The Fantasy Review’s review of Rings of Power, season 2, episode 1, Elven Kings Under the Sky.
The spoiler-free review of season 2, episode 1 of Rings of Power is summed up in my feelings finishing the episode: Did anything actually happen in the last hour?
There are some cool camera shots and Sauron’s crown looks cool. Great, yeah, well done.
Spoiler-Filled Review of Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 1
Right, into spoilers. Because how else can you talk about an episode like this without spoilers?
First, there was the brief recap of the events I exorcised from my mind (forgot) that occurred in season 1 of Rings of Power. To be fair to the recap, it summarised absolutely everything. Not hard for a show where nothing happens.
Sauron’s Master Plan…
Then we get to the first twenty minutes. This section is essentially the prologue to Season 1, following Sauron up to the point he meets Galadriel on the raft.
So, Sauron is “killed” by Adar and his orcs, because now orcs have feelings and only want to be safe and happy. Sauron turns into a scrawling black mass, which to be fair, looked incredible in the caves. It was when the black sludge started breakdancing on the snow the show lost me – it just made me laugh and took me right out of the show the moment they had started sucking me in a bit.
These first twenty minutes essentially told us how Sauron/Halbrand accidentally fell upon a great plan, rather than spending months or even years planning it. It also made Sauron look weak, with orcs killing him… What? At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end of the final season of Rings of Power, Lori and her friend Poppy sneak up on Sauron and stab him in the eye with a twig.
The problem with this story is it is trying to make us think Sauron might not be 100% evil – that he is more complex than that – but if that is the case, they have done nothing to show us why Sauron does the things that he does, other than use the source material’s reason, which is he craves power and dominion over all life.
The Three Elven Rings of Power Go For a Quick Dip
After we wasted the first twenty minutes of the episode, we then have to watch Galadriel, the ninja who can hop on swords, etc, fail to snatch a bag of rings that were easily available to her during a horse chase scene.
If we ignore that for a second and quickly mention the conversation she then has with Gil-galad and Elrond, where she is told off for not telling them who Halbrand really was. Good. Glad they fixed that! Because at the end of season 1, Galadriel had kept it a secret which was insane!
Right, now to the bit which ensures the story continues to be longer than necessary. Gil-galad orders Elrond to give him the bag of the Three Elven Rings. Instead of giving over the rings which have no taint of Sauron on them over to the High King, he jumps off a fucking cliff.
WHY???
Because the “plot” needs to be an hour long and “Will the Elves have to leave Middle-earth?” can be asked and squeezed dry until the last second when of course they won’t, because The Lord of the Rings happened.
Okay, skipping a few scenes I will talk about later (with The Stranger and Lori, and some more with Sauron), we see Elrond, safe and sound hiding under a bridge. An absolutely genius hiding place.
Elrond then goes on to meet with Círdan, which was a genuinely awesome moment. The casting was perfect and his dialogue is befitting a character of his ancient history. I loved the shots of him working on the ship.
Then they ruin it. Instead of Círdan calmly telling Elrond to see that the Rings are fine, he takes them to the sea, not that far out, and goes to cast them into the water. Because that will destroy them…
He obviously doesn’t do that, and we knew he wouldn’t, because it’s the name of the entire TV show, and is instead enthralled by them. He puts one on and gives the other two to Galadriel and Gil-galad. Elrond is furious.
At least in the show called Rings of Power, we now actually have some of those said rings in play. However, the slow camera zooms and music and the Elves’ reactions to the rings seem to suggest the rings are inherently evil and will bring out the worst of the people who wear them.
It is important to note that these Three Elven Rings had no taint, were made without the aid of Sauron (as the show itself repeats several times), and could not be used by Sauron to control the Elves. So, there is no reason to suggest they might have some similarities to the One Ring.
It’s like the showrunners watched Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies and did no extra research before being given the brief for Rings of Power.
The Stranger Gets Lost With His Adopted Child
The least interesting aspect of Rings of Power, season 2, episode 1 was the brief amount of time we spent with Nori and the Stranger. These scenes were my favourites of season 1. If season 1 of Rings of Power had just been about the Harfoots, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
So, I was incredibly disappointed in this. I appreciated the dialogue between the two characters, showing us a developing friendship. The Stranger is just Gandalf at this point, and that’s fine with me.
Either that or he is Saruman before he becomes jealous of Gandalf (Círdan gives Gandalf his ring, instead of Saruman; Gandalf is forced to go to Middle-earth, because they want him to, whereas Saruman volunteers… lots of stuff to make Saruman jealous).
Of course, Poppy follows them and joins them on their journey. I found it weird that she didn’t go with them in the first place, so that’s another mistake they fixed which is good.
Our protagonists are being followed by some scary-looking strangers. We see a glimpse of a symbol on the back of a horse saddle (56 minutes into the episode if you want to be a nerd!), but I won’t give anything away if you don’t know what it is. Enjoy the millionth mystery box.
Hail Adar! … Wait, Who Are You, Again?
Okay, and finally we have the rest of Sauron’s storyline in this episode. He goes to Mordor as Halbrand, offers Adar information on Sauron in return for letting people go. Adar, the new King of Mordor, refuses and has Sauron tamely tortured.
Eventually, Sauron offers the same terms to Adar later on and Adar agrees. I’m sorry, who was being tortured again?
Before Sauron can go, Adar makes him swear an oath of fealty to his new king. So Sauron says “I vow to serve the lord of Mordor to the end of the days, and his.” Genius-level deception from the Lord of Lies, once again.
This storyline irritates me the most. Sauron doesn’t need to play all weak and sneaky with Adar and the orcs. All he has to do is kill a bunch of them, then force them to obey him. Simple. This invention of Adar, while initially intriguing, is adding a complication the story just doesn’t need.
Closing Thoughts on This Review of Rings of Power, Season 2, Episode 1
Ending with “Halbrand” turning up at Celebrimbor’s gate to “negotiate” was a hark back to a line from the beginning of the show I was happy to forget. It’s a cliff-hanger that promises only disappointment.
Amazon released three episodes at once today, in the hopes it would hook people in, as they lost so many viewers last season, but I can’t bring myself to watch the other two today; it’s demoralising.
I wanted to love season 2 as much as so many people loved season 1, or even just enjoyed it. I write about Tolkien’s world a lot on The Fantasy Review and I grew up watching Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings on repeat. I want to love Rings of Power too, it just refuses to have a soul.
