The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power: Season 2 (Amazon Prime)

I feel like this series would go down better if all the episodes were dropped at once. It is far too slow-paced to be released on a weekly basis. And I LOVE the show! But the episodes are always overlong, and the ending is always unsatisfying. This would work better as a season-length binge.

Galadriel starts off the episode lacking both credibility and capital. And Elrond is spectacularly unforgiving of that. But she spends the rest of the episode building up her cache and goodwill with the Elves. Elrond saying Galadriel sacrificed herself for the Ring is not the whole truth. Because if she did, that means the Elven Rings are sinister, and secretly forged by Sauron. But the fact that she willingly gave it to Elrond without a second thought proves that is not what is going on. Been awhile since I read The Lord Of The Rings, and I only slogged through the Silmarillion once as a teenager (who was a glutton for punishment). I don't remember if the Elven Rings were corrupt or not. Galadriel giving one up so easily says they were not.

The Ents are a truly wonderous race of beings. They almost always start out antagonistic, but truly virtuous people like Arondil can talk them down and get them on their side.

Not many opinions from me about the Harfoots and Stoors and the Dark Wizard. I am in wait-and-see mode there.

I'm glad Theo sort of made up to Arondil, but I think the kid actually owed him a real apology.

I love that Estrid is busted immediately, and the show isn't gonna dick us around for episodes on end. Honestly, that would have pissed me off.

Finally, we get to Tom Bombadil and the Stranger. We are all certain the Stranger is a young(er) Gandalf, and if that is so, I feel a little uncomfortable with Bombadil being his Jedi Master. Gandalf was singularly unique among the Wizards in fighting on behalf of the races of Middle-Earth, and despite Bombadil being a jolly fellow, I got the sense he gave less than two shits about the political situation around him. Very early on in The Fellowship Of The Ring, giving the One Ring to Bombadil is seriously considered. He is the only being we've ever seen who is unaffected by it. But the reason against doing it is that Bombadil wouldn't care about it, and would easily lose track of it, or lose interest in the mission of destroying it in Mount Doom. And while that is the dominant facet of Bombadil's jolliness in the books, I don't like the show having him confound Gandalf with supposed wisdom, when ultimately Gandalf is far wiser and more righteous than Bombadil could ever hope to be.

Yes, Gandalf COULD be corrupted by the Ring like a normal person. But he actually GIVES a damn, which is why I don't like seeing a flaky dude like Bombadil being his Sage. For any other character it might have worked. Not for Gandalf though. Not remotely.

The episode starts, goes on for an hour and a few minutes, and just stops. I do believe the series would be better served to be viewed as a whole for this reason. 3 1/2 stars.

The Kemen cat is the biggest little shit ever shown in Middle-Earth. He sucks so much he belongs in Game Of Thrones. The worst thing about his sociopathic evil is it's clearly working against the King building support. I get the king is a shithead too, but he's not actually stupid, and Kemen clearly is.

We saw the alliance between Adar and Galadriel coming, didn't we? Properly built up.

I wish I believed Prince Durin when he told Muriel he would never wear one of the Rings. But I don't.

The thing that bugs me about Celebrimbor is he seems to KNOW Sauron is manipulating him. And let's him anyways. It's annoying.

I think this was a legit weak episode. I hate to say it, but once the show became ABOUT the Rings of the Power, it's become a LOT less interesting. 2 1/2 stars.

The stuff with Elendil and Miriel bothers me. Because in standing against Pharazon he never ONCE mentions his son stabbed HIS son in the back and killed him just a few days ago. Even when Earien pleads to her father to see reason, Valandil never comes up, and he was her brother! And I THINK Kemen is her husband too (although I've always had trouble keeping that straight). The most shocking moment of the previous episode isn't even recounted in the recap! What the hell kind of narrative malpractice is this?

He's a scumbag, but I kind of like Adar in spite of himself. Honestly, him wanting the Orcs to simply be let be in Mordor is reasonable. Yes, the Orcs are evil. But because the Elves have this whole thing of purging all evil from Middle-Earth, they are essentially advocating genocide for the Orcs. Adar doesn't suck because he (quite logically) is feeling out how Galadriel will react to that idea.

Galadriel can call him foolish for falling for Sauron's obvious trick, but he saw the expression on her face when he suggested letting the Orcs simply chill in Mordor. It never even crosses Galadriel's mind that this is a fair demand, and what's more, purging all evil from a given land by an act of evil (like genocide) isn't just a different name for the same thing, but it's unreasonable. Evil exists. Whether the Elves like it or not. If it isn't Orcs or Sauron, it will be something else. That is not something Galadriel and the Elves can control. I don't even believe they have the RIGHT to control that.

