Netflix's The Witcher series

[FernandoPooTragedy]

The show is decent but it can't get me to care about Ciri whatsoever. Geralt is only as good as whatever character he is interacting with, though I think Cavill is good. I feel like he gets better as the series goes on but it takes forever for him to "click" for me. He's not boring to watch by any means but I'm not engrossed in him.

Yenneffer is kind of the only character I care about at this point and every time we cut away from her I'm like "Can we get back to Yenneffer now?"

The problem is that after several episodes of strong character progression with her, they suddenly rush everything. They really screwed up building to her urge to have a child to the point where it seems completely nonsensical. Also her and Geralt going "We keep running into each other!" When we only have seen them meet for the second time at this point. I felt like I had accidentally skipped an episode or something.

I had trouble getting a lock on the progress of Nilfgaard's campaign and I feel like we should have gotten more information on Cintra itself earlier on so the show imparts why it is so important. Maybe it would have clicked better if Ciri was better (keep in mind I am talking strictly about this adaptation). She's the character equivalent of an unflavored baked potato. We just keep hearing about how special she is a hundred fifth thousand times.

I also felt like they did a poor job establishing what exactly the Brotherhood does with the outside world.

Honestly, it was hard for me to exactly map out the political system overall in terms of land mass, population, and power.

I also thought they could have done a much better job establishing which points in time we are watching. Jumping around is already hard for a movie, but on an episodic tv show? Yeah, it's an issue.

One scene in the pilot during the banquet at Cintra when they are discussing the Nilfgaard army has some of the worst editing I have seen this side of Bohemian Rhapsody.

I give it a 6.5.

 

[Begemot]

The 'Toss a coin for the Witcher" song is pretty catchy though.

Jaskier is the break out star, imho.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Yenneffer is kind of the only character I care about at this point and every time we cut away from her I'm like "Can we get back to Yenneffer now?"

What do you find so interesting about her? I think the Netflix version is rather tame compared to the book version.

Yeah the timeline is really rough and hurts a lot of subplots. by this point in the corresponding book Geralt and Yennefer had been running into each other off and on for at least a decade. The show takes ages to get there though thnen does it all at once.

Indaboox as GRRM would say Ciri is more interesting this point in terms of how she affects Geralt and Yennefer than in and of herself, but in the show Gerlat has no prior history with Ciri which makes it weird. The book version, where he blunders into her in Brokilon and proves himself to be surprisingly a natural at being a father makes it really sweet and tragic. In the books likewise Yennefer's largely a mystery that slowly unfolds throughout the series rather than have her origins and motives laid out in book 1. You gradually learn how she developed all these weird abandonment issues and desired more than anything that which other sorceresses scorned: the opportunity to be a mother. It's all at once here.

 

[cecograph]

Watched the first episode.

I'm not going to single out the diversity casting, because everything about it was dumb. Won't bother watching any more.

 

[FernandoPooTragedy]

What do you find so interesting about her? I think the Netflix version is rather tame compared to the book version.

Yeah the timeline is really rough and hurts a lot of subplots. by this point in the corresponding book Geralt and Yennefer had been running into each other off and on for at least a decade. The show takes ages to get there though thnen does it all at once.

Indaboox as GRRM would say Ciri is more interesting this point in terms of how she affects Geralt and Yennefer than in and of herself, but in the show Gerlat has no prior history with Ciri which makes it weird. The book version, where he blunders into her in Brokilon and proves himself to be surprisingly a natural at being a father makes it really sweet and tragic. In the books likewise Yennefer's largely a mystery that slowly unfolds throughout the series rather than have her origins and motives laid out in book 1. You gradually learn how she developed all these weird abandonment issues and desired more than anything that which other sorceresses scorned: the opportunity to be a mother. It's all at once here.

Just her overall development and rising confidence, coupled with her insecurities and thirst for love. Also her magic is interesting. The performance is good too. I haven't read the books but they always water down characters for screen adaptations. See: ASOIAF/Game of Thrones.

Cirri should be interesting, but as a character, she is not. Keep in mind, I am talking about this show, not the franchise as a whole. She's a living macguffin with next to no personality aside from kind of spunky (I guess?) Princess. Basically a watered down version of almost every female fantasy character I have ever seen. Also the performance sucks.

