The Rings of Power hits and misses in digestible second season (SPOILER-free impressions)

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is back for a second season. Prime Video has spent eleventy squillion dollars on this show, which takes place in Middle-earth thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings story most of us know, the one with Frodo and Gollum and the One Ring and all that. At this time, Sauron is coming up in the world as a budding dark lord, elves are more commonplace, the Mines of Moria are host to a bustling dwarven civilization, and there's an island nation called Númenor fully populated with long-lived, very fancy mortal men and women. It's a whole new world, but familiar to anyone who's ever enjoyed the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

That said, The Rings of Power goes pretty far afield of anything Tolkien ever wrote about the Second Age; if you're a diehard Tolkien fan hoping this show will stay true to the lore of Middle-earth, you will be disappointed. Characters from the books show up, but they don't much resemble how Tolkien described them, and the show adds enough that we're pretty much dealing with a whole new story. As a Tolkien nerd, this disappointed me a bit in the first season.

But the great thing about the show returning is that we can adjust our expectations. So The Rings of Power isn't a word-for-word adaptation of The Silmarillion or of the appendices to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Is it a good watch? Based on the first three episodes dropping tomorrow on Prime Video...yeah, more or less. You just have to go in with the right attitude.

Elves and hobbits and dwarves and humans

The Rings of Power takes the Game of Thrones approach to epic storytelling, which is to say it follows a large of cast of characters separated by great distances, all following their own paths. Part of the fun is watching to see how and whether they intersect.

The show has a lot of plates in the air, and it spins some more successfully than others. The biggest plate is Sauron, the future dark lord of Mordor. The first season kept his identity hidden for the bulk of its run, which felt like padding. In season 2 his intentions are clear from the jump, which is refreshing. Sauron is a highlight of the first three episodes. Theatrical, manipulative and charismatic, he's more openly villainous this time around, and yet we also learn more about his background. It feels a little odd that a character as iconic as Sauron is getting this kind of down-to-earth makeover, but I'm enjoying his journey.

Sauron spends a lot of time with the elves, whom the show has more trouble making compelling. They're just so pious and stiff, these people. The Númenóreans might be even worse. There are some fine actors and interesting characters among the elves and the humans, but their sections feel constricted compared to the time we spend with, say, the dwarves, who are a lot more warm and approachable. They feel more human than the real humans. The MVPs of the first three episodes are Durin IV and his wife Disa, a dwarven couple dealing with family drama and economic setbacks. They fight, they make up, they joke, and they feel like real people, even if they live in a fantasy city carved into the inside of a mountain.

The final story involves a wizard-like figure known only as the Stranger traveling into the desert land of Rhûn with his hobbit companions (they're actually called harfoots in this show, but I think we all know the deal). This story is the most isolated from the rest of the goings-on in the Middle-earth, and the one that has the least basis in Tolkien's story. I don't know where it's going, but I do like the chemistry between the traveling companions, so I consider it one of the more diverting plotlines.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 spoiler-free impressions

The first three episodes find the show still getting itself into gear. Some parts excite, some parts drag, but everything is at least watchable. That may sound like I'm damning the show with faint praise, and I kind of am, but I am interested in seeing more. Perhaps when stories start to collide and seeds sprout, The Rings of Power will gather momentum and turn into the TV action rollercoaster of the year. Why not hope for the best?

And if you want something more concrete, you can at least depend upon the show to look its best. From the cavernous halls of Khazad-dûm to the glittering towers of Númenor to the dusty plains of Mordor, The Rings of Power is nice to look at. There's are a couple of cool action scenes in this first trio of episodes, including one that recalls a horrific moment from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I could complain about the show indulging in fan service, but I won't. Remember: you need to go into The Rings of Power season 2 with the right attitude. Don't expect miracles, don't expect brilliance, don't expect fidelity to J.R.R. Tolkien's world. Expect to be entertained, and the show just might oblige you.

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