The Rings of Power – Season 2 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Where the Stars Are Strange

Episode 2 of Rings of Power season 2 starts with us over at Khazad-Dum. In the mountain depths, the dwarves are hard at work. At the market, Disa broaches the idea of Durin speaking to his Father and patching up their differences. However, the former senses something a’coming and just like that, another repurposed scene. This time, a rock falling and landing on the bridge, knocking it to pieces. Just like in Fellowship of the Ring! Unfortunately, this is an omen of darkness that appears to be on them.

Disa shows up to see King Durin and we learn that the bond with the mountain appears to be broken. With the darkness closing in, things don’t look good. They can no longer hear the mountains and Disa is afraid. Durin reassures her that they’ll find a way to get through this. To make matters worse, there’s a good deal of father/son drama here as Durin refuses to speak to his son and apologize for their fight in season 1.

Meanwhile, Galadriel pays her respects to her brother before finding herself consumed by a big vision. She’s distracted and not focusing, despite being the Commander of the Northern Armies. She suggests attacking Mordor from the West before speaking to Gil-Galad in confidence when the council adjourns. She believes that Sauron will try to corrupt them through the Rings. Like the 3 Ring they’re wearing and refuse to take off? Gil-Galad believes the secrets of Celebrimbor’s craft are safe… despite Halbrand working with him for months.

Galadriel explains that since wearing this Ring she’s been compounded with visions. She explains that she and Sauron seem to have some sort of connection. Galadriel proposes that she go off and find Halbrand and try to slay him. She doesn’t want to go alone though, but instead wants to be joined by those in Valinor.

Elsewhere, Sauron decides to wait outside the city gates for Celebrimbor, who also wants to wait for messengers to arrive from Lindon with news before he does anything.

Speaking of news, in Western Rhun, at Caras Gaer, a whole bunch of moths are let loose before a wizard that looks like Saruman. On the credits he’s listed as “Dark Wizard” so we shall see. He conjures forth a spirit, which happens to be the female Eminem again! She’s back! The Dweller brings back news of The Stranger and how he’s travelling with two halflings. The Dark Wizard wants him dead and he sends an assassin out to kill him.

The Stranger senses hoofs approaching on the wind and the group decide to hide, just as Brank and his men show. Naturally, there’s more repurposed footage, this time of Nori and Poppy hiding under their cloak which is almost beat for beat the same as Frodo and Sam hiding outside the Black Gate.

When the men leave, the trio realize that with the trail being watched, they need to find another way to go. And as they stumble on, they come across a big well. The water nourishes The Stranger, who picks up a staff off the ground, which looks nothing like the one from his dream.. although he claims it is. The Stranger and the two Harfoots are attacked by Brank and his men again but not-Gandalf conjures up a tornado and manages to stop them.

Meanwhile, Galadriel shows up to see Elrond, concerned that Sauron may well have shown to see Celebrimbor. Which we know he has. She wants Elrond to join her to make sure she isn’t corrupted when they confront Sauron. We get some classic dialogue here, with Galadriel claiming that she was “played like a harp but not a melody of her liking”. Billion dollar show this, by the way.

Elrond has heard enough, knowing that she’s still corrupted by him given she wears this Ring, and eventually tells him to leave.

Celebrimbor is proud of his work at the forge, as he manages to craft something called ithildin. This is crafted from the last sliver of mithril and out of moonlight it’s all but invisible. This is, of course, the same material used for the doors of Moria, which is in Fellowship of the Ring.

As he stands out on the balcony, Sauron stands in the rain and wins out the day as Celebrimbor shows up to see him. Celebrimbor tells Sauron he needs to leave but instead, the latter spins a tale about the woes of those at the bottom of the totem pole and how they work tirelessly but get no recognition for it. Oh, and some discourse about the rings too.

Celebrimbor perks up and eventually decides to bring him in after hearing about the Rings. He learns that they’ve worked wonders and that the Elves are to stay in Middle Earth after all. Celebrimbor cries with joy and decides to celebrate with some wine. He also claims that Sauron is a friend, allowing him to work his magic on the smith.

Sauron tells him that at this moment, all of Middle-Earth stands on the brink of the abyss. Every realm is due to fall and the darkness is growing stronger. The Rings of Power are their only hope to restore balance to the world. Just like that, Halbrand disappears and instead, out the fire, comes Sauron but this time, called the “sharer of gifts”, Annatar. Their first port of call is to bring the Dwarves over to Eregion from a royal invitation.

Meanwhile, Elrond changes his mind and decides to go with Galadriel to find Celebrimbor after all, having been convinced by Cirdan. However, Elrond is going to lead the expedition, essentially demoting Galadriel in the process.

The Episode Review

So we see Sauron has now wormed his way into Celebrimbor’s life again under the allure of greatness, which Sauron promises will be his. However, the dialogue to get there is still really clunky and requires a lot of plot contrivances and eye-rolling to get through. The Harp line from Galadriel is one of the stand-out moments, for all the wrong reasons!

There are numerous plotlines here that are just not particularly interesting. The Stranger and Nori’s plot for example, serves absolutely zero purpose to the overarching story right now. We also get the dwarves who are used as comic relief with a father/son squabbling worked in at the center of this but it’s all so devoid of life and feels perfunctory.

Scenes drag on and the characterisation is almost non-existent for most of the main cast. The fact that Sauron can take on any form, and he chooses to just chuck on a wig and some elf ears is laughable and harks back to the poor visual design of this show, which is a shame because the landscapes and CGI work actually isn’t bad.

With one more episode to go this week, lets see what that one has in store for us.