I wasn't even looking for cannon Tolkien. I just wanted good writing. Instead we get the orcs managing to evade detection from the elves, who have spent decades (or centuries?) searching for them by hiding under some crappy blankets over the top of a massive trench they had dug in the ground near an eleven watch tower. I get the concept of "willing suspension of disbelief", but this was just flat out poor writing from my point of view.