TV Review- The Rings of Power Season 2 Eps 1 -3

 

Spoilers are everywhere these days. In the past I have been spoilered just overhearing a conversation on a bus. They are online, especially in the first few hours after something drops. And I’ve now discovered they are on Wikipedia too whose character breakdowns for this series do not always stop at what has already been shown but go on to explain the ultimate fictional destination of many of the characters. To those who have read the novels- and by the looks of it the appendices- this will be no issue but if you’re chronicling an ongoing television series the most lore you should include is what has already been released. I only looked up to find out some actor’s names!

 

He knows that there are spoilers past here...

Ep 1 Elven Kings Under The Sky

This opening episode starting with a lengthy flashback to `the dawn of the second age` showing us how Sauron got to be on that wreckage last season. It’s a great trick on the viewers to have a different actor playing him at first, one of several surprises though slightly undermined by the fact that Adar is also played by someone different, Sam Hazeldin. He gives a subtly different spin to the role; he’s not quote as brooding as Joseph Mawle’s version, probably better for dialogue yet not quite as menacing.

This new Sauron doesn’t last long though, after he is eviscerated by unsupportive Orcs, his blood then forms what looks like a cross between a giant rag and a ball of black spaghetti which then takes human form in the more familiar shape of Charlie Vickers. Some may find this opening segment overlong yet I thought it worked really well in establishing the strangeness of this character. Plus it actually is supposed to take place over centuries so it could have been slower! It is odd that though he is clearly powerful he allows himself to be captured and humiliated by the Orcs when he could escape any time. Does he enjoy the challenge of putting himself in this situation?

The episode benefits from streamlined storytelling with a trio of narratives and thus flows better than some of the first season episodes. The rings themselves are the centre of the second plot with Elrond’s concerns manifesting themselves in an attempt to stop them being used. The Elves are lenient when it comes to wrong doing, after all Galadriel is still walking around while Elrond is scolded rather than imprisoned when they track him down and use the rings for what could be the most deceptively happy ending to an episode. We also cut to the Stranger and Nori as they seem to be going round in circles while someone is following them and its not hard to work out who this might be. Poppy’s arrival after following them seems a little forward for a character last seen as being less adventurous than her friend though considering everything all three seem to have a relatively trouble free passage.

The director Charlotte Brandstrom gives these sequences splashes of other worldliness especially when we are privy to the Stranger’s dreams which come from pure Seventies album cover territory! Talking of which I’m sure some of these episode titles would have suited prog albums.  Visually the episode provides excellent contrasts from the gloom of Mordor to the autumnal Lindon. It looks so expensive for a tv show that it could easily be shown on cinemas and that would actually be a great idea! Production for this season moved from New Zealand to the UK but the transition is seamless, presumably digital effects can still provide the backgrounds.

Perhaps in deference to some comments, the dialogue has been worked up a little more though the way of the Elves means everything they say sounds like a big speech.

Episode 2 Where The Stars are Strange

Whilst there are plenty of untrustworthy or tricky characters that lead series Its rare for a show to follow the more detailed machinations of the antagonist especially one as curious as Sauron. This episode finds him playing the bedraggled stranger at the start, left to wait in the rain at the gates of Eregion but by the end he’s become the legendary `Lord of Gifts` Annatar much to the fascination of Celebrimbor who has been beguiled. Sauron doesn’t; need those rings to be an influencer!

I have to say I’d not seen Charlie Vickers in anything before but have been impressed by the spin he puts on a villain whom we only see as a God- like figure with a booming voice who lives in a fiery environment. He’s got that ability, which the best actors have, to alter his mood with subtle changes in expression. Togged out in silvery elf robes and stepping out of a fire he looks like a weird pop star! Altering the character name on his trailer must be a regular job!  Credit as well to Charles Edwards who’s sensible, practical Celebrimbor has been thoroughly taken in. The scene where they talk and Sauron’s intent begins to surface is so well plated and also directed with the cameras almost waltzing to the rhythm of the scene.

Elsewhere we follow the ongoing odyssey of the Stranger, Nori and Poppy. It’s still hard to believe this was shot in the UK – unless these scenes were done in New Zealand- but just when you think it is becoming slightly repetitious, we have a handy well which for some reason has a bell in it and before you know it jeopardy arrives. If we hadn’t worked out who this stranger is – and unfortunately yet again I was spoiled just before I viewed- then his weather wrangling feats and need for a wooden staff gives it away as much as the beard. What’s this though?  Another amply bearded dark wizard is revealed as the employer of the masked hunters he looks a bit like a younger Christopher Lee? Everyone does seem to change names frequently in middle Earth despite the stranger’s contention that your name is what you are born with and you can’t choose it.

