Adrift

Actually found quite a bit of enjoyment out of it. Prince Durin and his wife were great additions and I loved the dialogue between them and Elrond. Nori continues to be my favorite character so far, and the scenes she had with that strange man from the fireball were fascinating. Arondir and Bronwyn grew on me this episode, and I even found Bronwyn's son to be entertaining. Some really good suspense moments throughout as well. Low point for me is Galadriel's story line. I don't find her likeable at all, and have no idea how she is gonna turn out to be the Galadriel we all love from Jackson's films.

I was so surprised by the difference in quality from the first and second episode, that I checked the writer for the 2nd, and low and behold, she was previously a BCS and BB writer. Doesn't surprise me that I found this episode to be much stronger.

It was a very good idea for Amazon to drop both episodes because if they dropped that 1st episode only, then I probably would've let this go by the wayside.

Adrift is a better episode than the choppy first, it is paced better, acted a little better and sets up the story going forwards. Like episode one, Nori is still the highlight so far, and I though the scenes with Elrond and Durin were pretty funny and well done. The scenes in Khazad-dûm were the best part of this episode, and they very much felt like they belonged in the Hobbit Trilogy. The sets and quality of the visuals during these scenes were fantastic, so props to the guys responsible for carrying these few episodes.

That being said, Galadriel is still boring, as is the elf warrior guy - Arondir and his weird relationship with Bronwyn.

We got an opening title, with was ok, but getting to hear Howard Shore do some more LotR music was a joy, and it's glad to see he hasn't lost his touch. The rest of the music, done by Bear McCreary is also very good, but this should be expected by the guy who composed the music to a much better Amazon show, The Outlander and the video game God of War.

Adrift was just fine, not great, not bad. I do hope the episodes get better going forwards, but I think Amazon should have released 3 episodes instead of 2, because I'm still not invested in these characters or the story.

Well this episode was an overall improvement on the first episode.

The human character's, the elf Arondir and the Dwarves are good or maybe it's just because they can actually act??

There was actually a moment of tension in this episode where I felt invested for the first time.

The weakest link in the show is still Galadrial however. She's the worst character and the worst actor in the show but supposed to be the main character. Which could be a big problem.

Will the show switch focus in order to save it? .

Less Lenny Henry was also an improvement.

Am I damning this with feint praise? I'm unsure.

Tune in next time...

What i feared going into the first episode was put at ease with the second. I feared that we as the audiance would not be able to care or connect with the characters. But as this episode proved for nori(personally) and Durin, i'm hopeful. This episode was visually stunning, the dialogues good and the score as beautiful as the first episode. My only fear is to see where the show is going. I feel like something is missing but u cannot tell what exactly. I feel as if we don't spend enough time with the characters, but there is room for improvement in the next episodes. I'm excited for more. Only complaint is the pacing (kinda), and i'd say i prefer the first episode still. Anyways, go in and watch the show with an open mind, you'll not be disapointed. Let it the time it needs to breathe. We've grown to be very impatient. For instance the first episodes of game of thrones were kinda slow paced, and most people connected with the characters only deeper in the season. Give the show some time, it has all the good signs for being a great story.

I'm impressed how the dwarven Kingdom in the mountain truly had the feeling of being real, an ecosystem, deep caverns, well done.

The relationship between the elf and dwarven friends is unique, showing how dwarves truly can be short tempered, and elves aloof of the differences of other races. I'm trying not to use too many spoilers here also.

The music in this episode set the tone at times.

The boy really seems to be playing with fire in this episode, and you would think he'd be more aware of it.... One of those scenes where you want to say to the character "what are you doing!?" The audience can tell it was obviously going to be a bad idea... But a character is thinking about it anyway.... And I generally find the younger actors are not all that convincing unfortunately.