The Rings of Power – Episodes 1-3 Review

Listen, I know it will ultimately result in death and destruction throughout Middle Earth, but you really can see how tempting Sauron’s pitch to Celebrimbor was, right? Especially if one doesn’t know one is currently part of an epic saga entitled The Lord of the Rings where your actions spark an epic conflict. All I’m saying is that I can certainly understand how our easily swayed Elven craftsman was convinced that it would be in his best interests if he listened to the mysterious and very powerful stranger – the one he was warned previously not to give the time of day to should he show himself once more by Galadriel (who is dealing with her own issues at the moment, even if she’s so far been pretty right on the money in terms of what actions need to happen immediately in a last ditch effort to save Middle Earth). Even knowing what’s going to come about as a result of the rings he’s about to forge, you can understand the temptation.

We’re back for season two of The Rings of Power and while – so far – the plot is moving at a faster clip (yes, there are still weak points in the storytelling, but the promise of what’s to come there means we can stomach through them to see what’s on the other side a bit more easily), helped along now that we know nearly all the key players on the board for the coming battles, political intrigue, and revelations to come. That being said, the central issue present in season one is still present in these initial three episodes – something I spoke a bit about in my overall season review from earlier this week – anyone who has read or watched The Lord of the Rings (which, I suspect, is the vast majority of the show’s audience) knows the basics about where this story is going. They know what’s going to happen with Sauron, Galadriel, Elrond, Isildur, and the Dwarves. They know those rings are going to be a problem – and they know that Sauron is going to secretly forge the One Ring before this story is through. So, that creates a lack of stakes for several of our key characters – especially when you know that the villain will, eventually, survive to haunt Mordor as a giant eye until some Hobbits find their way to Mount Doom in the future.

But that being said, I was pretty impressed with this initial set of three episodes (although I’m not entirely sue why Prime Video opted to burn three of its eight episodes in one fell swoop). The story is carved up into four central story arcs at this stage of things:

1. The Harfoots and the Wizards
2. The Elves, Dwarves, and Sauron
3. Arondir, Theo, and Isildur
4. Numenor

Some are much more intriguing than others. The Theo-Arondir piece of the puzzle remains an absolute slog, largely because the story just isn’t there to support the characters when set against some of the more spectacular elements of the story being told. And with Bronwyn dead (Nazanin Boniadi opted to part ways with the series following season one, necessitating the death of the character once the series opted not to recast the role), the whole Arwen-Aragon/epic romance element of the tale is gone, making it even less interesting of a story. Theo, as a character, is one-note and dull. Arondir is incredibly boring and lacks any of the intrigue of the rest of the show’s Elven characters. I’m assuming the pair will end up somehow intersecting with other characters down the line (at least Theo got kidnapped so maybe he’ll get more interesting?) but as of right now, we could easily excise this entire storyline and be fine. Heck, Isildur could have stumbled across any group of Men and moved his arc forward.

Numenor is setting up something bigger than what we’ve seen thus far. Political intrigue is interesting (and, if you know the way Numenor’s story goes, this part of that tale is interesting to see play out), so long as the writers make clear who everyone is and just how they fit into the fight for the throne. Thus far, the who’s who is a bit muddied and it’s not particularly clear who fits in where with the struggle to come (aside from those we got to know last season – I’m assuming the major fight will be between Pharazon and Miriel for the throne and to determine the future of Numenor in the face of the growing darkness.

The Harfoot side of things is much more interesting now that we’ve got Ciran Hinds in play as a yet-unnamed member of the Istari (Wizards). He looks a heck of a lot like Saruman from the films, but I suspect we will have to wait a bit to find out just which Wizard he is. Speaking of Wizards, The Stranger remains without a name, but our other mysterious Wizard is trying to capture him, so he’s got to be powerful. So, who knows if we’ve got Saruman here, but I’m much more invested in this story now that we’ve seen there are other Wizards around and we might find out something new about this impressive race.

Finally, the bulk of the key story points were housed within the most interesting wing of the story thus far, taking us through the acceptance of the Elf rings (wherein Elrond tried and failed to get his fellow Elves to release the dangerous and powerful rings to the ether), the corruption of Celebrimbor (far and away the best sequence of the season thus far – what an interesting arc and what a terrifying display of Sauron’s powers and the malleability of mortals), and the seduction of the Dwarves to aid in the forging. I will say, Prince Durin might just be my favorite character in the series – smart, calculating, and able to see through bullshit when many other aren’t.

The Rings of Power still has issues it needs to iron out in the coming weeks – the storytelling balance is still very uneven (we didn’t even get to Numenor until episode three!), but that’s what happens when the real thrust of the story (the forging of the Rings and the rise of Sauron) takes place in a single location and only includes certain characters at this phase of the tale. I assume we’ll see some greater interconnectivity as things continue (Adar is still out there, likely mad that his released prisoner never returned from the Elves as promised – wonder what he’s going to do about that), so I have hope things will even out in time. But this was a much stronger set of episodes than we had in season one on the whole, and I’m interested to see just where things go from here.