The Rings of Power, the most expensive cinematic product ever concocted, continues to see a drop in viewership.

Based loosely on the appendices at the end of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the show follows several characters, including the deceptive Sauron, the Elves Galadriel and Elrond, a couple of proto-Hobbits called the Harfoots, a potential Gandalf known as the Stranger, a dwarf kingdom, and….I’m losing count. The show has a lot of issues, as I’ve written specifically here at The American Spectator, but it tries so hard to engage with multiple narrative threads that as a viewer, it was hard to feel interested in any of them; furthermore, these narratives never seem to intertwine or even belong to the same world.

A helpful video review from the YouTube channel “The Art of Storytelling” makes an odd but provocative claim about the Amazon dud: This adaptation of the most successful fantasy ever invented isn’t, in the end, fantasy at all.

The commentator notes how so much of The Lord of the Rings is compelling because, while we generally know where the characters come from, there is still a strong element of mystery to them. Take Gandalf, for example. Or even Sauron. These characters are mythic because they’re mysterious. The Rings of Power, however, is all about going back before the War of the Ring and solving all the back stories on the assumption that it will enrich our appreciation of Tolkien’s universe. Somehow, though, it has the opposite effect. Planting easter eggs about characters we already know about doesn’t deepen our understanding of them. It cheapens the characters, strips off the shroud of mystery and intrigue, and leaves us with a world that tries to explain everything (albeit poorly) so it no longer feels other-worldly or interesting.

I thought this was an interesting take on the flaws of the show. The Rings of Power takes a host of beloved characters and limits their mythic quality that is so evident in Tolkien’s writing.