when the Lord of the Rings the rings of power first premiered almost two years ago the prequel series from showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay largely adapted from JRR tolk's appendices for his Lord of the Rings novels felt poised to expand on the Epic World of middlee Earth in ways that even Peter Jackson's wildly successful film adaptations might have missed out on to an extent it succeeded introducing viewers to younger versions of characters like Galadriel morphid Clark and Eland Robert arameo who were still a far cry from the stately Elven Lord and Lady they would inevitably become kingdoms that had not yet met with particularly tragic Fates such as the island of numer and the Dwarven realm of kazad dam were brought to life in their Heyday of prominence even if their ultimate Destinies were carefully foreshadowed composer be mccreary's music for the series adopted all the best themes from Howard Shore's original film scores a sweeping powerful thread that undoubtedly continues through the upcoming second season yet while many of the Rings of power's best qualities remain front and center in season 2 so two do some of its greatest weaknesses the series large ensemble cast expands to cover even more physical ground in middlee this season but the same can't necessarily be said for the overall plot which often suffers from disjointed pacing some elements like saurons Charlie Vickers infiltration of a region as well as his calculated manipulation of the Elven Smith celeber Charles Edwards are spooled out as effectively as they should be ahead of the inevitably devastating climax the terrible threat that lurks beneath the minds of kazad Dum proves less dangerous than the rising tensions between Prince Duran o Arthur and his father Peter Mullen as the latter falls into madness thanks to the gift of a shiny new ring of power outside of storylines pertaining to elves or dwarves however season 2 feels largely stuck in place with many characters either given very little to do from the beginning or shuffled over to the bigger plot so they can participate in a chunk of the overall action what is the rings of power season 2 about morphid Clark as Galadriel holding one of the Rings of power in season 2 of The Lord of the Rings the rings of power image via Prime video at the end of season 1 we along with Galadriel are privy to the terrible Revelation that her greatest enemy Sauron just so also happens to be her newest Ally Hal brand it was a twist that may have been easy to decipher heading into the back half of the season but that didn't make it any less devastating even armed with this new information however Galadriel hesitates to disclose the extent of sauron's manipulation to her fellow elves simultaneously cber proceeds with forging the first three rings of power for their use completing them in the closing moments of the finale when season 2 begins it's clear that Elin believes the Rings should be destroyed by then it's too late Gil galled High King Of The Elves Benjamin Walker has already consented to their use and the result is a Schism between Eland and Galadriel each of whom is taking up a different side on how to wield the Rings while Elin chooses to seek counsel on the issue from cerin a perfectly cast Ben Daniels an expert ship Builder and master of the gray Havens Galadriel internally wrestles with the knowledge that she could have a closer tether to her biggest foe courtesy of the Rings little does she realize that Sauron has already found a means of ingratiating himself with cber now under a different name and gu with the intention of forging even more Rings where those Came from Beneath the mountains of kazad dam Duran is grappling with his new normal now that he's been disowned by his father the king not only has he been shut out from weighing in on important matters but his purse strings have essentially been cut meaning that he and his wife daa Sophia nvit can't spend as judiciously as they were once able to yet Duran's Exile from Royal duties doesn't temper his desire to help his kingdom Thrive even if he's starting to Harbor an increased skepticism about whether a new gift from the El could do more harm than good meanwhile the Intrepid pair of har futs Nori brandyo foot mar el Cavanaugh and Poppy proud fellow Megan Richards have accompanied their friend The Stranger Daniel Wayman to the mysterious lands of run with the hope of helping him to learn the true extent of his power as a wizard and maybe even uncovering his real identity in the process on the ill- fated island of newer ferzon Tristan grel continues his bid for total power hoping to unseat Queen Muriel Cynthia AD DI Robinson as she returns from lending the Kingdom's forces to the Southlands their political enmity makes foes of even family members as elendil Lloyd Owen and his daughter Iran Emma Horvath find themselves on opposing sides of the rising conflict while individually grieving their shared loss in the aftermath of radin's devastating eruption the survivors including Theo Tyro moaon and arender ismel Cruz cordiva make their way to poer in an attempt to establish a new home for themselves but many dangers still beyond the colony's walls the rings of power season 2 prioritizes some characters at cost to others if reading through all of that leaves you with the sense that there are a lot of story lines for the rings of power season two to juggle across Eight Episodes all of which were provided for review you're not alone in fact while there would be no possible way for the scope and scale of the series which remains visually impressive to its credit to be compressed into a 2 or even 3-hour long movie the length of the Season overall doesn't necessarily work in the show's face the biggest and most unfortunate consequence of the Rings of power having such a large Ensemble is that some characters are ultimately going to draw the Short Straw and two seasons in that symptom has become even more obvious