The season two finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power goes out with a whimper. My issues with the show remain the same: The characters are uninteresting, and the weekly release schedule disconnects us from both the characters and the unfolding events. Right from the opening scenes of Episode 8, I found myself making snarky remarks. When King Durin III removes his ring and sacrifices himself, you whisper, "Well, this is probably the worst time to take the ring off." Perhaps King Durin should have fought that fiery monster using the ring's power. But what exactly can the rings do? How powerful are they actually? All I got from this episode was that it can heal your "dark" wounds. Surely, they must possess more abilities; otherwise, why would Sauron be so fixated on them? You expect the ring to reveal some of its powerful magic during the sword fight between Galadriel and Sauron. No such luck, alas. You feel the urge to tell Galadriel, "Use the rings, dear Elf!" Use Sauron's creation to defeat Sauron!
You get a weird feeling while watching this episode, mainly because it seems to be making certain decisions only because this is a finale episode. King Durin's sacrifice is just one of the things. Another thing that comes across as jarring is Eärien showing signs of rebellion against Pharazôn. She warns Elendil about Pharazôn's new orders, helping him escape the clutches of Pharazôn's soldiers. This sort of defiant trait is poorly applied to her. It would have been better if the seeds were slowly planted within her. Even the beats of some scenes, like the one where Isildur and Kemen go from hugs to grabbing collars, come across as abrupt. Similar sentiments emerge when Adar shakes Galadriel's hand as a friend to kill Sauron. All these characters look like strangers. You don't think about them, don't care about them, as soon as the show/episodes end. When Isildur hugs Theo, you feel as if you are watching people you don't know embracing each other.
Your suspicions regarding the Stranger turn out to be correct: He is Gandalf. The Dark Wizard tries to manipulate Gandalf, but his plan is so childish, so amateurish, that you begin to doubt his credentials: Is he really meant to be some kind of intimidating villain? Nevertheless, the most funny thing about this season finale is that it reminded me of the new episode of The Simpsons, in which an AI generates the series finale of, well, The Simpsons. Since AI is a plagiarism machine with no original bone in its "body," every character flips the switch and says, "I will miss this," thus irritating Bart. The equivalent of this action in this episode of The Rings of Power is two optimistic monologues. Episode 8 so dutifully treads on familiar waters that it seems like a ChatGPT creation.
Final Score – [4/10]