Alexander Loehrer

This show has some beautiful pictures. The budget shows. But that's it. The story is terrible everywhere it changes Tolkien's original, and that's almost everywhere. The writing of the dialogues is that of a b-level soap opera. The directing is uninspired, inconsistent and simply bad. I usually don't mind diversity, quite the contrary, but the extreme way this shows pushes a political agenda - that I actually agree with - can only be described as cringe and makes this beautiful fantasy world that Tolkien created completely unbelievable. If they had to include diverse characters then I'd have expected some believable explanations and proper character-building. I love Tolkien's stories, I love Peter Jackson's work, despite not always following Tolkien's original. This show though, is an insult to Tolkien's legacy. It had potential and then turned out to be a cash grab IP exploit. Shame on the producers. It's trash. Even if I didn't care about the books, the show wouldn't get more than 2 or 3 points out of 10. How anyone can watch this and say it's a great show is beyond me, but hey, we're living in strange times.