also introduces the first female Dwarf with a prominent role in a Tolkien adaptation, Disa, who the showrunners intended to reflect all the strengths of Tolkien's male Dwarves. They wanted Disa and Durin's relationship to be an example of a healthy marriage.^{: 24:42–29:25} Durin actor Owain Arthur said his character's decision to forgive Elrond in the episode showed how deep the friendship is between the pair. He added that it was a "true Durin trait" that the character remained angry for the rest of the episode because he was angry with himself for forgiving Elrond.^{: 10:13–16:37}

The scene where Bronwyn and Theo fight an Orc in their kitchen was originally written for the third episode. Bayona loved the scene so much that he convinced the showrunners to move it to the second episode so he could direct it. The episode also explores the Stranger who falls from the sky at the end of the first episode and now interacts with the Harfoots Nori Brandyfoot and Poppy Proudfellow. McKay compared the Stranger to the title characters of the films E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and The Iron Giant (1999), being a mysterious character who talks in an unknown language and could be there "for good or ill". The showrunners took inspiration from the films of Buster Keaton and other silent films for the character, and gave actor Daniel Weyman "theater exercises" during his audition to see how he communicated emotions without dialogue.^{: 7:16–10:12}

Casting

The season's cast includes Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Owain Arthur as Durin IV, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Córdova as Arondir, Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, Lenny Henry as Sadoc Burrows, Markella Kavenagh as Elanor "Nori" Brandyfoot, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, Sophia Nomvete as Disa, Megan Richards as Poppy Proudfellow, Dylan Smith as Largo Brandyfoot, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Daniel Weyman as the Stranger, and Sara Zwangobani as Marigold Brandyfoot. Also starring in the episode are Thusitha Jayasundera as Malva, Maxine Cunliffe as Vilma, Berynn Schwerdt as Eamon, Virginie Laverdure as Abigail, Jane Montgomery Griffiths as Astrid, Geoff Morrell as Waldreg, Peter Tait as Tredwill, and Peter Mullan as Durin III. Nathan Mennis plays the unnamed Orc in the episode.

Design

Rick Heinrichs was hired as production designer for the series by July 2019, before Bayona joined the project. Ramsey Avery was hired to replace Heinrichs around the end of August. Avery said he was hired because most of what had been done initially "wasn't working", and he had to "start from scratch" and work quickly to be ready for filming.^{: 11:58–19:33} Heinrichs is credited as production designer for the first two episodes alongside Avery. One of the initial "guideposts" that the showrunners gave Avery was to ensure that the audience could easily identify the different cultures of Middle-earth in the series. Costume designer Kate Hawley had created mood boards that established a design language for each Middle-earth culture and Avery was thankful that he could use these as the starting point for his own work.^{: 20:33–33:08} A "war room" was assembled where the design language for each culture was defined. Dialect coach Leith McPherson, who also worked on the Hobbit films, established different dialects for each culture, including Scottish for Dwarves.^: 46

Bayona initially oversaw design work at home in Barcelona from September to October 2019. He asked for at least one piece of concept art for every scene in his episodes, totaling around 150 pieces of art, which Avery said was a "tremendous amount" to produce but created a basis for the whole series. He oversaw the concept artists while also beginning work on the initial sets. While the series' supervising art directors and New Zealand art team worked on the sets needed for the first episode, Avery worked with United States art director Iain McFadyen and the Los Angeles art team to plan the Dwarvish sets for the second episode. The production had use of seven stages and multiple backlot spaces across Auckland Film Studios, Kumeu Film Studios, and Kelly Park Film Studios; Kelly Park is a former equestrian center where they could dig into the dirt floor. Wētā Workshop created props, weapons, and prosthetics for the season.^: 29 Daniel Reeve, who was responsible for calligraphy and maps on the films, returned to do the same for the series.

