Did anyone watch The Witcher
I was really looking forward to this and wasn't disappointed. My introduction to this world was The Witcher 3 videogame. I wasn't aware of the first 2 games nor the books when I bought it, just knew everyone loved it. I ended up loving it as well. I knew the series was going to be based on the books, so I was curious to learn more about the world. I sat down last night and started watching. Figured I'd get about half way done with the Series and quit about midnight, ended up binging the whole series until 4am. I couldn't stop watching. Now comes the long wait until season 2.
If you didn't now, this is not family friendly. I see lots of people talking in other reviews on the board about seeing things with their kids, and this is adult only. I thought the violence was story appropriate, some mild swearing, but a lot of nudity. That includes a simulated Orgy with what looked like an entire town. It was fantastic. :-)
December 21st, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
Thanks for the review. It looks cool, but I’ve seen some really negative media reviews.
I’ll give it a shot based on your recommendation.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
I noticed the reviews before I started watching. Some were just embarrassing, like the Entertainment Weekly review. They only watched a few episodes and random ones at that. Seemed like a predetermined review to me. But this is the world we live in. I think it is sitting in the same critic review range right now that the Star Wars movie is, with the fan reviews being much higher.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
The Wilcher?
December 21st, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
It's not without its issues, but there's a lot to love. The story is told in three different timelines which intersect, so it can be confusing, but Henry Cavil knocks it out of the park. Some of the CGI and armor designs looks cheap, and some of the casting of the lesser roles irked a lot of the game fans. They basically made any non lead character black or ethnic, even though everyone is supposed to be Polish. Lots of nudity, tasteful, but all nude. I enjoyed it.
December 22nd, 2019 at 7:12 AM ^
I’m always confused by the “everybody was supposed to be white” take. So black people can’t play Polish? Fans can’t enjoy a character portrayed by someone with a darker complexion than they expected? It’s a fantasy! There can be demons and orcs and inter-dimensional travel, and yet some ppl stop suspending disbelief as soon as they see a black dude or an Asian lady? Who cares! Beloved UMich alum James Earl Jones is a black dude who got his start as a Shakespearean actor. I’m sure that all the characters in Shakespeare’s plays are “supposed” to be white, too, though. The point is, if you can act in the role, who gives a shit? Enjoy the show.
December 22nd, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
I agree with your take, acting is all about pretending to be things that you aren't. The problem we have in society now is that this only works one way. You can only change the race or sex of roles that were originally white or male. You can't change a minority role to something else or the SJW crowd goes into hysterics. See Scarlett Johansson and her accepting that role of a trans man in a move that now won't get made because she was forced to resign her role. I get why there is a push to include more minorities in casting decisions, the old way was pretty racist (intentional or not). The story of the Harriet Tubman movie's original pitch meeting and the studio exec pushing for Julia Roberts as Harriet is hilarious but also extremely sad. That said, it makes people seem hypocritical and/or assholish when they throw fits when a minority role gets recast but then demonize people complaining when a white role is then given to a minority.
In the case of The Witcher, i didn't care really about the casting. Yennifer isn't like she is in the games, and that didn't bother me. I thought Triss looked a little off compared to the games, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of her character. Haven't not read the books, that is my only comparison. But because they are books, and well received books at that, there are most likely good descriptions of the characters looks. When adapting an already popular property, when you take liberties with the characters and they way they look, you risk alienating the people who made that property popular in the first place. It isn't just reserved for changing a characters race, remember Tom Cruise in Interview with a Vampire? Fans hated that casting and the Anne Rice herself spoke out against it. Look what happens every time they cast batman. That doesn't mean they can't change the role up but it will always be something the fans will hate at first and up to the actor to prove them wrong.
December 23rd, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
Honestly, I think it's more bonkers that all these Polish characters are being played by English people...as usual. It always drives me nuts when I watch a program about, say, ancient Rome. Wouldn't Italian accents be more accurate in this situation?
Julia Roberts playing Harriet Tubman would be bonkers and laughable, but the Scarlett Johanssen point is sort of interesting. Jared Leto is straight (I think), but his portrayal of a trans woman in Dallas Buyer's Club was really powerful. I wonder how that would have been received just a few years later. Then again, there's plenty of roles for straight, white megarich superstars like Roberts, Johanssen, and Leto...so I really don't feel bad for them if they start losing roles to minorities and queer folks, and I frankly agree with the SJWs, even if I am 1/1000th as upset about it.
