katha

Yeah, I thought that was total strategic folly. Walking with the Nine on her into a duel with Sauron. I can kinda see it in a "She's so obsessed with killing him, rational thinking flies out the window", but it didn't show her in a good light IMO. Again. They do need to take a look how they are writing her.

The logistics were also always going to be difficult with Galadriel. We saw that this season. Sauron is the driver of the plot, everyone is reacting to him. They rightly centered him this season, I think it makes sense to stay with that model and have a most prominent leader of the good guys for every season as necessary. You saw that the further away from Sauron the narrative went the weaker it became IMO, structurally it makes sense to tighten things up around him as he gains in power and wreaks ever more havoc. Per Tolkien, Galadriel is not present for most of this in direct ways. You can add her in crucial moments like they did this season and IMO it was fine, but she needs to do things on her own like gain her spiritual powers, build Lothlorien, presumably find Celeborn somewhere along the way. Her realm will be an important point of resistance, but she's not always directly tied to the fight against Sauron. And they did present a scenario why that is in the show, not because she's weak, but because she has been obsessed with destroying Sauron for ages and this darkness has made her susceptible to him. Continuing on this quest has the real possibility of turning her into what she hates.

I think they did a good job of covering the nuances of this all season tbh. Celebrimbor summarized it well this episode. Sauron is a gaslighting menace and absolutely responsible for his evil deeds. But he works with his marks' weaknesses and desires. Celebrimbor takes responsibility for his part in the wreck, for letting ambition and vanity blind him. The Halbrand persona was tailored to Galadriel and on rewatch IMO you see how he is spinning her all season, it's a very sharp and precise performance by Vickers. But he didn't yet have a clear plan in place and was freestyling more with her, so yah, her own mania and single-mindedness were a driving force for much of her crap decision-making in the first season, Sauron often just nudged her along. She has to accept her own culpability and find ways to do better from now on. She's still in this angry "I will kill him, me alone!!!!!" phase, that we know she needs to abandon for something more constructive.

Yeah, I think there are aspects of the show that scream "executive interference" tbh. IMO they probably said "we gotte have Gandalf and hobbits in a LOTR show", which would explain why that plot often seems so inorganic and disconnected from everything else. We know they had to cut Numenor down for reasons (which was a terrible decision tbh), I can also see it tied to not being "allowed" to cut down on the Harfoots in contrast to make it fit into 8 episodes. They did start with the pitch of that Galadriel freak-out on the ring in the LOTR book/movie, so that connection is something they've been interested in. Agree that the ship baiting is tiresome here, but it's probably a mix of showrunners wanting to pander to shippers and Amazon wanting to pander to shippers. The question why Galadriel and Sauron are avoiding each other in the Third Age is an interesting one, I think. Gandalf is close to the ring, he's going into battle openly with Sauron. Why is Galadriel staying out of it? A situation where Sauron and Galadriel have so totally compromised themselves with each that they fear open confrontation is one way of explaining this. Sauron fears mutual destruction, Galadriel fears his corrupting influence. And they've had a leitmotif of Galadriel having an inner darkness as well as not being very self-aware of this. She just loads anger and self-righteousness on everything and tries to sell it as moral virtue. Various characters have called her out on this. Sauron sees this and tries to recruit her as a second in command (he won't share power, that's just nonsense he tells her to make the offer more tempting), which would bolster his pitch for ME domination. Now, do I think this is all well done? Nah, IMO they have made drastic changes to Galadriel without perhaps always thinking through how this effects the larger world building. At a certain point her personal angst regarding Sauron becomes irrelevant because the crap decisions she's made have catastrophic repercussions for the world beyond just her personal journey. So they try to ignore that to some degree and...I'm not convinced. But I can see why they thought it's interesting.

