Online Series: Rings of Power season 2 (August 29)

[x Tame Impala]

Personally I don’t use Rotten Tomatoes. IMDB seems to be the better gauge.

The show is at a 6.9/10 there which to me looks like it’s not worth my time.

 

[PeteWorrell]

People are calling out those reviews saying it's BS

We can't forget that bought reviews are a thing.

 

[Osprey]

I watched the first two episodes tonight. Some of the visuals are good. I'll give them credit for that. The story, however, is very uninteresting to me. It may not be quite as bad as Season 1, but I still don't care one bit about these characters or their concerns and it struggled to keep my attention.

 

[Mr Positive]

Everything with Numenor and Palargir is so boring. It feels like just leftovers from season 1

There are story elements about the rings themselves that are puzzling

Overall it's a good show but you really have to like this sort of thing. I like that you are meant to have to remember and keep track of a lot

 

[Eye of Ra]

Love all Sauron scenes. The dark wizards from Rhun are cool too. But everything else sucks, unfortunately

 

[Blender]

I thought by far the best and most interesting plot line was the wizard and the proudfeet going east, because it's original at least and explores a part of the lore that has barely been touched on.

They spent a lot of time and effort trying to make the plot with the rings and the elves suspenseful, but it falls completely flat because everyone knows what happens. I was just bored during all of those scenes because there is zero consequence to what is being shown. Same with the Numenor plot, there's no feeling of consequence to anything so far.

The parts with Isildur and in Mordor were decent at least.

 

[Raekwon]

solid first three eps. Definitely tightened up storylines this season, seems like less jumping around to unneeded scenes.

 

[Blender]

solid first three eps. Definitely tightened up storylines this season, seems like less jumping around to unneeded scenes.

It has definitely been much less of a mess than season 1 was so far.

 

[DingerMcSlapshot]

I wanted this to be good. Been barely ok so far. Some really bad casting decisions on some of the younger actors and Gal.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

I thought episodes 2 and 3 were pretty solid and more consistent than most of season 1. Sauron scenes are definitely the highlight, unlike the fake tension between the elves, who behave like they've already read the books.

 

[Jack Straw]

Just watched episode 1. Sauron in reality being a Marvel symbiote was news to me. Sorry, this is a stupid, stupid show.

 

[Hivemind]

Watched the first three episodes while on vacation this weekend, but will probably have to watch them again for a more in-depth dive. They're struggling with trying to course correct after season 1, but there's still so many places where season 1's blunders is causing issues in this season. Hell, the two introduction scenes in each season's first episode even clash with one another (season 1 said Sauron spread Orcs to every corner of Middle Earth, season 2 shows them never obeying him). They're trying to bring the story into something vaguely closer to Tolkien's writings, but they already painted themselves pretty far in the corner and are suffering. Characters motivations are still all over the place and complete non sense at times.

At least Cirdan feels more or less right, although I wish he didn't shave.

 

[The Marquis]

I like this less than season 1 so far. It feels like it's getting a little bit ridiculous. They fail to provide context to most things, as if they are expecting you (and the characters ffs!) to have read the books immediately beforehand to know what the hell something is or what is happening. Then there's the often mentioned "intention" of the characters. It feels completely lost, absent even. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? It's one thing for that to remain a mystery for a character or two, but damn near, if not ALL of them? That's just crazy and not a good way to tell a story.

Having said that, at least it's getting a bit more exciting at the end of Episode 3, so I'm at least hopeful that the show gets more interesting/engaging. As it sits right now, I'm very disappointed in the direction and if it weren't content from such an iconic story, I'd probably have quit watching by now. Name value alone is holding my attention.

 

[Fripp]

Really liked the first three episodes.

 

[Osprey]

Not surprising, but only half as many people tuned into S2 compared to S1.

‘Lord Of The Rings: Rings Of Power’ Saw Steep Audience Decline For Season 2 Premiere, Samba TV Says

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is off to a rocky start on Amazon

deadline.com

 

[PeteWorrell]

Let's see if it declines even further like the Acolyte.

 

[Hivemind]

This show is not good.

 

[The Marquis]

The 4th episode held my attention the best of this season, but... yeah.. not a great show. At least there was some context given in this one as well as the subdued revelation of a choice few motivations.

 

[Bounces R Way]

The 1st episode was almost enough to make me give up entirely because it was so mundane and boring but since then I think there's been improvement. Episodes 2, 3 & 4 at least kept my attention mostly. RoP has definitely not been particularly well put together but this is not made for TV source material, so I try and keep an open mind.

Something is just off about the acting. All the Elves suck. The woman playing Galadriel is trying but has zero chemistry with anyone she's appeared with. Elrond's dumbass haircut is bothering me. The dwarven aristocracy and the halflings harfoot hobbit whatever we're calling them now plot trees are at least endearing. Isildor is the underachieving homie.

Sad maybe to admit that I don't really care that it's not good in the same way I've been numb to a lot of other big name IPs putting out mediocre material. Star Wars, Marvel, every other "universe" Hollywood(Disney) is forcing on us has made some shallow aesthetic slop too. I've seen enough to lower my expectations on these things, there's much more important problems for me to focus on
Content has become so commodified that little of it is made with the same cinematic passion of yesteryear.

 

[The Marquis]

The 1st episode was almost enough to make me give up entirely because it was so mundane and boring but since then I think there's been improvement. Episodes 2, 3 & 4 at least kept my attention mostly. RoP has definitely not been particularly well put together but this is not made for TV source material, so I try and keep an open mind.

Something is just off about the acting. All the Elves suck. The woman playing Galadriel is trying but has zero chemistry with anyone she's appeared with. Elrond's dumbass haircut is bothering me. The dwarven aristocracy and the halflings harfoot hobbit whatever we're calling them now plot trees are at least endearing. Isildor is the underachieving homie.

Sad maybe to admit that I don't really care that it's not good in the same way I've been numb to a lot of other big name IPs putting out mediocre material. Star Wars, Marvel, every other "universe" Hollywood(Disney) is forcing on us has made some shallow aesthetic slop too. I've seen enough to lower my expectations on these things, there's much more important problems for me to focus on
Content has become so commodified that little of it is made with the same cinematic passion of yesteryear.

In the case of your latter paragraph. It's inevitable that creative laziness will occur in short order if creativity is bound by something from the very beginning, such as not creating an idea from the ground up. The world is loaded with ideas, yet the same IP's keep pushing out the same old crap. Movies and streaming of the Big IP's has turned into what television used to be when shows were pumping out 20+ episodes a season. Pumping out volume, not quality content. The only way it changes is if WE all stop watching them. I've done this myself and will no longer view remakes or overproductive IP's output. It's actually been kind of nice. I don't consider Tolkien works to be in that overproductive category... yet... but it still doesn't make this show any good. I'm just hopeful these next 4 episodes go somewhere.

 

[SirPaste]

I have watched the first 4 episodes but just haven't been able to get very interested, I keep getting bored and end up on my phone. I don't know if its the acting or writing or what but I also just don't care about any of the characters, and downright cant even stand a few of them, looking at you Elrond and Harfoots.

 

[Hivemind]

Durin, Disa, and Khazad Dum was the highlight of season 1 - but even their scenes have turned into a slog in season 2.

Pacing is all over the place, again. Character motivations are cartoonish and make little sense at times.

 

[Raekwon]

Seeing Sauron play celebrimbor like a fiddle is great

 

[The Marquis]

Best episode so far.

 

[Blender]

Best episode of the series so far. Not perfect, but better.