Sam Findley

I was skeptical coming into this series, but overall, it has been great and I would definitely recommend it. There are a lot of opinions about the series that center around wokeness and lore. In regards to the wokeness, that is partly why I was concerned. Marketing for the series seemed to be so focused on "hey, we have a diverse cast!" that I was expecting this to be full of characters pontificating on the injustices of their world that oddly resemble modern culture. However, I have been pleased that there hasn't been any overt, or in your face messaging, which is what I consider woke culture. I've watched all of "The Witcher" and parts of "The Wheel of Time." Those both had alot more overt political messaging, that felt nauseating at times. The only "woke" part of this series is the diverse cast, which at the end of the day were great selections! Regarding the lore, I don't I realized after the first iteration of comic book movies that pure adaptations from source material is just not going to happen. The Silmarillion is very dense with some material and very light in others. It would be impossible for the creators to follow the story. Ultimately, I feel both complaints are based in toxic fanboying. This series isn't without it's problems. The pacing can be off at times, too slow sometimes, and then it feels like it rushes through parts that need more room to breath. How they represent the world is inconsistent, the main characters all have a very modern, very clean, very attractive while all secondary characters have a gritty, dirty, authentic look of someone who lived without the luxuries of running water and plumbing. Minor stuff, thus the 4/5 stars, but honestly, everyone should watch it, its great!