General thoughts: I feel like this series plays better in binges than dribbled out one at a time, even if it exposes some very repetitive bits of story telling. And knowing somewhat where it’s going, based on the season finale and the previews of Season 2, also helps. Is it good that my main reaction to our heroine’s activities tends to be “Welp, Galadriel stepped on another rake”…? – No, it is not…but it’s better than “these writers are morons for thinking this stuff makes Galadriel look smart or heroic,” which was my reaction on first viewing to alot of this.

Most improved character: I started liking Theo a lot better at about The Great Wave in both my viewings. Earien works better for me than she did on initial viewing. Galadriel’s kindly, maternal attitude towards Theo and the younger Numenoreans (including Isildur) is about the only positive trait she’s shown besides her fighting skills and a couple of scholarly moments relating to the “mark of Sauron,” that made me think of Indiana Jones or Van Helsing from Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. That maternal quality is also a possible hint that she’s already a parent, maybe?

Coolest production design element: the Numenorean ships, which we see a good deal of.

Worst design element: Crowns. Miriel’s crown makes her look like she’s having a bad hair day, Durin III’s crown looks like something he found in a Burger King children’s meal, and Gil-Galad’s make him look like he’s cosplaying as Bambi’s Dad.

Most misunderstood production design element: Isildur and some of the other low-ranking members of Operation Southland Storm wear quilted cloth armor instead of the scale armor the higher ranking Numenorean wear. It seems to me very clearly a status thing, with real world parallels, since padded cloth armor was what you got in certain cultures if you couldn’t afford leather or metal. But it’s led to a lot of shrieking about how FAAAAKE it looks from people who think it’s perfectly normal for Galadriel to turn into a bad cgi banshee when she fantasizes about using the One Ring.

Most misunderstood character: Kemen. I am intrigued by his combination of loyalty to his father’s values (as he understands them) and basic human decency – he’s horrified at the idea that there’s a stowaway on the ship he’s trying to blow up, and gives Isildur full credit for saving his life. The actual ship sabotage business is fine on paper, but I think some combination of the fight choreography and Isildur’s epic loserhood (see below) makes it seem sillier than it might be.

Most misunderstood story element: Numenor being a country of closed union shops, er, guilds, seems perfectly consistent with their highly organized, sophisticated culture. “Elves coming to compete with us as craftsmen” is actually a fairly plausible thing for them to get worked up about. Yes, it also looks suspiciously like strawmanning about real world labor issues, and I don’t blame anyone who’s annoyed about that, but in a Watsonian context, it’s a reasonable thing for Pharazon’s shills to propagandize about.

Worst plot foulup: The repetitive “Stranger danger” subplot seen in Partings (105) and The Eye (107), where Nori and the other harfoots waffle about whether they’re safe around the Stranger. It’s painful to watch because Daniel Weyman has such a likable, angsty take on the Stranger. Ditch the damaged tree stuff from The Eye, move the wolf sequence from Partings into its place, but with more harfoot witnesses. Introduce the Mystics in connection with the wolves, but not the crater. Used the recovered screentime in Partings to explain what’s up with Elrond showing the mithril lump to Celebrimbor.

Worst handling of a reasonable plot element: With some difficulty, I can parse out what they’re trying to to do with the Elrond plot in Partings. He was sworn to secrecy by Durin IV about the mithril in the previous episode, but Gilgalad strongly hints that he already knows. Then he apparently takes his lump of ore to Celebrimbor for testing (not shown), and only after Celebrimbor tells him the results does he go to Durin IV and talk to him about the situation, since it’s not against his oath to persuade Durin IV to be the go-between. It really needs an extra scene where Elrond gives Celebrimbor the shiny rock and says “Look, I can’t tell you where I got this, but can you tell me what it is and what it does?” Possibly one was shot; they supposedly shot most of the Celebrimbor scenes with a different actor in the role, then recast Celebrimbor and due to logistical issues didn’t necessarily reshoot every scene he was in.

Worst backstory foulup: the mithril origin story. Already ranted about it last time.

Worst character writing: A three-way tie. Isildur’s incredibly stupid, childish justifications for joining the expeditionary force. Gil-Galad bullying Elrond in Partings and then trying a softer approach (look, even I know you try the softer approach first) in Partings. Galadriel solemnly and hypocritically lecturing Theo in The Eye about all the things she was doing the episode before, with no real implication of self-awareness. (The actress does what she can, but I felt like it needed more dialogue admitting that she’s felt like Theo does right now and acting on it is not helpful.)

Worst performance: The actress playing Miriel consistently aims for regal and lands on smug. She handles Blind Miriel better, and her first scenes shot involved Blind Miriel. Maybe that extreme nonlinearity kind of put her off her game, I don’t know.

Worst moment in an otherwise good performance: Elendil crying when he realizes that he’s leaving Middle Earth with his son missing in action. This is (contrary to what the impotent and childless keyboard warriors will tell you) a perfectly valid time for a man to cry, it’s just not done well. This was supposedly shot early in the series (see above, regarding Blind Miriel) and maybe that’s the problem.

Most overrated scene: Galadriel and Halbrand sitting on a rock in Udun. I just find the “binding” dialogue lame and corny, the quasi-romantic undertones even moreso. But in general these writers are good at the light-hearted bits and weak and unsubtle when it comes to the dramatic ones. It’s an astonishingly consistent thing across all the storylines.

Most trivial irritant: the insistence on making Silvan Elf and non-Tolkien creation Arondir consistently nobler, kinder, and more idealistic than Galadriel or Gil-Galad. I get the whole “last shall be first and first shall be last” thing, but it smacks of Mary Sue-ism, or the kind of playing favorites the otherwise rational Dave Filoni (of the Star Wars franchise) shows whenever his creation Ahsoka enters the picture.

Best things about this string of episodes: The Prince Durin & Princess Disa Comedy Hour With Special Guest Star Elrond, followed by This Wandering Day, following by the Bond Villain subplot involving Orodruin, followed by the attack of the Numenorean cavalry, followed by Miriel’s wardrobe, followed by Galadriel’s wardrobe, followed by Isildur’s horse Berek.