‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Episode 2 Recap: Blinded by the Light

Is this really happening? Is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power …good, now? Without possession of an Elven ring myself, I cannot see things that have not yet come to pass. Who knows, maybe the show falls right back off a cliff in the third and final of the three episodes Amazon released for its giant-sized Season 2 premiere. But so far, so good. Quite good, even.

Rings ’ first order of business this season — it was literally the storyline they opened the premiere with — is clearly getting Charlie Vickers’s Sauron on something resembling a path that makes sense. This they have done, admirably. When High King Gil-Galad expalins that Sauron has the ability to magically bamboozle anyone who comes to trust him for any period of time, suddenly Galadriel’s refusal to kill him or disclose his identity makes more sense.

So does a wise old Elf like Celebrimbor falling for Sauron’s “I am a messenger from the Valar” — the gods of Middle-earth — routine, complete with a fancy light show and a costume change. Sauron has now transformed himself from Halbrand, the conspicuously Aragorn-esque fake king of a fake human kingdom, to Annatar, the angelic Lord of Gifts. And who can refuse an angel, right?

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It’s a question that’s probably worth asking, considering goings on to the southeast. The Stranger and his halfling companions Nori and Poppy continue trudging through the wasteland as the magical being searches for a staff, a name, and a glimpse of his true purpose.

But he does not appear to be alone in the wizard department. Another bearded, staff-wielding magician, played by Ciarán Hinds, is revealed to be the power behind both the trio of androgynous evildoers who dogged the Stranger last season, and the skull-masked trackers following him now. Whoever or whatever this being is, he knows that the Stranger is an Istar — a wizard, sent by the Valar to help the peoples of Middle-earth just as Sauron is claiming he was. (It’s unclear if this new guy is out to help or hinder Sauron, but you can read between the lines; I get the sense he’d prefer remaining on his throne right where he is, thank you very much.)

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For now, the Stranger defuses the dark wizard’s threat, conjuring a whirlwind to sweep them away. (It’s a nice little echo of the river rising up to wash away the Ringwraiths in The Fellowship of the Ring .) But the staff he uses for the task crumbles in his hands and the tornado rages out of control, blowing Nori and Poppy away as well.

Our third and final storyline this week was a historical weak link for the show. We return to the subterranean Dwarf kingdom of Khazad-Dûm, where things are going from bad to worse. Prince Durin (Owain Arthur) remains estranged from his kingly father Durin III (Peter Mullan), and now works as a manual laborer in a mine, where his coworkers bully him as a fancy lad. The prince’s wife Disa (Sophia Nomvete) finds that she and her fellow “stone singers” have lost their magical connection with the mountain rock around them.

This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, which is no doubt the intentions of the dark forces engineering the Dwarves’ woes. The unexpected earthquakes triggered by the eruption of Mount Doom in Mordor causes a chain reaction that destroys the Dwarves’ impressive system of mirroring sunlight into the depths via the ultra-rare mithril silver. Without that light, their gardens begin dying — and, I’d imagine, it’s also hella depressing down there, even for Dwarves. Could it be the fight between the King and the Prince causing this trouble, or is it Sauron out there, increasingly confident in using his incredible powers?

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Disa, of course, knows nothing about the latter matter, so she goes to the King to plead for a rapprochement with her husband. She calls him stubborn. He says stubbornness can be seen as strength. She says yeah, it must take a lot of strength to carry such a grudge, and to tie down your own heart.

“Aye, it does,” he replies wearily, fully admitting his faults. “It truly does.” This exchange is already better, truer, sadder, sharper than almost anything in Season 1.

For now, all roads lead to Eregion, where Celebrimbor rules. Gil-Galad dispatches a strike team to deliver the news that Halbrand is Sauron after his messengers disappear on route; he sends Galadriel, per her request, but puts Elrond in charge. The dispute between the Elvish leaders about the Three Rings rages on, though kindly Círdan seems so certain they’re safe to use for good that I wonder why the show involved Sauron in their creation at all if this was the direction they planned to go. Perhaps they didn’t plan it?

Regardless, Elf Team 6 is gonna be too late. “Annatar” has already proclaimed his intention to make Celebrimbor “the Lord of the Rings,” after half-convincing him that his Elf-lord buddies have bogarted the Three. And he’s persuaded Celebrimbor to invite Prince Durin and the Dwarves to Eregion, where their skills as craftsmen and experience with mithril will make them valuable colleagues if more rings are to be built with which to “save” Middle-earth. And for the first time since the show began, I feel genuinely invested in the outcome.

Sean T. Collins ( @theseantcollins ) writes about TV for Rolling Stone , Vulture , The New York Times , and anyplace that will have him , really. He and his family live on Long Island.

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