The Witcher

[Harbingers]

13 minutes ago, Cdw said:

Looks to me like they're pretty much going to follow the books fairly strictly, just adding some things in a little earlier.  Ciri may look a tad older than she was in the books at this time, but not enough that its anything to be bothered about, still looks like a scared kid to me.  Would be problematic having a younger actress since she needs to age up within a couple seasons, you don't want actress changes.   Don't know how far in you are but this season had a few of the different contracts Geralt went on and I agree an episodic series where Geralt roams around taking on random contracts could be fun, maybe they will continue to sprinkle in some random 'sidequest' type stuff in. 

I wouldn't get your hopes up about this extending into the video game stories though, I don't believe thats gonna happen.  Speaking of the games though, I'm in the mood to start a new playthrough - I bought games for PC when they were on sale not long ago.  I've only played 2 and 3, now I may start with 1 and go all the way through.

 

I’ve had a hankering to play them all the way through again ever since gwent came out for IOS. 

[Dex]

Finished the binge. Loved it. Cavill absolutely nailed it and I'm excited for season 2.

[Cdw]

 

[Harbingers]

1 minute ago, Cdw said:

 

Oh fug ya. 

[Bronn]

As someone who went in totally unfamiliar with the universe, I have to say that it was good, but could have been better.

The biggest flaws were the pacing/time jumping and the somewhat convoluted nature of the world/cities themselves.

Like, I thought the elves in the woods part was pretty cool, but the never really went back to exploring the elves all that much.

I didn't care about/understand the magic/mage system at all really. The whole last episode felt really disjointed and unrelated to the rest of the story. I fell asleep several times, and that is something you don't want in your season finale.

The nudity felt somewhat forced and irrelevant. I'm no prude, but it really felt like they forced these scenes.

 

I'll probably watch the second season, but there's no way in hell this show holds up to the bar set by shows like GoT or even The Last Kingdom. It is like a mix of Vikings (which got absolutely terrible and unwatchable after a few seasons) and something with higher aspirations like The Last Kingdom (which is now almost elite/top tier.)

[PanthersBigD]

Watched the entire season over the weekend. It’s great! Can’t wait for season 2! Only a year and a half to go!

[Cdw]

3 hours ago, Bronn said:

As someone who went in totally unfamiliar with the universe, I have to say that it was good, but could have been better.

The biggest flaws were the pacing/time jumping and the somewhat convoluted nature of the world/cities themselves.

Like, I thought the elves in the woods part was pretty cool, but the never really went back to exploring the elves all that much.

I didn't care about/understand the magic/mage system at all really. The whole last episode felt really disjointed and unrelated to the rest of the story. I fell asleep several times, and that is something you don't want in your season finale.

The nudity felt somewhat forced and irrelevant. I'm no prude, but it really felt like they forced these scenes.

 

I'll probably watch the second season, but there's no way in hell this show holds up to the bar set by shows like GoT or even The Last Kingdom. It is like a mix of Vikings (which got absolutely terrible and unwatchable after a few seasons) and something with higher aspirations like The Last Kingdom (which is now almost elite/top tier.)

The timeline was definitely convoluted and jumped around way too much, thats my biggest gripe with the season.  All the timelines finally converge in the last episode, so, hopefully next season everyone will be on the same timeline with no jumping around.  Also agree that there was too much nudity - doesn't bother me too much, it just doesn't add anything.  The people in the forest (where Ciri and rat boy wandered in) were Dryads, that part was a bit rushed through, probably due to the timeline jumping.  The Elves that Geralt encountered will figure into the story more probably starting next season.

Heres a timeline graphic that I saw on reddit that helps sort where everyone is time-wise during the season

 

[SOJA]

four episodes in and this is fantastic

I've read all the books and played the witcher 3 though so I'm very familiar with the story....I can imagine this would be very confusing if you didn't know the story at all though

[Bronn]

38 minutes ago, Cdw said:

The timeline was definitely convoluted and jumped around way too much, thats my biggest gripe with the season.  All the timelines finally converge in the last episode, so, hopefully next season everyone will be on the same timeline with no jumping around.  Also agree that there was too much nudity - doesn't bother me too much, it just doesn't add anything.  The people in the forest (where Ciri and rat boy wandered in) were Dryads, that part was a bit rushed through, probably due to the timeline jumping.  The Elves that Geralt encountered will figure into the story more probably starting next season.

Heres a timeline graphic that I saw on reddit that helps sort where everyone is time-wise during the season

 

That is very helpful, thanks!

I'm probably going to rewatch that last episode at some point. I just kept dozing on and off and kept waking up to mages doing crazy poo, etc. I saw the closing scenes, so those made sense.

I know I sounded hyper critical in my review, but I think this show really does have potential. Cavill did a great job, and some of the supporting cast did too.

One thing that I wished they explained more was the potions Geralt was taking. As someone unfamiliar with it, I just figured they were pick-me-ups or something. I also don't really understand his magical abilities all that much.

