Nick1Ø66

More like a weird off-putting gnome than an elf

Right...
 
 
Right!
 
 
So I guess we're getting The War of the Rohirrim before Season Two. It is interesting to see some more believable budget figures: so this cost around $400 million to make, with that budget spread across 8.5 hours. So its big, but its not that big.

There is no point discussing this, but this is absurd.
 
Then I guess Galadriel should have sailed the ocean for 5 hours worth of TV straight.

which is done more economically and, I would suggest, a lot more effectively.

That's a character Setup, and not a plot.
Galadriel loses her Brother to Sauron, so she vows to destroy him.
It's the equivalent of The Hobbit's prologue setting up Thorin's hate for elves and journey back to Erebor.

Yes, it's a good observation. Thorin has more reason than most to distrust the Elves, and this distrust (and his own stubbornness) is the root of his demeanor towards Elrond.  But it's never taken too far. Yes, Thorin is stubborn and distrustful, but not unreasonably or aggressively so (well, perhaps somewhat unreasonably), and he never veers into the outright hostility that the character Amazon is calling Galadriel does.  I get where they're going with Galadriel, they want us to write off her hostility to this obsession with Sauron, but it just doesn't work. Jackson wisely never makes Thorin unlikable to the extent Amazon does (and credit to Armitage for playing these scenes deftly), and I don't trust the writers of ROP with the deftness to redeem her character.
 
In fact, for all of my complaints about The Hobbit, Richard Armitage's performance as Thorin is not one of them. While far from the book Thorin, Armitage realises Jackson's tragic-hero vision of the character perfectly.  One scene in particular has always stood out to me. When the Dwarves are having dinner at Rivendell, Elrond explains the storied history of Orcrist to Thorin, and concludes by handing the Elvish blade back to Thorin saying "may it serve you well."  The nod of acknowledgement that Thorin gives Elrond in this moment is played brilliantly by Armitage. It's a subtle moment, but to me conveyed several things at once...surprise on Thorin's part, because he may have feared Elrond would want to reclaim such a fabled weapon back for the Elves (and perhaps rightfully so, given Thorin found it in a troll hoard), along with respect...respect for the gesture, and mutual respect for the respect Elrond afforded him as one leader of his people to another. It's a brief, subtle moment in what is otherwise not a great dinner scene, but remains one of my favourites in those films.

Yes, it's a good observation. Thorin has more reason than most to distrust the Elves, and this distrust (and his own stubbornness) is the root of his demeanor towards Elrond.  But it's never taken too far. Yes, Thorin is stubborn and distrustful, but not unreasonably or aggressively so (well, perhaps somewhat unreasonably), and he never veers into the outright hostility that the character Amazon is calling Galadriel does.  I get where they're going with Galadriel, they want us to write off her hostility to this obsession with Sauron, but it just doesn't work. Jackson wisely never makes Thorin unlikable to the extent Amazon does (and credit to Armitage for playing these scenes deftly), and I don't trust the writers of ROP with the deftness to redeem her character.
 
In fact, for all of my complaints about The Hobbit, Richard Armitage's performance as Thorin is not one of them. While far from the book Thorin, Armitage realises Jackson's tragic-hero vision of the character perfectly.  One scene in particular has always stood out to me. When the Dwarves are having dinner at Rivendell, Elrond explains the storied history of Orcrist to Thorin, and concludes by handing the Elvish blade back to Thorin saying "may it serve you well."  The nod of acknowledgement that Thorin gives Elrond in this moment is played brilliantly by Armitage. It's a subtle moment, but to me conveyed several things at once...surprise on Thorin's part, because he may have feared Elrond would want to reclaim such a fabled weapon back for the Elves (and perhaps rightfully so, given Thorin found it in a troll hoard), along with respect...respect for the gesture, and mutual respect for the respect Elrond afforded him as one leader of his people to another. It's a brief, subtle moment in what is otherwise not a great dinner scene, but remains one of my favourites in those films.

