The Lord of the Rings series delivers bigger action and a less puzzle-oriented plot but also makes a few calamitous filmmaking errors.
Akhil Arora, a Film Critics Guild member and a Rotten Tomatoes-certified TV critic, who has watched all eight episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2. He has been reviewing movies and TV series since 2015 and has written for NDTV and SlashFilm.
Deep into Star Wars: The Last Jedi, shortly after defeating the Supreme Leader’s highly trained elite guards, the anti-hero Kylo Ren extends his hand out to the protagonist Rey and asks her to join him. Together, he says, they can rule the galaxy. He pushes her to confront her greatest fear and assures her that she means the world to him. On the whole, the scene is both epic and intimate. A similar moment occurs late in the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as the series’ two most central forces clash in a swordfight. Sauron (Charlie Vickers) reiterates his desire to make Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) the queen of all Middle-earth. There’s nothing he wants more—and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to have her by his side.
The Rings of Power season 2 is riddled with bad dialogue
Unfortunately, all that good build-up is spoiled moments later. “The free peoples of Middle-earth will always resist you,” Galadriel utters in response, in what must be the most generic and impersonal line of dialogue to ever exist. It was such a terrible letdown that it had me furiously screaming at my television. Dialogue is at the heart of all performing arts—be it film, radio or theatre—and helps convey a character’s emotions and feelings. It must be about what they are going through. Instead, the lines in The Rings of Power season 2 are usually too expository, high-level or plot-driven.
Even when The Lord of the Rings series makes room for a vulnerable conversation, the writing is so dispassionate and unhuman that it’s hard to feel and relate to the character’s struggles. The moments feel cold, distant and lifeless. Most scenes are unable to make you connect or draw you into the hearts and minds of those who inhabit this version of Middle-earth. The Rings of Power season 2—developed by creators, head writers and showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay—is riddled with bad dialogue. And that frequently ends up dooming it.
To add to the misery, the writing’s problems aren’t limited to actors’ lines. The first three episodes are pure torture, providing so little of note that I found myself looking at birds outside my window. The Lord of the Rings series improves in episode 4, only for a middling fifth episode to slam the brakes and buy time for the season’s endgame. Episode 7 is no doubt the highlight of The Rings of Power season 2, though its ambition outmatches the execution. But once you put the eight episodes all together, you can’t help but feel that it’s a movie that has been stretched to fit eight hours of TV.
Season 2 finds Sauron trying to make more Rings of Power
With Sauron’s truth revealed, The Rings of Power season 2 opens with the scenes season 1 had been hiding from us. It spends the first 20 minutes telling us how Sauron survived the attempt on his life and what he had been up to before we met him as Halbrand on that rickety raft in season 1. But The Lord of the Rings series struggles to give us a reason to be interested in its proceedings. What exactly are we to glean from this unasked-for backstory? The Amazon Prime Video series fails repeatedly at the basics. Momentum is frequently an issue, with Sauron spending half an episode at the entrance to a kingdom because he wishes to see Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards).
The elven smith is pretty central to The Rings of Power season 2. Sauron seeks him out for he needs his help to fashion more rings beyond the three they made to help the elves in season 1. Seven for the dwarves and nine for men, you might recall, as The Lord of the Rings lore goes. And though Galadriel told Celebrimbor to avoid Halbrand, a big part of him wants the chance to showcase the decades he’s spent honing his craft and create something that history would remember him by. Sauron uses that to deceive and manipulate Celebrimbor by offering him what he seeks. Plus, it helps that Celebrimbor is unaware that Halbrand is Sauron.
New troubles across Middle-earth in The Rings of Power season 2
Over in Lindon, Galadriel and Elrond (Robert Aramayo) inform their High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) of Halbrand’s identity and tell him about the three rings. Gil-galad fears they must stay to help the people of Middle-earth, which is a problem since their power is fading. Could the rings put a stop to that? Elrond believes they may be corrupted, so he refuses to hand them over and seeks out another elf to destroy them. The first episode finds Galadriel chasing after the rings—a thoroughly mediocre beginning. In fact, The Rings of Power season 2 premiere moves so slowly that it bores you to death. I can’t recall a single scene that held my attention, where the characters discussed something that gripped me. It just all washes over you.