The higher pace is working for me and while some of the writing is wonky, I think overall the storylines were compelling. IMO Vickers and Edwards are killing it, the deception with Annatar works for me because Vickers is selling it and because they made it reasonably plausible that the combined screw ups of everyone have created this catastrophe. Galadriel through shame and pride didn't tell quickly enough that Halbrand is Sauron. So Celebrimbor was not dealing with complete information and with a malevolent powerful being who had already hooked himself into his mind via interactions as Halbrand. Then you have Celebrimbor's vanity and ambition, which Edwards portrays well, so he basically talks himself into letting Halbrand in. Sauron just has to nudge around a bit to get him spinning. And once he's in he seals the deal with the Annatar storyline. Now we're at a stage that Sauron doesn't have to charm anymore, Celebrimbor is stuck. He made the seven rings and disobeyed his king, the rings are flawed and now he doesn't want to question either his own skills/judgement as well as Annatar, but is starting to do it. While Sauron adds in the pressure, gaslights and probably also rummages around in his mind. To the point that he tells his usual half-truths and then turns them into guilt trips on Celebrimbor. Also appreciated that they showed how he's getting his hooks into the other Elves at the forge, further isolating Celebrimbor. The desperation with Celebrimbor is palpable, but he's like a gambler now stuck in the thought spiral that continuing to do the same thing will bring a solution. When of course it won't. I do really like Vickers' structure of movement, it's eerie. There's a stillness to him that makes him both predatory but also strengthens the effect that it's an otherwordly being wearing Elven skin like a dress. Also, Numenor was finally compelling. I think the show really, really needs to sort out their pacing and priorities in the edits. No one needed that much Harfoots walking around for two seasons, while they arguably didn't focus enough on the central tragedy of the Second Age in Numenor.

Sauron/Annatar is really working for me tbh. I think a lot is that they really struck gold with Vickers who is playing the unplayabale to some degree and also smoothing over some blah aspects of the writing. But IMO they also have a decent grasp on the character, how the flexibility and manipulation makes him so dangerous. Getting in with Celebrimbor is also tied to Galadriel not telling quickly enough that Halbrand is Sauron and I do think they did a decent set-up with him guilt tripping her in the season finale to make her hesitant to admit how badly she screwed up. Then Suaron is presumably killing the messengers they're sending from Lindon. And I think the scene of how he gets in is well done: Celebrimbor does most of the talking, Sauron just reacts to all his cues and figures out that he's isolated and doesn't have the newest updates. Celebrimbor does most of the work of convincing himself with a few well-placed nudges. A good scene on how Sauron operates, having the mark think it's all their idea and they have agency. Edwards also does well to establish how vain and desperate for eternal glory Celebrimbor is. So he sees what he wants to see while Sauron plays into all his ambitions with the Annatar reveal. It's cool that they have the Elves conflicted on the rings, because they are ultimately a way of suspending the natural order of things in order to stay in ME. However, messing so much with Galadriel in particular does write them into a corner. Yeah, Elrond may call her out, but she still gets a ring even after catastrophic failure because she has to get a ring for reasons. Gil-Galad comes across as a really wobbly leader because he can't get a grasp on her at all and also bungles Eregion/Celebrimbor. And I'm not sure that is intended, they just had cool ideas to change some things around without thinking through the consequences IMO and so they can't acknowlege them in-show and change things even more drastically.

This looks promising tbh. I'm glad they seem to go all in on Sauron. The villain arcs were among the best written and I thought Vickers delivered about the strongest performance of the season in the last episode.

I think the different way films are now consumed plays into the polarization tbh. Many niche movies become accessible to a broad public due to streaming services. And they might be watched more because they're available and acclaimed. But often those are not viewers who would have sought out those projects on their own. Also: Social media. The motivation to rant about something you hated is probably always greater than if you had a pleasant time. Something that I also dislike about social media and the way its discourse operates: As an example, take that argument scene from "Marriage Story" and how it was widely mocked and meme'd as "bad acting/writing". Now, I think the movie works better in individual scenes than as a whole entity and there are plot holes and frustrating characterization choices, so I'm certainly not saying its beyond criticism. But twitter taking that one scene out of context and mocking it, even though in the film it makes sense that they behave that way is kinda symptomatic about how much of these discussions escalate. The characters ARE overacting, because their conflict has devolved into a performative and destructive game of one-upmanship. Which you'd know if you watched all of it. But I think social media discourse encourages "fast takes" and "hot takes" and a lot of extreme judgements. That said, the new media landscape also makes creating movies with broad appeal more difficult. "Top Gun" managed that this year, and its being feted because it's become such a rare achievement outside of franchises.

