The Witcher: Evil is Evil

[Arakan]

4 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I finished it. From the Nilfgaardian armor to the overall story, everything was an improvement over season 1. Sure, it still had silly moments and not all the visuals were of the same quality, but I liked various story beats.

 

I think it’s safe to say they found their footing in S2. Personally I didn’t have a problem with the different time lines in S1. I don’t know how much seasons are possible based on the book material but given the huge success so far I expect two more at least. And we soon get an origins series as well. So it seems that Netflix want to make The Witcher their big „epic SFF series“ in competition to the upcoming Tolkien series on Amazon, MCU on Disney plus and „Foundation“ on Apple TV. 

Smart of Netflix as this Universe is big enough for a lot of interesting stories, also in different genres (Horror!). 

With regards to the Elves: after thinking about it, it’s a very wise decision to tone them down and portray them more as average sentient beings (albeit very long-lived and with a more natural propensity to magic). Everything else would be easily viewed as Tolkien rip off and we get those „ethereal“ Elves soon enough on Amazon anyway. Though it has to be said that Tolkien‘s elves are also not what the fandom has made out of them which reminds me more of emo-gothic Twilight Style wish fulfillments. In the end Tolkien elves were „real“ living beings, who had to shit and piss, were emotional, jealous, raging, often petty. Latter Galadriel isn’t the benchmark. Yeah they were all super beautiful but as I am not a teenager anymore or Instagram addict, such superficial attributes don’t impress me much or cloud my view. 

[RhaenysBee]

5 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

If you're referring to the Burn Butcher Burn song I agree, but oddly there is a much better song on the soundtrack album which for some reason is not in the show. Maybe they cut something from one of the episodes.

Why do you hate the Dijkstra casting? McTavish is a great actor. Is that not how you would pronounce the name?

I don’t doubt his professional skills. Maybe a better term is that I hate the character design and the direction? Which would have to do with how he interpreted and acted the character. There’s just nothing special, interesting, sinister, secretive, charismatic, powerful or distinctive about him. I pronounced the J, making it sound a bit like Djibouti, which is silly in retrospect  

[Mexal]

Definitely an improvement over season 1 though having re-watched it just prior to starting Season 2, think it was much better on rewatch. Really enjoyed Geralt and Ciri's relationship and the evolution of it. Liked that we spent a lot of time with the Witchers. Never truly understood the big bad this season but whatever, I'll go with it. Also, given I only played Witcher 3 and never read the books, some character re-designs and introductions made me happy.

[Corvinus85]

So on a certain equestrian issue.

Spoiler

Why did they kill of Roach? Does that happen in the books, or was it a production issue and they couldn't work with that horse anymore? If the former, I feel that we need to gather pitchforks and torches. 

 

[Mexal]

13 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

So on a certain equestrian issue.

  Reveal hidden contents

Why did they kill of Roach? Does that happen in the books, or was it a production issue and they couldn't work with that horse anymore? If the former, I feel that we need to gather pitchforks and torches. 

I was wondering the same.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

 

Hosted by Felicia Day, the Netflix Geeked official after show includes brand new interviews with stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Ciri, Joey Batey as Jaskier, Kim Bodnia as Vesemir, Paul Bullion as Lambert and Yasen Atour as Coen, alongside showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. The cast and showrunner join together to discuss their characters' Season 2 journeys, spoilers from the end of Season 2, and what's still to come in Season 3 and beyond.

[Filippa Eilhart]

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

So on a certain equestrian issue.

  Hide contents

Why did they kill of Roach? Does that happen in the books, or was it a production issue and they couldn't work with that horse anymore? If the former, I feel that we need to gather pitchforks and torches. 

Spoiler

In the books he has several horses, each called Roach.

 

 

[Werthead]

I've seen some people spitting blood about the massive change in the timeline after the temple, but I think that's for the best.

