I think this thread would be the right place to point out that while some of the actors on the show failed to convince me, after seeing the whole season 1 I can genuinely applaud others. I was originally very sceptical of Robert Aramayo's shot-haired (gasp!) "cunning politician" Elrond, but he managed to win me over. One of the more nuanced and likeable performances. Lloyd Owen as Elendil also stood out, and my definite favourite was Joseph Mawle as Adar. Other highlights were Megan Richards as Poppy and Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn. I was also positively surprised by Charlie Vickers
being able to pull off the Sauron reveal; I did not expect that after seeing him as "Walmart Aragorn" (or what was the great term someone here coined 
) for several episodes.