Cherry-Picking the Good Parts

[Gil-Galad]

I concur with most of the sentiment posted here so far: While it may drift away from many Tolkienisms, I can see where the inspiration has come from. Ultiamtely, they are taking chances and some will work out but others will not.

I do like the focus for the Uruks, both story and costume, and giving them something of a tragic backstory. This is supposed to be an origin story of Middle-Earth, so at least there is some "Origin-ing" going on.

The long location scenes of landscapes harkens back to the trilogy, and are always beautiful.

[Boromir88]

The Harfoots remain the best parts of the series. I really enjoyed Malva's character in Ep. 7

I like how she was sort of a Lobelia character...crotchety and antagonistic towards the main protagonist hobbits. In an earlier episode there was a mention of either Poppy or Nori playing a prank on Malva. So, I imagined something like a Bilbo/Lobelia dynamic, and I liked getting a bit of a darker, antagonistic hobbit character.

But at the end of the day, Lobelia wound up in jail by standing up to Sharkey's ruffians, and Malva here admits to being wrong and supporting the younger hobbits. Malva's motivations and character are more convincing than Galadriel randomly deciding she wants to give up her sword to Theo now.

[Boromir88]

So, I wish Celebrimbor looked and sounds more like the greatest Elven smith, who inherited his grandfather's skill. He doesn't, but I have to highlight Charles Edwards' acting, because it's a nice little treat.

I loved his introduction and how he spoke highly of a desire to watch dwarves work their craft. (I think that was Episode 2)

And I loved his interactions this episode with Halbrand. It sets up nicely for their future friendship and I want to see how their relationship plays out, and ultimately how it ends in tragedy. But I particularly liked Charles Edwards' expression when Galadriel says "We are to never treat with Halbrand again." It files under the subtle Tolkien nods that I like the best. Galadriel rejects Sauron/Annatar's "gifts," Celebrimbor welcomes it and his look after Galadriel's words is spot on.

[Thinlómien]

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.