It is to me. Rhun is an unexplored part of the world. Khamul comes from Rhun. We know there is a connection with the Cultists and the Stranger and Sauron. Plenty a strong hook.
A schism has been formed between the Durins. Mithril's value has been elaborated upon and involved in the ring forgings. Elrond has been banished from Khazad-dum and a rift has been formed further between the Elves and Dwarves. Meanwhile Durin and Disa are asserting their own plans in opposition to his father. A lot of it is character development and set-up for future seasons, but still integral to the story and what is coming.
And again, a ton has happened in the Southlands, Galadriel, Sauron storylines, and a lot of things put in motion with Numenor.
At the same time I don't mind the show taking more time than many shows do on vibes and character moments. That's very true to Tolkien in style and a nice contrast to so many modern TV shows that are so obsessed with plot movement. There will be plenty of plot movement in future seasons, smart to use their first season to really set the stage and spend time with this large group of characters so we can grow in understanding of them and their relational dynamics.
Hard disagree I'm afraid. I was rolling with it througout the season, but once it was wrapped up and you could see the whole picture, I feel the pacing issues are even more pronounced.
Rhun is intriguing. Only with extended lore knowledge though. The potential is felt from external sources and the expectations from those. The show gives you next to nothing. We don't see where they're heading, hear anything about it; hell the characters themselves have no idea either. The epic Tolkien journey has a sense of direction and purpose. You have wizards and other guides who can tell the protagonist (and us) what sort of adventures lie ahead.
There was already conflict between the Durin's. They already thought Mithril was precious and magical. Elrond was already unwelcome and there was already no love lost between elves and dwarves. After an entire season, things have barely changed from how they started. Durin IV may be poised to more directly oppose his father, but "may" is the key word here because the show stopped short of him actually doing anything. The elf/dwarf relationship has been limited solely to dwarves building forges off-screen, lame, and now apparently they're done working together. Either that is all we're getting, or the show will have to repeat the union again for the benefit of no-one. I'd agree that this story is set-up. My counter is that it has been drawn out and wasting time. And this is some of my favourite stuff in the show, ha.
I feel the time wasting is even more apparent in other plotlines. Galadriel is our active protagonist. A woman on a mission. And she spents half the season stuck at sea or stuck in Numenor. Episode 4 ends with the tremendous promise of finally letting her go after the enemy, only for episode 5 to stall and end with essentially the same beat: Galadirel finally getting on a boat to leave Numenor. That does no favours for her or the location. Not only does it take the entire season to start the Stranger's quest, we don't even finish the Harfoot migration in the process. The southlands plot is fine but it was a little unfortunate that we had no reason to care for anyone bar the couple of major characters. I'd gladly discard a huge chunk of this time for more spent in Eregion, as the creation of the rings was bizarrely truncated and squeezed in at the end of the run.
I'm happy with a slower pace too. I'm perfectly happy to spend time in middle earth. There needs be a consistency to that pace though, and I don't think the show quite got a grasp of it. It doesn't feel particularly true to Tolkien either, less about rich detail and more about prolongng mysteries.
I think Galadriel will be received better from next season given the growth she’s already gone through since the start of season 1. She’s going to get gradually wiser over the course of the show.
I both agree and disagree. I liked Galadriel for the most part this season, and think there's a number of people who will dislike the character regardless, for cringey culture war reasons. Her final decision this season kind of undermined a decent arc for me though, so I'm a little apprehensive moving forward. I hope the writing improves and Galadriel becomes more popular. I really like Morfydd Clark in the role and only find issue in the scripts.
It is a tough situation finding a convincing arc for a character with this age and ability. Stealing someone else's idea - but I think this story would have worked better if Clark was playing Celebrian instead. Far younger and better suited to coming of age style development. There would be more to do between her and Elrond too.