I've been rewatching the Avengers movies recently and was once again struck by RDJ's work in them. IMO he really anchors these movies, not despite but because Tony is often a very flawed jerk. The humanity and mess makes him believable and the rest of the cast plays off him and comes off stronger and more grounded as well as a result. I think it's easy to take for granted what he delivered there, but it's astonishing work. Half the time you want Tony to step on a lego, he's so annoying, and that's a real testament to the actor pushing the character beyond the leading man formula. The movies post Endgame struggling to some degree shows this as well. They're searching for a central character to ground it, but it's not that easy. I think it was supposed to be Captain Marvel but now they're pivoting towards Strange a bit? Which...yeah, it's a bit the same formula, but also Cumberbatch just being game to come across as unlikable and also play second fiddle to others. He's got a good understanding of what the character can and can't be.

Han and Leia were canonically crap parents to Ben. There are explanations for this, not least of which are the constant wars. But he had Palpatine rummaging around in his brain and emotionally abusing him since he was a baby, also canon. They didn't seem to notice this, then shipped him off to Luke who tried to murder Ben in his sleep as a "solution" for being difficult/dangerous. It reads as a pretty blatant metaphor for an abused kid getting blamed for his abuse and further punished for it tbh. Which is also where I think a lot of the fandom for Kylo Ren originates tbh, people connecting to that dynamic, not necessarily glorifying him as a villain always. His crap childhood doesn't excuse the terrible choices he makes and that he becomes a mass murderer. That's squarely on him. But multiple things can be true at the same time. The aura of guilt that permeates Han and Leia when they are talking about Ben/Kylo also bears this out, no matter what they're trying to tell themselves. They knew they screwed up. Hence both of them laying down their lives for him in a last ditch effort to come through for him. It was one of the better arcs of the often confused sequels IMO. Also great acting by Driver and Ford, Fisher regrettably never got the chance to act with Driver.

LOL, coming from the other side of that and I think it's also pretty unpopular. I think Colin Farrell is one of the great living actors working today. I've not seen Banshees yet, but After Yang, Thirteen Lives and Batman is a fantastic string of performances in one year. And he's built up a portfolio of incredibly diverse and interesting work once he managed to free himself from the expectation that he's some sort of action leading man. I think recognition for this has been slow because he was stuck both in the pretty and in the bad boy narrative, which makes awards voters very hesitant towards male actors.

French film "The beat that my heart skipped" with Romain Duris. It's an electrifying performance by Duris and the film is very stylish and propels you on as a viewer, in its depiction of the petty half-legal world he inhabits in his job, the anxiety dealing with his terrible father or the stillness when he's playing piano. Beautiful film.

I just watched "Frankie and Johnny" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. Was surprised how much I liked it. The performances were great, though they are both too glamorous to play these downtrodden people LOL. Ah, Hollywood, I guess. Pfeiffer was very affecting, giving the character both strength and fragility. With Pacino you always have a lottery if he'll chew all the scenery or actually deliver a performance. His acting is big, but not too big and suits his more extroverted character. Also surprisingly good comic timing. Nice cast of supporting characters as well. Wasn't sure if I should put it as comedy or drama, but I thought that the main relationship had too serious undertones for a romcom so here it is. :-)

Yeah, I thought the writing and particularly the acting really contributed to understanding why Kate and Anthony do the trainwreck things they do. The dysfunction in the family dynamics, them thinking that they have to take up everything for everyone. And their wrong-headed notion that love means having to constantly sacrifice and hurt yourself for others. Anthony is slowly getting a clearer picture, but Kate is still in massive denial about everything. I did feel for Edwina, because the Sharma dysfunction produced a situation where she's constantly treated as a sheltered child so she keeps on acting like one. Kate is her de facto mother figure, but Kate is way too young and inexperienced to take that on and becomes all domineering and controlling about it, infantalizing Edwina all the time. While Mary acts more like a sister and is super passive, she only starts realizing this. Like seen with the Sheffields. Kate made a deal with them, not understanding how emotionally abusive they are. Mary just starts taking charge, but she should have been the responsible adult in the family unit for a long time. Instead Kate took that role on in wrong-headed ways.

