Rings of Power’ Season 1 Episode 6 Recap

Few shortcuts to horror are as good as depictions of eye injuries, a film device that goes back to the opening moments of Un Chien Andalou (and probably before). Want to make audiences squirm? Threaten a character’s eye with something sharp. This episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power features an excruciating (but effective) sequence that finds Arondir locked in battle with an orc who brings his blade this close to the elf hero’s eye (and loses his own in the process). Veteran TV director Charlotte Brändström — who’s responsible for quite a few memorable images in this outing — stages it for maximum squickiness, but much of the episode is staged that way, if less…