TV Review: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER: Season 2, Episodes 1-3 [Prime Video]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episodes 1-3 Review

Prime Video‘s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2, Episodes 1-3 TV Show Review. Amazon’s billion-dollar venture into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Second Age of Middle-Earth was a gamble of extreme proportions, one many were hoping to fail. A stark departure from the visual iconography that both general and hardcore fans had come to expect from Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power promised a very different interpretation of Tolkien’s text. It was fiercely defended and equally, perhaps even more fiercely, rebuffed in a whirlwind of vitriol towards issues of race, gender and authorial fidelity that plagued the show from the very outset.

Season one was released to moderately positive reviews, but a deluge of extremist online hate alongside an opposing reaction of unconsidered defence presented the discourse around Rings of Power far too simplistically. Debates were too firmly rooted in discussions of accuracy to the text, or in the presentation of women and race, what it meant for people of colour to exist in a Eurocentric mythology. Ultimately, one was forced too distinctly between conflicting sides on matters of lore or representation as a barometer of the show’s worth.

And yet ultimately, season one was a failure. Not for its at times egregious abandoning of the Tolkien text, or its inclusion of diversity in its casting, but in its failure to inspire, excite or entertain on its own terms. Season two is unfortunately more of the same.

Rings of Power suffers from many problems. In season two’s first three episodes almost all of its characters and their various narrative threads are a chore to watch, the same lifeless, monotonous experience of season one returning tenfold here. One must endure unremarkable characters and even more unremarkable performances against a backdrop of generic story that encourages no investment in its unfolding. Alongside this is the issue of straying from the lore, but there is a counter for every claim as there is against it, interpreting and reinterpreting the source constantly to one benefit or another. But a simple question remains: does Rings of Power truly arrest you?

Jackson strayed numerous times from the source material, as many are quick to remind of in the show’s defence, but the essence of his trilogy felt truer to the spirit of Tolkien than Rings of Power ever does. He might have strayed even further from the text than Amazon has, and yet his trilogy still captures the epic and mythological underpinnings of Tolkien’s work far stronger than Rings ever could. Regardless of fidelity to Tolkien however, Jackson’s trilogy was a cinematic feat that existed on its own terms, a trilogy of visual splendour and formal brilliance – a work of cinema that arrests you.

Rings of Power is as conventional as it comes for a visual translation of a fantasy genre piece. Visually plain and unimaginative, it loses the sublime, epic foundations that The Lord of the Rings exists upon, the visual template of which was perfected by Jackson. There is nothing that overwhelms or captures one in its visual language, no grand depth to its images, no attractive grading upon its surfaces, instead a flat and featureless piece of visual work. It is overwhelmed with obvious CGI and green screen, something Jackson honed through harmonising the real and tangible with the computer generated. A billion dollars has seemingly gone to waste.

To delve deeper into its specific failures, all the races of Men, Elves, Dwarves, Harfoots and even Orcs suffer from weak storytelling in the first three episodes. With Men, we continue to follow the Kingdom of Númenor in a storyline that yearns to be the next Game of Thrones. It begs for its compelling and complex nature of political and monarchical conflict and yet has neither. The Elves now have three Rings of Power and save their dying lands, but none of it is provoking in any way. The Dwarves lose light to their mines, unable to grow crops as a prince and his father try to mend a stubborn rift, and still it is entirely unnoteworthy. There is no truly compelling conflict that incites any response towards what is playing out on screen, with forced, fanciful dialogue that is frustrating and eye-rolling. The Harfoots storyline suffers worst of all, travelling an arid land with no meaningful or engaging progression that instead compromises of silly, trivial antics. The show even attempts to give orcs some complexity, a perplexing choice for a story such as Tolkien’s, and yet would be welcomed if it at all had any genuine complexity. It of course does not.

Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and Elven Smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) hold the most interesting thread in the show as the Dark Lord begins to corrupt and deceive the metalworker into forging the Rings. Celebrimbor’s wants and conflicts are more palpable than most in the show, and Sauron’s deception over him is on the cusp of being somewhat fascinating. His famous illusory guise as the fair formed Annatar is a long overdue welcome to the adaptation, a vital chapter in Tolkien’s mythology that seemed forgotten by the misguided season one. Whether it is truly great television however remains to be seen. 

And so it seems that Rings of Power continues to be a disappointment into its second series. The first three episodes thus far offer little improvement, suffering from the same bland, generic and uninspired returns of the first season. Visually drab and narratively defunct, Amazon’s billion-dollar project fails to impress neither Tolkien fans or general audiences, and while the hyperbolic hate the show has conjured in its wake is utterly unfair, the show does little to reward its defenders in the form of good television. One can only deem it a colossal failure.

Rating: 3/10

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