Don't really care about her role in the books overall for this adaptation because we simply haven't gotten there yet. I'm not interested in who a character may become unless I have a reason to care about them now. And I don't.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I think Ciri's actress did well with what she's given. The real test will be when she turns into a psycho. Assuming the story goes that way. Ciri in the books ends up a real piece of work and the games didn't really do that justice either.

 

[HOMO FOR LIFE]

The problem is that after several episodes of strong character progression with her, they suddenly rush everything. They really screwed up building to her urge to have a child to the point where it seems completely nonsensical.

There is a line that hints why she wants it. With dialogue with geralt she angrily shouts "MUH CHOICE GOT TAKEN AWAY FROM ME. YOU WOULDNT UNDERSTAND."

I mean hell. Makes yennefer look like crazy cat Lady with superpowers.

I rolled my eyes so hard.

 

[FernandoPooTragedy]

There is a line that hints why she wants it. With dialogue with geralt she angrily shouts "MUH CHOICE GOT TAKEN AWAY FROM ME. YOU WOULDNT UNDERSTAND."

I mean hell. Makes yennefer look like crazy cat Lady with superpowers.

I rolled my eyes so hard.

Exactly. Like, bitch, no they didn't. You were told repeatedly. You had a chance to settle down and be normal. You wanted to be hot and powerful instead. Which, by the way, there is nothing wrong with.

ALSO YOU ARE LITERALLY TALKING TO A WITCHER. I haven't read the books and even I know about that shit.

Stereotypical "baby crazy" narrative that undoes what was up until then great characterization. Luckily the rest of the stuff is strong enough to overcome it though.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

The shot of the dude removing her sex organs really shouldn't have been there. It was never official policy in the book versions. Of course that line was never in the books either. I doubt Yennefer much cared about having children when she initially became a sorceress. The regret came later. TV shows always simplify these things.

That said I don't remember them saying "lol we're gonna tear out your ovaries" at any point in the show and the whole process looked pretty painful so maybe she just didn't notice I dunno.

I mean hell. Makes yennefer look like crazy cat Lady with superpowers.

In the books that was unironically the point with sorceresses.

 

[Foltest]

I like the show enough ( apart from all the forced diversity, scroutom guards etc) but I don’t like how Foltest look in the show. He looks far too old. I picture him to be in his 30s, fit and handsome but in the show, he looks too old, fat and plain.

 

[XenomorphThot]

Finished the show over the holidays and there's one word that comes to mind for me: underwhelming.

It's not the worst I have seen, but it's also just... kinda lukewarm? I expected, at the very least, a higher production quality, but at some points it made me almost want to gouge my eyes out.

Triss, Yen and Cahir are massively miscast, imo. I don't even care about the skin colour in the case of the first two (though Triss should have been kept a redhead), but the actors just can't sell the characters to save their lives. IMO, Yen is especially terrible with it.

The only saving grace is Jaskier.

Either way, I'm gonna keep watching the next seasons as they come out, if only out of nostalgia, while at the same time praying they won't fuck up the Rats or Regis or generally other aspects of the books.

 

[Tanner Glass]

I liked it, but I would imagine that it's probably really hard to follow if you aren't already a fan of the series (via the books or games) because the show is seemingly written with those fans in mind and they leave out a lot of exposition under the assumption that fans can fill in the blanks.

The pacing is also weird with the various time jumps but hopefully now that all characters are "caught up", Season 2 will be a lot easier to watch.

Also,

Jaskier is the break out star, imho.

I was shocked with how much I liked Jaskier as a character in this show.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost]

So I finished this recently and I have played a bit of the games, but have read the books in full except for the last two so I'm basing my thoughts off of the pre-existing knowledge of both.

So pros.

