Shadow and Flame

I know that most of the LotR fans are still hating and they will continue to do so. I am a very steady LotR fan too, but I am also eager to feed myself with this series too, as it is something that I really expected for so long and it seems, for me, that I am nourished with the feeling that RoP explains in such a lovely way, in a visual way, what I have read all the time through Tolkien's books.

I know that this is not of the grandeur of the most-acclaimed trilogy, but this episode just caresses my soul and makes me wait with a great warmth in my heart for the next season. I was smiling and gasped through so many moments in this season finale, that I really am thankful I can relive this Middle Earth fantasy story with such great actors and such a fine combination of visual almost eye-gasm.

And just like that, it was all over again. This is a show that I have been consistently entertained by throughout both of its seasons, and personally, I think that there are a lot more stories to tell here, so hopefully Amazon is going to give it more life in the coming days. With that said, this is clearly a show that has a lot of opposition, and while I don't understand it, this season is probably not going to change those people's opinions. However, this finale certainly put a nice bow on a season that has been entertaining and full of some spectacular visuals.

This show has really pushed the boundaries on what can be done on a television scale, and with the big pockets of Amazon behind it, they have pulled off some truly incredible sequences. The previous episode had huge battle sequences almost constantly, and there is some carryover here. It opens with an impressive visual feat that just looks jaw-dropping as it did back in the days, and the battles continue to roar in explosive fashion, rooted in a very nice battle between Galadriel and Sauron. The episode features some reveals that have been brewing for a long time, and while it may have come just a smitch later than would have been preferred, all of it came with a lot of satisfaction and some great character moments to boost. With that said, some of these characters feel like they have played their part and would probably not be that important for future seasons, although they'll probably be brought back. There are also some satisfying closure to the storylines set in Khazad-dûm and Pelargir, with the Númenor storyline still leaving a few things to be desired. And the episode features one of the season's biggest weaknesses, which has unfortunately been the character of Galadriel. Not that she's not still a great inclusion, and Morfydd Clark is still doing brilliant work, but the writing for her has been wildly inconsistent throughout with many of her decisions coming off as confusing and nonsensical. However, it's a small part to take away from an altogether solid episode and season.

"Shadow and Flame" offers significant closure to major storylines and progresses the plot forward in interesting fashion, guided by some truly spectacular action sequences. There are still some issues to be dealt with in terms of the writing, but the episode (and the season overall) was a solid payoff and setup for a lot of things.

Please, the writers and show runners need to focus on what works, Sauron being evil and manipulative, Galadriel being a bad ass, Elrond and Gil-Galad adding elvish wisdom, The Dwarves under the mountains and The Stranger and the The halflings discovering the magic of middle-earth.

The best things about this episode were the opening scene in kazad-dum and the scene with Gandalf and Bombadil.

The second season is a huge improvement on the first. They are doing something right.

But there's still the same issues from season one sprinkled throughout, feelings of clunkiness, bad editing, not great dialogue and just a lot of waiting. A lot of nothing, you can easily fast forward 30 seconds in every scene and you won't miss any dialogue just people staring into the distance.

The action isn't great so you end up noticing the corny dialogue and not caring about alot of side characters who don't need to have so much story time because it ends up just typical B line stories from every show you've ever seen.

They have the greatest source material in the world USE IT and stick to it, focus on what works and let go of what doesn't.

I hope season 3 is even better than season 2!

No this review isn't about breaking bad. Rings of power season 2 is much better than season 1 and this finale was brilliant. All the performances were golden but the standouts this season are Charlie Vickers as Sauron (he's the best part of the show) and Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor. But most of the characters are great too. Elrond is the goat, Gil Galad is great, Galadriel is greatly improved, Captain Elendil is brilliant, Durin is brilliant, almost everyone is brilliant and much greater than in season 1. This show is worth a watch and this is a great finale, I say this one beat house of the dragon this year. 9/10 season and 9/10 finale.

Strong 7/10 - this is a challenging show to rate because what's good is _very_ good but many of the storylines are uninteresting and poorly executed.

Overall this season had some excellent Sauron/Annatar material, with Galadriel, Adar, and Celebrimbor as excellent foils/mirrors. All four performances were great, and this storyline has a satisfying conclusion in this finale.

The Dwarves storyline was also satisfying (though to a lesser degree.) I think the actors struggle with the greenscreens and with the stiffly written material.

Unfortunately most other stories were short-shrifted by the abbreviated episode count and accelerated pace. Arondir, the Stranger, Nori, Isildur, and Elrond all felt like afterthoughts and the conclusions to their storylines felt unearned and abrupt.

And then there's the worst part of this show: all the humans. The Numenor scenes have been irredeemable for the entirety of the series. They feel like high school theater instead of a billion-dollar prestige TV show. Uninteresting and momentum-killing.