The Witcher - new TV series based on the books (not the games) coming from Netflix!

[Floshenbarnical]

Watched 3 episodes after boxing last night and loved what I've seen so far. Would have watched more, but had to get up at 6 for work. Can't watch more until like 11pm tonight  Couple thoughts:

 

Spoiler

- Pacing kind of drags, especially with Geralt & Ciri's plotline. Feel like instead of showing us their story at Kaer Morhen piecemeal over several episodes, why not just do an entire episode focused on it and move on. As it is, it sort of reminds me of those episodes of Walking Dead where they're just sitting around at camp having arguments.

- I love tiddies as much as the next man, but there's way too much fanservice going on. To the point where the bathing scene actually embarrassed me, and I was watching it with my dog. Also the epic Witcher Epic Fighting Moment theme, the use of which was fairly restrained in Season 1, is ubiquitous now. Just feels like the team spent too much time getting feedback on Reddit or something

- There literally is a monster everywhere. Old house? Monster. Kaer Morhen? Monster. Woods? Two monsters. Sewer in Dung Ages town? Monster. Fuck me, how is anyone even alive.

 

Still loved it, still listened to a metal cover of Toss a Coin in the car on the way into work, screamed it until I was hoarse.

[Festoon]

5 hours ago, Hanzo the Razor said:

 

Or is Henry Cavill lining himself up for 007? I would like a gamer PC building Bond but I'd rather see him continue as Geralt. He was born to play the role.

 

James Bond is a fucking downgrade. Boring Bland Bond.

[Matt Defis]

7 hours ago, Hanzo the Razor said:

 

Is it over after Season 3? If so that's shit.

I'm pretty sure it'll go on longer, they've said the want to go all the way up to the wild hunt leading into the games. 

[Meh]

I watched five episodes last night, and found it boring as fuck. The Ciri stuff drags it down so much.

 

Also, the casting for other characters is... yikes.

[HarryBizzle]

They’ve gone a bit bonkers with this. There’s all these random featurettes and even a 1h long 4K HDR video of the fire in Kaer Morhen on Netflix. 
 

 

I watched the first episode with my wife last night. We talked a bit about Henry Cavill, I said how I’m something of a Henry Cavill myself, etc. We’re about to watch the next episode and she asked me who plays Geralt. Turns out she thought, yesterday, I just wanted to have a chat about how dreamy Henry Cavill is. 

[Captain Kelsten]

Or you comparing yourself to Henry Cavill was just so…ludicrous she entered a fugue state and her recollection of the show slipped from memory. 

[footle]

S2E1: feels like you can see the budget, even if it’s just a really well lit fur coat and some snowflakes.

 

(helps that there’s relatively few sets in a given Witcher episode, I suppose)

[Sidewaysbob]

4 hours ago, Meh said:

I watched five episodes last night, and found it boring as fuck. The Ciri stuff drags it down so much.

 

Also, the casting for other characters is... yikes.

You sat though 5 hours of a total of 8 and then decided it was shit. For what reason? Why put yourself through that, I give up on shit TV after 10 minutes not 2/3rd of the way through a series. Life is too short for that sort of thing. Step back man. Stop torturing yourself. 

 

Besides which, you're wrong. It's great. 

[HarryBizzle]

I really like it but struggle to watch more than episode at a time. I feel like watching 5 hour long marathons of pretty much anything would ruin even things I enjoy for me. 
 

17 hours ago, Doctor Shark said:

Or you comparing yourself to Henry Cavill was just so…ludicrous she entered a fugue state and her recollection of the show slipped from memory. 

 

There was definitely a bit of a “yes, dear” vibe from her at the time, I will admit. 

[Thor]

And finished. Really enjoyed that, you can tell the budget was higher for this second season. Loved the little nods to the game in some episodes, and I felt the casting of the new characters was great, one in particular is just perfect casting*. Freya Allan was excellent throughout. If there's one criticism I could level at this second season, it's that it's less ... playful, than the first. The excellent humour of the first season is mostly absent here, but given where they went with the story it's kind of understandable. I wonder if this season will hold up to repeat viewings like the first season.

 

*

Spoiler

McTavish as Dijkstra.