I think it's important to distinguish between historical fiction/biopic and fantasy. In Middle Earth or a Galaxy far, far away, race shouldn't really matter that much. If we're talking about portraying real people, race probably counts a lot more. What if both roles in Green Book were played by white guys? That would be a really weird movie...
December 21st, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
I thought the show was pretty bad but I never read the books or played the games. The storylines jumped around way too much, characters were one dimensional, no character building, and the cgi was bad. The dialogue was really bad too.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
I agree with some of your critiques. It took me a few episodes to notice the timelines for the 3 main characters weren't the same. I googled it and found out the show runner was trying to copy Dunkirk as the books aren't very fluid with their time lines either. The characters did have some holes and some things they did didn't have enough build up and left me confused as to how they managed to do it. Yennifer's magic is an example. However, her story is much more fleshed out than the books from what I understand. Same with Cirri. They gave the 2 lead females much bigger roles than the books gave them, in terms of screen time.
I think they show did suffer from trying to build up the world for season 2. It neglected some character building for the world building to get everyone caught up to the same time line for season 2.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:19 PM ^
I turned to my gf in the fourth episode and asked if I missed them establishing some kind of different timeline. I understand how jumping around can serve a story and add a surprise eventually but they don’t seem to have a reason in not telling the audience what’s happening and it’s just annoying. I’m out after episode 4 unless some posters here can convince me to finish the season. As someone that had never heard of the world it’s just too confusing.
December 21st, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
If you're not a fan of the game, it might not be worth it. But I really enjoyed the Djinn episode and the final two episodes that brought the story together.
December 21st, 2019 at 6:35 PM ^
I can see your point. I am about half way through the Witcher 3 video game and have read most of the first book. The show does not do a great job of explaining some of aspects of the Witcher and the world. For example, in the very beginning of the first episode, Geralt (The Main Character) is fighting a monster and he looks very pale and his eyes are pretty blood shot. Most would think, oh he is worn out or the monster did something, but those who know the back story know that the Witcher takes potions which help his skills before he fights monsters, and those potions have side effects. Also, there is a lot more of a backstory in the books than they have more time for in the show. I think this was a criticism of early Game Of Thrones as well.
I could easily see people being confused if you do not know the background history or character motivation. My feeling is, they are using season 1 to establish the background for the characters and really get into the coherent story in later seasons. The author of the books went back and wrote a two book collections of stories as a prequel before the main novels started. I believe season 1 is doing the same.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
Love the Witcher books and games.
I was impressed Netflix and Cavill didn’t fuck this up.
The pacing was problematic and if you’re a new viewer to the series then you’re going to be confused as shit at times. They should’ve fleshed out the Law of Surprise and Djinn sequences more since they’re so important to the rest of the lore. I know the show is based on the books so it’s tough to judge but Triss is just poorly casted imo. She looks too old and doesn’t seem to have her classic red hair (which might just be a game feature). I also don’t think they’re focusing on her as much since her roles are a lot smaller in the books.
All in all I think they built an okay foundation to improve upon for next season. Could’ve been better if they had more episodes in the season.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:36 PM ^
I agree with you. Cavill was great and I thought the actresses who played Yennifer and Cirri did a great job as well. The Djinn sequence was rushed, you are correct. I didn't think they shorted the law of surprise though. I also was not a fan of the Triss casting, but my only basis for her is the game, so I don't know if that was just a me thing or if they deviated from the books.
December 21st, 2019 at 5:10 PM ^
https://i.imgur.com/LykVeEb.jpg
They seem pretty similar to me. I liked the casting. Maybe just more red hair dye?
December 22nd, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
They look mildly similar. The actress is obviously not a read head, the eyebrows give that away. She has a darker complexion and looks a bit older. Her casting didn't take away from my enjoyment of the show, I just noticed she didn't fit what I was used to from the games.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:56 PM ^
In the books Triss is continually referred to as having auburn hair. So more like reddish/brown as opposed to the fiery red hair she has in the games.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Sometimes I forget this is a sports blog
December 21st, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
I'm struggling to get into it, tbh.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
Thinking about making a run to Costco in a little bit but I don't know if there will be enough time.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Cut it off after 20 minutes...
