The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power makes for a dazzling return to Middle-earth

[Note: This is an abridged, more spoiler-free version of our recap of the first two episodes of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power. The full recap will publish, like all recaps, once you’ve been able to actually see the show—in this case, tomorrow night at 11 p.m. ET. Future recaps will be available after each episode airs for the rest of this season. In the meantime, consider this an appetizer/first reaction to a series we’re very excited about.]

If the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien teach anything, it’s that the road goes ever on and on. On Middle-earth, stories don’t end; they live on in the characters who survive them, those who tell them, and the people who read them. Stories are a living thing to Tolkien. He often likened them to trees, with deep roots and changing leaves, that grow taller and fuller with each addition. It is only in this context that a billion-dollar adaptation of the appendices of Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings makes any sense.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power doesn’t delineate between the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Each beat resonates with the other, bouncing off the history and legacy of Tolkien’s creation and our relationship with it. J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterwork of literary wonder isn’t a hill. It’s a mountain made of earth and ore; air and water; and countless small parts reflecting back to each other. Every bit of its ecosystem has a story to tell that illuminates and enriches the others. In The Rings Of Power, the viewer never consumes one story, but rather a whole history in a few lines.

Expectations for the most expensive show ever made are undoubtedly high, but the lowest bar to clear was making something coherent out of the densest and most fashionably out-of-step fantasy series on Earth. The good news is that in its first two episodes, Rings Of Power isn’t just good; it’s stupendous. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world doesn’t just fit neatly with the world Peter Jackson created in the early 2000s, but also folds into a larger cultural story about Tolkien and what his work continues to inspire in people. Rings Of Power makes clear that every story in Middle-earth is part of the larger whole and treats each moment, big and small, with appropriate grace and splendor, where a fresh berry is as miraculous as a sorcerer’s seeing stone. The optimistic Rings Of Power finds a world worth fighting for.

Rings Of Power takes place roughly 3,000 years before Frodo’s journey in Lord Of The Rings. With so much history to unpack, director J.A. Bayona swipes a page from Jackson’s book and opens with a prologue narrated by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who immediately personalizes this story to reel us in. Galadriel explains how the first Dark Lord Morgoth waged a centuries-long “War Of Wrath” on Valinor, concluding in the death of Morgoth, the rise of Morgoth’s apprentice Sauron, and the Elves leaving Valinor for Middle-earth. When Sauron’s forces kill her brother Finrod, it sparks in Galadriel a drive to stop all crime in Gotham City to hunt down Sauron’s forces wherever they roam.

By making this threat personal to Galadriel, the show provides solid ground for the audience. With so many Dark Lords and strange Elven names and words, it would be easy to get lost in the thicket. Payne, McKay, and their writers’ room were right to give her a clear target with Sauron while not losing sight of the bigger picture. This is a personal fight for Galadriel, but one that affects every character in different ways.

Galadriel isn’t the only Elf of interest on ROP. When we meet our old buddy Elrond (played by Robert Aramayo with unexpected warmth), he’s scribbling away in a book, trying to find the perfect metaphor for Galadriel’s search for Sauron. In their first dynamite scene together, we see the divide between Elrond and Galadriel. Galadriel may be like Batman on a never-ending quest for vengeance, but Aramayo plays Elrond like Obi-Wan Kenobi, countering the weight of this mythology with pure love for his friend. And there’s a lot of love and respect between characters on this show, giving it a very open-hearted tone compared to other, more dour fantasy series.

We leave the grand adventure of the Elves and meet a nomadic race of halflings, known as Harfoots. Their camp recalls the Lost Boys village in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, with secret compartments and clever, twine-based mechanisms. It’s probably catnip to kids with growing imaginations, and yet, our main Harfoot, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), aspires for something more. Kavenagh has an ease on camera that exudes the confidence of this production, delivering a performance money can’t fake. Her strength and determination feel authentic, even if the character can’t verbalize what compels her. Of course, she’ll get more than she bargains for when a mysterious bearded man known as The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) crashes to Middle-earth on a meteor.

While the show takes its time introducing us to the world and its initial groups, there’s no sense of dragging. The plot is propulsive, which is not necessarily a term one would normally use to describe Tolkien. Even Jackson’s beloved trilogy films were often charged with complaints that it’s just people walking in the woods. But the swashbuckling adventure here is immediate and fluid. Despite the deep ties to the lore, the beats are easy to follow but never watered down.

Rings Of Power has an advantage. The show is reportedly the most expensive ever made, with more than $460 million going into the first season alone. The seemingly limitless budget and time have made the production lavish and immersive. Marvel movies have extreme budgets but often feel cobbled together due to shortcomings in the special effects or the feeling that actors aren’t in the same room. There’s none of that here. When Elrond walks through the Mines of Moria, his awe matches ours. In perfect unison, the actors work with the effects, including the makeup, costumes, practical sets, and CGI. No one ever looks like they’re talking to a tennis ball or rushing to meet a release date.

When large-scale CGI effects are necessary, Bayona cleverly directs the action in ways that keep us engaged with the actors. Galadriel’s battle with a sea-serpent features some of the dodgiest CGI in the series, but Bayona shoots around the monster by locking our perspective to Galadriel. We only see what she sees: flashes of a tail and the raft’s floundering crew falling dead into the water. It’s surprising to see a show like this not show off its computer-generated creations. The restraint is appreciated.

Taking their time as they set up their pieces, Payne and McKay establish the type of world that Tolkien created, one with hope but no guarantees. There’s plenty of that here, as allegiances are tested, and relationships require tending. Still, they all feed into the one story. Rings Of Power seems focused on the ties that bind communities and people to each other, not just the darkness that binds the Ring. In the first two episodes, those ties are strong.