Episode 3 of Rings of Power is a vast improvement over the previous episodes. I know the bar for that is pretty low, but ep3:Adar is actually pretty decent. It's not amazing, there are plenty of problems here like the usual bad dialogue the average acting and poorly paced story - of which is finally progressing. In the first episode and we are finally moving forwards with the plot, that is a major issue.
The characters are all still stiff and only few of them stand out. Halbrand is the stand out here, he plays a street smart rogue and the actor does a pretty good job. Everyone else.... not so much. Galadriel is still dull main character as is Arondir. Although the parts with the orcs were good moments. I was glad to see the orcs in full make-up and costume.
I'm not fully knowledgeable of Tolkien's works, but I know some of it and a lot of the story and characters don't add up, which is my biggest issue with this series as a whole. I know you can't critise the series without being named all sorts of insults, but the Elves are the weakest part about this episode and the series. They just don't work at all. The elves are supposed to be elegant and stunning and should never look old. There are several old looking elves and it is just weird.
That aside for the bad, the best thing about this episode were the scenes in Númenor. The visuals and sets built for this place were astounding, even if it didn't make a lot of sense.
Ep3 was a better episode but it still isn't great. The story is still poor, the characters bland and is carried mainly by it's visuals (apart from that warg, that looked horrific).