Yeah, I think it happens because many narratives are breaking down/being questioned in the wake of the last few challenging years and nepo babies are a celeb version with famous faces of classism and gatekeeping that happens everywhere. The discussion is too narrow, dogpiling happens, but tbh many of the hyper sensitive responses are kinda making the case for why these articles etc. need to be written. And I do think the entertainment industry is singled out as well because networking and who you know, getting your foot in at the start is often so totally disconnected from talent/merit. As a doctor/lawyer, yes connections will help immensely, but at least you have to get through extensive schooling. The formal requirements for Hollywood are auditions, connections etc., and nepo babies just live on another planet compared to anyone else in this regard. Also the economic reality that they can just try and fail and try again with financial security in their background, while someone coming in without the clout often has to get a regular job and then audition on top of it. The risk to go into the arts is much, much greater. In a British context, James McAvoy for example has talked about how the cut down on arts funding in GB is turning the arts more and more exclusively posh. There's nothing wrong with coming from an upper class background, but the system has calcified to a point that middle/working class (aspiring) artists get almost no state support anymore. Whereas there used to be programs, scholarships etc. And it makes the whole field super narrow because there are only certain points of view that get represented in the industry. And that's kinda the bigger picture with the nepo baby discourse as well IMO. It's not that the talented ones don't deserve their careers and no one is saying that, I think. It's burying the myth that it's an even playing field and a meritocracy. Getting in the door is huge. Of course then it becomes about talent, work ethic, ambition etc. Like, I don't think the argument is that Benedict Cumberbatch, famously posh LOL, only has his career because of his parents. He knew that he could go into acting because he'd seen it in his family, he had access to the right schools and the right drama program. That's where he had a leg up. No one says that he'd have made his blockbuster career and been nominated for or won all these acting awards just because of that. Once he got in the door, he had to hustle like everyone else and showed that he can hack it. Or an American example: Adam Driver's background is often treated as some sort of unicorn situation and that's tiresome. But sadly it also kinda is very out there and that's a problem. Driver's lower middle class from Indiana, his parents seem very religious and didn't seem very supportive of his artistic interests. It's incredibly unusual that someone like that tried to get into Juilliard after HS. He failed and enlisted in the military, but even him trying is really, really exceptional. And then after he injured himself and was discharged, he tried again, got in and could make it because of the GI Bill and working on the side, I presume. But someone from that background deciding that he'll go for an acting career is a level of confidence, drive and just sheer risk-taking that is totally exceptional. I think many very talented kids from similar backgrounds get discouraged at the various similar hurdles they face and just give up because at a certain point the systemic disadvantages they face just grind them down.