If Sauron is easily able to manipulate then maybe Elrond has some of that power! How else are we to believe he has gone from being a fugitive last week after trying to get rid of the rings to this week being gifted command of a key expedition. Still the interplay between the three central Elves is enjoyable to watch as they discuss and debate. The king though seems to either nearly always make the wrong call or change his mind.

The dwarves meanwhile have issues of their own courtesy of the volcanic activity at Mount Doom which has sent shockwaves so great it’s cut off their r light sources meaning they can no longer grow crops. A sensible person – or an Elf0- might suggest they try cultivating some crops outdoors but that seems to be out of the question so they have stone singers instead to try and coax their surroundings. I wonder why they didn’t call them rock singers! Some seem to find the dwarf plots a bit dull but I enjoy them as they are essentially lower class versions of the Elves with a lot of similarities over tradition, stick in the mud leadership and younger more adventurous folk. Plus the performances, especially Owain Arthur and Sophia Nomvete are top class.  The latter, as Durin’s forthright wife Disa, is a real blast of energy. They still add some humour, as opposed to the more serious demeanour elsewhere- but not as figures of fun. I’m glad they’ve made the dwarves more than just the one note characters they often seemed in the films. Visually their world always impresses, there’s an excellent sequence that takes us through the walkways, balconies and halls of Khazadum

Episode 3 The Eagle and the Sceptre

As well calibrated and crafted as anything the Elves have produced, episode three is the best so far from both series managing to scurry from one place to another yet remain well paced. It opens with a War Horse vibe as Isildur’s steed Berek searches for its master who has been assumed dead in scarred wastelands. You and I knew of course that as the character plays a key part in the pre- Lord of the Rings lore he must turn up somewhere and here he does but not quite as you might expect. Strung up in a web as dozens of spider creatures begin to hatch it is up to Berek- who deserves mentioning because he is the hero if this episode - to do the rescuing. To say this scene is tense is an understatement, there are some spine-tingling sounds as the spiders scuttle and in semi darkness they are very scary however many giant spiders you may well have seen in other productions. This breathless sequence probably only last a minute but is definitely worthy of the `frightening scenes` warning that pops up beforehand. Isildur has a challenging episodes- almost being eaten by a giant spider is followed by being stabbed and attacked twice. Maxim Baldry looks knackered by the end but he rises to all these challenges and sometimes it seems like the producers have him as the show's real hero. Though really the hero is Berek! 

It sets the pace for an episode that successfully mixes raw action, emotion, ceremony and symbolism so well. Previous episodes of both seasons seem to leap from one place to another without necessarily feeling that they need to belong together. Here there is a continuity of purpose as the different environments and situations work up quite a lather by the time we get to the end. Oddly the episode does contain one jarring edit but apart form that flows very well. Isildur is eventually reunited with the survivors of the village but it seems that Bronwyn has died.  However, it’s a platform for some well-placed dialogue about loss and dealing with it, emotional moments- especially when Theo listens in to Isildur relating his mother’s death- that also tie in with the mood back in Numenor. The die-hard Tolkien fans have been critical of these scenes and while it is true that such personal nuances were not really part of the author’s preference for grand sequences they add some point of identification for the modern viewer. There’s a new character too, Estrid played with a wonderful blunt quality by Nia Towle. I’m sure hardcore Tolkienite’s don’t like her either, but I think she’s great.

With an impending coronation, some people, let’s face it stirred by the wily Pharazon (Trystan Gravelle is the master of sly looks from under that beard. are unhappy with the war they were dragged into and you can’t help thinking of more recent world events. The Queen’s condition and actions leave her vulnerable which leads to an extraordinary coronation which is interrupted by a giant eagle, a symbolic late arrival who seems to favour Pharazon. The thing that puzzles me a bit is why Isildur’s  sister Earien, though understandably believing him to be dead, has become a signed up political revolutionary. I now feel though the appearance of a giant eagle should be compulsory at all coronations.

Another aspect that ties these events together is that it’s an episode of giants. As well as the eagle and the spider we also see the arrival of a Hill Troll who is so massive he could no doubt have the spider and eagle for dinner if he wished. An amusing sub plot seems to be an attempt to make Orcs chattier. In this episode we see an Orc family whose father seem rather weary of it all; “do we have to go to war again?” he asked Adar. The Orc army definitely need an HR department. The producers have explained that at this time they feel the orcs were less grunts and had more a personality but it was under Sauron that they later became as we see them in the films. Obviously as we’re seeing this long after the films it seems odd to us.

The packed episode’s other focus is on making some rings for which Celebrimbor needs more mithril so there’s some negotiating with the dwarves to be done. All of which leads to a reconciliation between Durin and his father, the latter a stoic as Peter Mullan only knows how. The visuals are as glorious as ever with extra points this week for a convincingly bleak wasteland early on and the colour of the coronation. I know each episode is like a mini film but this one in particular exudes cinematic skills.