Dwarves

In Tolkien's history of Middle-earth, the Dwarves were created by Aulë—the smith of the god-like Valar—from fire and stone. This inspired a fire-based color palette and use of open flames for light.^{: 4:06–11:08} Avery researched ancient mines and stone carvings, while Bayona took inspiration from the films of Russian directors Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky. Because Aulë is married to Yavanna, the Vala of nature, the Dwarves avoid cutting down trees where possible. The design team chose to avoid using wood in Dwarvish furniture, and often used metal instead. Set decorator Megan Vertelle suggested they use petrified wood in some instances. Words from "The Song of Durin", which the Dwarf Gimli sings in The Lord of the Rings, were carved into walls using Tolkien's Cirth runes. The angular runes also inspired the use of triangles and diamonds in Dwarvish designs.^: 22 Other recurring motifs include rams, ravens, and three mountain peaks. The latter represents the Misty Mountains above Khazad-dûm.^{: 24:42–29:25} Because Gimli speaks of his people respecting stone in a similar way to how others respect trees in The Lord of the Rings, Avery decided that the high ceilings and geometric designs used for Dwarves in the films must have been caused by greed and corruption in the Third Age. The series is set before the Dwarves are overcome with greed, so he wanted the designs for Khazad-dûm in the Second Age to respect the natural shapes and formations within the mountain. He also added reflected light, rivers, and vegetation, and put a focus on the Dwarves' engineering skills. Khazad-dûm was designed with the Unreal Engine, SketchUp, and Rhino software, and created by visual effects company Wētā FX. In-house visual effects supervisor Ken McGaugh said this was their biggest challenge on the series. He noted the differences in the design compared to the mostly abandoned underground Dwarf kingdoms that Wētā created for the films.

The costumes for the Dwarf princess Disa took some inspiration from depictions of Brunhild from Germanic heroic legend. Pictured is Brunnhild by Gaston Bussière.

Hawley studied the intended physiology of Dwarves, which differs from humans, and designed the costumes to hide the actors true shapes. For example, chainmail armor was made oversized to hide where the actors waists are, and their boots were designed to look like they are hiding large and "gnarly" feet. The boots have a five-toe design based on classical Germanic statues. Some Dwarves wear helmets with built-in shields for their large beards, inspired by Greek armor as well as concept art by illustrator John Howe who was one of the main conceptual designers on the film trilogies. Different costume designs were used to help expand Dwarvish culture, with Hawley's team developing styles for background actors who portray guards, farmers, priests, and more. Costumes had hooks to support the characters' large beards, and featured precious stones and gold dust from their mines. There was much discussion about how to depict beards for the female Dwarves. The producers wanted to include them but also did not want the characters to lose their femininity. They opted for more subtle facial hair than the heavy beards that the male Dwarves have. Hawley's initial concepts for Disa's costumes were bulkier than the final look, in an attempt to match the traditional physicality of Dwarves. The producers felt this hid Nomvete's body too much and did not match the character's personality. Hawley moved towards a more flowy design that was inspired by water running over rocks. Taking inspiration from depictions of Brunhild and the Nibelung from Germanic heroic legends, they were inspired to add splits in Disa's dress to show her bare legs. To ensure she still looked Dwarvish, the character wears large boots like the other Dwarves and has elements of stone and gold throughout her dress. Her hair style was inspired by ram horns, and Nomvete wore contact lenses to give Disa golden eyes.^{: 16:00–19:04} Dwarvish weapons feature non-symmetrical geometry to reflect natural rock formations, including Durin's dagger which has an unshaped gold nugget and vein of gold in its hilt.

Elves

Avery used more statement architecture for the Elven realm of Eregion compared to his designs for Lindon in the first episode. He attributed this to Celebrimbor's arrogance, differentiating Eregion from the Lindon style of blending architecture with nature. Architect Louis Sullivan was an inspiration for the Eregion designs. Based on early drafts of the scripts, which featured more interactions between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, Avery included Dwarvish influences in Eregion.^{: 20:00–23:00} Because Elrond founds the settlement of Rivendell after spending time in Eregion, Avery wanted to indicate some influence on the films' depiction of Rivendell by including elements of that in Eregion's design, such as similar rooftops. Reeve used Tolkien's established Elvish writing systems, including for Celebrimbor's laboratory notes which include lists of elements, descriptions of alchemical experiments, and Elvish mathematics. He used watercolor paintings to depict architectural drawings. The undergarment that Galadriel wears in the episode went through 70 different iterations to achieve the desired underwater visuals, and to create a version that would not be damaged by chlorine during filming. It was originally more ornate, with embroidery and pearls, but this was pared back due to the number of test versions that were being created.

Filming

Filming began in early February 2020, under the working title Untitled Amazon Project or simply UAP. Óscar Faura was the director of photography for the first two episodes, returning from Bayona's previous films. Location filming took place around Auckland in February. Filming for the first two episodes was expected to continue through May, but was placed on hold in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of filming for the first two episodes was reportedly completed by then. Filming was allowed to resume in early May under new safety guidelines from the New Zealand government, but the production decided to segue into an extended filming break that had been planned for after the first two episodes were completed. Filming resumed on September 28, and Bayona completed his episodes by December 23. The director felt like he was making a feature film rather than two television episodes. He was originally supposed to be in New Zealand for nine months for the project but because of the pandemic was ultimately living there for a year and a half.