So, late to this LOL. I'd given up on watching the show, but I think Green coming back and the move to Disney Plus has helped. The pros getting back more creative control and more focus on the dancing has been very obvious and a clear improvement IMO. Of course the demo changes with a move to streaming but whatcha gonna do. I thought it was a strong, entertaining group with a refreshing lack of unpleasant personalities. Would have been fine with any of the top four winning and agreed that they were the top four. As to the ringer debate, as far as I'm concerned that train left the station with Nicole Scherzinger and we've had variations of ringers and super ringers throughout the years. It is what it is. I don't see that Charli was more extreme than Nicole, Corbin, Meryl and Charlie, Riker, Jordan, JoJo and assorted other people. And then we had all sorts of gymnasts, figure skaters, athletes and performers who brought in relevant experience as well. In the top four this year, Gabby had dance exprience since she was a professional cheerleader, Wayne has performing experience on Broadway and Shangela has relevant performance experience as well. Mark delivered a choreography and teaching clinic all season IMO. Glad they brought him back. For all her training, it was obvious to me that Charli is not used to performing for big audiences, so that needed careful packaging and development. Also, she's an introverted teenager, so not very interesting compared to the big personalities around her. That's no shade, just natural. She seems a nice and polite kid, but the careful and controlled way she has seems pretty typical of shy people who have learned to cope with big gatherings. She also seems to be getting a ton of hate as is sadly usual for influencer. So her demeanor made perfect sense to me. I think Mark found a good balance of pushing her beyond her comfort zone but still delivering dances that reflected her personality. Hence why all of it was just the two of them, not a lot of frills, no big show effects. That would have overwhelmed her and distracted from her strengths. I also thought the freestyle was perfect for her. She already did the emotional contemporary, no need for a repeat. Shangela and Wayne are bigger performers, so drowning her in production would have worked against her. This old school Hollywood musical vibe suited her and she could show off what a strong dancer she is. And the focus on the two of them took the pressure off her having to carry the freestyle on her own, as the other three celebs did. She just doesn't have the big persona for that and it was strategically the right choice to steer away from something like that IMO. Gabby was fun if a bit chaotic LOL and I thought Val delivered a really good season with her. Don't think the freestyle was good. Cell block tango always limits what you can do and it didn't reflect her personality super well IMO. She performed it well, though. Wayne had a strong season and a freestyle that suited him. Agree that Witney's choreography has been sharper, but it wasn't bad or anything. Just a bit predictable perhaps. Shangela was super and a real asset this season. Also brought out the best in Gleb. I've often been frustrated with him because he's shown himself to be a competent pro in other versions of the show but IMO became the worst version of himself on DWTS. This season was really great for him and showed what he can do. I hope he doesn't revert back next season.

I think a lot of these are structural issues that have plagued this series since always. It was clear that Charles would get a redemption arc of sorts this season already in the last series, since they turned him into a panto villain there. Same with the victim narrative Diana had, they were always going to complicate that this time around. It's not that her issues sprang out of nowhere in the fifth season, they were just severely underplayed in the fourth one. Same with Charles: Look at the Prince's Trust, they took the breakdancing episode from the 80ies and tacked it on here because it suited their narrative better. When it might have been better had they stayed more even-handed from the start and didn't pull focus in manipulative ways like that. But they've always made baffling choices like that. Look at making up that Philip was indirectly responsible for his sister's death and tried to murder Charles on that plane or whatever that scene was supposed to be. It would have been perfectly possible to make an episode about Philip's traumatizing childhood and difficult relationship with Charles without throwing in libellous nonsense like that and turning the thing into an absurdity. Yet they chose nonsense. Same here. I don't think making up that Charles wants his mother to abdicate does him any favors at all and I don't understand why they went that way. As I don't understand minimizing Khan, which would have shown that Diana had moved on to some degree. That said, I think Charles is still portrayed as petulant and self-absorbed, even if he's matured and found his voice to some degree and has a point about modernizing. And it's also fair enough to give Diana more responsibility for the trainwreck since she wasn't a young bride anymore but deliberately used the press. I did think slamming Bashir was warranted. He totally played into her fear and paranoia, leading to Diana distrusting and cutting people out of her life who had done nothing wrong. Including distrusting William because she started believing that he told on her. So I totally get his all-consuming rage. Talk about destroying relationships to get a scoop. And isn't her refusing royal protection also tied to Bashir? So yeah. His influence was catastrophic, way beyond the interview. In my view, the critical portrayal of Elizabeth in the 90ies is warranted. She was incredibly inflexible and stuck in her ways by that point. The reverence for her now kinda clouds how badly she operated in that era to some degree.

Yes, I think Philip as an outsider who also emerged from a traumatic childhood emphasized to some degree with Diana and tried to help her understand, IMO they showed that well last season and this season. But he had a functioning marriage with Elizabeth and also had developed industrial strength coping mechanisms to deal with any kind of emotional turmoil. So there was only so much they had in common. Agree that she never quite got the hang of how the system worked and did things that ended up hurting her more than helping, it's been reported that Diana actually didn't want to divorce but basically created a situation where that became inevitable, for example. And for all the mismanagement of the Wales trainwreck, I do think for the most part the BRF and Charles didn't take the nuclear option because that would have been terrible for the sons. But Diana gave them much more ammunition than was advantageous for her IMO.

