Steve R

The reviews are bad because the show is not good. For Amazon to turn off reviews and claim "trolling" is convenient, and denial. Sure there are people who totally enjoyed the 2 episodes... just as there are people who enjoy mayonaisse sandwiches, that's grand. This show feels like it references a few names and places and styles and races of Middle Earth, but next to no understanding of what made Tolkien's books tick. Even the way Tolkien's maps are presented and utilized feels entirely G of T. Everything feels uninspired, easy and cliche, the entirety of these episodes could exist in an entirely different fantasy setup and not even really feel derivative of Lord of the Rings, it's that daftly conceived. Bringing hobbit-types into this earlier story of Middle Earth is tone deaf to what was so central to LotR... that hobbits ended up so vital to the story out of nowhere, totally unsuspected; having them here, feeling destined to play a part—and all playing such worn tropes—feels akin to the spotlight being drawn toward R2-D2 in Phantom Menace... like appreciating a fan-favorite in a way that makes no sense whatsoever to the story. While the show looks fabulous, there are so many random glory shots that we haven't had to 'work for', haven't had to journey toward, that they feel meaningless, just diluting any magic we might remember of Middle Earth. I'm actually suspect of so many of the positive reviews... if there's anything that feels forced or trolling, I just don't believe some of the 5 star reviewers, "It's obviously better than Lord of the Rings!" etc. No one believes anyone with a remotely talented eye can mean this or say it with a straight face. Anyway, who really cares. Hopefully I can forget these two episodes and continue to remember a Middle Earth where elves weren't whiney, or cowards, or blowhards or just mediocre humans with pointy ears and hyperbolic haircuts, where dialogue was considered, and memorable, and not merely throw-aways or solely plot driven, where not every moment was expositional. At times I felt as if we were watching a sit-com. Honestly, this whole thing could have been General Hospital or a civil war biopic, there was nothing inherently Tolkien about it whatsoever, not really; having orcs, having accents, being able to pronounce Galadriel in that cool way, does not make it Middle Earth. xo