Filming for the episode's ocean sequences took place in water tanks, including this large outdoor tank.

The ocean sequences, including dialogue scenes on the raft, the storm, and the underwater scene, were filmed over six weeks to two months. This followed two months of training for Clark and Vickers,^{: 4:04–24:22} who were taught to "properly swim", free dive, and hold their breath for minutes at a time by Olympic swimmer Trent Bray. The scenes were filmed in two water tanks: an outdoor tank that was 10 feet (3.0 m) deep and held 2.5 million liters of water; and a smaller dive tank that was 16 feet (4.9 m) deep and held 1.2 million liters or water. The outdoor tank was covered by a retractable roof that Bayona and Faura requested, based on a similar set-up that they used on the film The Impossible (2012). Several diggers were used to create waves in the tank, which was big enough that some shots required no or minimal additions from the visual effects team. The raft was controlled by a gimbal to prevent it from drifting during filming. Clark and Vickers were often on the raft in the middle of the tank for multiple takes. The crew would send food to them on a boat between some takes.^{: 4:04–24:22} Some of the scenes were filmed at night, for which Clark and Vickers kept warm during filming breaks in a jacuzzi on set. The storm sequence has 195 shots and took more than three weeks to film across both water tanks. The sequence where the characters are attacked by a sea monster was mostly filmed in the smaller dive tank. The final scene of the episode, in which Galadriel and Halbrand are found by a Númenórean ship and the shadow of a sailor is cast on their raft, is a direct reference to Lawrence of Arabia.

The showrunners initially intended to film some Khazad-dûm scenes in the Waitomo Caves, but this proved to be impractical. Exteriors for Khazad-dûm were filmed on location, and on a set that was built on the backlot at Kumeu Film Studios. A lot of the Dwarvish sets were built twice at different scales for filming with Dwarf and Elf characters. Other techniques were also used to make the Dwarf actors appear smaller than the rest of the cast, including oversized props and prosthetics, and actors looking over the heads of their scene partners. Producer Ron Ames said they tried to have the cast members looking at each other whenever possible to prioritize the performances. Executive producer Lindsey Weber said these technical requirements made the rock-breaking competition between Elrond and Durin one of the most complicated sequences in the season to create. It took three days to film, using repeated camera movements to capture each shot multiple times, with the different actors filmed at the correct scale. Bayona was concerned about using motion control photography to create repeated camera movements because he felt this approach created "rigid" shots that were noticeable to audiences. He asked the visual effects team if they could use hand-held cameras for motion control shots, and the team developed a system for the series that would replicate the movement of a hand-held shot. The showrunners wanted Durin and Disa to have a family but portraying Dwarvish children posed some production issues: it would be difficult to depict the children at the correct height, and the heavy prosthetics required would take too long to apply considering child actors are only allowed to work for limited hours each day. To solve these issues, Hawley suggested that the children be filmed running around wearing large Dwarvish helmets that hide their faces and most of their bodies.^{: 24:42–29:25}

Vic Armstrong was the stunt coordinator and second unit director for the season. Bayona storyboarded the complete Orc fight scene and sent his plans to Armstrong, who worked to translate those plans into practical choreography. The showrunners felt some audience members would see Orcs as "video game characters", based on their appearances in the films, and wanted the first up-close interaction with one in the series to disprove this by showing that Orcs are scary and difficult to kill. They were inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film Torn Curtain (1966) which features an extended fight scene where two characters struggle to kill a man in a kitchen. McKay explained: "They're stabbing him, they're shoving his head in the oven, and it just goes on and on and on. We were like, what if that was an Orc? And instead of Paul Newman, it's a mom and her kid?" The scene is around two minutes long and was filmed over two weeks. Supervising movement coach Lara Fischel-Chisholm worked with Mennis to create unpredictable movements for the Orc.