Agree that they overdid it and focused too much on the Wales trainwreck, but I get what they were going for. Diana was largely overshadowing the BRF, including the Queen, during the 90ies. And tbh the more critical look at Elizabeth in particular during that time seems also warranted. She was always very, very conservative and unwilling to change things, and by the 90ies it had calcified into this stiff-upper-lip persona that seemed very out of touch compared to Diana. I'm sure she's in for a character arc next season where she regains her footing. And the tension of how much is Elizabeth in particular merging into the institution and losing herself in it has always been a central theme of the show. I think Morgan wanted to show that at that point in time, the pendulum had swung too far. I think a lot of this was clumsily done, but I got the narrative intent and it worked for me some of the time.

I thought Diana's warmth as a parent was shown quite well. It's pretty well documented that she tended to parentify William and crossed boundaries with him on occasion, though. And the show basically just rather cautiously follows those stories. IMO you see it in the picture William and Harry paint of their mother to this day: Harry has a rather uncomplicated view of her as a victim of circumstances and the media around her. William seems much more aware of her paranoia and mental health issues, perhaps even over-emphasizing them. Which is probably grounded in the different relationships they had with her. For Harry, she was his loving and unhappy parent. While she turned to William for emotional support and blurred the lines between parent/friend. In that sense he's also probably more willing to give Charles the benefit of the doubt because he saw first-hand how troubled his mother was and that it wasn't all on Charles.

I enjoyed the season but think it's the weakest because it got dragged down by too much Charles/Diana soap opera. They also needed to add the broader political context of the 90ies. By and large like the cast, though. Debicki makes Diana more brittle, which is fair enough and I also think it's okay to show how much Diana was really contributing to the trainwreck by then. I thought it was appropriate that the older Charles got the larger part of the blame in the fourth season. Here they are both older and responsible for the mess. West doesn't look much like Charles LOL, but I think the way he hints at the mannerisms and speech patterns is fine and I like mix of self-confidence, frustration and petulance he brings to it. I also think it's fair enough that the show actually takes a critical stance on Elizabeth. She was always very conservative, but by the 90ies yeah she was very much stuck in a pretty old-fashioned mindset and it's not wrong to point out that Charles saw by then that the monarchy needed restructuring and she was just not willing to do any of it. The reality is that now Charles in his 70ies needs to clean up and streamline stuff that his mother refused to touch for decades. Just because she became revered in her old age doesn't mean the show needs to just gloss over her bad points as a monarch. I like Staunton more than Colman. Colman never quite got the reserve down and had a tendency to make Elizabeth to outgoing/warm. I enjoyed her performance, but it seemed much removed from Foy's interpretation and what we have seen of the real Elizabeth. Pryce is also too warm and mild as Philip, but I like his take anyway. Menzies I think was the strongest Philip, getting both the quickness and sharpness, but also the empathy, charm and good humor. Smith had the sharpness, intelligence and humor, but his cruelty often came off as whiny. Menzies has Philip be cruel as well, but it's cold and precise, which seemed more on point. Pryce has the humor, intelligence and warmth, but he's not sharp enough.

