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Episode Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 2x2 - "Where the Stars are Strange"

Welcome back to the blog readers. Rings of Power's first season was one that was a bit disappointing, especially knowing Amazon plans to pour $1 billion over 5 seasons of this show. Last episode was a shockingly solid debut with more conciseness and a clearer direction than we had last time out, and I am hoping that we can keep up the momentum with this episode, titled "Where the Stars are Strange," written by Jason Cahill, and directed by Louise Hooper and Charlotte Brändström. Stick around to find out if this is the case, or if the first episode was just a massive fluke.


NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

 

As far as the first episode of the season has gone, I found myself liking what we were getting because it felt more concise, clear, and it had a lot more direction than we did in the first season. Even though not everything last episode was top-notch killer for me (the Stranger storyline still felt a little weak to me), I could see the ruminations of something happening. And I have to say that this second episode is actually pretty good in my opinion. The writing was excellent, the performances were damn good (especially from Sophia Nomvete, Daniel Weyman, and Morfydd Clark), and we are actually getting somewhere good with this story.


I will talk more about this later, but I damn missed the Dwarves and their story in Khazad-dûm, especially so last episode. This episode was a return to form for them and it all starts in the performance of Sophia Nomvete as the Dwarf Disa. As the wife of Durin IV, she has been one of the MVPs of this series thus far, and her grounded performance is one of the reasons why. This episode though, she makes her return to the series with an absolute bang with her best performance in the series thus far. In this episode, we gain a little more insight into what she is about as someone who can "communicate" with the mountain and having to moderate the turmoil between her husband and his father. I do believe she gets some of the best lines in this episode as well, and her powerful performance is one that should be commended.


The next performance I want to praise is that of Daniel Weyman as the Stranger (who is basically Gandalf in everything but name at this point). As the Isdar who will basically become Gandalf, Weyman has always been in command of this character, even from the first season when he plays the reserved Wizard to perfection. Even though he has been given a backseat to everything major that has been going on, and the storyline he is in with the Harfoots has been less than ideal, he knows how to put the attention onto him and the Stranger and make us care about him. In this episode, he takes the command he has over the Stranger and intensifies it into a performance that for the first time in the series makes him feel like he is channeling his inner Ian McKellen (who played the character of Gandalf previously). Hopefully he can keep it up and I will be talking about him in every episode.


Next up, I want to praise the performance of Morfydd Clark as Galadriel. Clark has been the first person you think of when you think of Rings of Power, and Clark does her best to channel her inner Cate Blanchett (who played the character previously). This strategy has been used sparingly well in the past by Clark, but I really felt it in this episode. The performance from her in this episode was completely endearing and finally made me believe in her as a character. Her somberness over the deception of Sauron and her willingness to make it right no matter the cost is something I teased could happen in future episodes, and we got it here. Now I cannot wait to see how well she continues to play this character and how well she continues to endear herself to this audience. I also think she will have a whole lot to do in this episode.


In a change from last episode, there are four major plot points going on instead of three, and all four of them actually feel important to the story now (the Stranger plot a bit less so). I want to talk about the Stranger story for a brief minute. Basically nothing happens here until we find out just who has been stalking them through the desert. Turns out there is a dark Wizard (played by the legendary Ciarán Hinds) residing in the region of Caras Gaer that wants the Stranger for himself, and the forces that were sent after the Stranger in last season's finale were sent by this Wizard. What exactly this guy wants with the Stranger is as much unclear as to why we are seeing him, but we still are two episodes into this season. I do not expect an answer in the next episode, but I really hope they do not drag this out like they did with Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon. Other than that, the only notable thing that happens here is a group of loyalists confront the Stranger who musters up the energy to form a sandstorm that whisks them away, but also Nori and Poppy. How this will be resolved is up for debate right now, but this definitely has the least amount of substance right now.


The next point of order I want to address is the story beat that involves the Dwarves at Khazad-dûm. And not regarding the ending of the episode where a major plot point occurs, about the earthquake. So the volcano at Mount Doom has been creating chaos all over Middle-earth, but an earthquake has severed the connection Khazad-dûm has with the rest of the world by destroying their infrastructure and withers their crops. And as I previously mentioned, Disa has lost her ability to communicate with the mountain, so her only option is to get her husband and his father talking again. In case you don't remember, Duron III hates his son for siding with Elrond to mine mithril, meanwhile Durin IV hates his father because he feels he cares more about himself and staying king than caring about the people. Disa winds up chastising Durin III for the petty grudge and demands he reach out to his son. I think this is going to wind up not going great, especially with what we expect to happen in the next episode.


Third up is the story with the Elves on Lindon. After the events of last episode, Elrond is still not happy about Gil-galad, Círdan, and Galadriel put on Celebrimbor's Rings of Power as the three of them have begun experiencing visions. Galadriel fears that Sauron has made his way to Eregion to make more Rings, but her fears are ignored by Gil-galad until they discuss their visions. He eventually allows her to bring a few people to Eregion to ensure she does not allow herself to be deceived by Sauron again, and she goes to Elrond for assistance. Elrond is not willing to put himself and his friends at risk and refuses to assist her in one the two best conversations in this episode. He basically tells her to screw off and leave if she cares about their friendship. After a conversation with Círdan, he is convinced to lead the expedition to Eregion in a move that clearly is not something Galadriel is too happy about. I think this highlights the power struggle going on between the Elves, and what I think will eventually become their ultimate downfall. Like I said, I think there will be a major battle at Eregion and we might get it next episode.


The final plot point I am going to talk about is the events going on at Eregion with Celebrimbor. Celebrimbor forged the Elven Rings of Power at Eregion and was told to never treat with Halbrand again. But unfortunately, the messengers that were sent to warn him that Sauron might return were ambushed and killed by Orcs, and Celebrimbor eventually held out preventing Sauron from entering as long as he could. Once he eventually caves in and brings Sauron to his quarters, the two strike up a friendly conversation (which is my favorite of the episode) where Sauron admits he is not who Celebrimbor thinks he is, and shows him an impressive vision. Sauron eventually makes up this lie that he is Annatar, the Lord of Gifts and that they need to forge Rings for Men. Celebrimbor is hesitant because Men are more susceptible to corruption but is quelled by "Annatar" and an invitation is sent to Durin IV to go to Eregion. So it looks like the seven Dwarven Rings of Power are about to be forged, and I would not be shocked if the nine Rings for Men and the One Ring come next. This shit is finally getting good.


Rings of Power is beginning to find a direction for its second season, with another solid episode that pushes the story to a new direction and the characters are further realized than in last episode. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.

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