"The Rings of Power" handsomely returns with an arc about the peril of shiny empty promises

Hot people will be the death of us. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay probably don’t mean that to be the moral of "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” but look at where they left us. Intrepid elven warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who spent several human lifetimes hunting the supposedly sleeping evil known as Sauron, allowed him to worm his way into her heart.

She couldn’t have predicted he would disguise himself as a scruffy snack — the oldest trick in the F-boy manual, and it's a classic because it works. Honestly, who among us would have left Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) at the municipal pound? Those sympathetic eyes, that square jaw and pettable five o’clock shadow would ruin anyone's resolve.

Galadriel, though, took it a few steps beyond drooling. She assumed Halbrand was a lost king, invited him into the elves’ inner sanctum and persuaded those who most trusted her, including master smith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), to accept his counsel.

Times are desperate, with the Light of the Eldar fading at all. He appeared to have a solution. Then, wouldn’t you know it, right when everything looked like everything was going her way, Galadriel realizes the man making her tingle is her mortal enemy.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video)

If this were 2024 Earth, Galadriel’s nearest and dearest would give her a shoulder to cry on, a weighted blanket to hide in and maybe keep her supplied with some warm lembas bread rolled in cinnamon and sugar with a tub of frosting on the side for dipping.

But this is Middle-earth’s Second Age. Evil is corrupting every corner. There’s no time for tears and plenty for blame – and neither High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) nor Galadriel’s closest confidante Elrond (Robert Aramayo) trust her judgment since she was grifted by a greasy cologne spokesmodel. Sauvage!

Worshippers at J.R.R. Tolkien’s altar may take issue with my boiling down high fantasy’s greatest epic into a “Love Is Blind” arc, but that’s what “The Rings of Power” is. That's meant as a compliment. This is a war story, no question. But every great epic has a soap opera's heart. Rather than cheapening such stories, it makes them more alluring.

This one happens to have a massive budget and a huge cast that has further expanded in this second season to include, among others, Rory Kinnear as Tom Bombadil and Ciarán Hinds as . . . you'll have to watch to find out.

Unlike the recently ended chapters of that other swords-and-sorcery TV show, this show’s second season juggles its characters and storylines seamlessly. The elves may be the main players, but Payne and McKay’s writers take pains to ensure we care just as much about the rancid politics in Númenor, where men chafe at the thought of being ruled by a woman Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson).

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video)

They help us invest in the woes besieging the dwarves and their prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur), along with his wife Princess Disa (Sophia Nomvete), who keeps him morally grounded as his father’s resolve weakens and his mountain's magic fails. They even conceptualize an engaging arc for Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh) and nameless companion The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) who wields incredible power but doesn’t yet know how to control it.

These are familiar stories, especially those for whom Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy was as influential as “Star Wars.” Recall, too, that the first of Jackson's films came out three months after Sept. 11, 2001, a time when American geopolitics radically shifted and then-president George W. Bush pushed the United States into a war that stretched on for two decades.

Season 2 of “The Rings of Power” arrives at no less of a thematically pertinent time – not with a tale about a hot war (in its first three episodes, anyway) but an environment in which competing egos and greed are easily exploited by those set on conquest and control. And it begins, as every story that you can’t put down does, with a long seduction.

Prime Video provided critics with a long spoiler list, which is easy enough to adhere to. There's plenty to talk about without blowing any secrets, starting with what we already know: the three elven rings are complete, and alluring to an extent as to transform iron wills from "Get thee behind me, Sauron" to "OMG, he went to Jared!" in the space of a glance. What that means for Middle-earth impact is anyone’s guess. The elves' fate entwines not only with the dwarves', Harfoots' and humans', but that of the land.

The wisest of the elves make a persuasive argument that they'll use their rings for good, convinced as they are of their superior wisdom and morality. Of course, as Cate Blanchett explained at the top of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” that doesn't happen. The dwarves get seven rings, and men get nine. Season 2 is all about how that happens.

"The Rings of Power" is also a work of persuasion, demonstrated in the way the writers convince us to care about all of its characters, including minor figures. They even do a fair job of making the orcs somewhat empathetic. This is an effect of introducing Adar, Sam Hazeldine’s cursed elf, who you can tell was some kind of zaddy before the place's original Morgoth messed up his face.

To the orcs he’s known as Lord-father, and throughout the season his interactions with select minions bring out touches of their individuality and personality not seen in Jackson's films. There’s even a frame in which a lieutenant's mate is cuddling their infant. Mind you, they're still murderous snarling beasts that drool black ichor, but these commiserative glimpses illustrates a broader point about evil’s predilection toward indiscriminate violence in sole service of itself.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Prime Video)

A broader view reaffirms how painstakingly rendered this world is, from its sylvan forests settings to its frantic battle sequences. The fight choreography is stunning as always, highlighting Clark's balletic movement along with that of the show’s Legolas equivalent, Ismael Cruz Córdova's Arondir, whose fetching broodiness intensifies across these new hours. (He has his reasons.)

The realm of men, meanwhile, is embroiled in paltry political battles as Míriel, who lost her sight in battle, struggles to prevent her cousin Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) from wresting the crown away from her. Addai-Robinson’s bearing maintains the character’s regality, but this season her role is designed to be more in service of Lloyd Owen’s Elendil, father of Isildul (Maxim Baldry), whose fate was left in the air at the end of the first season. They’re cornered by a group of politicians who desire power more than to do what’s best for their people, a situation that may resemble our present reality more closely than we’d admit.

Of course, we needn’t worry too much about Isildur since we know he’s destined for much greater things, including fathering a line that lives on in Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn. Meanwhile Pharazôn failson Kemen (Leon Wadham) is such a worm that it feels like he's being set up for one of those flaming demises we’ll probably applaud.

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Close students of Tolkien’s lore recognize that McKay and Payne have condensed this history, leaving certain developments up in the air and presenting others out of order with the original timeline. The showrunners deploy their twists and betrayals judiciously, ensuring even that which we know to be inevitable remains thrilling to watch. “House of the Dragon's" producers could learn a few things about energy and pacing from these eight episodes, including how to close a season with a gut-punch and leave us yearning for the next.

There’s plenty of action throughout, none of which feels harried, and building to a grand and explosive confrontation that honors the scale of what Jackson wrought for the big screen without severing our emotional connection to the story. But the story’s timelessness grounds it in foreboding; this season has a lot to say about the rise of charismatic empty suits and the peril of trusting in shiny new promises.

“The Rings of Power” is a tale told well that’s also one of the most handsome productions on TV, backing its great looks with narrative substance and moving portrayals. That makes it the rarest of affairs: one we can give ourselves over to entirely, reassured that it hasn’t let us down yet.

Season 2 of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" premieres Thursday, Aug. 29 with three episodes on Prime Video. New episodes stream weekly.