Makes me wonder what could have been achieved with such a budget and better writers intent on telling an actual story to begin with, the dialogue was better, no modern politics, no Galadriel being an insufferable cow. They have wisely decided not to double down on antagonising people, and have removed many of the offending elements of S1 (Harfoots, apart from the two remaining). There's some sense of scale and a World there wasn't before, it has become its own version of ME, the costumes and sets were much better, and fair play it did look spectacular far better than S1.
I stand by everything I said about S1, it was awful. I said I would give S2 a fair watch, and I have done and a good opening couple of hours IMO. Pleasantly surprised I did think it was going to be more of the same. HOD had a better S1, this looks to be winning the battle for S2.
It's never going to hit peak GOT or PJ LOTR, and that's a shame given the budget. I didn't find it slow or boring, like S1, and I wasn't constantly taken out of the World like S1. Enjoyed the first 2 hours optimistic for what's to come, let's hope it doesn't fall apart, and maybe we can get some epic Tolkien series made down the line.
