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The Witcher: Evil is Evil


AncalagonTheBlack

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Pandemic changed many of the shooting dynamics of many programs, those already established, and those that hadn't even yet screened a first episode.  You can see it in so many, some manage this more successfully, more creatively, than others.  For instance for Vera's third episode of the 11th season/series, they even did things such as make wider the tables in the interview rooms, and shoot it so you might not notice, to keep people at a 6 foot distance. A lot of that in later part of the 11th series.  You saw it in Death in Paradise, for another, and in McDonald and Dodds.  Fewer background extras, all sort of contrivances.  Which didn't work so well in the first half of the last season of Lucifer, the last two eps of WoT.  Also a lot of shows were not able to go to or to stay in Hungary -- all this makes a difference in what we're seeing.  Which seems, due to the lower budget in the first place, and the generally less focus on 'real' but more folk tale look, of Witcher.  And yes, its second season was a big improvement all the way around.

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On 1/6/2022 at 3:58 PM, kairparavel said:

I'm just here for Henry Cavill. I generally have no use for him but this Witcher thing works. 

Cavill's really great. I look at him, and I see this perfect sculpture of a man who should be anything but relatable, but...the dude is just so relatable! The more I listen to him in interviews, the cooler I think he is. I watch the show just for him.  

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Cavill has absolutely captured that 'I bitterly resent having to take the time out of my day to kill you, it's a waste of time and energy' vibe that characterises Geralt.

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13 hours ago, Centrist Simon Steele said:

Cavill's really great. I look at him, and I see this perfect sculpture of a man who should be anything but relatable, but...the dude is just so relatable! The more I listen to him in interviews, the cooler I think he is. I watch the show just for him.  

The fact that the dude is into Warhammer and playing Total War and Warcraft should be inspiring for all of us!

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15 minutes ago, john said:

I’ve seen him on other interviews saying that he is the smallest out of him and his four brothers. So I guess he is the scrawny nerd of that family.

Apparently he was overweight as a kid and bullied at school.

The embodiment of the best revenge is living well

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Finished the season. Felt more assured and overall more solid, especially in the area of CG, compared to the previous season. The basilisks were quite well done, I thought. While I disliked Kaer Morhen for the first several episodes, Yen's story made up for it for me until later on when the Ciri and Geralt story got more interesting. The mystery of Rience's and Lydia's employer was also pretty interestingly handled, and effectively, I thought.

Spoiler

Rather liked how Ciri in the final episode sees her grandmother and Mousesack, as well as her mother -- all the people in her life who had died -- turn to ashes as she pulled away from the Deathless Mother's fantasy... but her father rather pointedly did not. Clever touch, I thought, and I wondered how many unspoiled people realized it, and were primed for Emhyr's reveal.

 

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Map of the Witcher world, created by the departament of political and historical geography at the University of Warsaw

And here's the same map in better resolution

BTW, in the books Cintra was never the biggest nor the strongest of the northern kingdoms, as it seems to be pictured in the show. Far from it in fact. It was just the only gateway for Nilfgaard from the south, through the mountains.

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On 1/17/2022 at 8:22 AM, 3CityApache said:

Map of the Witcher world, created by the departament of political and historical geography at the University of Warsaw

And here's the same map in better resolution

BTW, in the books Cintra was never the biggest nor the strongest of the northern kingdoms, as it seems to be pictured in the show. Far from it in fact. It was just the only gateway for Nilfgaard from the south, through the mountains.

In the show maps it's not presented as that at all. Redania and Temeria are the two most powerful northern kingdoms and Kaedwan is the biggest (but most of it is desolate wilderness).

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58 minutes ago, Werthead said:

In the show maps it's not presented as that at all. Redania and Temeria are the two most powerful northern kingdoms and Kaedwan is the biggest (but most of it is desolate wilderness).

In the show maps perhaps, but in the show itself I'm pretty sure Cintra was referenced as the most powerful of the northern kingdoms. Would have to rewatch to find an exact episode, but it was in the second season I think. It just caught my atention because it was far from truth in books reality, but then again, I don't see why it couldn't change in the show. Just a fun fact.

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2 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

In the show maps perhaps, but in the show itself I'm pretty sure Cintra was referenced as the most powerful of the northern kingdoms. Would have to rewatch to find an exact episode, but it was in the second season I think. It just caught my atention because it was far from truth in books reality, but then again, I don't see why it couldn't change in the show. Just a fun fact.

In the show don't the Aretuza witches and the Mages of Wherever not give a fuck about Cintra, and let it fall?  So that doesn't speak well to Cintra's power.

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I think you may be confusing a statement that could have been due to Cintra being the most powerful for a statement that outright says it. The comment in season 2 that I recall was between the Redanian King and Dijkstra and it was that they could never have conquered Cintra directly, but now that Nilfgard had done so there was an opportunity.

This could be true because Cintra were too strong, but it could also be true because Redanian aggression would have resulted in the other kingdoms allying against them. But with Nilfgard having made the first move they can sweep in as "Northern liberators" without the opposition.

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It could also be because geographical reasons made Cintra very defensible unless assaulted by a very superior force like Nilfgard was able to bring. Think the Vale in Westeros. It wasn't a powerful region, but could not really be conquered either.

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1 hour ago, karaddin said:

I think you may be confusing a statement that could have been due to Cintra being the most powerful for a statement that outright says it. The comment in season 2 that I recall was between the Redanian King and Dijkstra and it was that they could never have conquered Cintra directly, but now that Nilfgard had done so there was an opportunity.

This could be true because Cintra were too strong, but it could also be true because Redanian aggression would have resulted in the other kingdoms allying against them. But with Nilfgard having made the first move they can sweep in as "Northern liberators" without the opposition.

Dijkstra says they could never have taken Cintra from Calanthe. I think Cintra's reputation was built on Calanthe's fame who's been winning battles since she was a teen. And she had the alliance with Skellige. I think the answer is yes overall. Cintra was strong, or at least perceived as strong, but there were also alliances and deals that protected it further from northern aggression. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I recently watched through both seasons, having never played the games nor read the books. My boyfriend had already seen season 1 and was able to clue me in to the timeline shenanigans, which was helpful. He's also played the games so could sometimes answer my questions but more often not.

I think season 1 was pretty good but season 2 was a letdown. It was prettier, I'll give it that, but the whole thing felt a bit of a mess. Everything seemed so rushed and close together, like implying Kaer Morhen was like half an hour from everywhere (and surprisingly accessible for a supposedly secret fortress?), which is a big pet peeve of mine. And Geralt and Ciri have an entire daughter/father bond now? I had to revise my estimate of how long they'd been spending together! Ciri being heavily made up all of the sudden even in wilderness scenes was jarring, I thought I would get used to it but I never did. Yen sucks, which I don't mind so much except I get the feeling we're not supposed to think Yen sucks? In the first season I was literally convinced they were setting her up to be the Big Bad. Likewise the elves are pretty terrible and annoying. Jaskier was great in the first season but felt they leaned on it too hard in season two (and his hair lol). I have no clue what is happening with the plot or anything, it's really confusing and nothing is explained very well.

Anyway, I might check out a third season, but my boyfriend is out as he also didn't enjoy season 2.

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