What The Critics Are Saying About The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2
The second season of "The Rings of Power" has been called "lavishly made" and "fantasy at its absolute highest level." But not every critic agrees that the new season is a home run.
Transcript
00:00The second season of The Rings of Power has been called lavishly made, but not every critic
00:05agrees that the new season is a home run.
00:08The Lord of the Rings' Rings of Power Season 2 has kicked off with a three-episode premiere
00:13on Prime Video, and the reviews are pouring in.
00:15While the show's first season drew ire from some viewers, it scored pretty highly among
00:20critics, landing an 83% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes against a far worse 38% audience
00:27score.
00:28In April 2023, The Hollywood Reporter published data that only 37% of viewers who started
00:34the show on Amazon watched through to the season finale.
00:37That's hardly a great figure for the most expensive season of television ever produced.
00:41So are things heading in a stronger direction with the series' sophomore outing?
00:46As of August 2024, The Rings of Power Season 2 holds a strong 84% critical rating on Rotten
00:52Tomatoes, edging out its predecessor by the slimmest of margins.
00:56That means that if you already enjoyed Season 1, you'll probably continue to have fun with
01:00the next eight episodes.
01:02It also sounds like there are some notable improvements in key areas of the show.
01:06The big highlights of The Rings of Power Season 1 seem to still be the draw in Season 2, lush
01:11production design with gorgeous locales and costumes and an epic scale that only the world
01:16of Tolkien can provide.
01:18Empire magazine praised the new season, writing,
01:21"...lavishly made, endlessly beautiful to watch, and substantive enough to make you
01:25care.
01:26This is fantasy at its absolute highest level."
01:29Ben Travers of IndieWire gave similar, if more measured, praise, writing,
01:33"...not everyone leaps off the screen and a few nuanced emotional beats could have been
01:38portrayed with richer specificity.
01:40But The Rings of Power does take advantage of TV's mightiest weapon for building empathy,
01:45interest, and overall investment — time."
01:48"...Who are you?"
01:49"...Truly, I am the one keeping the storm at bay."
01:53One of the biggest problems with The Rings of Power Season 1 was its relative lack of
01:57scale during its big action scenes, due partially to COVID production restraints and partially
02:02to the nature of a story's first chapter.
02:04However, that issue seems to have been addressed, at least in part, in the new season.
02:09It's not uncommon for shows to grow into themselves, and no matter what your budget, serialized
02:13stories need space to set up the pieces and get you invested in the characters.
02:17From that angle, The Rings of Power seems to be progressing as planned, though other
02:21reviews have been more critical of the series' lingering problems.
02:24In particular, that involves problems with the pacing, focus, and overall story.
02:29In a largely negative review for Variety, Alison Herrmann argued that the heightened
02:33momentum didn't make the show much better, writing,
02:36"...the second installment of this show — as gorgeous yet flat as a kitchen backsplash
02:40— has the same problems as the first.
02:43There's much confidence these issues will ever go away."
02:45Other critics echoed this sentiment, arguing that the show still hasn't gotten its hooks
02:50into the story enough to keep audiences enraptured.
02:53The Hollywood Reporter said in its review,
02:55"...it starts to feel like a story shaped backwards from events we already know will
02:58need to transpire, rather than one driven forward by the motives and choices of its
03:03characters.
03:04In essence, things are faster, it seems, but fail to slow down when needed.
03:07Things are more focused, but still a bit too general."
03:10Many fantasy fans don't mind a more lethargic journey, provided the world-building and aesthetics
03:14remain sharp and captivating.
03:16Maybe it's time for fans who fell off to give The Lord of the Rings and Rings of Power a
03:20second chance.