I'm honestly curious as to whether most
British people (you know, Tolkien was actually one of them) and most Europeans, Australians, non-Americans actually enjoyed the show or not. So far the strongest defenders AND critics seem to be from mostly Americans fighting over weird culture war issues online, it's very difficult for me to tell whether most people outside the USA, where Amazon is based after all, thinks it's a worthy successor to Jackson and Tolkien's creative work. If any non-American Tolkien fan here can tell me what most of their friends think about the show, here or privately, I would be very grateful!
I will say though that Amazon is a multinational corporation with billions of dollars and its share of past scandals and allegations of considerable employee mistreatment. I also use Amazon occasionally, but that does certainly not make me blind to its moral failings and past mistakes, some progressive Democrats have strongly criticized its policies in the past. We shouldn't let fantasy entertainment blind us to some of the real issues at hand also, they are still a manifestion of extreme and unchecked capitalism.
https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...ions-warehouse
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/u...e-workers.html
Anyway, I watched several more episodes, and there was some improvement, I admit, Numenor was very impressive and beautiful, but the show itself still seems somewhat lacklustre and average at best, nothing that is breathtaking enough for me to view it as a timeless masterpiece.