'The Witcher' Netflix Show Hits This Fall

my grandma, who I recently visited at Halloween where she insisted we watch 80s slashers movies, is apparently in love with this series along with my grandpa and they recommended it to my mom. My mom couldn't care less about fantasy stuff, but none of them seemed to know it is based on a popular book/game franchise from poland. anyways, I just found that interesting, ignorance is bliss I guess :/
 
I finished season 2. I think it is just okay. First of all, Geralt isn't quite like he is in the games. From my understanding is the he is also not portrayed exactly as he was in the books. He is too closed off and hardly speaks. In the games he tends to remain calm and reserved but still speaks at great lengths at times. There are plenty of conversations in Witcher 2/3. In the TV series he typically grunts or mutters out a few words here and there. I understand if he acts that way up front, but so far he has yet to really speak at length which I find odd.

And Netflix's attempt to make the casting more racially diverse than 21st century USA in what is supposed to be ancient (although fictional) Europe is just puzzling and doesn't fit.

well thats the problem you are comparing it directly to books and games. Nothing is ever going to be exact. That will always leave me disappointed too so I stopped comparing a while back.
 
I finished season 2. I think it is just okay. First of all, Geralt isn't quite like he is in the games. From my understanding is the he is also not portrayed exactly as he was in the books. He is too closed off and hardly speaks. In the games he tends to remain calm and reserved but still speaks at great lengths at times. There are plenty of conversations in Witcher 2/3. In the TV series he typically grunts or mutters out a few words here and there. I understand if he acts that way up front, but so far he has yet to really speak at length which I find odd.

And Netflix's attempt to make the casting more racially diverse than 21st century USA in what is supposed to be ancient (although fictional) Europe is just puzzling and doesn't fit.

I never read the books or played the games for more than 10 minutes, so I find the show interesting.

The racial diverse casting doesn't make any sense. I've been thinking the same thing about the Wheel of Time series (of which I have read all 15 books). How is it possible that a small village descended from one ancient place and generally cut off from most of the known world has a multi-racial makeup? It doesn't make any sense. I'm not saying they have to be white, but at least you would think they'd be the same race after living together for hundreds/thousands of years.

well thats the problem you are comparing it directly to books and games. Nothing is ever going to be exact. That will always leave me disappointed too so I stopped comparing a while back.

I kind of agree. You have to take each medium as its own nuanced take on the source material. Whether it be Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Dune, etc...
 
I never read the books or played the games for more than 10 minutes, so I find the show interesting.

The racial diverse casting doesn't make any sense. I've been thinking the same thing about the Wheel of Time series (of which I have read all 15 books). How is it possible that a small village descended from one ancient place and generally cut off from most of the known world has a multi-racial makeup? It doesn't make any sense. I'm not saying they have to be white, but at least you would think they'd be the same race after living together for hundreds/thousands of years.



I kind of agree. You have to take each medium as its own nuanced take on the source material. Whether it be Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Dune, etc...

Yep. I actually enjoyed wheel of time as it went on and almost everyone that didn't read compare it directly to books did too around social media and everyone that did was disappointed lol. Its pretty much the case every time from what I see.
 
I finished season 2. I think it is just okay. First of all, Geralt isn't quite like he is in the games. From my understanding is the he is also not portrayed exactly as he was in the books. He is too closed off and hardly speaks. In the games he tends to remain calm and reserved but still speaks at great lengths at times. There are plenty of conversations in Witcher 2/3. In the TV series he typically grunts or mutters out a few words here and there. I understand if he acts that way up front, but so far he has yet to really speak at length which I find odd.

And Netflix's attempt to make the casting more racially diverse than 21st century USA in what is supposed to be ancient (although fictional) Europe is just puzzling and doesn't fit.

I definitely played Geralt in the games like he is in the show. Was your choice to make him wordy.
 
I never read the books or played the games for more than 10 minutes, so I find the show interesting.

The racial diverse casting doesn't make any sense. I've been thinking the same thing about the Wheel of Time series (of which I have read all 15 books). How is it possible that a small village descended from one ancient place and generally cut off from most of the known world has a multi-racial makeup? It doesn't make any sense. I'm not saying they have to be white, but at least you would think they'd be the same race after living together for hundreds/thousands of years.



I kind of agree. You have to take each medium as its own nuanced take on the source material. Whether it be Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Dune, etc...

