[Netflix] The Witcher

[Bolt]

Finished season one yesterday. Enjoyed it and looking forward to season 2.

[kajnrig]

Saw the first episode and a... half? Seems fine so far, if a bit... I dunno... identity-less. Obviously you can't glean too much from just an hour(?) or so of 5+, but so far I'm not seeing too much that makes it stand apart from any other "dark fantasy" story. Powerful but persecuted man with a jaded exterior hiding a resolute moral core, plus casual nudity (but only involving hot women!) and a conveniently totally justifiable sex scene. You can tell this story was written by a man. No, that's not a criticism of the show, just an observation.

Wasn't put off by the time-jumping narrative at all. It actually seemed to telegraph the shifts pretty clearly, so while I didn't really know what had shifted from scene to scene, I knew that something had shifted, and so it didn't catch me off guard later when I realized what was going on. But maybe it gets more convoluted as it goes on.

Anyway, decent show, not bad at all. May as well finish it up.

[Big s]

I watched the first 2 episodes. I’m one of those new to this and there are so many name drops that I’m a bit lost. The fight choreography is pretty entertaining, but the armor is the most useless I’ve ever seen in anything. It takes so little effort to cut through that I don’t know why they bothered. And why does everyone complain about his clothes when everybody else dresses in worn faded outfits. The cg is very noticeably cg.

Complaints aside, I’m still interested enough to try a few more episodes.

[Dobber]

Just finished the season. I liked it a lot! Looking forward to season 2. It was a little hard to remember who was who with the name drops and such but got use to it after a few episodes. Also, thank you whoever it was that pointed out we are watching 2 sometimes 3 time lines. That’s not a spoiler as the first episode let’s you know if you are paying attention and remember the Queens name. That did help me quite a bit. The show started a little slow but definitely picks up. 

Chris

[easnoddy]

I love it.

I haven't read the books and only played The Witcher 3, but it feels spot on. 

[sqidd]

7 hours ago, Dobber said:

Just finished the season. I liked it a lot! Looking forward to season 2. It was a little hard to remember who was who with the name drops and such but got use to it after a few episodes. Also, thank you whoever it was that pointed out we are watching 2 sometimes 3 time lines. That’s not a spoiler as the first episode let’s you know if you are paying attention and remember the Queens name. That did help me quite a bit. The show started a little slow but definitely picks up. 

Chris

That was me. It got right past me. I wasn't invested in the show enough at that point to remember everyone's name (or understand half of them). I had never read the books or played the game either. I had nothing to work off of. By the time I realized I should have paid better attention to what was going down (I was just veggin' on the couch) it was very apparent what was happening. I think that was half way through episode fun show. I'm looking for ward to more.

[Dobber]

Yeah, was thinking it was you.   

I actually forgot about it and I JUST happened to notice /here someone mention how The Lioness Queen Calanthia just one her first battle to Geralt.  I thought, didn’t here Grandaughter JUST mention in the previous scene how she herd the songs of her Grandmothers victory. Then my memory keyed in.  
It also helped to have IMDB open so I could look at who the characters where. It’s always difficult to follow along in a story with odd/uncommon names at first.

Chris

 

[Tking22]

There's a number of terms that get thrown around that are quite important too. 

Trial of the Grasses-The procedure children go through to become a Witcher, Geralt mentions it a few times. They basically feed children poison and if they live, few do, they come out with enhanced abilities then train to become a Witcher.

Conjunction of the Spheres-Mentioned by a few characters, it's the event that happened almost 1500 years before the main story we're watching. The Continent, the name of the land the Witcher takes place on, was once only occupied by elves and regular animals, maybe dwarves, I don't remember. The conjunction was a thing that happened where multiple giant portals opened from different worlds letting in humans, monsters, etc. Elves taught humans magic, we killed and hunted elves, monsters are bad so humans started creating professional monster hunters, Witchers. 

Law of Surprise-If a hero or someone saves you, they may ask for a random favor or something in return, it's a bit vague. The prize/favor isn't always specified before the task, it can happen after and you just have to deal with what is asked. 

[crackpot]

48 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

There's a number of terms that get thrown around that are quite important too. 

Law of Surprise-If a hero or someone saves you, they may ask for a random favor or something in return, it's a bit vague. The prize/favor isn't always specified before the task, it can happen after and you just have to deal with what is asked. 

See if that's the case, why do they assume that Geralt wanted the child (or in this case, Ciri) as the reward? It could be anything by what you describe it but it seems to default on the saved person's offspring. 