 

[Festoon]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

And finished. Really enjoyed that, you can tell the budget was higher for this second season. Loved the little nods to the game in some episodes, and I felt the casting of the new characters was great, one in particular is just perfect casting*. Freya Allan was excellent throughout. If there's one criticism I could level at this second season, it's that it's less ... playful, than the first. The excellent humour of the first season is mostly absent here, but given where they went with the story it's kind of understandable. I wonder if this season will hold up to repeat viewings like the first season.

 

*

  Reveal hidden contents

McTavish as Dijkstra.

 

 

I think that's as a result of 

Spoiler

Jaskier

 

only appearing a few eps in. 

 

Most bizarre decision for me was not getting Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli back to do the score. It was a huge part of the original series charm and a vital element to it's viral popularity.

 

The lad who's doing it has loads of experience but there were few standout moments and he sounds like he's just impersonating the original. Very strange.

[IcEBuRN]

That was excellent! Whoever is complaining @Floshenbarnical...about too much boobies is crazy. This felt much tamer than s1, and nothing gratuitous in there.

 

Like what game of thrones did, when the actors say nah, don't need to do that anymore, whatcha gonna do? 

[Floshenbarnical]

I kept watching the show and it turns out

 

Spoiler

there’s actually a reason for there being 99 monsters in every corner, cupboard, washing up bowl, etc. should’ve just kept watching before I moaned

 

[HarryBizzle]

I’ve thought this since S1 - Jaskier, weirdly, looks like Ant and Dec had a child together.

 

 

Anyway, I think the problem I have with Season 2 so far (4 eps in) is the same I had with Witcher 3 - I don’t find the whole Ciri and Wild Hunt thing interesting in the slightest. I much prefer the self contained Witcher tales. 4 episodes in and most of them have just been political intrigue, etc. Except in this series I have little to no sympathy for the Mages and might even agree with Witcher 3 Foltest about how to deal with them. 

[Chindie]

First episode of series 2 - shit we've got a budget. Plot is a bit thin but done well for what it is.

 

Second episode - again padded. Best thing is probably the reference to the games. But fine.

 

But yeah, solid start to the series and you can tell the budget was pumped massively.

[Thor]

2 hours ago, HarryBizzle said:

Witcher 3 Foltest about how to deal with them. 

You mean Witcher 2 Foltest? Or are you perhaps thinking of Radovid of Redania?

[HarryBizzle]

Yeah, the latter. 

[Meh]

On 19/12/2021 at 00:38, Sidewaysbob said:

You sat though 5 hours of a total of 8 and then decided it was shit. For what reason? Why put yourself through that, I give up on shit TV after 10 minutes not 2/3rd of the way through a series. Life is too short for that sort of thing. Step back man. Stop torturing yourself. 

 

Besides which, you're wrong. It's great. 

 

I generally watch a whole season even if I'm not feeling it before I just give up on a show. I liked S1. It was janky, but it was fun.

 

This season's had all the fun sucked out of it, replaced by the Ciri storyline that isn't particularly interesting in the slightest.

 

I liked the first episode, as I like it when Geralt does his Witcher thing. That just... vanishes after that episode, more or less.

 

Half the fun of Witcher 3 was going around seeing what quests I could get, since they were generally quite interesting little stories along with hitting big monsters. I guess I just wanted some of that from the show, which clearly is not going to happen.

[Thor]

Yeah, I said in my post above that this is less fun than season 1. And yes, the first episode is actually the best of the lot for the reason you state: It's the only one where Geralt is being a proper Witcher within a self contained story for that episode. The rest of the series doesn't have those little stories. However, I disagree that the Ciri storyline isn't interesting. It's definitely the least interesting story in the games, but in this show they're weaving it into the overarching plot of political intrigue among the various realms and the spread of Nilfgaard, and Ciri herself is better in this show than she is in the games. I foresee them bringing forward the broader plots from Witcher 1 and 2 for either next season or the ones immediately after. 

 

 

[Sidewaysbob]

See, I've never played the game so i have nothing to base it on. I though the first series was great, once i got my head round the jumping time line. Watching it a second time it made a lot more sense. This series so far ( 1 episode a night until Christmas with my son) the story is building nicely. Yen doing her thing, the wizards being devious as ever and Geralt dealing with Ciri who wants revenge having witnessed her world be burned down.