1. The show managed to weave particular parts of the earlier stories in the Last Wish successfully with the more outlined plot borrowed from the Sword of Destiny, as such there is a nice admixture of the both which they managed to get. That said if you aren't aware of the time differences between such events then it can be a bit confusing that something that is happening seemingly at the same time in the episode is taking place 10 even 20 years after the fact.
2. Cavill as Geralt was a little wooden to start off in the first episode, but as the series progresses he lends himself to the role and is a good Geralt, ironically one of the best trained actors deals with the least expressive character but Cavill able to put the character across in a way that captures the outward ambivalence of Geralt without betraying much of the inner turmoil of the character.
3. The series is well shot from a DOP perspective, especially considering the budgetary limitations that the series has over other comparable fantasy series. IE GOT, the battle scenes need work, but the close up fight choreography was enjoyable. Thankfully some of the direction choices worked as well.
4. Some of the casting choices were questionable for me, but in the end they worked. The actress who played Fringilla was fine, the actress for Yennifer also was fine, and in the cadre of the brotherhood at least it worked, IE Fringilla's uncle.
5. Jaskier was great. I don't understand some of the people I've spoken to who didn't like him because he wasn't a serious enough character in the series. The whole point of the character is to act as comic relief and I thought it was a great characterization of what Jaskier is. A good professional bard who is just enough of a buffoon to make him funny, but not unbearable.
6. No SoJus talking points. Bare with me, I know the casting is motivated by this, but at least the story telling in the script wasn't. There are a few examples of stronk womyn moments but the Sorceresses/Queens are like that in the book as well, so it's not something that has been outwardly attributed to the character. Also no freedom messages, fight the patriarchy, etc, yet. Who knows with the Scoiatel next season, but for now it's been relatively free of bullshit in that regard.
7. Boobies. No just kidding, however it's nice to see that they weren't so afraid of being Game Of Throned that they cut out the bawdy nature of the Witcher. I've seen some people comment on the nudity making it another Game of Thrones, but I personally didn't see that. The examples we had of open nudity was Sorcerers abusing their powers, or Geralt being a man whore which is the same as the book.

And cons.

1. The Battles. Not the smaller fights those are fine, but the large scale battles. They're ok, but something that annoyed me about the show, and the genre in general is the fact that modern producers film battles as just two armies slamming in to each other, and it just felt like the whole things are rushed or just don't seem to have much forethought. IE the siege of Cintra didn't seem like a siege. No attempts to break out, not enough tension to make it feel justified that they were going to all die, it was all very clinical. Also the Battle of Sodden Hill felt a bit lack lustre for the same reason. I'm not expecting a CG extravaganza, but it felt like there could have been some better choices made for parts of that episode.
2. The series obviously has a second season in mind, so areas of character development have been put off until that period of time. So for instance, main characters like Yennifer got a whole episode devoted to character origins, however others like Geralt and to a lesser extent Triss didn't. Triss and Geralt will likely come later in Kerr Moren which also works with the book source material, but it did feel as if that got glossed over.
3. The actress they picked to play Triss has been miscast. She's alright as an actress and this might change with some actual character development in the second season, but as it currently stands I think it was a poor choice of casting for the character of Triss especially when it goes against the iconic look of the character. Yennifer fits the character archtype, Triss doesn't.
4. Weird diversity casting. This is half and half for me. I don't mind the fact that there are black characters in the Witcher universe, even where it doesn't exactly make sense to have black characters, at least the characters are normal. IE they don't act any different to anyone else, so are integrated. The Zherrikanians were exotic and left in as such, but nobody else was. I don't know how this will develop further with the Scoiatel and the racialist elements of the movement. (Closer to native american's on reservations than blacks historically) I'd like to point out that there are no East Asians, so no in for a penny in for a pound. There also is a lack of diversity in the casting for the Nilfgaardian empire outside of Fringilla who is a Northerner anyways, despite the fact that they are essentially a massive multicultural state. (As described in the books)

Final thoughts:

If your coming to out from the outside and have no experience of the Witcher then there are elements of the storyline plot wise which might confuse you.

They don't indicate the large passages of time and that can be a bit confusing.

If you are a hardcore fanatic of the books or the games, there are always going to be elements of the story that don't live up to the other mediums, and this is just something you will have face aren't going to be the same. IE Triss, IE Diversity casting, etc.

But all in all it's an enjoyable adaptation, a little shaky to start, but builds into a good story line and worth a watch if you like the fantasy genre.

7/10

TLDR: It's a good enough fantasy series. Hopefully it will come into it's own in the next season.

