The Witcher: Season Two

There was such a long wait for the second season of The Witcher that I had rewatched the first one many times over, yet was still a bit hazy on the plot. Thankfully it begins with a recap to help catch us up on the highlights. Covid has screwed a lot of TV productions over. With the limitations on budget and the amount of extra effort shooting during a pandemic requires, not to mention rewrites and reshoots when a cast member is ill, it’s actually a miracle that they managed to produce the show at all. But not only did they achieve this, I believe that they also managed to improve almost every aspect from the first season.

The writing is more coherent, especially the story pacing, now that the action is all taking place in the same timeline. It is a lot easier to follow the plot right away, and there is a stronger focus on a core storyline, with many threads running alongside. Geralt and Ciri’s relationship takes centre stage and gets plenty of time to develop. By the end it was a constantly heart-warming aspect of the show. The dialogue can be slightly clunky at times, and personally the amount of modern swearing in a fantasy show can get a bit jarring, but otherwise there are a huge amount of standout moments. Many of the scenes feel emotionally weighty and seem destined to end up on YouTube compilations very soon. There are some choices for characters which will piss off fans of the games, like what happens to Eskell, but as someone who hasn’t read the books, but played the games I can say that I appreciate the show isn’t trying to be carbon copy of either. That would lead to a worse experience that would leave no-one happy. The books, especially the short stories, make for a strange pace for a TV show, and it’s inevitable that things need to be altered and moved around.

The costuming is much stronger this season. Much like the Wheel of Time, it feels like the showrunners realised that colour existed. Suddenly characters wear reds, purples and greens instead of every shade of black and grey. The wigs are much more convincing and Nilfgaardian armour no longer looks strange and wrinkled, but golden and glorious. On top of this, some of the composition this season is much more varied. The colour grading is less murky than season 1 and it is easier to see what is going on. The location shooting features much more interesting scenery and shots. Kaer Morhen in particular is an excellent set, that evokes the imagery of the games but has enough of its own character not to be a poor copy.

The direction of the show seems greatly improved. There were some great set pieces in the first season, but a lot of the camera work seemed a bit too static. Now the camera seems to move much more organically, especially when following the point of view of monsters. The added light also means that much more of the shots are easy to see, so the camera work is no longer hidden under a darker filter. Even though the story has stayed as dark and dangerous, the show feels much more vibrant and less bleak than before.

The musical score is a bit more mixed. There are some really well scored scenes that lend dramatic weight, but other than the main theme which is still really strong, it feels a little underwhelming at times. There seemed to be less Slavic inspired sounds in the tracks this time. I’m not saying the score was bad by any means but I definitely preferred season 1. However, Jaskier’s new songs were a perfect addition, and I hope they find reasons to have Joey Batey sing every season from now on.

Speaking of the cast, Joey Batey was a highlight as he was last season. He manages to be a compelling character with a lot of empathy and a never-ending source of humour at the same time. Each moment he is on screen he brightens the mood. His singing also provides the show with a lot of personality. Henry Cavill was born to play Geralt. He understands the character intimately and seems to live and breathe the life of a Witcher. The writing also allows him to soften up Geralt quite a bit as he cares for Ciri and reconciles with both Jaskier and Yennefer. He has much more dialogue, and even cracks a smile on occasion. Anya Chalotra continues to be amazing as Yennefer, embodying the perfect mix of vulnerability and abrasive strength. This season gives Freya Allen a much stronger arc for Ciri, and allows us to see her really make the character her own. Freya is a very talented actor and the struggle Ciri goes through this season to deal with her dark side and fear allows for a lot of powerful moments. Allen rises to the occasion. The many additional side characters introduced this season are all strong choices, although some need more scenes to really shine in the future. Kim Bodnia provides an interesting take on the old witcher Vesemir; he seems weary of the deaths of his younger charges and almost as if he is struggling with depression. Overall, the cast is stronger than ever.

My impression finishing this season was that everything felt more confident. The actors felt more confident in their roles, the story choices seemed bolder, the visuals were massively improved. If it continues like this for each season, I’m excited. A show that gets better and better is infinitely preferrable to one that starts out perfect and slowly gets worse (cough, Game of Thrones). The wait for the second season of the Witcher was well worth it, and I’m eager for the next one. Hopefully it’ll be a shorter wait.

Netflix’s The Witcher

A very promising start…

Since the last review I made was of the Witcher game series, I thought that I would finally cover the Netflix show. I am admittedly very late to review this; however, I was reminded how much I love this series while re-watching with my dad. As a big fantasy nerd, I have been starved of content from films and TV for a long while. Once you get into the fantasy genre, it doesn’t take long to watch all the big films and shows and have nothing left. Sure, there are lots of urban fantasy shows and Sci-fi, but for that doesn’t quite scratch the itch. So, I was stoked when Netflix released the Witcher, as I cannot get enough of swords and magic. Spoilers will be frequent from this point on.

