[Pitchwife]

Neither, I'm afraid - there's a mere suggestion of smoke and orange light, and any viewer who hasn't read the book is left puzzled what exactly happened to Gandalf. A pity, really, because I think they could have done a convincing Balrog in keeping with their general aesthetics - something like a vague dark figure with a backdrop of projected flames would have done the job nicely, and its shadow spreading from wall to wall would have been easily feasible with the right lighting.

I'd love to join an episode-by-episode discussion, which would however have to focus on the visual and dramaturgic aspects rather than the dialogue as far as we non-Finns are concerned (unless we turn this into Learn Finnish with Hobitit).