The Witcher - Netflix

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by John Clark, Sep 4, 2018.

  1. Paterson

    Paterson Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Watched the first one, that was really good. Tempted to binge the rest, but I originally planned to draw it out untill part 2 lands next month. If the second one turns out just as good it might just tempt my resolve to stick to that plan. :)
     
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  2. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Moderator

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    Good first episode. I'm looking forward to seeing this season.
     
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  3. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Watched the second episode, Unbound, this morning. I'll put my thoughts is spoilers since it sounds like a lot of other people are only episode one.
    The thing with all of the arms and legs and the girls heads coming out of the wall, was seriously fucking creepy.
    How long has it been since Yennifer first went to Aretuza? I was a little surprised when her and Ciri went back to her home village and there was no sign of it. I'm assuming it us have been quite a while for everything to be gone.
    I was disappointed Rience appears to have killed the people who Geralt and Jaskier went to talk to, I can't remember their names, I liked them.
    Definitely curious to see what exactly the ending means.
     
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  4. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Watched episode 3:
    It looks like the fake Ciri is more important to what's going on than I thought.
    Are we supposed to recognize the woman with the messed up face Rience is working for and do we know who her boss is? I don't remember the first two seasons very well.
    Wow, I forgot just how horrible the mages at Aretuza can be.
    I'm glad Jaskier came clean with Geralt about his conversations with Djikstra and Philippa.
    Damn, Djikstra really is a ruthless bastard.
     
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  5. Starbrow

    Starbrow Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Great show and a great ending. Felt like they put Geralt on the side for the last few episodes, but other plots were just as exciting to watch.
    Another 2 year wait for season 4.
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The last three episodes were fantastic, I was pretty happy with how everything came together.
    There were a couple thing I wasn't real clear on, with the first being what exactly Vilgefortz role was in what happened in Aretuza?
    I was also a little unclear on whether Falka was real or another hallucination.
     
  7. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    As someone who hasn't read the Witcher novels and only played Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt the way this season ended kinda felt like the show is more or less about the same point as what I think Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt started.
     
  8. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, we do seem to be starting to move towards where things were when it started.
     
  9. Paterson

    Paterson Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    It's actually nowhere near there, way more stuff should happen in between. ;)
     
  10. Jedi Marso

    Jedi Marso Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've had a hard time getting engaged with S3. Watched the first few and just sort of petered out on it. I think Henry Cavill's departure from the role is affecting my desire to watch- it's hard to imagine anyone else taking on Geralt the way he has.
     
  11. bdub76

    bdub76 Captain Captain

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    Same. I can’t get into this season. The rest were so much better.
     
  12. eschaton

    eschaton Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I dunno. It's definitely much better than Season 2. It's much closer to straight-up adapting the books, where Season 2 invented whole new plots that didn't really work for seemingly no reason. Aside from Jaskier's gay romance, there wasn't that much that was absent from Time of Contempt.

    I thought episodes 1-4 worked well. Episode 5 was a mess, due to the choice to show so many scenes 2-3 times. Episode 6 was a good climax to the season, but this meant that episodes 7-8 felt (though book accurate) a bit of a slow-paced letdown.
     
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  13. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Moderator

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    We just finished watching this last night. I have no idea how anyone else is going to fill Cavill's boots.
     
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  14. bdub76

    bdub76 Captain Captain

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    Somebody must have been okay with Darrin on Bewitched. I thought we had moved on from these types of changes.
     
  15. Jedi Marso

    Jedi Marso Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Some roles are just too owned by the actor. Geralt as portrayed by Cavil is a whole different universe than a 60's sitcom husband.
     
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  16. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I've said that kind of thing before and then been impressed by the new actor, so I've learned not to say that anymore.
     
  17. bdub76

    bdub76 Captain Captain

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    It's not like you see a lot of actors replaced. It's one thing for a new actor for a new series like we've seen with Superman. But it's odd to me to have an actor change in the same show. I thought we have learned this isn't a good idea.
     
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  18. theenglish

    theenglish Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I am way behind on this series. I haven't started Season 3 and it has been so long since I watched it that I went back to the beginning. The first season was a solid as I remembered--entertaining, well-acted, beautifully filmed--and did a nice job of remaining true to the books while adding its own material. I never played the games so I do not know if there are elements from those included in the series.

    I also remember that Season 2 went off the rails so far that it seemed nothing like the story from the books at all. At the time, I thought that might have been because I had only read up to The Time of Contempt. Now that I only have the final book in the series to read, or two if you count the prequel I am trying to figure out what really bothered me about Season 2. The first episode is fine and is a smooth follow up to the final episode of Season 1. Then we get to Kaer Morhen and meet the other witchers and the story of the witcher that is infected. That was the first story line that really bothered me as one would think the witcher would know enough to check if he had been infected. Also, it is a story that doesn't seem to have any basis in the books.

    There are other aspects to the witchers that feel really odd to me. Up until that moment, we can believe that witchers are generally stoic individuals of few words like Geralt is; but when we meet the rest of the witchers they are rowdy and brash. They drink and cavort and seem to show no sense of reverence for their work.

    In the novels and short stories, there are several moments where we learn that Geralt is not like other witchers. The populace in general is scared of them, and even people with knowledge of witchers are surprised when Geralt takes pity on a monster or goes out of his way to find a less violent or caring solution to a problem. In reading the stories, I chalked a lot of that reaction up to stories that had been shared over the years--but in watching the witchers in Netflix, they generally are not very nice people at all.

    Does anyone have any thoughts or further insight?
     
  19. Jedi Marso

    Jedi Marso Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Only that the showrunners managed to piss off the lead actor (a huge fan of the source material) so much that he left the show, and piss off most of the book-savvy fanbase as well. This show is entering its zombie phase. Netflix would be smart to cancel it at this point and save their money, but we'll see how it goes.

    I'm not going to say a spoilery word about S3, since you appear not to have watched it yet, but brace yourself to be underwhelmed.
     
  20. theenglish

    theenglish Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks for that. Consider me prepared. If nothing else, this show encouraged me to read a novel series that I might not otherwise have read and one that is particularly enjoyable. Great world and story.
     
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