With The Rings of Power’s second season nearing the last turn, episode six starts to swing on things that the show has spent so much time setting up. Sauron has fully entrenched himself in the heart of Middle-Earth, and despite Galadriel’s best efforts, you can see the shadows in the distance. The greatest villain in cinematic history has arrived in a new form.
While he’s not quite the same as his infamous incarnation in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, this serialized counterpart is handled very well in his own way. Charlie Vickers handles his human form with a restrained villainy; it’s clear as day to the viewer who is looking for it, but to those in the story, it’s easy to miss. This dichotomy downright fuels the show at times, and franchise fans should continue to find a lot to love in this regard.
The aforementioned Galadriel has one of her best moments in this episode, too. There’s a particular conversation between her and the elven orc leader Adar (Sam Hazeldine) that stands out as a series-long highpoint. It looks and feels utterly dire, like a must-see exchange between two mental powers beyond average comprehension. It’s the kind of scene that’d fit right in with the early 2000s trilogy. That’s a soaring mark.
The sixth episode as a whole continues to trace the rippling effects that the rings have sent throughout Middle-Earth. Celebrimbor is reeling on a personal level whilst Eregion creaks under the weight of Adar’s army of darkness.
It’s become difficult to synopsize these episodes. Every week, it feels like we’re peering into some real-world conflict of the past. It’s a sense of leveled realism week in and week out that does the show great favors. Nothing feels forced or misconstrued; the world is spiraling out of control and everybody knows why.
Stakes, stakes, and more stakes. Where there’s stakes, there’s tension, and tension, immersion. Rings of Power is picking up major steam in these final few weeks, and that planned five-season archetype suddenly seems a little more understandable.
People often use the idea of “getting back to the roots” as a talking point for many franchise revivals, but for this one specifically, the term is truly embodied. It took a while, and we’re still not fully there, but this show is being melted down and formed into the Lord of the Rings that we all know and love before our very eyes.
Not only does that mean content is more interesting going forward, but it means that the up-and-down engagement that we endured up to this point is covered with a new veil of intrigue. That doesn’t necessarily forgive the series’ faults up to this point, but if you can see Helm’s Deep over the hill, the journey is well worth it.
Whether or not this season can fully stick the landing is yet to be seen, but the jump in cohesion and execution from episode five to six is chasmic. It’s beginning to feel like these creators have a grasp on the story they’re trying to tell and the manner by which they intend to tell it, and the excitement couldn’t be any stronger for those who’ve stuck around.
Amazon still has a long way to go to finish this story in full, and there are still plenty of Lord of the Rings fans whose trust they’ve yet to earn. But there are also a good many who’ll never come around, and to an extent, The Rings of Power is better off standing on its own solid ground than trying to please a crowd that doesn’t want to be pleased. It’s really only up from here.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently available to stream on Prime Video with new episodes debuting every Thursday.
The Rings of Power is better off standing on its own solid ground than trying to please a crowd that doesn’t want to be pleased. It’s really only up from here.
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GVN Rating
Movies, long drives, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
