Show Review: ‘The Rings of Power’ Season Two, Ep 5: Tragedies Unfolding + Characters You Love to Hate
Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios Credit: Ross Ferguson
***BEWARE THERE ARE FULL SPOILERS BELOW***
READ THE REVIEW FOR EPISODES 1-3 HERE, and EPISODE 4 HERE
When I tell you this episode broke me…I’ve literally just finished watching and want to get my thoughts out while it’s all fresh in my mind. So many things to unpack in this episode. It’s absolutely tragic to see what’s unfolding in Eregion and Númenor, especially when you know it’s inevitable. I was absolutely delighted to see the Doors of Durin make their debut! But that whole sequence with the dwarves felt a bit rushed. I honestly wish we had more time with them to see King Durin III be corrupted because the descent into greed and madness seemed pretty immediate. I loved how Prince Durin knew the rings were to blame and he absolutely has an inkling that Annatar can’t be trusted, but I don’t think he realizes who exactly Annatar is yet. Disa is still a gem. She just wants the best shiny thing for her kid’s birthday, ok? Buy it for her Durin! This episode also brought the line, “The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm…” to the forefront of my mind. You want to scream at the King, “Nooooo!!! Don’t do it!” It’s also fascinating to hear the rings Sauron had a hand in creating whisper their malice and infect their bearers.
Forget Sauron for a second. Can we talk about how the real villains of this season are Kemen and Eärien right now?! The way I loathe those two. While Kemen has zero redeeming qualities (and I will be gleeful when his mother’s prophecy of a bad end comes to fruition), I do love how this episode showed his motivations. He’s never quite lived up to Daddy’s expectations, and I think he so desperately wants to be loved, but he will do any manner of evil deeds to get his father’s approval. I just need to talk about it. Valandil. My hero. What a tragedy. I was livid when this happened, but there was inklings of ill will when Kemen saw him talking to Eärien earlier in the episode, and you can tell Kemen was jealous. I mean, he’ll never be the man Valandil was. I’m still raging over this death. And poor Elendil! His own daughter completely betraying him. I’m so frustrated with her—like this is NOT how you handle your grief, girl. Considering she’s not canon and her character was created for the show, I have to give them props for creating a character I truly loathe.
Elendil’s exchange with her was crushing! She says, “You are walking a treacherous path.”
And he replies: “And yours is made of seawater. Take care to keep your feet beneath you, it’s a long way to the bottom.”
Crying for him.
Obviously we know Pharazôn is a total hypocrite as we see him consult the Palantir. He’s going to be even more insufferable with a ring.
Never in the history of Middle-earth was there a better gaslighter than Annatar, aka Sauron. He is doing an absolutely masterful job manipulating poor Celebrimbor. You can see how the elf’s mind is completely turning on himself and it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see. I thought the entire sequence where Mirdania accidentally discovers invisibility as a ring attribute, was so great. And especially how Sauron convinces her she saw Celebrimbor and not his true Sauron self when she was in the Unseen world. And did I detect some flirtation when he compared her to Galadriel?! Someone on TikTok had a crazy theory that she’s actually Celebrian (Galadriel’s daughter), and has been hidden away. I like this fun theory, but also where is she?! Where is Celeborn?! I really hope they bring them in because I need Emo Elrond to be happy, and Galadriel needs her husband back or I’m going to keep shipping her with villains.
Lastly, is Adar…kinda hot? I mean…he’s got some rizz with Galadriel at the very end of this episode and I was like…wait. Lord forgive me for writing this. haha I saw someone else share they’re convinced he won’t make it out of this season, and I am inclined to agree. Sadly. But for Sauron to take over Mordor and the Orc armies, it’s gotta happen.
I’m not loving them splitting up the character storylines so much between episodes, especially since we only have eight. And related to that, why only eight?! It makes everything feel rushed to me because they can’t explore some of these storylines deeper, and even getting a couple more episodes a season would help alleviate this. Overall though, I still really enjoyed this episode. So let me know in the comments (and keep it respectful, please), what did you think of this episode?
This review is in loving memory of Alex Tarrant as Valandil. *still crying.
Reading LOTR for the first time and not sure where to start? Head here for my ultimate guide to reading The Lord of the Rings.
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