I might consider giving it another go.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
I almost did too after the bland start, but IMO glad I stuck through it.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:00 PM ^
Yeah definitely give it at least 2 episodes. I actually think it’ll grab most people much quicker than Game of Thrones did (personally, most people I know needed 4-6 episodes of GoT until they could really get into it).
December 21st, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
I agree. Took me pretty much the whole first season of GOT to get used to it. Little difficult to keep up with names and places but subtitles help. Battle / fighting scenes are very well done. Score and cinematography are great as well.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:24 PM ^
I was pretty excited for this show as well, though only played a bit of Witcher 3, but I’ve heard the books were great, and I’m a sucker for these type of fantasy action shows/movies.
Started watching yesterday, I thought it started off pretty meh, but it really picked up after a few episodes. Starting to really enjoy it, and hoping to finish off the rest of the season this weekend.
It kind of reminds me some kind of mix between LOTR, GoT, and The Mandalorian (though obviously not as good overall). It has the high fantasy elements of LOTR, tended for more mature audience like GoT, and follows more of a episodic adventures of Mandalorian, with an overarching plot that begins to reveal as the season goes on.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
First episode was awful, stick with it because the story is great and great acting by the main heroes. Definitely cavills best. Production value is mediocre
December 21st, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
I thought it was fantastic. A few of the negative reviews are badly off-base, and at least one I read clearly hadn’t actually watched the show (I mean, they literally couldn’t have possibly watched more than a couple minutes).
Anybody confused by the plot at first should stick with it, it’ll make sense in time. The books are a bit odd in that the first 2 are short story collections (which serve to introduce the characters and plant some seeds as he basically has a bunch of side quests) and the last 6 are novels (which obviously are the main storyline). So the show has to be creative. The first episode is basically cutting back and forth between a short story from one of the first 2 books (I forget which) and the main storyline from the 3rd book (1st novel).
A few thoughts;
1. The first big sword duel is AMAZING. Honestly better than any sword duel from Game of Thrones (by a mile) or even Lord of the Rings or Star Wars.
2. Cavill is perfect as The Witcher.
3. The show totally nails the dark Slavic folklore fantasy/horror vibe of the books and the games. It’s also the closest we’ve seen to a major TV show having a Warhammer Fantasy (The Old World setting) vibe.
4. As others have mentioned, it’s definitely not for kids. Besides the sex/nudity, the violence is extremely brutal.
December 21st, 2019 at 2:50 PM ^
I got about 5 minutes into it before my wife made me change it. So that was fun.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
I basically screen shows for my wife, I’ll watch an episode or two, then decide if she should be brought it. She’s definitely a No for this show, still trying to decide if she’d like The Watchmen, though she did enjoy The Boys.
December 21st, 2019 at 5:13 PM ^
How paternal.
December 22nd, 2019 at 3:18 PM ^
My wife and I both enjoyed the Boys. Great first season of that show.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
No but I watched “Don’t f*ck with cats” last night. Creepy and crazy.
December 21st, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
I had mine filed down, too. Women say it has hardly made a difference.
December 21st, 2019 at 5:04 PM ^
I watched the first episode and really liked it, but my wife did not. It seems like there's probably a pretty high barrier to entry wrt the lore and storytelling. I played the third game and read the books, so I wasn't lost at all.
December 21st, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the best videogame I've played so far (and I say that as someone who generally dislikes the fantasy genre). It's not my favorite videogame but it's the best.
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I can't wait for CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077. I'm HYPED AF for that game. (For those that don't know, CDPR - a Polish company - adapted the Witcher books into the videogame.)
I'm also excited for The Last of Us 2. And Ghost of Tsushima. And Hollow Knight Silksong. 2020 is shaping up to be another monumental year in gaming with Sony PlayStation and Microsoft releasing next gen consoles in addition to the highly anticipated games.
December 21st, 2019 at 6:12 PM ^
Agreed. I've been playing games for my entire life and Witcher 3 was the best one I've played.
December 21st, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
December 21st, 2019 at 10:40 PM ^
I found it to be breathtakingly meh.
December 22nd, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
Planning on it. I’m a huge fan of the books - one of the few genuinely literary fantasy series I can think of.