The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Non-Spoiler Review
Season two of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ is the latest installment of the Amazon Prime Video series. It continues the story that the first season started, which is showing Sauron’s ascent and him forging the Rings of Power. While the first season wasn’t great, especially with the glacial pacing, the second expands its scope and allows the fantastical story to be told at a mostly faster pace, while maintaining the strong visual elements that the expensive show is known for.
One thing that was consistently good with the first season, and remains so here, are the visuals. Stunning landscapes can be seen, rich in detail. This goes for the cities the season spends time in, Eregion and Khazad-dûm. This is unsurprising, as Amazon has spent hundreds of millions on this season alone, but it’s praiseworthy all the same. Costumes are similarly an area where it’s clear a large amount of money has been spent. They’re well designed and fit the high-fantasy feel.
Music is one area that consistently fails. The same tracks are used across the season to denote impending evil, and that’s largely it. There’s nothing like the music found in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy that might cause the audience to be roused by excitement or any positiive emotion. It’s also drowned out by most of what’s happening onscreen, making it difficult to make out.
Two standout performances from the latest season have got to be Charlie Vickers as Sauron and Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor. Vickers gets to show off a more manipulative side to Sauron, one who uses words and people’s own desires so he can get what he wants from them. Edwards gives a multifaceted performance as the best elfsmith known to their kind, but also as an overambitious man blinded to the consequences his actions could bring. The rest of the cast do well too, but these two stand above the rest.
There was a lot of criticism of the first season of ‘Rings of Power’ that it departed too far from the novels that were supposed to be adapting, with events been switched, and major new characters invented that weren’t there in the past. Season two isn’t anymore faithful to the events audiences know either (though those familiar with the events will be at an advantage). If taken on its own terms and divorced from Tolkien’s books, ‘Rings of Power’ season two is more enjoyable.
The showrunners do show some adherence to Tolkien’s themes as he developed them, particularly the danger of ambition and resisting temptation, which will hopefully help to bridge the divide for those annoyed that books that contained the inspiration for the show are being thrown out of the window.
The main plotline of ‘Rings of Power’ – that is, Sauron’s desire to make more rings – gets far more attention than the first season, and it’s given dramatic weight throughout, even though audiences know what must happen. It’s also a plotline that carries real momentum with it, making each episode feel as though it’s making significant and confident strides towards a greater, planned goal. The scope of this plot encompasses other areas of Middle-earth, showing the spread of Sauron’s influence. It’s operatic, and greatly enjoyable.
It’s the plots that aren’t tied in that still struggle with some pacing issues, with nothing significant happening for a long time, and then with important bits happening off-screen or via a distorted vision. There’s also an attempt to jab in Easter Eggs, which doesn’t fit in the world of Middle-earth. It’s in these areas where the writers try to be profound or delve into fan service, and they unfortunately miss the mark. Linking in with this, the dialogue doesn’t capture Tolkien’s insight, and can be spotty. Characters sometimes come across as the there aren’t aware of their own situation, nevermind that of others. Hopefully this is something that will be improved on in future seasons.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ season 2 makes some competent strides forward with its more impressive main plot, leaning into a darker overall tone for Middle-earth. However, it still stumbles with the unwieldy amount of charactersand sideplots it’s trying to serve, and some of the secondary elements to the show like music are in need of a major overhaul. It’s something that fans of fantasy will no doubt enjoy, but those who want the show to be faithful to Tolkien will consistently be disappointed at each turn.
