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The Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: Lost in Adaptation
Welcome back one and all as we delve into the third instalment of the three-episode premiere of season two, ‘The Eagle and the Sceptre’. A lot happens here, though, with not entirely promising portents for The Rings of Power (“TRoP”) future. And yet, as with any balanced analysis, we must first go straight to the source and seek to make our own sense of it or what little we can. As will become apparent, this was an impressively dull episode, even by this show’s standards.
Join me as we follow the more human plotlines of the series as they play out against the backdrop of a rising evil and an age of decline.
WARNING: Spoilers and heavy themes discussed below!
The Rings of Power: The Return of Men
We meet Elendil (Lloyd Owen) as he attempts to take Berek home to Numenor, but his entreaties are to no avail; the loyal beast knows Isildur (Maxim Baldry) is alive and immediately takes off searching for his master. After a brief run-in with a pack of Orcs, the brave horse ventures into a cave, finding Isildur, the captive of a Shelob-esque spider. What follows is a genuinely horrifying action sequence as the two barely escape from the spider’s lair.
Returning to the island nation of Numenor, we find the King dead and Elendil’s daughter Eärien (Ema Horvath) resentful towards the wilful Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) moves against her, enlisting the nobles, before everyone present is stunned into silence by a woman who slaps Miriel across the face. Turning the situation to her advantage, Miriel embraces her in shared grief for all to see. Alas, this may not save her; she is not popular after her warmongering, and her enemies are moving in as her coronation looms.
In what must be described as the most shockingly lousy writing decision in the series thus far (though I must admit the bar is relatively low), we meet Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and his Orc advisor Glüg (Robert Strange) as the latter argues for peace.
This scene is already infamous for all the wrong reasons; it is soon revealed that this Orc has a wife and baby in situ, no doubt a poorly thought-out attempt by the writers to humanise the Orcs and elicit the audience’s sympathy. Alas, it had the opposite effect; the viewer is, if anything, left even more disgusted. Such a reveal breaks with Tolkien’s lore, as Orcs are originally corrupted elves (as Adar clearly symbolises), subsequently grown using dark magic. They cannot reproduce amongst themselves.
TRoP: Sauron’s Plan in Motion
The Dwarves arrive in Eregion, and Durin IV (Owain Arthur) and Disa (Sophia Nomvete) hear out Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) offer of rings of power for the Dwarf-lords. This minor change to the lore (all the rings are originally intended for men; Sauron just gives seven to the Dwarves as a last-ditch effort to recoup his losses) does expand on one version of Tolkien’s tale, whereby Celebrimbor gives a ring to Durin IV, a special token of their friendship.
No fool, Durin IV is immediately suspicious of this ‘Annatar’ (Charlie Vickers), who claims to know Elrond (Robert Aramayo), his old friend. Nevertheless, sensing their imminent peril, Disa encourages him to accept the offer, though perhaps we could have done without the anachronistic mocking of the rings of power as ‘magic rings’ or just ‘jewellery’, as the Dwarves of Tolkien’s world are no stranger to elven magic or powerful artefacts. Once again, these ancient civilisations are presented as jarringly modern for the sake of cheap humour and entertainment value.
Sauron further deceives Celebrimbor by telling him that Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) has banned the forging of any more rings, especially for the ‘unworthy’ Dwarves. Celebrimbor, sufficiently hoodwinked, lies to his high King to enable them to craft more rings; ‘this’, he tragically exclaims, ‘is my moment’.
TRoP: A Pointless Plot
Isildur, now on the move, meets a woman named Estrid (Nia Towle) on the road. The two are soon ambushed by Orcs and are saved only by the timely intervention of Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova). This, it must be said, constitutes the least interesting plotline of the episode and, indeed, the series moving forward. It principally suffers from aimless action and poor characterisation; why should we care about Isildur or Arondir?
Adding insult to injury for the viewer, we are unceremoniously informed that Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi) had died off-screen of poisoning by Orc weaponry. This arbitrary and unsatisfying end to her character is matched only by the meaningless tension between the dull Arondir and her son, the complete nonentity of a human being, Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin).
Meanwhile, as the Dwarves struggle to cope with supply and demand for food, Durin IV apologises to his father, Durin III (Peter Mullan), ending the feud in what I must say is the one emotionally compelling scene of the episode. This brings welcome relief after having sat through the droll developments surrounding Arondir and Isildur in the Southlands. Of even heavier emotional weight is Durin’s warning to his father against accepting the rings; ‘what if you were right?’
TRoP: The World of Men
To my dismay, we receive even more of the Southlander plot, which continues to fail to make us care about any of the characters. Theo spurns Arondir’s sympathetic advances and appears to turn to Isildur as his protector instead. Even in the reveal that the two share a grief in having indirectly caused the death of their own mother does little to pluck our heartstrings. An action sequence soon ensues as Isildur retrieves Berek from Adar’s branded Southlanders, and Theo is taken by a mysterious and powerful entity.
Back in Númenor, Miriel’s coronation soon goes awry; one crown member gives her the epithet ‘Queen of Lies!’, and just as her impassioned speech starts to win over the crowd, Eärien exposes her for using a Palantir, ‘this elf-stone is your queen!’
Using this to his advantage, Pharazôn threatens to destroy it, knowing Miriel must expose herself as its owner in order to save it. The ensuing riot is halted only by the arrival of a Great Eagle, which all present take as a sign of Pharazôn’s right to rule.
The final scene reveals that against his son’s advice, Durin III has personally delivered mithril to the forges of Eregion, and we watch on with a sense of foreboding as the forging of the rings of power begins.
The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 3
Overall, this was the weakest episode of The Rings of Power season so far. Against the all-important developments in Eregion and the somewhat interesting dynamic between Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond, we have very little reason to care about Arondir and Isildur and the men of the Southlands. The Dwarves, on balance, emerge as the standout stars of this episode, carrying the only emotional weight on offer here. It only remains to see, now that this trio of episodes comprising the premiere is over, whether the forthcoming episodes can keep us invested, but I, for one, have doubts.
Episode four aired on Amazon Prime on Thursday, 5th September.
