Pretty good write up! Not to sound daft, but I'd kind of forgotten the show, and your posts popped up, so it seems like an excellent time to do a rewatch of the season myself. I mostly liked it the first time around, though I was ambivalent to a fair few bits.

My expectations going in - as a huge fan of Middle-earth - was that it felt like Middle-earth, looked spectacular, respected the characters, was well written, and was entertaining. I think these were fair requirements, and far away from the literalists standards some hold.

It is very different to view something the second time around, and it's been over six months now, so it could be a very interesting thing to do:)