The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 did something so extraordinary, I still can’t believe it. The epic Prime Video fantasy series somehow made me laugh harder than most comedies on TV.

Sometimes I could tell that the show’s humor was totally on purpose. Like when the Harfoots acted all cute and dopey and charming while struggling through Rhûn or when Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) — whom fans will meet later this week — did just about anything. I mean, those characters are designed to provide light comic relief. It’s okay to laugh at their antics!

However, more often than not, I found myself howling in mirth to see just how far showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay took the show’s drama. I lost it watching Jack Lowden show up for a cameo as a struggling Sauron and then cackled at the slimy horror that soon unfolded. I couldn’t take a later episode opening with Celebrimor (Charles Edwards) nursing a cup of Elf coffee on a balcony like he was in a Folger’s ad any more than I could cope with the same character brightly going for a “First Age” wine in celebration in Episode 2.

And everyone who knows me knows that I will not stop talking about seeing Círdan the Shipwright (Ben Daniels) shaving off his beard with the swipe of a rainbow-tinted clam shell. I mean, look at how pleased with himself he is!!! How can you sit back and not smile? Join the Elf in his glee!!!

Photo: Prime Video

What else made me giggle? Well, there was the way that Isildur’s (Maxim Baldry) magically loyal horse fended off a band of orcs by back-kicking one to his death on a tree branch. It was like one of my favorite animal YouTube videos, but instead of farting on a dog, the horse in question slew an orc with one sassy little kick.

There’s another point where Adar (Sam Hazeldine) inexplicably cradles a baby in his arms in Mordor. Was this infant a baby orc, a simple foundling, or intended to be supper for the Uruks? I never found out! It gave me echoes and murmurs of my favorite absurd moment from Peter Jackson’s original LOTR trilogy: “Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!” Incredible.

Then, there were moments like Sauron as Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) thirsting for any news of Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). We get it, buddy. You have a crush on the pretty Elf. In fact, I couldn’t get over how human Sauron felt this season altogether. Jackson’s films envisioned the villain as a monstrous eye, casting his gaze everywhere at once. The Rings of Power gives us an Annatar who schemes and gossips and manipulates like a Real Housewife. The moment where Annatar teases gossip from Benjamin Walker’s Gil-Galad in Season 2 Episode 3 by literally saying, almost sarcastically, “No, I should not,” threw me back to Alyssa Edwards shaking her head at her own jokes on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Amazing!

Photo: Prime Video

Now, I must confess that for a time I believed the inadvertent — or was it planned? — comedy of The Rings of Power Season 2 was a ding against the show as a whole. Surely, my laughter was a sign that the show had not managed to suspend my disbelief in orcs, elves, dwarves, and wizards. Then, I finally came to accept that, no, the joy I took from Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was meaningful. It was as important as the light of good chasing the darkness of evil. (Okay, maybe it wasn’t that important, but you catch my drift.)

It’s easy to think of the works of Tolkien as solemn masterpieces, but the author himself injected irreverence throughout his books. Whether it’s the antics of young Peregrin Took or the entire existence of Tom Bombadil, the world of Middle-earth is a place where laughter is welcome. It’s not all doom, gloom, and serious world-saving business; Tolkien’s storytelling is also full of joy.

So, okay, maybe I’m not supposed to giggle at younger Sauron’s feeble attempts to curb the orcs to his will and maybe I’m supposed to take Círdan’s choice of a razor seriously, but I can’t help myself. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 made me laugh. It made me happy.

I hope The Rings of Power makes you happy, too.