Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy get to more things than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the movies, tv shows, comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

Rings of Power S2E1 “Elven Kings Under the Sky” – The Season 2 premiere of Rings of Power is sometimes excellent, but it can also be really silly (Symbiote Sauron!) with soap opera plotting that feels like reheated leftovers of the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films. Per its title, “Elven Kings Under the Sky” focuses on the three Rings forged by Celebrimbor in the season 1 finale. True to his character later in life, Elrond (Robert Aramayo) thinks they’re corrupted while Galadriel (An excellent and vulnerable Morfydd Clark) and Gil-Galad (A regal Benjamin Walker) think they can help revitalize the Elven race. Elrond goes on the run and is a very silly fugitive, but an appearance by the enigmatic Cirdan the Shipwright (Ben Daniels) put things into perspective. Also, director Charlotte Brandstrom makes the scenes with the Elves and rings sing with light and color. The plot with the Stranger, Nori, and Poppy aka Wish.com Gandalf, Frodo, and Sam is plodding with strained attempts at humor (Hobbits used to eat bugs though!) and another boring bad guy. However, the real protagonist of this episode is Sauron (Charlie Vickers), who continues to manipulate his way into becoming to the Big Bad of Lord of the Rings. A poorly lit prologue sequence fleshes out his backstory and motivation in the previous season with a truly epic scene of basically an elf twink Nazi version of Sauron getting shanked by his Orc followers. This also establishes that Sauron can change form and face and is basically unkillable. I’m not 100% back on board with Rings of Power after its Season 2 premiere, but love that the show is exploring themes of power, corruption, and lies thanks to writer Gennifer Hutchinson. Also, visually, it looks like a blockbuster film with the exception of the bland desert the Stranger and the halflings are running around in. Overall Verdict: 7.2