I really don’t understand some of the tepid reviews. The production quality and characters are top-notch. I remember so many snide comments about the visuals when the trailers hit and I wonder where those people are now. The show looks amazing.

I forget which one, but Tolkien specifically describes one of the three groups of Hobbits as having brown skin.

It might also refer to a mortal line of kings appointed by Morgoth, I suppose. There might be a dark parallel storyline to Aragorn’s where these people get their rightful king, and he ends up becoming a Nazgûl. 

Assuming the identity of the stranger, given Gandalf’s deep affection for hobbitfolk in LOTR, having the proto-hobbits being instrumental in his arrival in Middle Earth is a pretty cool idea.

The only way to read this is that you were looking for something to not like. 

“I’m not a racist, but ... there shouldn’t be black people in tv shows, and black people being on this show has ruined it and angered me.” (“And women. I also hate women.”)

So far, I think it’s a good mix of both. The Harfoot and Durin scenes are fun and pretty light, everything with the elves has been serious and gritty.

The actor who loses it on Arondir in the bar is also Theo’s friend whom Theo shows the blade. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy turned out to be some sort of servant of Sauron.

Word. Bunch of losers whining about it being “woke” because there’s a POC elf. Who gives a shit, elves aren’t real.
Personally i wasn’t sure if the show was gonna work - the trailers did nothing for me, but I enjoyed both episodes and honestly I’d been ready to watch more tonight.

Well, all I can say is I’m glad I’m not a Tolkien fanboy, so I can enjoy the show for what it is rather than grinding my teeth and tearing my clothes apart at every perceived slight of the author’s memory.

“Life Is Beautiful” was about the Holocaust. “JoJo Rabbit” was about growing up in Hitler’s Germany. The two experiences were concurrent but vastly different.

Hitler isn’t actually in the movie

I see the same criticisms of movies like JoJo Rabbit, Life Is Beautiful, and another Oscar film, 1917, in that they are supposedly not grim and serious enough about the war and tragedies that they are covering. I think those criticisms are unfair. It is almost like any movie about wars and their consequences have to…

Jojo Rabbit isn’t the new Life is Beautiful, and it doesn’t have to be. Yes they both use comedy, but the films are doing two different things. Benini was being surreal about the situation. Waititi is being absurdist. If Banini was drawing from the abstract, Waititi was drawing from the literal- They were literally…

Good point. The people who see The Good Place as mainly a puzzle box show miss the intent. It’s a relationship show.  And the previous people in The Good Place had very few relationships.

The stream of people to interact with definitely will help. Society is collective and they will develop a collective society and exchange of ideas. And once you are tired of one civilization you can move on to another, endlessly. You won’t be limited by your own creativity. We will be able to explore other’s ideas.…

I get your point, and I sincerely hope that the ending Bridge to the Stars scene lands the same way it does in the book, but I do think part of what made that scene so breathtaking to read was the way in which you experience horror, regret, shock, awe, and wonder all at the same time. It’s a feat not many authors can…

I had been getting a little tired of the fantasy sequences, they seemed increasingly pointless... but then this.
You’ve got to appreciate what the writers did here.

Yeah, that was a kick in the teeth.

I disagree that he is a monster or this episode firmly establishes him as one. He felt he had no choice; it was self-preservation or else, and the mordantly ironic thing is that he had a new lease on life because of the acting class, the one thing that in the beginning he thought could save him from depression. He’s…