Ahead of tomorrow’s three-episode launch, reviews have begun trickling in for Amazon’s return to Middle-earth in Rings of Power season 2. And so far, it certainly sounds like season 2 builds on the long waiting game that plagued the show’s debut season for the better… but just how you feel about the slow approach to that build up remains divisive.
“This time around, extraneous characters are ruthlessly written out, unwieldy subplots have been streamlined or trimmed, and we often go entire episodes without forcing visits to certain protagonists or places, all to the benefit of a much stronger and more focused season,” reads /Film’s review of the full season, which is reflective of most of the positive reviews of the season.
“Unlike in the first season, this compelling core narrative [of Sauron and Galadriel] stands on its own two feet, propelling the story onward rather than melting away into a vague cacophony of disconnected plotlines all fighting for supremacy,” the Radio Times‘ James Osborne adds.
“Season 2 is at its best when it’s poking at the same themes of corruption and complicity that run throughout Tolkien’s works, using the influence of the rings as a convenient shorthand to explore the ways that choices made with the best of intentions can be twisted over time,” Lacy Baugher Milas writes for Paste.
But that’s arguably also where the series remains the most divisive. Many reviews of the full season tease epic scenes to come, like the massive battle for the Elven kingdom of Eregion glimpsed throughout season 2’s trailers, but argue that the road to get there might just be too bumpy for its spectacle to be worthwhile–trading momentum for the character building of season 1.
“With a shape-shifting Sauron unmasked and the first set of the titular bling forged, The Rings of Power finally has the faintest hints of narrative momentum,” reads Alison Herman’s scathing review for Variety’s. “But the second installment of this show, as gorgeous yet flat as a kitchen backsplash, has the same problems as the first, minus much confidence these issues will ever go away.”
“So much is happening that it takes the first three hours of this eight-part installment just to check in with all the main characters, and so much is at stake that every conversation seems laden with the potential to save the world or destroy it,” The Hollywood Reporter‘s Angie Han adds. “In such an earth-shaking cascade of events, the little moments tend to get lost.”
“Forever doomed to be negatively compared to the Game of Thrones‘ prequel series House of the Dragon, the second season of Rings does do one thing better: it delivers the brutal climactic battle that failed to materialize on its rival’s just-completed sophomore run,” writes The Wrap’s Bob Strauss, touching on the divisive response to HBO’s own big-ticket fantasy prequel. “Yet even with its lack of action, the HBO series wins on compelling characterization points, a strategy our Middle-earth mavens have yet to learn. Almost everybody in Rings is defined by what they have to do next, with little complexity of feelings or motives.”
So while it seems like much of season 2’s spectacle will dazzle, whether or not audiences will stick around to see much of it unfold through the show’s slow-burn approach–no matter how improved it seems to be–remains to be seen.
Rings of Power‘s second season kicks off on Amazon Prime Video tomorrow, August 29, with a three-episode premiere, before streaming weekly.
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