Finished season 2 today. Not sure what the spoiler rules here are so I'll skip discussing details for now and just say that I felt it was an improvement over season 1 overall, which I also enjoyed very much. Hope next seson will manage to bring a balance between the overarching story and perhaps a few more standalone episodes here and there. Surprised to see the trailer for the spin-off at the end, looking forward to that too. It seems like a nice idea to see a little bit about the backstory of the world without cramming a lot of exposition into the main series.
Is the story for Blood Origin completely original, or did Sapkowski writer prequels they're using as it's source material?
The season was good when the main characters were on screen, particularly in the Geralt/Ciri scenes. It did feel at times like they were having a hard time finding stuff for Yennifer to do, as she kept jumping around different locations being teamed up with different sets of characters. The CGI monsters looked better than season one. But man any time it cut away to characters scheming to kill/kidnap/whatever Ciri I just couldn't seem to care. I can't remember any of the names outside of the main characters and found all the politics stuff unengaging. And I'm not someone who is usually bored by world-building. Didn't really care for the leves either. I get that they're not full elves, but even the elven king had no majesty to him and just seemed like some guy. It was decent overall.
I've read up to the end of Time of Contempt. I was surprised by how much this season diverged from the story in the books. So I have a question. Was the material that wasn't in the books original to the series, from the video games, or does it come from later books?
We finished season 2 last night. My hubby has read all the books and said the show definitely diverged, but keeps the tone and all the larger arcs in place. @JD - from what I can tell, Blood Origin is an original story. I enjoyed this more than season 1, mostly due to the events in S1 not being chronological. I completely understand why they did it that way, and I still enjoyed it, but this season dug more deeply into the world, the history, and who are main characters are at this point in their lives. Spoiler: Here Be Spoilers I *loved* Ciri going through the training track over and over again after Lambert and Coen teased her and how that eventually won the Witchers over. That girl is STUBBORN! The monster effects seemed better and scarier this season, especially the giant scorpion thing that killed the leshy and the basilisks. I felt a little sorry for Francesca, but she should've known better than to trust the Deathless Mother - at least Fringilla and Yenefer seemed to know what they were getting into - but poor Filavandrel! I liked Fringilla's character growth - being willing to "trade" with the Deathless Mother for what she wants, her disillusionment when Francesca tells her she values blood over friendship, and her seeing the sexism and bullshit inherent in Aretuza's system and deciding to take her fate into her own hands (literally). Jaskier is the perfect archetype of a Bard! Pouring his heart out in song about feeling abandoned by Geralt and then embracing him when they see each other again - yeah, I relate to that. I'm learning to appreciate Cavill's acting more and more. He's playing a character who has emotions but doesn't like to show them (how oddly Vulcan! ) and I think he's doing a good job at it. I'd guessed that Emhyr is Ciri's father, but that reveal scene at the end was really well done!
Thanks for that information. This is a series that I had been meaning to read for years prior to the series, so I've been making a point of staying ahead of the series, but I know there is this prequel novel out there that I'm not going to read until the end and was thinking some of the stuff may have come from there.
Currently four episodes into Season 2. It was rough going at first, then after Episode 2 I found the optimal watching strategy: Anytime Geralt or Ciri aren't on screen, I fast forward until they are. Then, once the episode is done, read a synopsis of the episode I just watched to get the little bits of stupid elf/sorceress/royal BS that might be relevant eventually. It instantly made the show better. The Geralt/Ciri stuff is generally very good, while the elf/royalty stuff is infuriatingly slow, boring and seemingly completely pointless to the story of the titular character. So, just based off of this stuff, this is a better season overall. Having a plot that is actually written in chronological order does wonders, and it makes skipping the pointless shit (usually involving Yennefer in both seasons, now that I think about it) easier. That said, these elves really suck, and I literally can't remember who the royal looking humans are (which is why I just refer to them as "royalty"). So,at this point I'd say that The Witcher Season 2, just like in Season 1, is a deeply flawed show that is good when it is dealing with the title character, but is fairly crap when dealing with story elements that don't directly involve Geralt. In Season 2, the Geralt and Ciri stuff is even better then in Season 1, while the non-Geralt stuiff is even worse then in Season 1. But, like I said, having the show take place in chronological order automatically makes this the superior season regardless of any other considerations.
OMG, what are you going to do when Spoiler: for future episode (minor and obvious( Yennifer's story lines up with Geralt and Ciri's?
Finished up Season 2 yesterday, and I loved it. Spoiler: All of Season 2 After all the build up last season, it was nice to finally have Geralt and Ciri together, and I really enjoyed the relationship they built up between them. Vesemir was one of my favorite characters in the Wild Hunt, and I really liked their take on him. I was a little disappointed when they first cast him that they didn't go with Mark Hamill, but Kim Bodina did not disappoint. We also got all three of the main characters, Geralt, Ciri, and Yennifer, together in the last couple episodes which was nice. I enjoyed all of the wider politics, and the stuff with the elves, and Nilfgard and Redania and all of that. The only thing I wasn't real clear on with all of that was who the people that Tessaia was meeting with at the end were. I was surprised the characters actually had a run in with The Wild Hunt so soon. I read an article where one of the writers called them the show's Thanos, so I expected some hints and name drops, but didn't expect to actually see them for at least another season or two. The trailer for Blood Origin was cool, but now I want a real trailer that gives us a better idea of the actual story of the show. I know it deals with worlds coming together and the origins of the Witchers, but that's all pretty vague and doesn't give us much idea of what the meat of the story will be.
I watched the making of season 2 special, and was a little disappointed in it. I was going in hoping for a look at the technical aspects of the season, and things like what it was like filming some of the scenes, there was some of that, but not a lot. It was mostly just talking about the characters and their arcs, and most of that was pretty easy to pick up on if you just paid attention during the episodes. Oh, and one other thing I forgot about before, was how Spoiler: sad part of it made me. heartbroken I was that they killed Roach. At least they did get the new horse, although I wasn't sure if the dwarves were giving them to him, or if he was just borrowing them to get to Kaer Morhen.
Just started it and, after two episodes I...expected more. It doesn't look cheap, but it kind of looks shallow. I'm not getting the feeling of a deep, old world that I should. And the dialogue seems a little modern - it feels too contemporary. I'm not after thee's and thou's but some of it takes you out of the show.I I'm not sold on it yet.
It definitely is an acquired taste. The dialog is not high-fantasy. It is very contemporary style. But, I will say it made it easier to get in because following the different story lines made it challenging. I'm not 100% sold but the world at least has some interest.
It might not be completely realistic, but I actually prefer at least a little more contemporary style of dialogue. Way too often, when they try to right a more period appropriate dialogue it just comes across as cheesy and annoying.
OK, that's a shock. It's gonna be weird seeing someone else as Geralt after three seasons with Cavill.
if you read between the lines of some of his comments he wasn't happy with a lot of the choices that were made - I guess his contract was up for renewal and he said no.