Whilst i loved the first season, it did feel a bit "and what creature shall we kill this week?". The new series has a more story driven plot which i think is great. Whilst watching people hack up bits of CGI monsters each time is fun, there is only so much I need to see before i want a bit more meat on the bones. 

[HarryBizzle]

The meat on the bones is the story around those. It's not as if they're just random fights. There's always a good story around the monster. Very disappointing to hear the first episode is the only one this season to be like that. As a political intrigue kind of thing, I don't think it's particularly strong. None of the characters are particularly likeable, or have motivations you can really get behind. 

Like, I'm not really sure what is driving Yen, she's not very likeable and

 

Spoiler

just seems to be on the run because she didn't fancy killing a guy to prove herself to a bunch of arseholes. Which is fair enough, but not very interesting.

 

 

I think another strength of W3 over this is that the war is already well under way, so you see the impact of that on people, rather than in this, you just think the North have it coming to 'em. 

[Festoon]

Man, the more I think about it the bland Season 2 score really hurts it.

 

Such a shame Netflix just threw money at it rather than hire back the two people who brought something special to season one.

 

Netflix are arseholes.

[Thor]

2 hours ago, HarryBizzle said:

Like, I'm not really sure what is driving Yen, she's not very likeable and

You're being a little harsh on Yen, though admittedly she's not supposed to be very likeable, but ...

 

Spoiler

She didn't kill Cahir because she didn't want to be seen as a killer - that was a lose-lose for her in the eyes of Stregebor and much of the Brotherhood. What's driving Yen is her will to get her magic back, but I'm guessing you haven't watched much more...

 

[Pete]

Didn't enjoy this nearly as much as season one. Not enough Cavill and I found the plot baffling, partly my fault I'm sure but the pacing and changes of tone do make it a confusing watch at times (partly because I was assuming it was going to be more episodic I think). I did watch it all though and didn't look at my phone much so can't be that bad.

[HarryBizzle]

@ThorI think Netflix Yen is severely underbaked. Season 1 sets up her and Geralt as starcrossed lovers, without really giving you a reason for why they would love one another. The relationship has much more depth in the games, bizarrely.

 

But she’s not the only one who’s unlikable. Even 5 episodes in, I don’t think much of Vesemir at all. Very bland and the only reasons to like him if you’re unfamiliar with the series are told to you, not shown. 
 

Same goes for all the Witchers, actually. Geralt does his emotionless robot thing except gives them a hug, calls them brothers and it feels really odd. 
 

Spoiler

The scene where he remembers Eskel is terrible. Instead of using a memory to show us something meaningful, they show us a memory of them recalling memories of what good pals they are. 

[footle]

Thing is that it being underbaked is both canonical and the point. Think about how little screen time they’ve had together; if you must think about how this came to be and what was implied in the games. (How it came to be was in the last series, and the first book, and hinted at in the games).

 

im enjoying this far more than the book though. They’ve taken the major story beats, recontextualised them with one really significant twist that follows naturally from the previous season, added their own subplots, found a way to provide more backstory - I’m pretty sure the conjunction wasn’t mentioned as many times in Blood of Elves.

 

the loss of monster of the week is a consequence of half the season being “everyone is in Kier Moerhen”, but there will be a bit more in season three.

[yashiro]

I thought S2 was tripe. Pretty bumbed about it. Cavill was OK and EP1 was decent but it's all downhill after that.

[footle]

8 hours ago, HarryBizzle said:

 

  Hide contents

The scene where he remembers Eskel is terrible. Instead of using a memory to show us something meaningful, they show us a memory of them recalling memories of what good pals they are. 

If you’ve been around so long, maybe that’s all you can remember. Or want to remember.

 

The following isn’t a spoiler, except for wider lore (and if you’re a fan of the witcher games you already know it). It is hinted at in episode five in a recollection of another character.

 

Spoiler

Most of their childhood memories will have been terrible: injected with the mutagens and in agony, watching their peers dying.

 

[Festoon]

This is good, despite the presence of the awful Felicia Day.

 

 

[davidcotton]

1 hour ago, AstroBot said:

I’m loving this. Don’t know what everyone is moaning about.

It’s rllmuk 😛