I’m not a huge fan of suddenly super important situation of the week style programming, with
House being the exception cause the writing is grade a premium beef.
However the dialogue here isn’t quite on that same level, especially in episodes 1 and 2
It’s a strange beast because they managed
to nail the feel of Witcher but couldn’t match the complexity of CD project red’s writing
So while it is entertaining and I do like it there aren’t any plotlines that are as
good as Hearts of Stone or any side characters as cool as this guy.
The program jumps around in time and although they do have a bit of fun with it, it’s
not without it’s problems.
At one point someone says they’ve spent decades doing something and it felt
like a few days.
There’s also a huge battle in episode 1 that I didn’t care about cause I hadn’t
spent enough time with the characters.
I think they placed it there to try to immediately grab people’s attention but it isn’t entertaining
enough to do that.
Plus some of the dialogue pulled me right out of it.
I feel like they should’ve structured atleast that part in a more traditional way with the season
building up to the big battle, cause I don’t like developing characters after their dead.
They also do flashbacks later in the season to things we just saw a few episodes ago,
which is kinda bizzare.
I also also want to complain about Triss.
She’s been radically changed visually and she doesn’t get enough stuff to do.
I know this was an issue in Wild Hunt as well and they had to patch in more romantic dialogue
for her, but she still did a lot more than this.
And yes, I am a godless sodomite who tried to sleep with both of them.
And yes again, I got what I fucking deserved.
Henry as Geralt is good, it took some getting used to but after episode 1 he just
seemed like Geralt to me.
Probably doesn’t hurt that he played the games.
The writers did a great job capturing his indifference.
And empathy.
The dynamic between him and a certain rambunctious mage was also well done.
Leading up to the release there was some controversy about the showrunner only adapting the books
and it being a “feminist show” but after watching it, I think that concern was unwarranted.
It’s true that there’s a little of that.
But it's really not that bad and MOST of the female characters are surprisingly good.
Similar to the male characters they’re shown being competent but also deeply flawed and
by no means perfect.
One could make the argument that someone is a bit OP but she went through the training,
got her ass kicked, and has some deep personality issues so I think it all evens out.
Only thing I thought was weird was when the Lioness is supposed to be this badass warrior,
kind of like the full metal bitch, but she wasn’t that impressive at the battle.
I really think they dropped the ball on that fucking battle.
The whole sequence plays like a gimped version of Blackwater.
It’s bizarre considering how good the rest of the season is and since the battle in episode
8 is so much more engaging.
Speaking of bizzare, there’s a sex scene in episode 3 where one of the characters looked
really young and I was kinda worried somebody would walk in on me.
Just like the Masie Williams situation, the actress is actually in her twenties but it
was real weird man.
To circle back to discussing the story, it’s like 13 in the sense that it gets better as
it goes.
I think the first few episodes are kinda mediocre, with good and bad parts.
Then it starts to find it’s groove in episode 3, then episode 4 onward is unironically entertaining.
It made me curious so I had my team look into it and each episode was written by a different
person, with the exception being 1 and 8.
My hope for season 2 is now that they’ve gotten things off the ground it’ll all be
of similar quality but we’ll see.
Mr Robot is over so maybe they can hire my boy to write an episode.
The situations Geralt deals with are often more complicated then what they appear, and
for alot of them, he hangs out with this guy.
For those of you who have played the games or read the books, this is Dandelion.
He’s not named Dandelion but it’s basically him.
At first he got on my nerves and I really enjoyed this moment.
But their dynamic grew on me and his incredulous reactions
reminded me of my Pulitzer prize winning let’s plays.
Ciri’s here too, she’s fine, but every time I was with her I wanted to go back to Geralt.
I understand she’s a kid, but this part is kinda stupid.
There's also an interaction where Geralt and a royal guy discuss very sensitive information in front of all his guards.
The reaction to this series has been sorta confusing, I don’t understand the 4/10 reviews or the
9/10 ones.
In my opinion, the line between a recommendation and not a recommendation, is a 7 and that’s
what I would give this.
It’s pretty good but it’s definitely got some flaws.
I wish Lars Mikelson’s character had more to do
The lioness said some wise shit. And some stupid shit.
So it would have been cool to get to know her better.
While there are some good shots, the cinematography isn’t anything groundbreaking especially
for a fantasy series.
And due to it’s freak of the week nature, there are some interesting characters that
get left behind way too quickly.
There’s also weird line delivery by this man:
And a weirdly edited fight in episode 8.
However, the season finale overall is very good and I do appreciate them not trying to
sneak in any Christmas shenanigans.
I hate the holidays and if Geralt wore anything resembling a Santa outfit I’d kill myself.
Like and subscrobble for more upbeat New York film
reviews, I’m going to hibernate until this bullshit is over.