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