Edit: Apologies my editing is God awful, I will likely clean up everything.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Weird diversity casting. This is half and half for me. I don't mind the fact that there are black characters in the Witcher universe, even where it doesn't exactly make sense to have black characters, at least the characters are normal. IE they don't act any different to anyone else, so are integrated. The Zherrikanians were exotic and left in as such, but nobody else was. I don't know how this will develop further with the Scoiatel and the racialist elements of the movement. (Closer to native american's on reservations than blacks historically) I'd like to point out that there are no East Asians, so no in for a penny in for a pound. There also is a lack of diversity in the casting for the Nilfgaardian empire outside of Fringilla who is a Northerner anyways, despite the fact that they are essentially a massive multicultural state. (As described in the books)

I haven't seen the show, but I'd guess they portray the Nilfgaardian empire as complete evil and thus has to make them as white as they can.

 

[Cyril Sneer]

I don't mind the fact that there are black characters in the Witcher universe, even where it doesn't exactly make sense to have black characters, at least the characters are normal. IE they don't act any different to anyone else, so are integrated. The Zherrikanians were exotic and left in as such, but nobody else was. I don't know how this will develop further with the Scoiatel and the racialist elements of the movement. (Closer to native american's on reservations than blacks historically) I'd like to point out that there are no East Asians, so no in for a penny in for a pound.

If the showrunners were so hellbent on having a "diverse" cast it would have made far more sense to get a bunch of ethnically East Asian actors, since the presence of Asiatic-looking people in a story set in Fantasy Eastern Europe would be far less damaging to suspension of disbelief than Africans, who might as well have been living on the dark side of the Moon for all the interaction that Europeans had with them prior to the colonial era.

But no, this is The Current Year, and "diversity" means crowbarring Bantus into everything, everywhere.

 

[Elric of Melnibone]

My only complaints after finishing the season is that black face triss was a fucking abomination and the nilfguard armor was fucking horrendously bad. Like they diddnt just fuck Triss up a little by race swapping her, they made absolutely no attempt at all to adapt the character. Pale skinned red head vixen does not magically translate to black frizzy fro, let alone how they actually portray her. She has no fire, probably because they took her fucking fire red hair away. And whats even worse is that they have completly fucked that character, unless they completely retcon that shit and recast it properly Triss as a character might as well not exist. No one with even a passing knowlege of the source material will ever accept that betrayal of character, she is ruined real estate now, no saving her.

Cavil did great as Geralt, which was kind of suprising since Geralt is a wooden character, but I guess all that time as boring ass superfag payed off in spades because he actually made me like Geralt by the end. Yen was great, the actress did really fucking amazing on the portrayal, and outside of some wonky writing with the baby crazy parts it was well done, Yen is the main protagonist of season one. Ciri was well cast and portrayed, and I dont think she was ever in danger of being the main character of this season, Geralt and Yen get the main arc as the world gets set up, Ciri is properly relegated to a much slower simmer with her arc, and I am very supportive of that decision. Even in the books she really does not start becoming a worthy character until later.

Fringilla was good, I really liked Dara when he was on screen, Jaskier was the best portrayal of a bard in any series ever, and my god Istredd was probably the most perfect cast and portrayal, really really fucking enjoyed his character.

The thing I am looking forward to the most for season two is my favorite Witcher Vesemer, cant wait to see who they pick for that old bastard, but if he is black im rioting. But apparently he was voiced in season one by Theo James, so eh, maybe we will be so lucky and actually get a white guy.

If they would have fixed the Nilfguard armor, written the baby crazy part of Yens arc better, and actually put the real Triss in rather than frizzy nig then this season would have been pretty phenomenal. As it sits id give it a solid 9/10 with a word of warning to the show runners, quit fucking around with the danger hair bullshit and give us more of that good shit, the top shelf shit. That and if you black face Vesemer I will come to your fucking house and burn a cross in your god damned yard until you retcon.

 

[CWCissey]

The thing I am looking forward to the most for season two is my favorite Witcher Vesemer, cant wait to see who they pick for that old bastard, but if he is black im rioting.

Mark Hammill seems to be the favourite.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost]

If the showrunners were so hellbent on having a "diverse" cast it would have made far more sense to get a bunch of ethnically East Asian actors, since the presence of Asiatic-looking people in a story set in Fantasy Eastern Europe would be far less damaging to suspension of disbelief than Africans, who might as well have been living on the dark side of the Moon for all the interaction that Europeans had with them prior to the colonial era.

