In my review last week of the fourth episode of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I cited as one of its defects the fact that it centered around the less interesting storylines of this season, while neglecting Eregion, Númenor, and Khazad-dûm. The fifth episode returns to each of these places and advances their plots meaningfully (perhaps hurriedly). This episode thus bothered me less than the second season has so far, to such an extent that I may have even occasionally enjoyed certain moments in it, even if I still could not ignore its flaws.
In the dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm, Durin III (Peter Mullan) uses the ring the elves have given him to initiate new sunshafts for the underground complex, an undeniable boon to his people. Yet he has already begun to succumb to its effects, growing greedier. He offers other dwarf lords their own rings, but only if they pay him tribute, asks for the same from his own merchants, and orders deeper digging. All of this arouses the concern of his son (Owain Arthur), who worries about the ring’s effect on his father, and about the consequences of . . . delving too greedily and too deep. In Eregion, Annatar/Sauron (Charlie Vickers) attempts to persuade Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to create new rings for men. And in Númenor, Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and others deal with the aftermath of Pharazôn’s ascension to the throne.
All three of these threads seem a bit rushed. But each also has something interesting going on. The episode starts with a memorable match-cut of mountains with Durin’s ring. The complicated father-son relationship of the Durins seems credible. The Annatar/Celebrimbor dynamic and related occurrences in Eregion continue to be a season highlight. Annatar’s manipulations are subtle enough to those around him yet plain enough to the viewer as to heighten dramatic tension. And Númenor’s transition to a Pharazôn-led, anti-elven regime brings moments of genuine drama. The destruction of a quasi-Marian shrine, for example, felt distressingly relevant (though it would shock me to discover the show’s creators intended it as such).
But this episode doesn’t get off scot-free. Durin’s ring seemed to be affecting him a bit too much, too quickly, and Disa’s semi-encounter with what will become known as Durin’s Bane felt awfully contrived. The inventions of ring lore in Eregion continue to bother me, not just for their departure from Tolkien but for their failure to explain how the rings actually work.
And in Númenor, while Elendil may be convincing as the emerging leader of those who will come to be called the Faithful, the squabbling between young-adult characters (Pharazôn’s son, Elendil’s daughter, and a soldier loyal to Elendil — all creations for the show) is far less engaging. As the primary face (thus far) of the new regime, Kemen (Leon Wadham), Pharazôn’s son, does his best Commodus/Joaquin Phoenix, but just doesn’t come off as a convincing threat. And the (invented) role of Eärien (Ema Horvath), Elendil’s daughter, continues to feel forced.
As a kingdom of men, however long-lived they may be, Númenor suffers the most from the show’s drastic time compression. Part of the appeal of a Second Age show was the chance to show the island nation in its heyday. But for the story to work at all, we must experience it at the beginning of its decline. Its true greatness is only hinted at — in a more visible way than in The Lord of the Rings, to be sure, since it is still there. But it is not quite Númenor at its height.
This episode at least paused the show’s further deterioration, though it still continues to feel like it’s doing both too much and not enough. Brief glimpses of the Adar/Galadriel plotline from last week, however, reminded me that worse is likely still to come. The episode concluded by teasing a possible alliance between Adar and Galadriel against Sauron. Adar’s decisions have made little sense this season, which only confirms my belief that he is an unnecessary character who will not last much longer. We shall see next week if Rings of Power can sustain this trend of . . . if not improvement, then not getting worse.