‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power’ Season 2 Episode 7 Review – Turning A Corner In Middle-Earth

Rings of Power’s seventh episode is simply synopsized as “Eregion’s fate is decided.” Encapsulated within that basic declaration is a brash brand of fantasticality that furthers the series’ connection to that of the same in Tolkien’s work. This show has hit an all time high, and with only the season finale left ahead of us, the momentum couldn’t be any more powerful.

After a long build-up, perhaps too long, Rings of Power is finally starting to capitalize on the prequel premise that it posits. Patient fans are being rewarded with something new and exciting just about every week now.

The rings slowly being forged, overseen by Celebrimbor with Sauron pulling strings, hand on his shoulder and forked tongue in his ear. As these two sulk and spar, Celebrimbor ever-walking backward and bound to hit a wall eventually, the rest of the cast make haste to stop what every watcher recognizes as the inevitable.

Charles Edwards, despite being on the back-end of these interactions, is a revelation in the role of Celebrimbor. He produces some of the most visceral, raw emotion the series has yet seen; the weight of his actions and the untimely realization that follows them paints his expression with sorrow. It’s a brilliant performance, and far from the only one.

Seeing Sauron leave Celebrimbor to his work to step outside, balls of fire flying overhead, it all starts to come together. Again Charlie Vickers stands out in the role, putting words in people’s mouths as slickly as he speaks his own. He looks the part and delivers it tenfold.

Across the river stands Adar. His orc army set the stage for what became an episode fully focused on fire and brimstone. Sword-to-sword; rotted fists dent gleaming helmets in what is literally displayed as a fight between light and dark. Not only is the cast up to task, but visually, Rings of Power is a ridiculous marvel.

One specific scene towards the climax of the episode is chief among them. It’d be an awful thing to spoil, but the way the episode’s battle is portrayed in one single wide shot, fully reliant on light and color to portray the conflict, is indescribably well done.

Naturally-supposed lighting feeds the drama in each subsequent scene. Shadows halve faces and seem to seep into characters’ mouths, influencing their words and revealing every true intention. Mud, dirt and grime infest the frame as armies collide. It’s just a towering aesthetic achievement in television, to say the very least.

This is made even greater by how often T.V. looks flat nowadays. There’s nothing here that resembles a misused volume set or quick, in-and-out green screen usage. Just like the narrative development that’s starting the pay off, the folks behind the scenes took their time with the physical production.

Of Prime Video’s relatively reputed slate of original content, this show has risen above the rest as a real heavyweight on the wider landscape of episodic content. Rings of Power looks like a blockbuster movie every week, and it’s starting to feel like one too.

Next week’s finale has a strong chance to round off the season’s current hot streak and really nail-in the need for the planned three remaining seasons to come to fruition. Here and there, diehard franchise fans are going to run into picky frustrations. To a point, fair enough, but it’d be a great loss to write the rest of the series off for a few extrapolations in regards to what most may expect based on the canon.

There’s still a deep respect for Tolkien’s work here, and the story reflects that. This is a grand achievement in visual storytelling and expanded adaptation, and if you haven’t given it a chance already, take the next week to do that. Next week’s final episode could truly be an all-timer.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently available to stream on Prime Video with new episodes debuting every Thursday.