The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season 2)

⭐ 6.5/10

I have been holding off on this review because its painful to think about.  This show is not good, but I think it improved on Season 1 in some ways. If I had no connection to this world I would think this is average, but my level investment is high enough that I will call this bad.

The show does a poor job balancing multiple storylines, since their connections are forced and uninteresting.  I feel like that's what Thrones did so well, and each episode had connective tissue across arcs, but this show feels like the writers trying to copy that structure without good dialog or compelling characters. I will break it down by arc.

Celebrimbor and Sauron: The best part of the show, despite it starting with Celebrimbor musing to himself that his next work will be his lasting legacy.  Honestly, why is the writing so bad? Regardless, I think this is the storyline this show was made to tell, how someone could be tricked into creating evil, and I think it did this well! Sauron looks cool, and this storyline gets the darkest.  I really liked how it ended, and that has been the high point of the series for me.

The Dwarves: Durin and Elrond were one of the only good parts of Season 1, so they are split up here, and we are burning time as King Durin goes mad. I think the story here is good, but its telling is terrible, with Disa and Durin on a hamster wheel.  It has an epic finale that I thought kind of neutered the effectiveness of the King's madness, which was depicted well.  He gets to go out in a blaze of glory after we hear a random anecdote to try to make us connect to the father son relationship.  Would have been much more powerful if he had left us totally insane instead of getting a tacked on redemption moment.

Numenor: A complete waste of time, and I think the most glaring example of how its trying to do Thrones and failing.  The politics are super thin, alliances are boring, and we know where its headed so who really cares.  There are a bunch of moments that are meant to be epic that fall super flat. I did like some of the violence that breaks out closer to the end, but they are so siloed and disconnected.

Isildur: What are we even doing here. He is on a solo quest that involves following in love with a wildling girl (Jon Snow much), meeting some ents, just kind of not doing anything meaningful.  I get why we need him, he is a character that connects us to the LOTR story, and he should be really important, but ithey are flailing with him.

Adar: Love this guy! Most interesting character they have come up with, and a sign of potential for an adaptation like this that has no canon to work off of. Felt like it was a bit repetitive from Season 1, and I wish we could have gotten more of his perspective.  Not happy that they decide to off the most interesting character...

The Hobbits and Grand Elf (wink wink): The worst part of the show. Tom Bombadil being here just to send Gandalf on some random quest that fizzles out into nothing is a disgrace, a blatant attempt at fan service. All leads to this reveal, a reveal we already got last season! The hobbit storyline culminates in them realizing they are looking for their promised land, which is clearly the Shire, and which was their whole purpose in Season 1! It makes me angry that they spend all this money and write storylines that bring nothing new, asking meaningless questions with meaningless answers. It is a disgusting money grab, repackaging IP and trying to force nostalgia down our throats.

Elrond is in this too, and he ends up being in a battle that has no stakes as red shirt elves die everywhere but we don't care because Elrond's hair is still perfect. I actually like this character and the actor who plays him, especially early when he is being skeptical about using the rings.  Another thing that gives me hope in the show that will ultimately be dashed in future seasons.

I can safely say this show is a failure in my eyes, but Season 3 is on the way.  Jess says I'm on my own watching that one, and I will watch, if only so I can complain about it. This show does give me glimmers of hope, which makes it even more frustrating.  I want to rate it a 3/10, but every once in a while I see something that gives me that Middle Earth feeling and I hope again. The show still looks great, although all the music is forgettable with one exception.  That exception - the opening credits!  I love the opening of this show, I like to think its an artistic depiction of the music of the Ainur. Its also the only piece of music Howard Shore did for the show and that's not a coincidence!