REVIEW: ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Premiere Sets A Solid Foundation

Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 picks up immediately after Season 1, well, mostly. The premiere episode takes time to look backward to show you how Sauron (Charlie Vickers) came to meet Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), and in that way, we see his formlessness and power. He can be what people need him to be, which is the danger that hangs over Season 2. The audience must watch as Sauron convinces Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to make seven rings for the Dwarven Kings, nine for the Kings of Men, and finally, the One Ring with the name Annatar as his guise.

As much as The Rings of Power Season 2 begins to add more depth to characters like Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) in Episode 3 and the Stranger and his Hardfoot companions in Episode 2, the reality is that the Rings of Power Season 2 premiere is a set-up. And one that leaves Númenor as a power struggle reaching fruition without offering much commentary around it. Together, each episode moves characters like pieces on a chessboard, with the audience well aware that the War of the Ring is the eventuality to which everything moves.

This isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it leaves the characters mentioned at the start of this paragraph in a liminal space. Their stories matter to the pockets contained within the series, but they haven’t become a part of something larger, just yes. A shame, given that they also have the potential to be as compelling as the elves.

Where The Rings of Power Season 2 excels is, once again, in the use of on-location shoots that capture the spectacular beauty of natural landscapes that Peter Jackson made essential to depicting Middle Earth. The world is vibrant with lore and life or ominous in its grayscale tones. Once again, each set looks and feels like something you can walk into, a living, breathing world around the actors that allows the magic of Middle Earth to continue to shine.

The most exciting development of this premiere is that Adar has been thrust into the center of the story even more so, an antagonist for our primary antagonist. Played by Joseph Mawle, his impact ripples as Sauron’s does across the story thus far. Adar’s presence is felt across the opening three episodes of The Rings of Power Season 2, and that bolsters his impact, even when he’s not on screen.

But still, the central focus of the season remains Galadriel and Elrond as a pair revolving around each other on opposite sides of the choice to accept Vilya, Nenya, and Narya. But it’s not just them. It’s the elves as a whole who take the spotlight. Celebrimbor becomes more important as Annatar bends his ear, his vanity and pride on full display to be manipulated and wielded.

While the Kings of Men took central stage in The Lord of the Rings as malleable rulers driven toward power, The Rings of Power Season 2 examines how the elves are as vulnerable to the rings as well. Their desperation to remain in Middle Earth and maintain the light of the Eldar begins noble. But as we see with Celebrimbor, pride in one’s craft and self is not unique to men.

I would be remiss not to mention Círdan, played by Ben Daniels. Fresh off his take as Santiago in Interview With The Vampire Season 2, Daniels plays Círdan with charisma and elusiveness, making him the most intriguing addition this season. Círdan comes to wear Narya. Trusted and wise, Elrond’s connection to him ultimately makes him remain in the Gray Havens despite his mistrust of the Rings.

As for her part, Morfydd Clark as Galadriel is once again the beating heart of the series. Only now, she has to confront the fact that she was betrayed. She has to come to terms with being manipulated by Sauron, face her own weakness as the ring Nenya calls to her, and ultimately square her fears. But with the Eldar restored, she has to trust King Gil-galad’s decision and her part in making it. All while Elrond wrestles to keep Sauron’s influence from the Sindar.

Durin IV and Princess Disa are also essential to The Rings of Power Season 2. With the seven Dwarven Rings next to be created, the audience has to feel the same desperation in Khazad-dûm that they saw with the Elves in the Gray Havens. At the end of Season 1, the sun shafts closed, disconnecting the Dwarves from the mountains. As we see this season, this affected their food supply and drove both the King and the people in peril. Durin has to put aside his stubbornness and do what’s best for his people.

In the first season, Durin and Disa are some of the most endearing characters of the series. Their dedication to their people and each other makes them stand out together, and their relationship captures the complexities of love and, more importantly, how to push the one closest to you to do what you believe is right. For better or worse, that comes from that decision.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is reliving some of the same episodes from Season 1 in this three-episode premiere. While Episode 1 is the strongest, we’re still in the set-up phase by the time we reach the third. While three episodes to get going are welcome in television, the eight-episode order means that there will be just over half the season that isn’t purely set up.

This isn’t to say that the content of the episodes is bad. The strength of the acting and focus on narrative development makes me yearn for more. But the reality of such a short season and spreading the short time amongst six to seven different story beats across the ensemble makes the series buckle. With a scattershot of a focus, I want to see everything converge and, in doing so, deliver on the solid narrative I know the showrunners can pull off. Right now, though, it continues to feel like many different stories are loosely tethered together.

While much of this is due to the pacing, the truth is that Tolkien’s work, his world, when explored in a way that honors him, also maintains his largest flaw: the inability to be brief in his writing. I have yet to believe anything around Middle Earth can be condensed into hour-long pieces, and that continues here. That said, The Rings of Power Season 2 has the potential to excel.

In my review of the first season, I pointed out that the series made more sense watching as a whole season than it did to be released episodically. That remains true with its sophomore season as well. While I had the chance to review the entire season at this point, I felt it best to review the series as audiences would watch it.

The Rings of Power Season 2 benefits from the audience’s tension, knowing that the War of the Ring is on the horizon. Knowing where the series will end makes every choice carry a bit more weight as the foreshadowing deepens. This also gives the original creations of the series their weight in representing different Tolkien themes without making the audience feel as if nothing new is to be seen in the series. The entire cast captures their character with depth and beauty, even making my frustration with short elven hair fall to the wayside for Elrond.

As a whole premiere, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 may repeat some of the mistakes of the last season, but it also shows the larger draw that the series has as it heads into a deeper story with even higher stakes. A mixed bag with highs that transcend its problems, it’s easy to see the reverence for Tolkien and his world and characters. With one of the best first episodes of a series, The Rings of Power Season 2 has everything it needs to stick the landing; it just needs to stay out of the weeds.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 has its three-episode premiere on August 29, 2024, with new episodes every Thursday.