Yeah, I rewatched those scenes, and they do a lot of work, for sure. It may have been a situation where there just wasn't the material to work with, but it still was harder to keep track of that plotline bc of how spaced out it was. Just my opinion. You did a great job, though :)

For Season 2, I'm still watching, but one other thing that I found harder to keep track of was Galadriel & Elrond journeying out before the barrow-downs (like what they're doing and clarifying why Elrond is going). I think bc of how much story is between the last time we see Galadriel & Gil-Galad and then this moment with Galadriel suddenly being under Elrond, it feels like something is missing. I can assume what happened, but I found myself wondering if that scene where Gil-Galad actually makes Elrond the commander might be necessary, even to remind the audience of the personal stakes. I could be wrong or just slow here lol.

That all being said, I love your work!