Why does Rings of Energy season 2 make Lord of the Rings really feel so empty?

So, right here we’re ultimately: the eighth and remaining episode of The Rings of Energy season 2. As you’d count on from a season finale, lots goes down in episode 8. The Sauron/Celebrimbor partnership reaches its inevitably tragic conclusion. The prolonged dust-up between Elrond, Galadriel, and the elves and Adar’s forces reaches its endgame. And the Stranger lastly will get a reputation.

With all this payoff, episode 8 ought to really feel like a triumph; the thrilling capstone to a typically better-executed sophomore batch of installments. But it’s in the end an underwhelming affair, its each excessive level undercut by no less than as many lows. In that sense, the finale is emblematic of season 2 total, the place the true battle isn’t between the elves and the orcs, and even Sauron and people out to convey him down — it’s between the great and not-so-good halves of the present itself.

[Ed note: This article contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, episode 8.]

In equity, the Lord of the Rings sequence’ “good half” is effectively represented all through episode 8. The manufacturing values have by no means been higher, significantly the place the battle scenes are involved. Director Charlotte Brändström, cinematographer Alex Disenhof, and the broader crew ship big-screen-level motion aplenty, from Durin III’s heroic final stand in opposition to the balrog to that one-take shot of an elven archer reducing free in Eregion. The solid continues to provide it their all as effectively. Positive, some actors rise above the remainder — Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards are particularly sturdy throughout Celebrimbor’s impressively gnarly, book-inspired demise scene — however, the occasional creaky accent apart, everybody acquits themselves effectively.

So, it’s an actual disgrace that season 2’s finale feels so emotionally empty, even when that is removed from surprising. As I predicted final week, episode 8 drops its direct predecessor’s hyper-focused strategy to The Rings of Energy’s sprawling (learn: overstuffed) narrative. As an alternative, we contact base with each plot thread scattered throughout Center-earth and past. There’s a logic to this; it wouldn’t make sense to not examine in with all our heroes and villains earlier than season 2 wraps. But it additionally forces showrunners (and episode 8 scribes) J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to prioritize much less partaking subplots — did anybody else fully overlook about Isildur, Estrid, and the remainder of the gang over in Pelargir? — on the expense of giving the finale’s large moments room to breathe.

The dwarves’ much-hyped showdown with the balrog? Over within the blink of a watch, apparently for the only real function of giving Durin III a heartfelt send-off, which — on account of its briskness — doesn’t even really feel earned. Sauron successful again the orcs? Completed off display screen and kind of “as a result of,” simply in order that the Darkish Lord can have a military once more, and Adar can befall the identical shock pincushion therapy Sauron endured in episode 1’s opening flashback. And the climactic one-on-one duel between Sauron and Galadriel? A hole sword combat given Galadriel’s drastically lowered (and virtually solely Sauron-free) display screen time this season. It’s clear we must always care, however there’s merely not sufficient buildup to make it occur.

Episode 8’s compulsory Lord of the Rings foreshadowing likewise suffers from taking part in out at breakneck velocity — one other weak point it shares with the remainder of season 2 (and The Rings of Energy total). Míriel sending Elendil on his manner with a legally mandated off-model Narsil is a first-rate instance of this. It needs to be a giant deal — a logo of Elendil taking a decisive step towards his future as the longer term King of Gondor — but it surely isn’t, as a result of it occurs so rattling quick with so little context. He’s given the sword and shoved out the door to Center-earth with solely the vaguest sense of what he’s supposed to attain there and why. What little gravitas the scene musters is borrowed; Prime Video could not personal the rights to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but Brändström and Disenhof nonetheless run again the staging of Aragorn receiving the reforged Narsil in Jackson’s Return of the King. However in a vacuum, it doesn’t quantity to a lot. Like Sauron’s orc recruitment drive, it occurs as a result of it has to — and if we care it’s as a result of we’re imagined to, not due to any groundwork laid in season 2.

Paradoxically, the reverse is true of the goings-on in Rhûn. Right here, the issue will not be sufficient velocity and an excessive amount of setup. Episode 8 lastly, lastly confirms the Stranger’s id — and he’s precisely who most of us pegged him as throughout season 1. But, regardless of this apparent final result, it’s taken us two complete seasons to listen to the title “Gandalf” (or a variation of it). It’s a beneficiant viewer who’ll contemplate this time effectively spent. Sure, it’s neat visiting a largely unexplored nook of Center-earth, and sure, the wizards’ origins are an enchanting little bit of lore for these much less accustomed to J.R.R. Tolkien’s canon. However when all’s stated and performed, scenes dedicated to the non-mystery of the Stranger’s backstory and function have chewed up minutes that would’ve in any other case been used fleshing out The Rings of Energy’s central (and much more compelling) Sauron-centric storylines.

And the knock-on impact of issues shifting on the unsuitable tempo? A disappointingly weak platform for future seasons to construct on. On paper, episode 8 units the stage for season 3 effectively sufficient. Each Ring of Energy (with one notable exception) is now completed, and the outed Sauron, backed by the orcs, is able to embark on his long-delayed Brat Summer season. The elves have arrange store in Rivendell and are dedicated to combating again. Durin IV has succession complications to cope with. Gandalf’s rivalry with the Darkish Wizard is simply warming up. Nori and the Stoors are off searching for the Shire (or one thing). And Ar-Pharazôn and his Númenórean cronies are making even larger assholes of themselves at house and overseas. Nonetheless, in observe none of this elicits the thrill that season 1’s finale managed by way of a single shot.

That’s partly as a result of a bunch of individuals cheering after lots of half-baked palaver about darkness versus mild lacks the visceral oomph of Sauron marching into Mordor. However it’s additionally a symptom of episode 8 — like a good chunk of the episodes that preceded it — being so uneven in its execution. This makes it arduous sufficient to spend money on the journey at hand, a lot much less these additional down the road. Why get pumped for the Second Age milestones slated for the present’s remaining three seasons when the likes of Eregion’s destruction, Númenor’s decline, and the Durin’s Bane comeback tour weren’t precisely house runs this go spherical? Certainly, as soon as the credit roll, the prevailing feeling is that, regardless of one other valiant effort by all concerned, The Rings of Energy’s shortcomings have once more gained out over its constructive factors in season 2. Possibly the tide of “battle” will flip with season 3 — however not with out some fairly main modifications to the Prime Video sequence’ plan of assault.