Visual effects

Visual effects for the episode were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Method Studios, Rodeo FX, Rising Sun Pictures, Cause and FX, Atomic Arts, and Cantina Creative. The different vendors were overseen by visual effects supervisor Jason Smith. Rodeo handled much of the Harfoot storyline, including environment augmentation, scale work, and fire and magic effects. They added digital movements to the snails that Nori and the Stranger eat, as the on-set props were made of chocolate and candy.^{: 16:37–19:03} In addition to working on the Khazad-dûm environment, Wētā FX also enhanced the prosthetics that were used for the Orc. Smith explained that they made the arms look thinner to give him a "creepier feel", and adjusted the lips and tongue to make it look like the tongue is "too big for the mouth and is infected with a black, hairy growth... you can see the creature gagging on its own tongue." Rising Sun worked on the rock-breaking sequence, and Cantina Creative created transitions between locations using a map of Tolkien's world.

ILM worked on the ocean sequences, combining footage from the water tanks with aerial photography from New Zealand's coastline and oceans that Smith had captured at the start of production. The company also provided additional water effects and waves that could not be captured in the tanks, due to their size or because of actor safety, creating "terrifying and violently strong" waves. Ames said the result was "50/50" in terms of how much water in the shots was practical versus digital. Smith felt the sequences were successful because of ILM's experienced artists and existing tools for water simulations; they developed an "ocean machine" that could generate a specific ocean and sky based on the requirements of each scene. The company also created the sea monster that attacks the characters in the episode, which is called "The Worm". The producers felt that was what Tolkien would have called it.^: 26 They went through 200 concepts for the creature to explore different ideas for it based on Tolkien's writings. The final design is based on a clay model by concept artist Simon Lee and resembles an eel with the mouth of an anglerfish. Smith highlighted the "pointy, dangerous" fins and a "bony protuberance at the front" that was inspired by dinosaurs. The visual effects team gave the Worm's movements the aggression of a shark.^: 26 Smith praised the complex model that ILM created for the creature despite it only being partially seen in the episode. He said there was potential for it to be seen more in future seasons.

Music

Composer Bear McCreary began work in July 2021, and started by composing the main themes for the series. He wrote an "anthem" for each culture and then created individual character themes that relate to their culture's music in different ways. The second episode's score introduces several of these: a theme for Khazad-dûm which represents Dwarven culture and King Durin III, plus a separate theme for Prince Durin IV; and a theme for the Stranger. Halbrand is represented by the Southlands theme from the first episode. A chord progression from "Where the Shadows Lie", the theme that represents the Rings of Power and related elements in the series, is heard when Durin IV and his father discuss their new discovery. McCreary spent most of a week composing the music for the action sequence where the characters on the raft are attacked by the Worm.

A soundtrack album featuring McCreary's score for the episode was released digitally on the streaming service Amazon Music on September 1, 2022. McCreary said the album contained "virtually every second of score" from the episode. It was added to other music streaming services after the full first season was released. A CD featuring the music from the episode is included in a limited edition box set collection of the first season's music from Mondo, Amazon Music, and McCreary's label Sparks and Shadows. The box set was released on April 26, 2024, and includes a journal written by McCreary which details the creation of the episode's score.

All music is composed by Bear McCreary:.

Season One, Episode Two: Adrift – Amazon Original Series Soundtrack

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Carrying a Giant"	6:27
2.	"Celebrimbor's Ambition"	3:50
3.	"Into Khazad-dûm"	6:07
4.	"Offering Snails"	4:21
5.	"Adrift"	4:28
6.	"Durin and His Family"	3:50
7.	"On the Raft"	5:37
8.	"From Under the Floorboards"	7:17
9.	"Constellation of Fireflies"	5:10
10.	"Bloodthirst"	2:10
Total length:		49:17

Release

"Adrift" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on September 1, 2022. It was released at the same time around the world, in more than 240 countries and territories. For two weeks leading up to the premiere of the second season on August 29, 2024, the episode was made available for free on the streaming service Samsung TV Plus in the US, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Reception

Viewership

Amazon announced that The Rings of Power had been watched by 25 million viewers globally in the first 24 hours that the first two episodes were available on Prime Video. The company stated that this was the biggest premiere ever for the service. It did not specify how much of an episode a user needed to watch to count as a viewer. Analytics company Samba TV, which gathers viewership data from certain smart TVs and content providers, reported that 1.3 million US households watched the second episode within four days of its release. Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, calculated that for the week ending September 4, three days after the episode's debut, it was the second-highest original streaming series for US viewership. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on US television screens, estimated that The Rings of Power was watched for 1.25 billion minutes during its first four days. This is around 12.6 million viewers, the most for any streaming series or film for the week ending September 4.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes calculated that 86% of 151 critics reviews were positive and the average rating for the episode was 7.4 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "'Adrift' belies its title and gives The Rings of Power some narrative shape, propelling its adventures forward in intriguing directions while treating fans to a tour of Khazad-dûm in all its glory." Multiple publications found that the first two episodes received generally positive reviews, with particular praise going to the visuals and production value. Some critics were skeptical whether the storytelling and slow pacing justified this.

