Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, "The Eagle And The Sceptre" | Season 2, Episode 3
The humans make a mess of things
Back in my review for the season 2 premiere, I talked about being worried that I’d forgotten important story beats in the two years since the end of season 1. Little did I realize I should’ve been concerned about the opposite happening: what if I remembered something the writers clearly wanted me to forget? I’ve been hard on these first few episodes, and “The Eagle and the Sceptre” doesn’t reignite what little remains of my passion for the show. But it does, at least, have a lot going on and makes some stabs towards momentum in ways that I appreciated.
At the same time, it also expects us to basically write off one of the most important relationships of the first season. A good portion of “Eagle” focuses on checking in with Isildur and how he’s handling things after Numenor’s disastrous fight with Adar’s forces last season. His father and his people have left him behind for dead, but he finds his way to a human encampment with the help of a woman named Astrid and …