In the books, IIRC, that event happens in Book 3 and that's the last time Geralt and Ciri see each other until Book 7, and inbetween we have five books of, "The princes is in another castle!" It gets quite old, quite quickly. Here Ciri gets a new side-quest (the forest witch character is completely original to the TV show) instead and then re-teams with Geralt and Yennefer. They do seem to still be setting up the books' main storyline (in which Rience plays a part, but isn't as important as the show seems to be setting him up to be; Bonhart is much more important but doesn't seem to have been cast yet) so they might still get to the tedious hunt storyline, but I'm hoping they telescope it down to one or two seasons, not five.

Overall, the season was solid but uneven. Big improvements in production values but the writing is still uneven, the focus on the politics is mind-bogglingly tedious (to be fair, that's a Sapkowski error as well). And Jaskier's new song sucks.

[Corvinus85]

Btw, any thoughts on the teaser trailer shown in the finale's post-credits. Is that a Netflix made up story or is it based on the books? Is it about the Conjunction or the Great Cleansing? I can't help but think of GoT's ill advised Blood Moon prequel.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

So on a certain equestrian issue.

You mean equine issue.  Equestrian is a highly trained rider of highly trained equines -- or, you know, just a rider. 

Why , yes, yes I do take equine matters most seriously! 

By the way, there are some really good looking equines in Discovery of Witches, second season, as Our Protags go to France and the 16th Century.  Though, in reality, "France" is actually Wales, but never you mind!  Drink (French) wine instead!

[RhaenysBee]

The Bridgerton lady as Nenneke is sublime. Chef’s kids casting choice.

[Zorral]

I still haven't gotten any further into season 2 than the second episode due to raging covid making my life, again,  filled with many chores for others who can't do them.   But if this is so

Spoiler

a horse dies in this season, and not just a horse, but The Horse

I will be very sad. And will tell you all so.  Be warned.  

[john]

Thought it was very good. The writing is refreshingly complex, although it doesn’t always track perfectly. The bit at the end seemed to be set up to be a dues ex machina but they subverted it.

Spoiler

Stay strong Ciri! I thought she was going to bust out of her possession due to the power of love or whatever but the demon is like ‘nah I’m staying.’

Not sure if I missed something 

Spoiler

What was the evidence that made everybody think the eleven babe was killed by Redania? Surely not just that one of their agents recently quit. Also why the hell does one of the most powerful sorceresses on the continent not have any wards for her baby?

Re the horse - Gerald’s storyline in the first series was like 20 years long so if it’s the same horse it should have been long retired anyway.  

[Corvinus85]

1 minute ago, john said:

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What was the evidence that made everybody think the eleven babe was killed by Redania? Surely not just that one of their agents recently quit. Also why the hell does one of the most powerful sorceresses on the continent not have any wards for her baby?

I can only answer from a non-reader's view.

Spoiler

I don't think they had any evidence. They just automatically assumed, likely because of Dara's confession.

Are wards a thing in this world? The only thing close enough to a ward I've seen so far is Geralt blocking doorways with a sign.

 

4 minutes ago, john said:

Re the horse - Gerald’s storyline in the first series was like 20 years long so if it’s the same horse it should have been long retired anyway.  

HERESY!

[Zorral]

O MI GAWD!  I've (finally) started episode 3 -- it's got an historian as a character, keeping along with the references in ep 2 as to how peoples, cultures and nations, consciously rewrite history, or write it falsely -- then further, about those sorts of historians gatekeeping and shutting down the more objective historians by claiming everything from lying to revisionism -- which is what they are doing themselves. 

That's very cool. 

-- nonBooker

[Werthead]

Correction: Ciri and Geralt part ways in Book 3 and don't see each other again until Book 7. Accidentally omitted the two story collections there.

The politicking in this is not great: there's no logical reason for people to automatically believe that the Northern Kingdoms were behind the murder, and it seems implausible that Francesca would not consider the possibility that the murder was arranged by Nilfgaard to manipulate her.

Also, weird casting for Emhyr. It feels like the guy should be a lot older. Not as old as Charles Dance (who played him in the video game, but they did age him down for it) but more in his 40s at least. This guy looks like he's still in his late 20s. I think I assumed they'd age him up with a new actor after Season 1, but I guess they wanted to keep him recognisable so the audience would go "oooooh yeah."