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter said the series' story "starts to actually move along" in the episode and he thought the character groupings and relationships worked much better than in the first. Writing for RogerEbert.com, Clint Worthington similarly said the episode "picks things up considerably" after the slower-paced first episode, and appreciated spending more time with the Dwarves and Harfoots. He was also positive about the performances of Aramayo and Clark. Mae Abdulbaki of Screen Rant said the episode was stronger than the slow-paced first episode, adding dimension to the characters and tension to the conflicts. Dave Nemetz at TVLine graded the first two episodes an 'A-'. He said the second episode was better than the first and expanded on the relationships that were established in the premiere. For IGN, Alex Stedman said the episode was a 9 out of 10, higher than the first episode due to the increased focus on characters and story over exposition and world-building. She particularly highlighted the introduction of the Dwarves and the well-established relationships between Elrond, Durin, and Disa, as well as the episode's humor which Stedman felt was inline with previous Lord of the Rings projects. Andy Welch of The Guardian was excited by the series' start and enjoyed the pacing of the second episode more than the first. Welch said the episode benefited from the inclusion of the Dwarves, particularly enjoying the relationship between Durin and Disa. Alex Welch at Inverse was less positive about the episode, saying the disparate storylines made it feel "frustratingly unwieldy". He praised the performances of Clark and Arthur, and thought the series should focus more on the Dwarves than on the Harfoot storyline moving forward.

Lacy Baugher Milas of Paste scored the first two episodes 8.6 out of 10. She thought they did a good job of introducing the series' many characters and were confident in their storytelling approach. Juliette Harrisson at Den of Geek gave the first two episodes four out of five stars. She praised the costume and production design, visual effects, and acting, but said the drawback of the episodes was their focus on set-up and world-building. She thought the pacing of the second episode was faster than the first and highlighted the increased action with the Worm and Orc sequences. Welch of The Guardian praised the series' visuals, positively comparing them to the Jackson's films and those of Marvel Studios. Worthington said the first two episodes were gorgeous but thought the showrunners were trying to "have their cake and eat it too" by distancing the series from Jackson's films while still trying to make it visually consistent with them. He compared the "well-conceptualized" Orc sequence to the Evil Dead franchise. Abdulbaki of Screen Rant praised the scope, visuals, and McCreary's score, and specifically highlighted Bayona's work on the tunnel chase and kitchen action sequences. Nemetz highlighted the visuals, McCreary's score, and the action sequences with the Worm and the Orc. Keith Phipps, writing for Vulture, gave the episode four out of five stars and called it a strong outing with less exposition than the first episode and more momentum. He praised the action sequence with the Orc for making the creature scary in a one-on-one scene compared to the large number seen in Jackson's films. The Hollywood Reporter's Fienberg credited Bayona with bringing the suspenseful directing style of his films to the episode's action sequences.

Accolades

Accolades received by the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power episode "Adrift"

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Visual Effects Society Awards	February 15, 2023	Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project	James Ogle, Péter Bujdosó, Lon Krung, and Shweta Bhatnagar (for Khazad-dûm)	Nominated
		Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project	Dean Clarke, Oliver Gee, Eliot Naimie, and Mark Robson (for Middle-earth Storm)	Nominated

Companion media

An episode of the official aftershow Deadline's Inside the Ring: LOTR: The Rings of Power for "Adrift" was released on September 3, 2022. Hosted by Deadline Hollywood's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro, it features exclusive "footage and insights" for the episode, plus interviews with cast members Nomvette, Arthur, Kavenagh, Richards, Weyman, Zwangobani, and Aramayo, as well as executive producers McKay, Payne, and Weber. On October 14, The Official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Podcast was released on Amazon Music. Hosted by actress Felicia Day, the second episode is dedicated to "Adrift" and features Kavenagh, Payne, and McKay. On November 21, a bonus segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the episode was added to Prime Video's X-Ray feature as part of a series titled "The Making of The Rings of Power".

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External links

• "Adrift" at IMDb