While I have not rewatched season one, I recall liking that more than this overall. The Rings of Power continues to be a well intended but bloated story. Season 2’s biggest mar is how abundantly it suffers from disjointed storylines which do not aid or paralleling one another in a compelling way. Each individual plot might be competently told but can come across like different stories entirely when stitched together. I don’t remember this being as troublesome in the previous seasons (though again that could be wrong). The Elven storyline was by far the most interesting of the bunch—and the one that received the most focus—but it struggled to develop itself thanks to be bookended by the Numenor and Gandalf stories which both felt extremely detached this season. Again, the ultimate issue is that pacing and structure are very rough. It’s never good when it feels like the show would improve if half of it was removed. That said, I didn’t dislike the season. It’s obviously very expensive which leads to it usually not being all that bad to look at. The Khazad Dum storyline is wonderful (my personal favorite of the season), and I liked most of the Elf and Sauron stuff. Those to narratives also played a part together which strengthened my connection to them. Bear McCreary’s music is again a highlight. His work on this series is some of the best of his entire, very impressive, career. Overall, I’m a bit disappointed because I was hoping the series would grow this season, but I’m not dissuaded from continuing on once season 3 airs.