RoP Season 2 reviews

[Tar Elenion]

Variety says 'Boring Slog'
https://variety.com/2024/tv/tv-revie...og-1236120096/

Hollywood Reporter says "Too Epic for Its Own Good"
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...-2-1235982663/

IGN seems to start off postive:
"The Prime Video epic shines brightest when it’s focused on Sauron’s dark schemes."
...then gets to:
"Unfortunately, the further the plot moves from Sauron’s machinations, the thinner and less satisfying it becomes."
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-lor...ew-prime-video

IndieWire is more positive:
‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Review: Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series Comes Into Its Own"
...though saying it "still stumbles":
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/...es-1235040196/

Empire goes full postive:
"It might not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re a Tolkien fan, it’s hard to imagine what more you could possibly ask for."
https://www.empireonline.com/tv/revi...ower-season-2/

The Wrap is not impressed:
"TV’s Most Expensive Series Remains Stunningly Boring"
https://www.thewrap.com/lord-of-the-...w-prime-video/

[Tar Elenion]

The Telegraph:
"The Rings of Power, review: proof that money can’t buy magic
Garish and disrespectful towards JRR Tolkien’s writing, the second season of Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings prequel will leave fans cold"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/the...ason-2-review/

The Independent:
"The Rings of Power season two review: Like a mirthless rollercoaster ride, rarely fraught with any tension"
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-b2602312.html

The Irish Times:
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 review: The good news is the wonky Irish accents are gone
Television: The Rings of Power is a hugely flawed attempt to turn Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings into Star Wars with staves"
"The bad news is that Rings of Power otherwise remains epically underwhelming – full of noise and ambition yet lacking the magic of the original Tolkien novels and of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, movies that grow in status with each passing year."
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/t...ents-are-gone/

The Evening Standard is more mixed:
"The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power Season 2 review: slow going, even for fans
Some storylines sing in the second installment of The Rings of Power. It’s a shame they take so long to get going"
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/t...-b1178749.html

The Times:
"The second series of the blockbuster show is epic but overcooked; thrilling at times but a slog at others."
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-...view-zjtxqc9l8

[William Cloud Hicklin]

My favorite (from The One Ring) is titled simply, "Boring and Stupid"

[William Cloud Hicklin]

And then this:

"He [Haldude/Sauron] encounters some common folk, one of whom is unaccountably capable of articulate profundities almost as if he were speaking as a Californian scriptwriter with only a hazy sense of how to speak in old-fashioned rhetorical tropes based off half reading the Canterbury Tales and a few works of Shakespeare and Dickens in college"

Ach! The stupid! It freezes! It burns! It was twisted by nassty filthy moronses! Take it off us!

[Boromir88]

Episode 3 is less engaging than Episodes 1 and 2, but there's definitely been a stronger start to Season 2 than Season 1.

Prosthetics and costumes have improved (Cirdan's hair puts all the other Elves hair to shame).

The Harfoot characters have dropped their inconsistent, out of place accents. Plus, I thought having their walking song be the key to finding the correct path was a clever invention.

I didn't care for the Halbrand character in Season 1. I expected the "grand" reveal that he was Sauron, but I thought he was a weak villain. I'm pleased that Charlie Vickers has stepped it up as Annatar though. He's really playing into the fact of Sauron being a master manipulator and not this hulking, uber-mace wielding smasher of armies that PJ's prologue depicts.

Overall, the season has started in a good direction. It's been more imaginative, bolder, and the plot has a better flow than the slog that Season 1 was.

[Alassë Estel]

To start with, I agree that this season is an improvement upon the first season.

But I dislike it so very much. It totally desecrates the lore.

And it blatantly copies Peter Jackson's movies, down to the very filming shots and styles, from the copy-paste of Brego the super-horse, to the "And I'm coming with you!" surprise appearance moment of Poppy/Samwise Gamshe, Not-Saruman, and the list goes on, but with none of the talent for story-telling.

There are *many* plot-points balancing haphazardly on unexplained coincidences and unplausible circumstances.

[Alassë Estel]

When Isildur (shockingly) turned out to have survived after all and begin to have his own thread in the show, I realized how much I would have appreciated seeing Isildur in a series, done properly. But alas, I do not expect to have my hopes fulfilled in The Rings of Power.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

When Isildur (shockingly) turned out to have survived after all and begin to have his own thread in the show, I realized how much I would have appreciated seeing Isildur in a series, done properly. But alas, I do not expect to have my hopes fulfilled in The Rings of Power.

I agree here...Isildur is probably one of the weakest parts of the show. It has nothing to do with the actor, but both Isildur and Theo's characters I just don't care about and are the most boring (which made Episode 3 the weakest). Terrible choice to try to "trick" the audience with Isildur's death in Season 1 . And somehow, he turns up captured in a spider web.

[Alassë Estel]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I agree here...Isildur is probably one of the weakest parts of the show. It has nothing to do with the actor, but both Isildur and Theo's characters I just don't care about and are the most boring (which made Episode 3 the weakest). Terrible choice to try to "trick" the audience with Isildur's death in Season 1 . And somehow, he turns up captured in a spider web.

Isildur should certainly be one of their strongest characters and at the forefront of the plot, rather than the role he has been given as almost a second-thought (though, in fairness, perhaps they intend greater things in the later seasons- if they get that far).

I tried to like Theo and all that his plot entailed, but really it's quite unlikable. He's got too much rebellious, "emo/goth" child in his character, to the point of vague annoyance, rather than a real interest in his part in the plot.

And, absolutely, that "plot-twist" of having Isildur assumed dead was absurd. It's as though they are appealling to people who have never read the books, and thus might not realize that Isildur does, in fact, live. They simply tack on "The Lord of the Rings" to the title in hopes of luring in the masses of casual movie-watchers who enjoy Peter Jackson's films, while in reality their creation is nothing like the movies, much less Tolkien's writings.

And, after all's said and done, they've created a show that most lore-purists hate, for obvious reasons, and a show that many casual seekers of entertainment lack interest in for continuity errors, a stretched plot, dreadful writing, and cheap copying of the films.

Not to mention the countless bits of lore in the form of "name-dropping" that can only be understood and appreciated by those who have read the books, which make the non-reader audience feel as though they are in a room with people discussing things using big words that they don't understand.