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.

This series has met all my expectations. All this millionaire investment resulted in the largest TV production ever made. The photography of this series is beautiful, the soundtrack is magnificent and the mix of CGI with practical effects went really well here. Juan Antonio Bayona was a great choice to direct these first 2 episodes. He used a lot of those aerial images, which had already been established in this universe by Peter Jackson, but it looked really good here. The direction also left a movie atmosphere, especially in the first episode, the feeling is that I was watching a Blockbuster! In the second episode there's a sequel involving Galadriel that is breathtaking! I'm really looking forward to the next episodes!

I've given my feedbacks for the 1st Episode - the only let down I felt was the Elfs - short hairs - less knowledgeable - stays the same for this Episode too - hope the showrunners correct this soon!

Now the +ve's!

The pace has certainly picked up! 1 problem with picking such a large time duration of the 2nd Age would've been that - you would want to show as many details as possible - but that would make the whole show so boring!

But the showrunners have handled that so well. They picked up Galadriel's journey to be the center of the season - which is turning out to be really interesting now.

Gladly looking forward to see how Galadriel's character transforms from a young Elf warrior to such a strong Elf witch - that we've all seen in Peter Jackson's trilogies!

Highlights: 1. The worm The showrunners are certainly making the budget count. We got a glimpse of it in the maps in the 1st Episode - and this Episode shows the horror of it live 2. Moria Glad to see Moria in it's glory days. Another area where fans like me will look forward - how the mines transform into a living hell with Durin's Bane - as we saw in LOTR 3rd Age.

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.