Daniel Parkerson

I get where people are coming from with it not being straight out of the Silmarillion or Tolkien's other works, but they didn't just completely make up a new world or anything. It's a nice bridge between Silmarillion and the Hobbit, showing part of what Galadriel and Elrond, the kingdom and new characters in episode 3 (for those who haven't seen it yet) and all 4 of the main races really were up to at that time, and what Middle Earth was like in general. They did an amazing job with subtly showing us why Uruk-hai were so superior to normal orcs, making the orcs terrifying, showing a less campy, more serious- and outright brutal at times- version of middle earth from what we've seen before. The acting is excellent thus far and it has a little something for everyone. People need to relax. Be happy it's not chock full of politics beating your brains in constantly, telling you that you're a horrible person like a lot of franchises are doing now. It's a damn good show made with the utmost respect to the greatest fantasy world ever created, in a spectacularly beautiful-to-look-at way.