We Should Thank RoP for Fixing One of the Biggest Jackson's LoTR Flaws
If there is one solid storyline in Lords of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it is the story of Elrond and the Dwarves.
Prince Durin's scenes with Elrond, his wife, and his royal father are easily the most heartfelt in the entire first season. Some people go so far as to say that whoever wrote them was the only one in the writers' room who cared.
Whether that is true or not, the portrayal of the dwarves in The Rings of Power is probably the only thing that could or should be considered an improvement over Peter Jackson's films.
Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was a strong fighter, but otherwise little more than a bumbling comic relief character.
The dwarves in The Hobbit trilogy were portrayed better, but most of them were still comic relief (and arguably sometimes presented in a worse way than Gimli, coming off as jerks). And of those who weren't, only Thorin himself had an actual character arc that didn't end up being widely mocked.
But The Rings of Power portrays the dwarven characters in their own natural environment and gives them proper depth.
While there are still shades of Gimli in Prince Durin, at least in his early scenes, good writing and acting eventually give him the best drama in the series so far without making him overly dramatic. Many viewers cite his various interactions with Elrond and/or his royal father as their favorite scenes.
Disa seems to be all exuberance and common sense before revealing darker character depths of her own, essentially urging Durin to oppose King Durin. And King Durin III, while seemingly overbearing and controlling, reveals both his deep affection for his son and uncommon wisdom – his fears about mythril mining prove to be entirely justified, and his assertion that the elves should not seek to extend the boundaries of their time in Middle-earth may prove to be correct as well.
(Now, forging the titular Rings of Power to hold back the ravages of time was a flawed, dangerous idea in the books that ultimately allowed Sauron to deceive the elves and empower himself, and it probably won't be a good idea in the show).
In short, the dwarves of Middle-earth finally have an on-screen story that is both largely their own (even Thorin played second fiddle to Bilbo in the Hobbit movies) and actually good.