Interesting interview with Joey Batey and it turns out he's a D&D-playing geek. Excellent.

[divica]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

Correction: Ciri and Geralt part ways in Book 3 and don't see each other again until Book 7. Accidentally omitted the two story collections there.

The politicking in this is not great: there's no logical reason for people to automatically believe that the Northern Kingdoms were behind the murder, and it seems implausible that Francesca would not consider the possibility that the murder was arranged by Nilfgaard to manipulate her.

Also, weird casting for Emhyr. It feels like the guy should be a lot older. Not as old as Charles Dance (who played him in the video game, but they did age him down for it) but more in his 40s at least. This guy looks like he's still in his late 20s. I think I assumed they'd age him up with a new actor after Season 1, but I guess they wanted to keep him recognisable so the audience would go "oooooh yeah."

Interesting interview with Joey Batey and it turns out he's a D&D-playing geek. Excellent.

In regards to emhir do you remember how young ciri's grandmother looked? He couldn't look older than her.

In regards to your coments about the books I completly agree. Nobody should expect the series to closely follow the books because there are several things in them that just doesn't work in tv (or in book for that matter).

[Werthead]

2 minutes ago, divica said:

In regards to emhir do you remember how young ciri's grandmother looked? He couldn't look older than her.

In regards to your coments about the books I completly agree. Nobody should expect the series to closely follow the books because there are several things in them that just doesn't work in tv (or in book for that matter).

They cast Jodhi May as Calanthe, who looks quite young for her age but clearly was in her forties (I mean, she was an adult in Last of the Mohicans which came out 29 years ago) and they kind of didn't really bother aging her up or down across the timeskips (one of the reasons everyone was confused as fuck about them). Agreed that does limit the age of the actors they could get to portray Emhyr/Duny and Parvatta without it looking weird (the actor who plays Emhyr is about 15 years younger than Jodhi May).

I'm not sure if they've actually put an age on Ciri in the show. I remember the books being really vague about it and it got a bit confusing (I think the implication is that Ciri was only 13 or so when Cintra fell but was around 16-17 by the end of the series, but there was no real sign that four years had passed in the novels, which have fairly continuous action; for similar-to-Daenerys reasons, they had to have her as older from the off in the show).

[Corvinus85]

9 minutes ago, Werthead said:

They cast Jodhi May as Calanthe, who looks quite young for her age but clearly was in her forties (I mean, she was an adult in Last of the Mohicans which came out 29 years ago) and they kind of didn't really bother aging her up or down across the timeskips (one of the reasons everyone was confused as fuck about them). Agreed that does limit the age of the actors they could get to portray Emhyr/Duny and Parvatta without it looking weird (the actor who plays Emhyr is about 15 years younger than Jodhi May).

I'm not sure if they've actually put an age on Ciri in the show. I remember the books being really vague about it and it got a bit confusing (I think the implication is that Ciri was only 13 or so when Cintra fell but was around 16-17 by the end of the series, but there was no real sign that four years had passed in the novels, which have fairly continuous action; for similar-to-Daenerys reasons, they had to have her as older from the off in the show).

In season 1 someone, I can't remember who, mentioned a 12 year old girl, but it could have been an approximate number. And not sure how that goes with Calanthe winning her first battle when she was Ciri's age.

But speaking of age, how old is Jaskier? He met Gerald some years before Pavetta's betrothal and here he is, looking pretty much the same. 

[karaddin]

Duny had to be old enough to save Pavetta's dad while Calanthe was pregnant so having him as closer to Calanthe than Pavetta could fit fine, but I think the shows got a lot of people with ambiguous levels of aging so just roll with it haha. And yeah there's no way they could have recast him without needing to do exposition for the reveal at the end - he already says "find my daughter" but if it's a different actor people would assume Duny wasn't her father rather than Emhyr being Duny.

I guess you could have recast Duny in Ciri's dream/spell vision thing, but that confuses people as well.

I'm also out of step with others here in actually liking the Birth Butcher Burn song lol. Jaskier is great in the show.