There are a few things I like, such as Mordor not being Mordor yet with people living in it, but Barad-Dur was started 590 years BEFORE the Rings were forged, and right after that the elves fight Sauron and the war lasts 100 years. Then 550 years later the Nazgûl appear, and then 1000 more years pass before Sauron goes to Númenor. So the “Southlands” would be converted to Mordor well before the Annatar fake-out. If Season 1 were the start of Mordor, Season 2 were the forging of the rings, Seasons 3 and 4 were the War of the Elves and Sauron and Season 5 were the Akallabêth, with different actors for the non-elven non-Maia characters, it would be better.

And damn is it slow. I fast forwarded through Galadriel riding a horse and it still took too long.