As Sauron continues fixating on precious jewelry, all of Middle-earth ramps up toward a world-changing, era-defining showdown between good and evil.

The Rings of Power series was a spectacular piece of storytelling that took details from J.R.R. Tolkien’s appendices and forged them into an intricate exploration of Middle-earth’s history. Uneven pacing sometimes made the show seem like yet another fantasy slog borne out of Hollywood’s exhausting obsession with trying to will “the next Game of Thrones ” into existence.

Sitting down to write this review of ‘ The Rings of Power ‘ Season 2, I could think of a few memorable moments. A swarm of butterflies coalesces into a humanoid figure. A choir of singers communes with the earth in gorgeous harmony. A horde of spiders closes in on a helpless prisoner, their lair so fetid you can practically smell it.