In Khazad-dûm, the dwarves have troubles of their own after an earthquake—a consequence of Mount Doom’s eruption—traps them in darkness. Soon after, they receive an invite from Celebrimbor and Sauron, who’s now pretending to be an elven smith apprentice named Annatar. The solution to all dwarven problems? Rings, what else. Everything beyond is too spoiler-heavy to mention but suffice it to say that The Rings of Power season 2’s Khazad-dûm portion is devoted to the rift that opened up between King Durin (Peter Mullan) and his son, Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), in season 1.
The remaining two storylines of the second season of The Lord of the Rings series—in Rhûn and across the sea in Númenor—are independent and have no connection to the rest of the show’s events. In Númenor, following the death of the old king and amid unrest over Queen Regent Miriel’s (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) decisions, her advisor Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) makes a grab for power. Families are split, with the naval captain Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and his daughter Eärien (Ema Horvath) on opposite sides.
Far away in the desert, the wizard Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh) the Harfoot are lost on their adventure, until Nori’s best friend Poppy (Megan Richards) comes to their aid. A new unnamed Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds) is keeping tabs on them. Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), a wizened mysterious fellow who claims he’s been around forever, also lends his support as The Stranger searches for his purpose. But it all progresses quite slowly, with this tale greatly reduced in scope versus what’s happening elsewhere. (Tom’s introductory scene is one of the highlights of The Rings of Power season 2. More so because everything leading up to it is unmemorable.)
The Rings of Power season 2 delivers an episode-long battle
The real highlight for many, though, will be the 67-minute penultimate chapter—directed by Charlotte Brändström—that depicts an episode-long siege of an elven kingdom. Think of it as The Rings of Power equivalent of Game of Thrones’ “The Watchers on the Wall” (where the wildlings attempt to breach Castle Black) meets “Battle of the Bastards” (where two armies meet in the open). On top of that, throw in a bunch of massive catapults. I respect the ambition, but the siege doesn’t feel as epic as it ought to. For one, a variety of dialogue scenes are spliced in that serve to undercut the momentum. But the bigger issue is that it lacks flow. There is a larger narrative at play, but the scenes don’t build on each other in a satisfying fashion.
While the writing is usually the bigger culprit across The Rings of Power season 2, the issue partly lies with the direction as well. Brändström, who is listed as the solo director on three episodes (one, seven and eight) and one of the two directors on episodes two and three, must shoulder much of the blame. At times, moments are forced, or things are rushed. The Lord of the Rings series doesn’t have the patience to build to something. The poor writing gets in the way of scene construction. In places, a thrilling scene is cut short by exposition. It’s almost as if Payne and McKay can’t imagine a scene that doesn’t end up explaining something. Why must you tell and inform in every scene?
Few positives but, overall, a stodged mess
That inability to earn its moments and the failure to develop them hurts The Rings of Power season 2. If you can’t make me feel or connect with your characters, why would I be interested in the events that unfold? It doesn’t help that The Lord of the Rings series is extraordinarily self-serious. There’s little to no humour. This is where Game of Thrones succeeded and, surprisingly, most fantasy shows that have followed in its wake fail to heed that precious facet. The Rings of Power season 2 does attempt to course correct in another department. In season 1, the journey didn’t matter, and people simply went from point A to point B. Season 2 tries to introduce adventures, but they are usually half-baked or limited by their imagination.
If there’s one thread you can successfully trace across the season, it’s corruption. The rings are corrupting some, like with King Durin. Elsewhere, like in Númenor, corruption stems from a hunger for power. And as for Celebrimbor, his corruption is borne out of the influence of Sauron and the desire to make a name for himself. But at the same time, The Rings of Power season 2 seems more interested in invoking the already famous. In addition to the likes of Isildur and other Lord of the Rings film trilogy characters hanging about, season 2 brings in more. Not to forget, all the good work is doomed by the poorest imaginable dialogue. In the most vital moments, no one talks like a person—it’s like reading a staid philosophy book.
More than midway into the second season, Sauron in his new elvish avatar addresses the gathered elven smiths: “I am certain that we will complete the Rings of Power. Shall we begin?” Maybe Amazon is but I’m not. The Rings of Power’s creators have welded themselves so thoroughly to their five-season pitch that they have seemingly blinded themselves to what makes for good episodic TV. Each hour must have the legs to stand on its own. As with its predecessor, The Rings of Power season 2 has enough to entertain The Lord of the Rings fans in parts. But, overall, it’s a stodged mess and staggeringly little. Unless the show revises its grand plan, I fear it might run itself into oblivion.
The first three episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 are out Thursday, August 29 on Amazon Prime Video worldwide. A new episode drops weekly every Thursday until October 3.
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