Yes, it's a good observation. Thorin has more reason than most to distrust the Elves, and this distrust (and his own stubbornness) is the root of his demeanor towards Elrond.  But it's never taken too far. Yes, Thorin is stubborn and distrustful, but not unreasonably or aggressively so (well, perhaps somewhat unreasonably), and he never veers into the outright hostility that the character Amazon is calling Galadriel does.  I get where they're going with Galadriel, they want us to write off her hostility to this obsession with Sauron, but it just doesn't work. Jackson wisely never makes Thorin unlikable to the extent Amazon does (and credit to Armitage for playing these scenes deftly), and I don't trust the writers of ROP with the deftness to redeem her character.
 
In fact, for all of my complaints about The Hobbit, Richard Armitage's performance as Thorin is not one of them. While far from the book Thorin, Armitage realises Jackson's tragic-hero vision of the character perfectly.  One scene in particular has always stood out to me. When the Dwarves are having dinner at Rivendell, Elrond explains the storied history of Orcrist to Thorin, and concludes by handing the Elvish blade back to Thorin saying "may it serve you well."  The nod of acknowledgement that Thorin gives Elrond in this moment is played brilliantly by Armitage. It's a subtle moment, but to me conveyed several things at once...surprise on Thorin's part, because he may have feared Elrond would want to reclaim such a fabled weapon back for the Elves (and perhaps rightfully so, given Thorin found it in a troll hoard), along with respect...respect for the gesture, and mutual respect for the respect Elrond afforded him as one leader of his people to another. It's a brief, subtle moment in what is otherwise not a great dinner scene, but remains one of my favourites in those films.

And in perfect prequelitis fashion, in the 3 hours that I've seen it gave me absolutely no reason to care about any of its characters or places or events other than attempts like "ooh remember this from LotR? Ooh she's in LotR! Wow, they go here in LotR too! Ooh he's like someone in LotR! Neat, isn't it, they will be the folks you know from LotR!"

Good grief, that was awful.
 
The show is just full of poorly written, cliché-ridden TV tropes has little to do with Tolkien. It's getting worse, not better, by the week.  It has the same beats, and flaws, of any other average streaming show, except that it has that huge budget. And what of that budget?  Yes, the settings are spectacular and very well done. But the big, epic battle they were leading up to felt decidedly small scale, and even...amateurish. And the writing...my God...when you start having your supposedly brilliant and heroic main characters act stupidly in order to move the plot forward (e.g. the misdirection with the evil sword that was obvious from the get go) you know you've hit rock bottom.
 
I’ve seen people praising episode 6 as “one of the greatest hours of TV ever”, and to each their own, I don’t begrudge anyone enjoying the show. But to me, at this point all ROP is doing is taking away the mystery and magic of Middle-Earth by strip mining its history to facilitate made up "origin stories". 
 
If there's anything that's surprising, it's that it's even more fan fiction than I suspected it would be. The whole story is basically TV writers making up, well, everything. The show is not going to get better, the DNA on this one is coded. I might finish the season, because I hate leaving things unfinished, but after that I'm out. 

To be honest, he does look like an elf.

I think he does marvellous work as Elrond, for what its worth.

It varies. I'm not feeling Benjamin Walker as Gil-galad: too self-conscious. Also Arondir is played too stoic by Cruz-Cordova, and Galadriel too beligerent by Clark. Can't stand the Brandyfoot parents.
 
But Elrond is a revelation! Now, if only he wasn't embroiled in a project involving getting Mithril Indoor Tanning...

They do, except for Galadriel. There is nothing behind her eyes and that's where most of the acting should take place. 

I didn't really care for him as a young Eddard Stark, I just couldn't see it.
 
I do however, like him as Elrond. 

It's great

You guys are really testing Jay's patience with your bad dates!

You guys are really testing Jay's patience with your bad dates!

You guys are really testing Jay's patience with your bad dates!

You guys are really testing Jay's patience with your bad dates!