This series tries to do quite a few things, and I would say that despite a lot of mediocre reviews from more snobby people, it manages to do them successfully. It pays light homage to the game series without borrowing ideas, adapts much of the tone and plot of the book series while avoiding aspects that might make it come off too ridiculous, and succeeds in creating its own style and tone separate from the Game of Thrones trend. Of course, people still compare it to that show, because apparently there is only one fantasy show out there, and everything else is copying it.

To start with, the acting across the board is great. Henry Cavill, a fan of the source material, puts a lot into his role and manages to get across Geralt of Rivia’s inner humanity and kindness with as little dialogue as possible. My only real complaint about his characterisation is that he is too mean to his companion Jaskier. Speaking of the Bard, he is a highlight for the entire show. He brings a lot of high energy, several good jokes and a unique take on a character that otherwise could have come off as a complete sleaze. He also has a great singing voice (yes, toss a coin is an amazing song). Anya Chalotra is given much to work with, as Yennefer’s backstory is greatly expanded on and it is very interesting to get such an insight into her character. Chalotra does a smashing job of showing us the emotional journey Yen goes on to form the character we are more familiar from in the books and games. Freya Allen is decent as Ciri, and I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more memorable moments from her as her character develops.

The structure of the series is interesting. Rather than adapting the first full length story of the book series, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich chose to adapt the collection of short stories set before the start of the books. This was confusing to me at first, but once enough context clues are dropped it becomes obvious that each of the characters are in their own timeline. By halfway through the series we have a firm grasp that only Ciri’s story is set in the present time of the show. While this feels a little strange it gives the characters a chance to go through development that was otherwise only hinted at in the books, and makes the series less about one character and more of a trio of protagonists. This change in focus gives the audience more opportunity to engage with different characters and take in some of the world building, and I really enjoyed it. Of course, the timelines converge in the final episode and so next season will undoubtably all be set at the same time, but it was a fun way to include the short stories and not burn through all the books too quickly.

The soundtrack for the show is incredibly well put together. While many of the musical themes and leitmotifs are reminiscent of the game series, they don’t simply copy them. Rather they both come from a similar inspiration. There is a good amount of Slavic chanting and singing, as well as a focus on folk style. Many of the songs are in universe creations by Jaskier, that he sings himself. The music has a unique tone which goes a long way to giving the Witcher its own feel, apart from other shows in the genre.

The action choreography is superbly done and very visually entertaining. Geralt fights in a very acrobatic way, using the reflexes his mutations provide. There are a number of excellent set pieces that demonstrate his skill and limitations. The sorcerers all get to do a lot of very creative magic. The effects might be limited in the first season, as is usually the case, but they manage to look mostly pretty cool. The design of the monsters and creatures are really creative, leaning heavily on the horror aspect of the story. Some of the creatures are legitimately terrifying. The striga in particular is a horrible highlight. The only criticism I would raise about the production design is the costuming. While I love the style of most of the outfits, there is a strange trend in fantasy shows to use mostly black and grey clothing, which really saps the series of a lot of colour. I love colours, why do costume designers hate them? This, when added to the colour graded of the footage, which seems to ramp up the contrast and adds a gritty filter to everything, makes a lot of the show murky and dark. It is sometimes hard to see what is going. The only exception seems to be when magic is performed, in which case the colour is heightened. That might be to draw attention the difference between mundane reality and magical illusion, but it leaves the rest of the show feeling drab.

However, that minor quibble aside, this show is a godsend. It provided me with that rare fantasy fix, and as it seems to have been very popular it will hopefully encourage a lot more fantasy TV in the future. The writing is enjoyable, the acting fantastic and the music special. Add all that together and you have a show that has started out very strongly indeed. I can’t wait for season two. Eventually.

The Witcher trilogy

Since there has been a resurgence of interest in the Witcher franchise owing to the recent Netflix series, the time seems ripe to look back over the various adaptations out there. I wasn’t a huge Witcher fan before the Netflix show released; I didn’t play the games when they came out. Perhaps owing to a PC which couldn’t cope with the third release, the series passed me by. However, I am a massive fantasy fan currently starved of TV and movies in the genre, so I watched the series the second it came out and instantly became hooked. I went back and bought all three games on sale and played them all over a month. I can say with certainty that I love this series, and I now plan to get hold of the books and read them as well. I thought that I would share my experience with both the games and the TV show, starting with the games as they came out first.

The Witcher

The first game came out in 2007 and was published by CD Projekt Red, the studio that produced all three games. I enjoyed parts of this game. That is a very loaded sentence, but what I mean by it is that the game is a mixed bag. It has amazing parts that I loved and really irritating features that drag it down. The story is set after the adventures that happen to Geralt of Rivia in the books. He wakes up in Kaer Morhen with amnesia and becomes involved in tracking down strangers who attack the fortress and steal Witcher mutagens. The mutagens are potions that are used to create Witchers or enhance their mutations. The story of the game is solid and has a few subtle twists and turns that aren’t confirmed but are heavily implied. Many of the characters are interesting and well fleshed out and the game does a lot to introduce us to this world in a natural way. However, the story is very long, and not because it is paced that way. If I could have played the main quest at my own speed it would be a lot shorter, but there seems to be a lot of artificial padding.