[Tking22]

4 minutes ago, crackpot said:

See if that's the case, why do they assume that Geralt wanted the child (or in this case, Ciri) as the reward? It could be anything by what you describe it but it seems to default on the saved person's offspring. 

The Queen knew of the prophecy and destiny she has tied with Geralt, and didn't want her to go, she knew, someday, Geralt would come for her. Also, a lot of people are terrible in this world, by Law of Surprise a lot of children are taken for a number of reasons. A lot of children that become Witchers are taken by Law of Surprise, witches take children doing that too. Without knowing of Ciri's destiny, she is also the princess of Cintran, she's quite important and worth quite a bit. 

[crackpot]

6 hours ago, Tking22 said:

The Queen knew of the prophecy and destiny she has tied with Geralt, and didn't want her to go, she knew, someday, Geralt would come for her. Also, a lot of people are terrible in this world, by Law of Surprise a lot of children are taken for a number of reasons. A lot of children that become Witchers are taken by Law of Surprise, witches take children doing that too. Without knowing of Ciri's destiny, she is also the princess of Cintran, she's quite important and worth quite a bit. 

Geralt did say he had no interest on the child on the night he opted for the Law of Surprise. If anything, the only reason he came back was to assure Ciri's safety from Nilfgaard and probably Renfri's nagging prophecy. 

[easnoddy]

His law of surprise was intentionally vague. If they had found a coin previously but didn't know it...that might be what he gets... but they suddenly found out shes pregnant and he says "frakk". Cause destiny. 

[azrael]

All done. It's not a bad season 1 but I would have liked a little more. I will agree with the critics about the really rough start. The time skipping really throws you off. It's not bad, but it's not great. I came off with a "That's it?" after I finished. Maybe Season 2 will be better. 

On 12/24/2019 at 8:16 AM, Tking22 said:

Law of Surprise-If a hero or someone saves you, they may ask for a random favor or something in return, it's a bit vague. The prize/favor isn't always specified before the task, it can happen after and you just have to deal with what is asked. 

I think they could have elaborated that the law usually means the 1st "surprise" to spring up. As someone pointed out an analogy, if your first "surprise" is a new puppy on Christmas, then that puppy now belongs to the person who claimed the Law of Surprise.

[Bolt]

The law of surprise is an interesting twist. This series certainly makes the viewer do some mental gymnastics, but I didn't mind. I've only ever played the games, which were ok and fun enough.  The season final was no big cliff hanger or big surprises, which, again, was fine with me. It shows they weren't trying too hard , which ,oftentimes happens by the numbers too often. We are now basically set up in season 2 for the main story to begin.

[Graham]

I watched the Netflix Witcher series knowing nothing about the games or books.

Initially, the first 2 episodes didn't grab me, but as I watched more I started to get more and more into it and by episode 8 was loving it and wanting more.

The time jumps were a bit confusing at first, but it wasn't difficult after a while to piece things together and figure out when things were happening in the timeline.

Anyway, really looking forward to season 2 and hope it contains lot more episodes.

8 episodes is just too short for a series.

 

 

 

 

[Keith]

2 eps in, reminds me of their Castlevania.

[TangledThorns]

The song... It's stuck in my head!! But hey, it's great and meme worthy too.

 

[Dobber]

32 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

The song... It's stuck in my head!! But hey, it's great and meme worthy too.

 

Yesss!

I’m finding I really Love this series and the music was awesome too!

Chris

Edited December 31, 2019 by Dobber

[twich]

Read most of the books, not collections of short stories and have played a little of the games.  I have enjoyed the series and how well Henry Cavill played Geralt.  The only bit that surprised me was the hint that Geralts' mother was a sorceress and that she gave him up to the witchers on purpose.  As far as any story that I have read or lore in the video game, this has never been touched on, so I think that it was pretty cool.  Cannot wait until season 2 shows up to watch the continued journey of Geralt and company.  

Twich

[Bolt]

That's a proper endorsement 

[Sildani]

Just finished it. Enjoyed it immensely. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

[Thom]

Binged the whole thing and I liked it - for the most part. I never read the books or played the game, so I came in cold.

I do think they needed to world-build a little more, esp for those who have no background knowledge of the material. Tossed in cold I was playing catch up with the names and places being tossed out. But I was liking it, especially those scenes with Geralt and Ciri, and damn is she a good actress!

