that down let's move on to this shall we tomorrow night Lord of the Rings the rings of power season 2 comes out and they're going to debut with three full episodes which I think is a very smart move I think a lot of more shows should do that because it gives you a better sense of what the season is going to be and if you want to keep on with it so I I like the fact that they're doing that now the reviews are coming out for season two and pretty much across the board even the ones that are negative are saying season 2 is an improvement on season one almost all not every single one of them but almost all of them even the negative ones are saying this is an improvement on season one now look just for some context I had until they announced Shogun I had never been more excited for a TV show than when they announced the Lord of the Rings rings of power I was so hyped excited for years building up to it and quite frankly the the show disappointed me I was disappointed I didn't think it was the hot garbage that some other people try to make it out to be but I was got to call what it is I was disappointed with I think it was a let down and a lot of other people felt the same way well now here's what's interesting there is a trend in streaming shows where before a show comes out the network or the streaming service will show three four five episodes to the critics and then they got to base their review on that they did something different with rings of power season 2 they gave him all Eight Episodes they said here's the whole thing and they showed them the whole thing they must have felt like Ballers now I think the review that really sums up what I read out of most the reviews is slash films review and I want to read an excerpt from slash films review because they said that I think this kind of sums up the way most of the reviews I read felt where the first season struggled to integrate its sprawling because they they did not like the first season where the first season struggled to integrate its sprawling Ensemble or find much of a thematic link between desperate storylines on a weekly basis these Eight Episodes all of which were screened early for critics to review are a marked improvement in an arguably the most of repeated criticism the ones not made in b bad faith at least from season 1 the writing this time around extraneous characters are ruthlessly written out un wieldy subplots have been streamlined or trimmed and we often go entire episodes without forcing visits to certain protagonists or places all to the benefit of a much stronger and more focused season showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McCay returned to Shepard this sophomore effort backed by a writer room including Jennifer Hudson Jason Cahill Helen Shang on and on and on uh it's abundantly clear that the creative team refused to rest on their Laurels either okay so but that kind of now goes along with what we've been seeing as of right now having shown the whole season to critics rings of power season 2 is holding an 83% guys we want to take a second to thank a sponsor of today's episode Miracle made guys it's hot outside and your nighttime bedroom temperature has a huge impact on your Sleep Quality so if you wake up too hot or too cold I highly recommend you check out Miracle Maids bed sheets Miracle maid sheets are inspired by NASA and use silver infused Fabrics that are temperature regulating so you can sleep at the perfect temperature all night long there are just so many things that make these sheets so fantastic we already mentioned the self-cooling properties for better quality sleep but they're also self-cleaning these sheets are infused with silver that prevent up to 99.7% of bacterial growth leaving them to stay cleaner and fresh three times longer than other sheets no more gross odors so go to try miracle.com campia that's t r y m i r a c l e ./ campia to try Miracle made sheets today and whether you're buying them for yourself or as a gift for a loved one if you order today you can save over 40% and if you use our promo code campia checkout you'll get three free towels and save an extra 20% Miracle is so confident in their product it's backed with a 30-day money back guarantee so if you aren't 100% satisfied you'll get a full refund so upgrade your sleep with miracl made go to try miracle.com campia and use the code camp AIA to claim your free three-piece towel set and save over 40% off again that's try miracle.com campia to treat yourself thank you Miracle made for sponsoring this episode now there are a couple of notable ones that hated it like variety variety hated season 2 hated it but there's a lot of decent stuff being said Joe Blow said the Lord of the Rings rings of power has found its stride and it's ready to rule us all Roger ebert.com wrote while there will likely still be some push back from fans of the original films uh Trilogy in tolken written work this is undeniably the most striking fantasy show of the year that's seems like hyperbole but okay yeah TV Guide wrote sometimes frustrating but just as often rewarding the Lord of the Rings the rings of power hasn't reinvented itself in its second season opting instead to turn up the intensity on everything it was already doing the Seattle Times liked it writing though it's still troubled by some of the shallowness that preceded it often falling flat in episodes dedicated to some of the more thinly written characters it's a rather welcome step up uh the rings of power season two is a big up step up from season one uh but why though wrote uh with with one of the best First episodes of a series The Rings of power season 2 has everything it needs to stick the landing it just needs to stay out of the weeds um and it goes goes on again there are a couple of negative ones in there it's not 100% it's 87 83% particularly like variety hating it but the general theme seems to be what I was wanting to hear because look I've said you guys have heard me say this I couldn't be excited about season two of rings of power the first one just disappointed me too much again there were some really good episodes in season one I thought but overall I thought it was pretty disappointing and I just could not muster the enthusiasm to be excited for season 2 I was still going to watch it and I said all I really want is for them to take some steps to improving show me that it's better than the last one and Chris right now from slashfilm and from most of the critics that are Rie they're all pretty much saying some giving it High Praise some kind of lukewarm praise but all seem to be saying the show's improved it's better than it was before and I guess as a fan that's all I can really ask for what was your big takea away from the reviews who've been hearing and where are your expectation levels right now well we didn't get to talk about this cuz on Friday I talked to Jonathan about how I did a rewatch of season one oh you did I did just to get ready for this and also to do a did I really dislike this that much or did I need to find talking points for our after show right and get ready to fight Rob I didn't dislike this as intensely as everybody else did I think there were some issues in that first season so my big takeaway here is heck yeah everyone's agreeing that this is an improvement the big kind of draw is the is it enough of an improvement yeah that's the question right yeah and and for me I am a little worried that it's it's too little too late cuz a lot of people who I've talked to too you know Amy Newman famously hated this show and she's not a person who ever read these books or watch these movies or anything and I am worried that the first season didn't get the viewership that it needed to so I'm really hoping that this is a marked improvement that will get people talking that people will give this another shot maybe you can jump into season two and just enjoy it you know some of my favorite shows had pretty Mid First Seasons parks and W comes to mind famous so yeah 100% not a great first season and then if you stuck it out man is that one of the best television shows that has ever happened I'm hoping that that's the case here I'm obviously a biased tolken fan though I love all things tolken I enjoy this kind of stuff so much so I'm really hyped and I like hearing that this is a much darker look at everything too I'm excited for this kind of more tragic villain story that we're going to dive into that's really the meaty stuff that I think is the point of this so I'm excited about it and the trailer seemed to suggest that too listen I I got to give credit words too the trailers have been particularly the one that came out of ComiCon was pretty great oh yeah and I here's what I think is going to happen with season two just like when they announced House of the Dragon a lot of people who were dissatisfied with the last season of Game of Thrones are like oh that's screw that uh is get dead to me they all came back to at least out of curiosity check out House of the dragon and then most of them stayed I think a lot of people will will come back to at least check out season 2 the question that you put perfectly the the billion dooll question is okay we all know from what everybody said that it's improved has it improved enough are the people who are going to come back out of curiosity to check it out for season two is it going to be enough of improvement to get people like me to go okay I'm back on board or not so we'll find out tomorrow night cuz they're dropping three episodes it's going to be a long evening but guys question is for you what do you think about this apparently all the critics including ones who really did not like season one of rings of power saying you know what this is an improvement some think it's a vast Improvement some think it's a minor Improvement but they generally they seem to agree it's improved are you going to check it out I I know despite the fact that I was disappointed with season 1 I'm definitely going to check it out at least the first three episodes whatever you guys think jump down to the comments section below and let us know your thoughts