Simon Rosewood

As a fantasy show in it's own right it's not bad. You just have to forget it's LotR. So far I think it lives in the shadows of Peter Jackson's films. His take on LotR has set a high bar for TV/film adaptions that this falls short on. Seems a little bit to much like a cheap SyFy fantasy TV show (The Outpost). Only it's not cheap so the visuals are much better. There are times I ended up loosing interest and just playing around on my phone. The elves seem to have been brought down a peg which seems to serve as a way to make them more human and relatable. As far as I know it doesn't match lore of LotR. Some poor dialog in places sound like something I would have made up when I was a kid trying to make my own fantasy world. For example a bad elvish metaphor about why a boat floats and a rock doesn't. Some casting choices just don't seem to fit well e.g. some elves look like they have aged when they're ment to be immortal. There was some backlash over some diversity castings but I think so far these actors have actually been some of the better performances. Personally I think Lenny Henry makes for a great hobbit. Overall its watchable and I'll probably at least finish the first season.