I will say that it doesn't feel as grandiose as GoT. It felt more like The Shannara Chronicles, in that the major powers didn't really seem to have any presence in them, except for Queen Calanthe. A bit of world building would have gone a great deal to strengthening them before the main story began. Which started with the first episode, but then stumbled under a sudden glut of side stories. I think that if they had progressed the story without any time-jumps it would have gone better. It would have introduced the characters, showed their troubles and triumphs and built them up more smoothly. Otherwise I was wondering where the main characters were, and why were we talking with elves in a cave and traveling with a bard who was too comical. At a number of times it was a little too campy, mostly in relation to Joxer. I mean Jaskier!

Episode five or six could have been when Cintra fell, after we'd been invested with Calanthe and Ciri's life there. And after seeing Geralt on some of his adventures, and in that way keeping the time-skipping as all these events take place at least fifteen years before the main story. Otherwise, to me, it just felt like they were treading water with only a few episodes to progress the main plot. It also would have helped the threat from Nifgaard to have some more 'weight' behind it. And perhaps showed us what the 'white flame' is. I still don't know what it is or why Cahir is doing this all for, other than to 'get to the center of it all...' or some-such.

Despite that though I really liked it! Again, especially when it was dealing directly with Geralt and Ciri. There were some great episodes and I really felt like it was starting to pick up some speed, but of course that was in the last two episodes! Aaargh! Kind of like the second season of Stranger Things, I kept waiting for Ciri and Geralt to meet up a lot earlier and was disappointed that it didn't happen until the last thirty seconds! Double aaargh! 

I'm wanting more though. I'll be there for a Season 2.

[Dobber]

The problem is, without the different time lines we wouldn’t be able to see all the characters from the get go. The series would just start with Yennifer. Then after a few episodes Geralt would be introduced. Then the queen near the end of the season and finally Ciri in like the last few episodes. I personally don’t think the show would flow as well if we weren’t watching all 3 from the beginning, and would probably require a lot more filler material for each character to fill out episodes. Maybe what would’ve help would’ve been an onscreen text of 50years earlier ect. Instead of just wanting for the audience to catch on. 
 

Chris

Edited January 4, 2020 by Dobber

[Thom]

Understood. To be clear, I am fine with the time jumps. Once I realized they were happening I thought it was a neat choice. Certainly keep them in, but pace the story a little differently and use the majority of the flashbacks before Cintra fell, moving that to the middle of the season. Geralt and Ciri would still be separated by more than a decade as intended but I feel it would allow some more cohesive world-building, and have a greater impact with the audience when Cintra fell and Calanthe died.

[Marzan]

I've read the first six books and have to say that as an adaptation it's ok, but can improve a lot. I was not a fan of the time jump narratives. It made it confusing for most of the people coming in cold. I was also not a fan of some of the casting choices for some of the characters that change their demeanour and appearance completely.

That said, it had a lot of good points and some excellent performances by Cavill and Anya Chalotra who plays Yennefer. Ciri was pretty well cast in accordance to the books too.

[TangledThorns]

Wife and I finished it last night, we really enjoyed it. Cavill owned the character he portrayed. Good job, Netflix.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

The official website now has a chronological timeline that clears up the events in the story.

[lechuck]

Arrrgghhh... Kal-El what happend to you!? 

Never played the games or read the books, so Witcher thing was all new to me.

Definitely the whole chrono-puzzle storytelling is its novelty, but I am hooked and will continue to watch.

[electric indigo]

Fun fact: The Witcher (Henry Cavill) learned his sword fighting from the Night King (Vladimir Furdik, sword master & sound coordinator on GoT).

[Big s]

I finally finished the season and I did end up liking it by the end. The time skipping was a bit of an issue till about episode 5or 6, then it started making sense. I think for people like me who are new to the franchise it could be a bit off putting. I found myself forcing my way to finish it. But once things started making sense I ended up enjoying it. I think a second season will be far less confusing after getting through the first. I just hope it’s a bit less reliant on flashbacks. I’ve also been watching the second season of Lost in Space and flashback fillers seem to be in now. Although the flashbacks there are more obvious due to location changes. It makes me really appreciate the Mandalorian for having so few flashbacks.

[sh9000]

 

[electric indigo]

Great clip, ty.

For me, the show was a mixed experience. Cavill is awesome and kills it in every scene, but he makes it painfully obvious that the rest of the cast is not in his league, and so are the directors, IMHO. Still looking forward to the second season, but I hope they tighten things up a bit more. 

[electric indigo]

[Dobber]

Lol!

Chris