Originally Posted by
bledgor
Finished episode 2 today, and continues to have a few upsides and a lot of downsides.
large note Details:
-Okay in episode 1 it bothered me, now it is a large issue. This is supposed to be Tolkien, why the fuck does everyone have access to fast travel? Ep1 Galadriel and company fast travel from the ice back, then they get on the ship and travel the 400 miles to Valinor, and we get o time reference. In this episode we have Elrond going to Eregion instantly, then traveling to Khazad-dum instantly with Celebrimbor (while wearing the same outfits). All with no reference to how long it tooks, all with none of the traveling bits that make Tolkien's work, Tolkien.
-Not to mention Elrond spends some amount of time in the contest (which was way over explained, show don't tell), before spending time with Durin IV, including having dinner, meanwhile Celebrimbor was just left outside the city?
-Galadriel jumping into the sea at the entrance of Valinor is still a mindbogglingly dumb decision, that 99.9999% of the time would result in her dying.
-Like others REALLY hope the wizard/meteor man isn't Gandalf, I wish it wasn't a wizard period, but if Gandalf, SO FUCKING BAD. I suspect they won't name him this season as they will try to acquire more rights from the Tolkien estate before answering who he is.
-Dwarfs are largely well done, like the looks, Khazad-dum looked great minus a few shots that suffered from CGI abuse (namely the one on the bridge where Elrond was in, could tell with living beings in the CGI cut it was CGI)
-That said a few of the accents of the dwarfs made me eye roll, but nothing outlandish and a minor nitpick.
-The Harfoots continue to annoy me, between the accent they can't settle on, to the hair crap, to the badly designed props (they had a torch with the opening at the top where the handle is, thus making the heat rise to your hand which is holding it?)
-The orc scene I enjoyed with Bronwyn and her son, though I did dislike how the orc looked, and how the scene ended. The orc looked too much like a pig and distracted me, and cutting of the scene it was like Bronwyn complains about "something" then perfectly time orc home invasion and she kills it with neither getting hurt while also perfectly cutting off its head to bring to the tavern? Like I get movie convenience, and in a better show I probably could overlook this, but it just felt so much like this happened in this order because plot demanded it not because it was a natural flow.
-Another thread I am worried about, they mentioned the Simarils which was cool, then they have the Dwarf king hiding some precious treasure from the Elves. I hope it is mithril, but a small part of me is prepping for the Dwarfs to be holding a Simaril which would be another large lore fuck up.
Final thoughts: Elves continue to be a large weak point for me, be it in dialogue, the ears/costumes, just about everything. Dislike Harfoots, humans are okay with hits and misses, while Dwarfs carry this episode from bad range to okay range. From a purely watching a fantasy show not by Tolkien standpoint I wouldn't say I hate the show, but I just feel 0 excitement/care for it, and unless some big moments turn me I will probably stop after episode 3 or 4 as I just can't find the will to watch it.