There are tonnes of side quests, many of which are not nearly as interesting as the main plot, which are pretty much required to get to a high enough level for the next story quest. On top of that getting any gear upgrades necessitates an obscene amount of micromanaging and multiple fetch quests which hinder any enjoyment considerably. The side content and the grind pile-drive the pacing, which made playing feel more like a chore I was going through to get to the rest of the plot. On top of this, the romantic subplots are each followed by a bizarrely graphic collectable card which smacks of sexism. The combat is fun, though bogged down by a lot of clunky features. Depending on the enemy type you need to switch combat style, which is a slow process. However, the need to prepare the right potions and oils and use a different sword makes the process of monster hunting feel more challenging. It lets us feel like a Witcher on the job. Overall, this game has a fun concept and story, and some great features, alongside a bunch of other stuff that make me not over keen to revisit it.

Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings

I felt that this game was a massive improvement over the first. For a start the graphics were much better, with background NPCs not all looking like the same three character models. Geralt now moved more naturally and characters speaking looked like actual humans. The plot feels much more focused and urgent, as Geralt is framed for a murder he didn’t commit. I liked that the game follows on from things set up in the previous instalment, and the combat, potions and magic feel much more streamlined, although not being able to drink potions during a fight is a terrible idea. Again, there are some fantastic characters, sweet romance and a lot of depth. Moral choices are fun because they are so grey and hard to decide. The game developers also wisely dropped the collectable romance cards, which were frankly tacky. The story is separated into chapters, each with side quests, but not so many as to be overwhelming, and much more optional feeling. I could level up without having to do every quest if I wanted to stick the main story.

Geralt feels a much more compelling character in this one as well. In the previous game he came across as very generic. His gravelly voice and cool scar were all that felt memorable, aside from the occasional one liner. In this game he has a more emotive character model and more quests related to his friends which lead to some very interesting conversations. The voice performance from Doug Cockle also seems much better, with a lot of dry wit. Armour and weapon upgrades feel much more attainable and don’t require ten different quests, but are still challenging to get. My only big quibble is the boss fights, which sadly let the game down. While regular combat is fun, boss battles are weighed down by quick time events where we are forced to press certain buttons at the right time, which are a terrible feature for a game where there is actual combat. Not only this, but the bosses often feel as though they might as well have been cut scenes, not allowing for any variation in the way we fight them. The worst is a fight early on against a monster called the Kayran. That fight nearly made me quit the game. However aside from this I had a reasonably good time with Witcher 2.

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I freaking love this game. It has to be one of my favourites of all time. I know everyone and their mum already has expressed how great this game is, but I’m saying it anyway. This feels like a perfection of the other two games, almost everything I took issue with in both of them has been addressed in this. Visually this game is stunning, with great character and costume design. The quests are entirely optional, but you’ll do all of them anyway because they all are deep and entertaining. The story is emotional and full of great choices and twists. The pacing works wonderfully, organic enough to allow freedom but with a good sense of urgency. Combat is challenging but flexible, with more than one way to beat bosses and handy shortcuts through oils and bombs. We finally have a horse, so getting to the next quest takes half the time. The game has a decent tutorial so you need not feel dropped in the deep end of the pool.

The story includes two newly introduced characters which I love completely. Ciri is Geralt’s adopted daughter and Yennefer is the love of his life. I wish that these two had been in the previous games. They are interesting, relate to Geralt in different ways and are a pleasure to watch. I hope another game is made with Ciri as the protagonist. There are so many characters to love in this, especially Geralt. The writing is at its finest here, and between the great dialogue Geralt is given and the fantastic performance from Doug Cockle, our protagonist has never felt more relatable. Not to mention the better graphics allowing for him to emote much more facially. Witcher 3 feels like a fantastic third act that takes all of the flaws from the other two games and fixes them, which introducing many brilliant new features. Except Gwent. The game has a weird fixation with getting me to play this card game and I just do not care. The other two had card minigames but I didn’t mention them as they were entirely optional. In this however, there are several quests which require you to play this game and I am not interested in playing a game withing a game. However, this is a small pet peeve which ultimately doesn’t impact my enjoyment. This is the best of the trilogy, and rightly deserves the lavish awards and praise it has received.

So that was the Witcher trilogy of games. The first is okay but has a lot of issues, the second is good but still needs a lot of work, and the third is a magnificent improvement that leaves the series on a high note. I recommend Witcher 2 and 3, and if you need to experience the story of the first, you’d probably be better off watching a playthrough on YouTube.