TL;DR – From the opening deceptions to the closing metal romp, this was one of the strongest episodes of the season so far.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this episode.

The Rings of Power Review –

We are getting to the pointy part of the season, and things are starting to go down because all things must end. Indeed, there are a lot of characters and storylines floating around, and we know at least some of them do not survive the end of this story. Well, when you are doomed to die, can you really complain? But when you have nothing but action, it can get exhausting, and it is that challenge that we will examine today.   

So, to set the scene, we open with Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) quietly working away by himself in his forge, crafting the nine rings of man. He found quiet solitude in those days after all his apprentices had been sent away, with only Sauron/Annatar (Charlie Vickers) as a companion. However, just on the edge of his perception, he gets glimpses of something not quite right. A missing jewel suddenly reappears, and a gaunt visage in a mirror fixes itself when he looks back. Something is just not quite right, but he can’t put his finger on it. Meanwhile, outside of his delusions/illusions, the land of Eregion is under attack by an Orc force that may be its downfall. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

At the heart of this week’s episode was Celebrimbor, and after a lot of discussion that he is actually the main protagonist of Season Two, this was the first episode where that really felt like it landed. Charles Edwards masterfully takes us through the many ranges of emotion that Celebrimbor feels when he goes from fake safety to that illusion being ripped out from underneath him. You do honestly feel sorry for him. That moment when you finally see your abuser for what they really are is a moment of clarity and horror. It was made worse by no one else having that same clarity and still being under his spell.     

On the counterpoint to that, we get the many phases of Sauron this week: the high and mighty, the victorious general, the helper of the people, the manipulator, the impatient, and the monster. Charlie Vickers kind of sailed under the radar for me in Season One, but it has been great getting to see him get to play all of these facets. By the time we got to see Sauron in The Lord of the Rings films, he had been beaten so many times that he was a relic of his past and hanging on by a thread. So, it has been fun getting to see him in his prime and showing just how dangerous and manipulative he could be.    

One thing that I really liked from this week’s episode is that it was a tiny mouse that was the final clue that something was very wrong for Celebrimbor. It is because it plays into the lore of Sauron missing the small things, and that leads to his downfall. Those little details that get seeded throughout the show are some of the reasons that I love watching The Rings of Power. They did put a lot of focus on Celebrimbor sneaking out the rings of man this week, which we know is inevitably fruitless, but I still liked all these small steps that he took to try and make up for the disaster he caused. Also, the admission that he always knew something was fishy, but his pride got in the way.     

However, this is the battle episode, so it is time to talk about the siege of Eregion, which I think is one of the best battles that we have seen since the original trilogy. It probably has the same scope as Helm’s Deep, even if the actual battle is limited to three locations for understandable budget reasons. From a tactical perspective, I do think the Orcs under Adar (Sam Hazeldine) presented a solid plan. Cut the city off, damage it with siege engines to demoralise and damage defences, and then remove the city’s natural defences by damming up the river.     

While it was a bit more contained than I think people would have liked, I did appreciate that it was not all go all the time, and we got some ebbs and flows. There was that slow build at the start as we started to see things break down, the meeting between Adar and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and even Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) going into stealth mode to cut up the battle proper. There was a bit of unintentional chaos in the battle that you just had to deal with, but I have to say the impact of Damrod (Jason Smith) was well worth it. I will be disappointed if that was the end of Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova) as he floated around for most of the season, but we’ll see about that next week.

In the end, do we recommend The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Doomed to Die? Absolutely. I think this is my favourite episode of the season so far, partly because the design of the episode focused the story on one element, so it didn’t fracture the narrative. But today is just the penultimate episode, and we will need to see if they can stick the landing in the finale. However, if you have the choice of ending your episode with a Swedish heavy metal song about the life of a Hill Troll, then it is the correct choice to use it.   

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen The Rings of Power yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review The Rings of Power on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Rings of Power
Directed by – Charlotte Brändström
Written by – Justin Doble, J. D. Payne & Patrick McKay
Created by – J. D. Payne & Patrick McKay
Based On – The Lord of the Rings and appendices by J. R. R. Tolkien
Production/Distribution Companies – Amazon Studios, Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Trust, HarperCollins, New Line Cinema & Amazon Prime
Starring – Charles Edwards,Charlie Vickers, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Owain Arthur, Sophia Nomvete, Robert Aramayo, Benjamin Walker, Morfydd Clark & Peter Mullan with Ameilia Kenworthy, Kevin Eldon & Sam Hazeldine and Kai Martin, Simon Haines, Selina Lo, Robert Strange, Charlie Rix & Jason Smith