As to special effects, the biggest thing we see are the elves -throwing- (elves are not known to be very strong, how can they throw them 50-100 meters...) out sacks of whatever it is, and having the archers shoot them to rain fire down on the orcs. The effects are so underwhelming. They could have made it much more spectacular.

And lol, even if Durin IV has the ring on, would it really take a whole army to stop him? Couldn't Durin III send 80% of the army and have 20% stay behind and stop him ^^ Even 50/50 would be a big help to poor Elrond, lol. How long does it take an entire army to overthrow ONE person anyway?? Just do that quickly and then march off. Lol it's so bad. And the speech he made too, so underwhelming. Even Gimli had a much boomier or more "dwarvish" voice than Durin III has, even if his acting or portrayal isn't that bad.

The mind game of Sauron and Celebrimbor is also unconvincing. It's taken him (Celebrimbor) an entire season to figure out that something is wrong, and won't even send messengers for advice or anything, even behind Annatar (Sauron's) back - Sauron did go to Khazad-Dum after all, once or.. twice? Plenty of time to do his own research outside the forge tower. Asking his king and making sure he has his consent to make those rings should be a #1 priority.

And the realism is lacking too. The orcs has how many catapults, but why not focus them on one spot in the wall?? Would have breached it in 20 seconds flat!

woke of the ring, stop watching garbage. the only fantasy series that was done right, was game of thrones season 1-4 and maybe season 6. all the other one are just bad. woke of the ring and wheel of time all suffer from terrible writing + woke.

I watched two episodes of games of thrones and i think that was much worse than rings of power. Just a lot of bloody violence and sex scenes, that doesn't make for a great series.

there reason game of thrones arguably the best tv fantasy adaptation to date, the ending probably not but season 1-4 and 6 absolutely greatest tv show in history. if you cant even identify that from the writing and dialogue instead focusing on violence and sex scenes, you deserve show like woke of the ring.

new bad guy is pretty cool I think.

Again, spoilers, season 2 episode 8. Don't read if you haven't watched the episode.

Right, so, episode 2 conclusion. At least we get some progress. Gil-Galad finally shows some use, let's hope he bcomes more prevalent in the next season. Which will be when, probably in about 2 more years? So demotivating.

The biggest mess-up must be Arondir still being alive, it didn't seem like there was much doubt him being killed by Adar the last episode ^^ That was a huge misconception and just plain weird for them to have it play out that way.

Somewhat better episode, not that many mishappenings here. Even willing to stretch to a 5/10 on this, maybe even 6.

One huge weird thing again, is Durin III shown to outright KILL a Balrog????? How in the hell can that happen?? That's just insane for us to believe that, Gandalf at the height of his powers struggled like hell to kill one, almost or just about dying in the process, and Durin III is just supposed to kill it with one single axe strike? Absolutely ridiculous. If he had kept the ring on, and we shown him to take on a huge figure, like say the mountain king in warcraft 3 and the avatar ultimate skill, just 10 times bigger, then it would be a scene to remember. Then after the fight, the ring could be all that was left of it, perhaps. Once again, they miss out on a chance to make a huge epic fight and great cinematography. What we get is plain weirdness. I will say though, his acting isn't bad, that's not the big issue here. Heh, for an old crazy bastard to just throw himself against a balrog, is pretty hilarious in itself ^^ The scene with Durin IV just before was decently acted.

Adar being shown to actually be nice, and having Galadriel not ressurrect him, was a big disappointment. He could have been a great element to bring along to season 3, maybe aiding the good people in the art of understanding how the orcs function, plot twists and such. His acting was decent, but the actor in season 1 was much better. Once again, a missed opportunity. But, they wanted to take it that direction, so that's good enough.

Sauron torturing Celebrimbor was somewhat finally him showing some true character. Sauron has been acting so flat, that one same frigging facial expression through 16 episodes. Watching him move and actually do something for once, showing some presence, like the fight with Galadriel, is sorely needed on his character development part.

If season 3 is going to be anything more of quality than the two first, they're going to have to raise their game significantly. They have a chance to make something really epic. Bring on the special effects, make it spectacular. This downplayed and holding back-weirdness isn't doing the series any favors. They're trying to be clever by keeping it downplayed, but it's just coming out confused and weird. Once again, there are glimmers of acting brilliance, but not like it could have been.

final ep was very bad.

Didn't tune into the dumpster fire this season. Don't hear any reason to either. Not giving them my viewership.

I would say that season 2 is at least worth watching, if one has the slightest fascination for tolkien's works. Just don't expect masterpieces .. but there are some moments of good acting and directing. As i thought in the first season too, the dwarves, elves and orcs' acting is decent. It's the humans' race storyline and acting i think is subpar...

It's not a complete flop. Or at least .. maybe just watch the last episode.

Same. I just act as if they don't exist & carry on. Ppl that waste their time with shit like Acolyte and defend it, then murder it.. obviously it was going to be shit, shitheads .