Stupid sexy Sauron

Oh boy, it’s Friday, which means it’s not only almost the weekend, it’s time for another edition of Popculturology. I can’t wait to show you the first trailer for (sobs) the final season of What We Do in the Shadows, but first let’s talk about the Rings of Power season finale ...

“The Rings of Power shall destroy you. And in the end, I foresee, one alone shall prove your utter ruin.”

I went into the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power knowing I loved this show. And the show’s season finale that debuted on Thursday rewarded that love.

The eighth and final episode of The Rings of Power’s second season was everything fans of this show had been hoping for this season. There were major reveals. We got to see Sauron taking another step toward power. And we got to see Galadriel finally shake off her season of doubt and return to being the character we cheered on in the show’s first season.

I wasn’t sure what The Rings of Power’s goal was with its second season. Was its endpoint the creation of the Nine Rings of Men? Or would we see Sauron’s One Ring be created?

Either way, The Rings of Power had a similar problem to House of the Dragon in its sophomore season. Both shows are prequels. Both shows have definitive endpoints. Both shows need to carefully space out their stories in order to fill out however many seasons Prime Video and HBO have planned.

For House of the Dragon, its second season ended just short of the Battle of the Gullet. We got so close to finally seeing some major action before the season ended.

For The Rings of Power, Prime Video needs to slowly dole out the rise of Sauron and the creation of the many rings. The show’s second season took major steps forward, putting Sauron in charge of the Orcs. (Farewell, Adar. All we ever wanted for you was to finally kiss Galadriel.) And we have confirmation that the Stranger is Gandalf. (Which hopefully means we’re done with the Harfoot storyline.)

This was the best episode of the season.