Rings of Power Season 2 Review
The Rings of Power is back, and there is a lot to go over. From epic battles to intimate deception, this show delivers on a lot, but there is so much let down.
The three Elven rings have been crafted and Sauron moves to make rings for the Dwarves and Men on Middle Earth. But Galadriel won’t stop until this dark evil is defeated once and for all.
Before this review begins in its entirety, there should be a few acknowledgements. The first being that there is a lot of lore in the world of Middle Earth that will not be covered in its entirety in this review, and if you want to learn more without reading all the books, the Fandom page dedicated to Lord of the Rings and the YouTube channel The Nerd of the Rings are both great resources to help you learn more. Also, there will be spoilers riddled throughout this review, so read on with caution.
An unfortunate thing will happen whenever new Lord of the Rings media is made. It will automatically be compared to Peter Jackson’s trilogy that he made in the early 2000s. The marvel that those movies are and the care that went into making them may never be touched again. It’s a sad thing to recognize, but it’s also maybe not the fairest thing to compare everything to that trilogy.
In spite of its comparisons, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season two is undeniably unique. Its visual elements are outstanding. Many times in today’s movie and TV world, VFX and set designs are greatly overlooked and that’s why there are movies that look the way Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or some of The Mandalorian season three looked. But that didn’t happen here. Much of the set design, especially in large cities like Eregion and Lindon, look spectacular in all of their Elven glory.
Part of making those cities look so realistic makes the battle sequences so much more convincing. Lord of the Rings is known for its epic battle sequences, so much so that when they're on Netflix, part of the reason Netflix says the movies are rated PG-13 is because of epic battle sequences. Rings of Power definitely continues that tradition. Mainly in the last few episodes, but sprinkled throughout the show, the action is outstanding. Truthfully, there is not a lot of tension because it is a prequel series in a sense, and many viewers already know the ultimate outcome.
One big change from season one to season two is the use of the Númenóreans. In season one they played a big role in trying to stop the coming of Sauron, but the show might’ve jumped the gun too much with them. Again, they were a prominent feature in the previous season, but for most of the Second Age, which is when the show takes place, Númenor is quite content not dealing with what is going on in Middle Earth. Because of that, it was nice to see Númenor in the back seat but also not be thrown out of the car.
Númenor is home to many of the greatest characters in Lord of the Rings, including Elendil and Isildur who are both featured in the show, and their descendant, Aragorn, the rightful king of Gondor. There could really be an entire show or movie series about the rise, dealings, and fall of Númenor, but the show will mainly show the latter part of their history.
Even though there were great visuals, action sequences, and the Númenóreans weren’t as impactful this season, none of those were the best part of the show. The part where this season was truly allowed to flourish was in the relationship with the master Elven smith, Celebrimbor and Annatar, The Lord of Gifts, or as most people know him, Sauron.
Celebrimbor has too much history to go over here, but he is originally deceived by Sauron because Sauron comes to him in his “fair” appearance as Annatar. There is some great writing and acting that comes from this relationship. Charles Edwards, as Celebrimbor, and Charlie Vickers, as Sauron, steal the show any time they appear on screen. It’s so easy to see the work they put in, and the care they have about the show. Without a doubt, this relationship is the pinnacle of the season. Sauron's discrete manipulation of Celebrimbor is beautifully done. There is a lot of dramatic irony in play here as the viewer is well aware that Annatar is actually Sauron.
Like all good things, even the deception has to come to an end. As the season moves on, Sauron becomes more and more impatient as Celebrimbor struggles to forge the nine rings for Men. When Sauron is fully revealed to Celebrimbor, it’s like there is nothing else going on in the world of Middle Earth. Ultimately, Sauron does kill Celebrimbor for hiding the nine rings for Men, and it is so sad to see, somewhat because there’s a chance there’s never a relationship like that shown on screen again in Middle Earth, but also because Celebrimbor was ultimately trying to do the right thing.
With the good, there must be some bad. Unfortunately that’s just how things are. The biggest problems in season two are oftentimes the fruit of seeds that were planted in season one. For example, the Rings of Power were created out of order. In the books, Sauron and Celebrimbor craft the rings of Men and Dwarves together, then Celebrimbor crafts the three Elven rings without Sauron’s help. In the show that timeline is flipped. There is also the presence of Gandalf the Grey in both seasons, which is unfortunate considering Gandalf does not arrive in Middle Earth until early in the Third Age of Middle Earth.
Then there is Galadriel, the star of the show. In the books, she is very low key and is usually just in her forest home of Lothlórien. However, in the show she wants to take Sauron head on. Things like this make it difficult to watch the show. That’s a reason why it has a 48% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. With some grace shown, Amazon does not have the rights to all Lord of the Rings content. They only have the rights to the main trilogy of books, and The Hobbit book. Amazon only has the pepperoni when it still needs the cheese, sauce, and dough for the rest of the pizza.
On top of the show not being very lore accurate, some of it simply does not make sense. This usually comes when talking about original characters that Amazon has made for the show. The character of Adar is a prime example of that. Adar hates Sauron and even kills him at one point, but there’s never a reason why. Adar also decides to invade Eregion, and his reasoning is to kill Sauron again. However, how does he know Sauron is in Eregion? No one else knows, not even Galadriel or Celebrimbor who is working directly with Sauron. Adar is also able to identify who Sauron is with no clues or real in depth interaction with the character beforehand. In the end, the epic conclusion of this season feels unnatural and forced because the viewer is left confused and wondering about who Adar is and how he knows so much.
This show also ever so slightly touches on some great things that Middle Earth has. The main thing being the Ents. Ents are trees with human features like a face, they talk, and they walk. They are primarily seen in The Two Towers book and movie and for a small amount of time in The Return of the King movie. Season two teased them a lot, but they only appeared for one episode and it was at the very end. What’s so cool about Tolkien lore is that there’s so much possibility, and when that possibility is turned into a little cameo or Easter egg, it feels like a let down.
There is one character that Amazon has done really well with, and that is Arondir. Arondir is an original character for the show, like Adar, and he seems to be a fan favorite. He is just a standard foot soldier but this show could’ve used more of him. He felt like a breath of fresh air from the high dealings of Galadriel, Elrond and Gil-Galad. With Arondir always came great action, and his relationship with Isildur was awesome to see on screen, even though it is fabricated. But with a lot of good things in this show, it’s cut short and not seen nearly enough.
With anything, there is good and there is bad. However when it comes to season two of The Rings of Power, the good and bad actually balance each other out. There are great visuals, action sequences, and good writing sprinkled in, but there are also lore inaccuracies, good cut way too short, and details simply not making any sense. Because of that, The Rings of Power season two gets a 50/100.
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