Best or worst? The first reviews for season three of the series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” have appeared
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
It seems the continuation was never able to get rid of all the issues of the previous seasons.
The first full reviews for the third season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” have appeared online. At the time of publication, it holds a 79% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews and a score of 73 on Metacritic based on 11 reviews. For comparison, the first two seasons scored 84% and 85% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, and 71 and 67 points on Metacritic.
Such a reception looks somewhat unexpected against the backdrop of journalists’ early impressions, who vied with each other to praise the continuation before the premiere and called it the best season of the series. Nevertheless, some critics remained of that opinion even after watching it in full:
“For me, the third season of ‘The Rings of Power’ is the best so far. It retains all the wonderful sincerity of the first two seasons, but adds tension and darkness, while looking much more closely into the psychology of the characters.”
“Charlie Vickers has always played Sauron as a person who wants to be liked by those around him, just like all despots. I know many canon purists will argue with me, but I like that the Dark Lord has quite human motives and desires, even though he himself is a spirit.”
However, even in positive reviews there was room for criticism, and some complaints point out that the issues of previous seasons have not gone away. The series still loses focus, devoting too much attention to political intrigue, overloads the narrative with ponderous dialogue, and behind its visual splendor it is not always possible to discern substantive depth.
“Númenor is the biggest hindrance. Political games and intrigue are the show’s weak spot, so it’s unclear why so much time is devoted to the brewing rebellion, spies, double agents, and maneuvers in the vein of a lightweight version of ‘Game of Thrones’.”
“Where lightness would have come in handy, we are bombarded with bombastic speeches, ornate prose, and Tolkien-esque stylings. The writing is just as ponderous and didactic, as if it were assured of its own significance in advance.”
“The third season of ‘The Rings of Power’ is made with love—otherwise it would hardly have been possible to create a world so close to Tolkien’s descriptions. But it seems the series itself no longer really knows what it wants to say.”
The third season is set five years after the fall of Eregion. While the elves hold back the armies of Mordor, Sauron in Barad-dûr is looking for a way to forge the One Ring. Currently, four of the eight episodes have been released. The fifth and sixth episodes will arrive on November 18, and the two final episodes on November 25.
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