I agree with various criticisms of the show here, but found that the last episodes really pulled it around for me. And the earlier stuff makes more sense now that their mystery boxes have been IMO mostly successfully opened. What I think many shows and movies do very badly is establish decent villains. ROP managed to have two competent, intelligent and patient bad guys with Adar and Sauron. The Uruk rights campaign, Galadriel's crazy racist rant at him etc. is something that has been bothering me since the Jackson films. The heroes always mow down through Orcs/Uruks without every acknowledging that they are killing living beings, Elves that were tortured to boot. It was nice to see that as a plot point/blind spot of the supposed good guys. And I think both writing and acting for Sauron is just really precise and sharp. How he's flexible in reacting to Galadriel and uses her blind spots and zealotry to lead her in a merry dance. And as he points out, he may have gaslighted her, but she made all these decisions on her own. He didn't even lie to her, just presented the truth in a way that left her free to interpret it in the most catastrophically wrong way possible. And she fell for all of it, hook, line and sinker. That said, he's also just really good and vastly older and more experienced at all this than her, which the last episode showed. The way the real power dynamic is unveiled in acting, writing and cinematography is a real highlight of the series IMO. As for Galadriel, Tolkien does paint her as drawn to power and secretive before the Third Age. There's also a reason she stays ouf of the effort in LOTR mostly, despite being the most powerful Elf still around. By that point she knows her own worst attributes and can see how trying to directly intervene with Sauron once more might bring them out. So I do appreciate that they basically made her the anti Mary Sue here LOL: All her flaws have disastrous consequences. Her own company mutinies against her because she overstretched her mission. She gets thrown in jail because she just has to run her mouth. She leads Numenor into a disastrous battle, weakening the position of Miriel, who seems a lot more benign than Pharazon. She can't stop the nuking of the Southlands, letting herself get distracted by Adar (and Halbrand/Sauron?). She leads Sauron to the Elves and gives him access to create/taint the first rings of power. And now it seems she's in a bind because the Elves need the rings but she'd get herself banned if she confessed her role in empowering Sauron. Which is something Sauron carefully established. She took so many Ls this season, it's kinda impressive that the showrunners dared to go there IMO. Of course it remains to be seen if they know how to untangle it going forward, but it's certainly a bold choice and one usually given to male protagonists. I'd guess that she'll have mixed success going forward as well, because the Second Age was a mess all around LOL.

The more I'm thinking about it, the more the Sauron reveal works for me. It's not exactly by the books, but can be sorta extrapolated from them in spirit IMO and it's one of the better character arcs of the season. Writing for characters is something they don't do that well, they give them each a main goal and then awkwardly structure everything around it. They're better at individual moments, symbolism and how everything works within the broader story. Even stuff that seemed annoying now gets new meaning. That whole raft adventure reads like a major mindtrip now and just figuring out what Halbrand says, how he says it, how he reacts to Galadriel and what he reveals/conceals is awesome. As is that whole Han Solo cosplay. He figured out exactly the kind of man she'd find intriguing but not threatening and played into it. Including seemingly always staying a step behind her and letting her make the big decisions, or at least manipulating her in such a way that she thought she was in charge of everything and making all the decisions. And the moments of ruthlessness/cold-blooded ambition delivered often as lighthearted banter. And even when he was seemingly honest and sincere, yet framed it in such a fashion that he could lie with the truth. Looking back on it, it's a very well considered performance by Vickers. Including the smoothness and then the authority in the last episode, finally lifting the veil. In that same vein, they did give an outline how Galadriel can move from dogmatic zealot to someone so much more measured, as seen in the LOTR. Because, boy howdy, screwing up that badly will haunt her forever.

I liked the series, it was too ponderous and self-serious in places, but the story beats felt earned even if not very surprising. Halbrand/Sauron was well done and on rewatch I'm sure some of the acting choices will work even better. Like he had these moments of strange generic blandness that now make perfect sense because he was fronting. And I did appreciate that Galadriel's single-minded dogmatic outlook had such dire consequences. Often the stakes for heroes are quite low, she talked Sauron in midlife crisis back into world domination mode LOL. Devastating, but the series didn't flinch away from having her mess up this badly. The Stranger being a wizard works and I like all the Harfoots. Elrond, Muriel, Elendil, the Southlanders and the dwarves as well. So I'll be watching the next season.

I'm thrilled for JB, his stellar work is paying off. I hope he can keep on doing supporting work for Bridgerton since Anthony is the eldest brother and head of household. I also thought that Kate still has ways to go until she has a healthy self image that is not swallowed by duty and martyrdom. I'd hoped to see Anthony support her in letting go of that, so fingers crossed that his schedule pans out for that. OTOH standing around in the background at balls is not worth it if any of the cast has better opportunities, so I understand.