The scene with Prince Durin and Disa after the bats was admittedly cute, but I think it was a little TOO cute. I don't mind the show empowering the women and characters of color. But it becomes a problem when it becomes obvious that is what is going on. Interestingly enough, this is rarely a problem on this show, despite the YouTube Neckbeards' constant complaints of Wokeness. I just feel "I LOVE you," was a bit TOO broad of a laughline. I half-cheered, but I also half-cringed.

No clue what is going on with Tom Bombadil and the Stranger. Honestly, I feel like Tom is kind of being written out of character. He cares WAY too much about the fate of Middle-Earth here. His entire problem in the books is that he didn't. He was the only person alive with the strength to resist the evil of the One Ring, and if he could have been trusted enough to go to Mount Doom and destroy it himself, a TON of problems would have instantly have been solved. But Gandalf told the Elven Council the dude was unreliable in the books, and would probably become distracted and lose track of the Ring. Tom's role in this show as a Jedi Master concerned with Middle-Earth's larger fate in the fight against good and evil is out of character. Tom is a hippie who digs singing, tending to trees, and romancing Goldberry. And that's it. That's probably why Peter Jackson felt comfortable skipping him. I was excited to hear he was gonna show up on this show, but they shouldn't be making him a bigger deal than he actually was.

Poppy and Nobody are kind of cute. First Hobbit kiss in screen history. Weird.

I don't know. I'm not as on-board this season as I was the first. Which is a bit ironic because people who panned the first have kind of warmed up to this. I wonder why I always tend to have different views about things like this than other fans. 3 stars.

I think this is a bit of a return to form for the series. I think the season has been too dark for its own good, and this episode remembered to find the light, as bad as things got.

The Ballad Of Damrod was a pretty baller anthem to play over the end credits. Purists will go into conniptions.

Speaking of which, Elrond and Galadriel's kiss is the biggest moment of the episode. And for as sweet and well-intentioned it was, it will be the most controversial thing about the episode.

Adar is one of my current favorite fictional villains. He loves the Orcs and they love him. He has to put that love up against doing what needs to be done to win. The thing that impresses me most about Adar as a villain is that despite him fighting for the wrong side, he's not ENTIRELY wrong. I see his point, and even agree with it to an extent. Not a ton of nuance on that level in the Tolkien writings. Which is why I like it so much.

Celebrimbor might go down as Middle-Earth's biggest sap... Except he's trying to fix the mistake. That makes me want to root for him, as foolish as he's been.

I love that the Dwarves immediately switch to Prince Durin's side. Him being unable to bring in the cavalry for Elrond must have killed him. For the record, the surety in which Elrond repeatedly insisted "Durin will come," leads me to believe, chances are, he's right. We'll see. It's a whole mess in Middle-Earth.

I love that Rian is full of arrows and Takes The Freaking Shot as she's dying. SO cool.

Ordinarily, I would express amazement at what can now be done on a TV budget, but for THIS show? It ain't on no GD TV budget. They are playing with some REAL money here and can make big budget feature film quality battle scenes Game Of Thrones could only dream of. It's amazing.

My favorite episode so far this season. 5 stars.

That was a pretty great finale. I loved Adar and how smart and reasonable he was. Which is why he had to die. There was no other narrative choice.

Of course, the Stranger is Gandalf, but I have to say the thing with Tom Bombadil being a test was not something I predicted. Maybe that seemed evident to you, but I might have gotten there quicker if I actually liked or respected the character. I've always seen him as a bit of a fool, which is why I didn't predict something so predictable.

Learning Gandalf is a shortened version of the Hobbits naming him "Grand Elf" is cute and all, but sort of an example of me not needing to know how the sausage is made.

I love Nori telling the Dark Wizard, yeah, she felt pity for the guy whose blade was at her neck that he just killed. The Dark Wizard is PROBABLY Saruman, which disappoints me because I don't think he should be evil at this stage of the game. Too early.

The Dwarves came late but Elrond was right last week that they would come.

The Balrog has the same design as the movie which says this show is TRYING to have some canon ties to the films at least. Not everything fits, but maybe if you squint.

Pharazon is a MUCH more evil ruler than I pictured. Him and Kemen are involved in Game Of Thrones-level atrocities.

Earien warning Elendil gives her little to no credit with me. She was the one who put Pharazon and Kemen where they were. This is her fault. Still annoyed her brother being killed by Kemen STILL isn't mentioned.

You know the book always SAID Sauron was despicable but because Tolkien made the bewildering (and frankly stupid) decision to never show him or have any scenes with him we had to take the other characters' words for it. Here, yeah, he's a turd. I hope the Orcs are happy with the shitty choice they made. It was the wrong one.

I'm glad Amazon seems to have renewed this show for the full five seasons. I want to see how it all shakes out. 4 1/2 stars.