As a seasoned gamer and fantasy enthusiast with a deep appreciation for Tolkien’s world, I must admit that I was initially skeptical about Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. However, after witnessing the significant improvement in the second season, I find myself pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic.
Is Amazon’s hugely expensive The Lord of the Rings gamble starting to pay off?
Reviews from critics and audiences during the second season of the controversial fantasy drama “The Rings of Power” suggest a noticeable enhancement over its debut in 2022.
This Thursday, the company made available on Amazon Prime Video the first three episodes from the new season, allowing fans to preview approximately one third of its eight-episode run. So far, the early Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating stands at 92%, while the audience reaction has been favorable, with a score of 69% positive.
While it’s simple to overlook the fact that the initial season garnered generally favorable critic reviews with an average of 83%, this current season has surpassed that. Initially, the audience score might appear less impressive at 69%, but considering the first season had a dismal audience score of only 38%, this new score nearly doubled the original.
Although it’s still early in the series, many critics who have watched beyond the initial three episodes seem to agree that the subsequent hours are at least as strong as the opening episodes. The show’s IMDb ratings have remained consistent from season one to two, with both seasons averaging 7.3%, but there were allegations of deleting negative reviews in the past on the Amazon-owned service.
Despite the generally favorable feedback for “The Rings of Power,” it seems the reviews are more of a mixed bag than overwhelming praise. Even prestigious publications like “The Hollywood Reporter” and “The Washington Post” have offered less-than-stellar assessments. For instance, “The Washington Post” headline reads “The Rings of Power shows improvement in its second season, but not enough.”
There’s been a lot of discussion about Rings being compared to HBO’s House of the Dragon once more. When their debut seasons partially overlapped in 2022, many agreed that Dragon was the better show. However, some viewers felt let down by the second season of Dragon. On the other hand, the creators of Rings seem to have learned from their initial run and made enhancements for a more engaging second season. They increased the pace and clarified the dramatic conflicts while maintaining stunning visuals (and a fantastic score by Bear McCreary). The Rotten Tomatoes scores for the entire Dragon season two were 83 percent for critics and 74 percent for audiences, which is lower than some might have expected.
The audience’s rating for the series “Rings” is intriguing when considering the broader cultural dialogue about the first season. The low ratings were partially linked to ‘review bombing’ instigated by critics who disliked the perceived progressive aspects of the show (and it’s worth noting that a portion of the criticism against the show contained language supporting this claim, with some actors even experiencing hateful backlash). However, the audience has largely welcomed the show’s second season. Is it possible that the show became less progressive? Or could it be that viewers have grown more tolerant of the creators’ contemporary interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world? It’s also conceivable that those who disliked the first season chose not to watch this time around. Yet, another possibility is that the show’s supporters overestimated the impact of trolls on the ratings. Perhaps it’s a blend of these factors at play?
Another question: Ratings. The Rings of Power is the most expensive TV show of all time and has cost Amazon roughly $715 million. Amazon says the first season was viewed by more than 100 million people worldwide, with more than 32 billion minutes streamed (and would surely push back on this story’s question about whether the show is paying off now by insisting “it already has!”).
However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the first season of the show, The Rings of Power, only managed to complete at a rate of 37%. A completion rate of 50% is typically considered “solid”, so this suggests a substantial decrease in viewership. It remains to be seen if the more favorable response will translate into higher ratings, or if the audience scores simply indicate that fewer viewers who enjoyed the initial season have continued watching. Regardless, given the skepticism surrounding the series, The Rings of Power has proven to be an unexpected hit during the summer months, seeming to perform better than it did previously.
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2024-08-30 23:54