But no, this is The Current Year, and "diversity" means crowbarring Bantus into everything, everywhere.

That was my point in pointing out the lack of East Asians who technically from an industry point of view are more vastly under represented than blacks are in media. Still I suppose it's a pick your pet project group. From my point of view they could have easily just made all the Elves East Asian and that would have filled the diversity quotas and actually set them apart from everyone else, like they are in the books.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Amidst all the rage and shitposting on /tv/ I've seen a couple people claim that the person responsible for the scrote armor has already been replaced? Probably should be taken with a mountain of salt. Though that's hardly the only problem with them. All of Nilfgaard's props are ridiculous looking. Take a good look at their swords sometime.

My only complaints after finishing the season is that black face triss was a fucking abomination and the nilfguard armor was fucking horrendously bad. Like they diddnt just fuck Triss up a little by race swapping her, they made absolutely no attempt at all to adapt the character. Pale skinned red head vixen does not magically translate to black frizzy fro, let alone how they actually portray her. She has no fire, probably because they took her fucking fire red hair away. And whats even worse is that they have completly fucked that character, unless they completely retcon that shit and recast it properly Triss as a character might as well not exist. No one with even a passing knowlege of the source material will ever accept that betrayal of character, she is ruined real estate now, no saving her.

Triss didn't have much fire in the books, honestly. She could be passionate and earnest but it was usually in a more weepy sort of way. And if Philippa is in the room she just quietly does as she's told. Fans of Wild hunt are definitely facing some kind of adaptation shock there. But truly ginger erasure is the single biggest sin of modern media, unironically. Redheads have a right to exist, and be sexy.

The more I think about it the more I actually dislike show Yennefer. Most of the nuance, and (ironic given the ice imagery she's associated with) aforementioned fire in her is gone here. I don't blame the actress so much though. I think it's mostly a writing problem. And the single biggest writing problem there is it takes so long for Geralt and Yennefer to meet each other. The relationship that breaks both of them out of their facade gets very little screentime. I'm fine with exploring Yennefer's past more but it probably should have happened in season 2, not 1.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed psycho-fanatic Fringilla by the end. I mean, she's not Fringilla. Not in the least. She probably shouldn't have said character's name. But she is a decent antagonist. Could still go either way on Cahir.

Jaskier is the first time I've ever genuinely liked Dandelion in any version of the Witcher, including the books.

Mark Hammill seems to be the favourite.

After seeing him in Last Jedi I now love this idea. Yeah yeah it was a shitty movie, but Hamill was still great in it.

That was my point in pointing out the lack of East Asians who technically from an industry point of view are more vastly under represented than blacks are in media. Still I suppose it's a pick your pet project group. From my point of view they could have easily just made all the Elves East Asian and that would have filled the diversity quotas and actually set them apart from everyone else, like they are in the books.

Making them all Asian is a great idea. Especially if they still have the rarer eye and hair colors like in the books. Would clearly make them a different race. But no, same bland tokenist mix for everyone. But Nilfgaard, who should by rights be the most diverse faction.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost]

Making them all Asian is a great idea. Especially if they still have the rarer eye and hair colors like in the books. Would clearly make them a different race. But no, same bland tokenist mix for everyone. But Nilfgaard, who should by rights be the most diverse faction.

They can't reflect certain realities within the series or even imply them for particular reasons. They knew that the diversity casting was going to divisive for the fans since it came out that they were going to have a black Ciri and people said they'd boycott. So instead they've got these integrated characters, having to settle for being able to hire people in just to be place holders in the story.

The choice to make the Elves explicitly one group of people would work in getting the message across of racial animus something that is undercurrent in the Witcher universe. Though as I said before, the Scoiatel are closer to the Indian wars or the Crusades in Eastern Europe, than anything in the African American experience.

That said I'm not sure if they will address it in the next season. I hope they are brave enough to keep the fact that there is the racial tensions between the Elves, Dwarves and Humans because it does add a layer to the story. (Even a dose of reality) But we will see, it depends on how brave the production team feels and how much opposition they would be able to cut through. Modern writers rooms/producers/etc are basically all PC lefties.

I agree Mark Hamill working on it would come down to three variables, availability, interest, and budget. That said he'd make a great addition to the Witcher cast.