[Harbingers]

39 minutes ago, Cdw said:

The timeline was definitely convoluted and jumped around way too much, thats my biggest gripe with the season.  All the timelines finally converge in the last episode, so, hopefully next season everyone will be on the same timeline with no jumping around.  Also agree that there was too much nudity - doesn't bother me too much, it just doesn't add anything.  The people in the forest (where Ciri and rat boy wandered in) were Dryads, that part was a bit rushed through, probably due to the timeline jumping.  The Elves that Geralt encountered will figure into the story more probably starting next season.

Heres a timeline graphic that I saw on reddit that helps sort where everyone is time-wise during the season

 

Everything is correct except yens episode 2-3 are approximately 90 years before the Fall of Cintra.

That’s why I’m not a fan of picking a younger actress as enchanted Yenn. 30-40 range would have been perfect in my opinion.

Geralt is approx 60-65(this one is actually up for debate) at the end of this season. Vesimer is 200-300(we hear him in voice only).

then there’s Phillipa who we haven’t seen yet but probably will next season at a stagger 450 years old+... oh Phillipa, I can’t wait. 

[Harbingers]

56 minutes ago, Bronn said:

One thing that I wished they explained more was the potions Geralt was taking. As someone unfamiliar with it, I just figured they were pick-me-ups or something. I also don't really understand his magical abilities all that much.

I’m hoping they show him at Kaer Morhen in flashbacks when some events happen soon to really show those points.

Witcher’s are normal children before they are conscripted, 

—

Signs(Witcher magic) excerpt straight from the books: “The witchers adapted the spell, making use of the fact that it does not require knowledge of a magical formula—concentration and the gesture are enough. That's why they call it a Sign.”

They also aren’t as powerful as they might be seen in the games or show, more mundane magic, a simple fire sign to light his campfire or a torch, axii to calm people or creatures around him and let him have a rational conversation.

Episode 1 when he uses Axii on Renfri it actually works in the book and almost had her talked down before stregabor fugs it up. 

—

Potions: Potions are the Witcher’s equivalent to powerful magic, sorcerers and sorceress’s have chaos to create spells, Witcher’s have mutagenic potions. Remember the scene where Yennefer tells the girls to mix herbs and they say it’s forbidden? That’s why.

Massive potent hallucinogenic effects. Mix with the Innate Mutagens already in the Witcher’s bodies. That they received the Trials of Grasses(basically force feeding of a massive amount of drugs) to change them into Witcher’s. Boom.

Witcher potions do things completely different to Witcher’s than normal humans. A drop of a Witcher potion would kill a normal human, perhaps even a powerful sorceress. To a normal person it would just seem like the worst drug trip ever(until they die). But it enhances the Witcher’s various abilities depending on the potion makeup, at a cost.

The thing with the Witcher’s potions, they can only really get them from Witcher schools such as Kaer Morhen. As the recipes are secret to Witcher’s only and there is only a few Witcher’s who actually know how to brew them. Not even Vesemir who is probably 300 years old during this show/books does, as he is the schools master swordsman. So it’s not like it’s an unlimited supply or they can just go to a general store, alchemist or sorceress for a Re-Up.

Maybe the most adept druid healer of Skellige. Who knows ;) 

[Cdw]

51 minutes ago, Bronn said:

One thing that I wished they explained more was the potions Geralt was taking. As someone unfamiliar with it, I just figured they were pick-me-ups or something. I also don't really understand his magical abilities all that much.

Witchers are created by going through the Trial of Grasses, it kills most who are subjected to it, but the ones that live are mutated and gain all sorts of useful enhanced abilities.  Enhanced sight, hearing, smell, live very long time etc.  The potions he takes enhance things even more for period of time, though they are toxic (would kill a normal human).  Some are for combat, some for healing.  As far as magical abilities, Witchers can't cast complex spells like mages, but they can use a few simple 'signs' with their hands, Aard for example is the force like push he used to knock back the guys in ep1

I kinda think the show would have done well to start out with a scene from the past with a witcher being created through the trials, would have helped explain things a bit, but would have been a departure from the books

(Harbingers explained it better while I was posting)

[Harbingers]

Just now, Cdw said:

I kinda think the show would have done well to start out with a scene from the past with a witcher being created through the trials, would have helped explain things a bit, but would have been a departure from the books

Agreed, the show creator showed she wanted the first thing to be explaining what Witcher’s are to the audience. All it really showed was someone decent at killing a big monstrous thing with black eyes. 

 

[Cdw]

4 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

Agreed, the show creator showed she wanted the first thing to be explaining what Witcher’s are to the audience. All it really showed was someone decent at killing a big monstrous thing with black eyes. 

 

They didn't mind at all delving into Yen's past, so it could have worked.  Start the show with a young Geralt and some other kids doing witcher training, then going through the trials and show just how horrible it is and have Geralt be the only one to survive it.