And that is why it stands out. Witcher 3 showed a group which was obviously "Indian". There were merchants from a faraway land, looked different, had notably different accents and dress. Made it feel more authentic and like a larger world. The TV series they just mixed everything in.

I definitely played Geralt in the games like he is in the show. Was your choice to make him wordy.

To an extent, but regardless of play style Witcher 2/3 had many wordy conversations that you couldn't skip. Technically you could mash the space bar but that doesn't mean the character wasn't articulate; you just hit fast forward. The games weren't like Fallout 3/New Vegas were you could simply murder key story characters at will and never hear their conversation.
 
I never read the books or played the games for more than 10 minutes, so I find the show interesting.

The racial diverse casting doesn't make any sense. I've been thinking the same thing about the Wheel of Time series (of which I have read all 15 books). How is it possible that a small village descended from one ancient place and generally cut off from most of the known world has a multi-racial makeup? It doesn't make any sense. I'm not saying they have to be white, but at least you would think they'd be the same race after living together for hundreds/thousands of years.



I kind of agree. You have to take each medium as its own nuanced take on the source material. Whether it be Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Dune, etc...
I am reading Wheel of Time again for the 4th time and yes they are racially diverse in the books. They do not specifically say what race but some of the characters are described as having dark skin from the Two Rivers. Rand is not because is is descendant from Aiel.
 
I am reading Wheel of Time again for the 4th time and yes they are racially diverse in the books. They do not specifically say what race but some of the characters are described as having dark skin from the Two Rivers. Rand is not because is is descendant from Aiel.

I'm not saying they were white. I'm saying it doesn't make sense for a racially diverse population given their shared background and limited exposure to the world outside of their community. Hence Rand sticks out.
 
I definitely played Geralt in the games like he is in the show. Was your choice to make him wordy.
"Hmm."

I haven't watched season 2 yet, but I kinda wished in S1 they'd gone into "what is a witcher" as the genesis. The others in my house don't get it. What they went through, the costs, the risks. All to be later reviled as a mutant.

Imagine your emotional fuse was blown. And imagine you were granted powers to help save humanity. And now imagine, they kinda hate you for it.

That's a really interesting arc, and while I like the show, I don't think they explore that angle enough.
 
That's addressed somewhat obliquely in season 2.

S2 was a good watch. Now the wait for S3 begins.
 
I'm not saying they were white. I'm saying it doesn't make sense for a racially diverse population given their shared background and limited exposure to the world outside of their community. Hence Rand sticks out.
Well, that was Vegas' point. Rand's mother was Aeil. It's been so long since I read the books I don't recall how he got to Two Rivers.
 
Well, that was Vegas' point. Rand's mother was Aeil. It's been so long since I read the books I don't recall how he got to Two Rivers.

I know but in context I was talking about how the series (both the Witcher and Wheel of Time) includes racial diversity just for the sake of racial diversity even though it doesn't fit the narrative or even make any sense.
 
The Elves are originally in an entirely different world in the witcher...It is not THAT farfetched to have black ones.
Strongly agree with the show failing to explain what witchers are.
Strongly agree with the decision to reveal a huge plot twist early in the last episode.
 
I know but in context I was talking about how the series (both the Witcher and Wheel of Time) includes racial diversity just for the sake of racial diversity even though it doesn't fit the narrative or even make any sense.
The only one which still throws me off is Triss. I actually don't dislike the actress at all, but her appearance is so utterly different than what I've had in my head all these years - it's just really jarring. Every episode, because I have the memory of a fruit fly apparently.

I'll get over it. It's still a fun show, and sometimes different visions can be fun.

Also incredibly cool they cast a bard who can - heh - sing!
 
The only one which still throws me off is Triss. I actually don't dislike the actress at all, but her appearance is so utterly different than what I've had in my head all these years - it's just really jarring. Every episode, because I have the memory of a fruit fly apparently.

I'll get over it. It's still a fun show, and sometimes different visions can be fun.

Also incredibly cool they cast a bard who can - heh - sing!

Lol this is really interesting to hear. Haha. Hopefully you find yourself on the other side lol.
 
Just watched the second season. Much better than 1, if not only because this time the timeline made sense and moved forward logically instead of trying to be Pulp Fiction v2. But the second season is not without its faults. First episode was amazing, I want more of these small stories that stick to the book. 👌But the rest is riddled with some really stupid writing, like the whores in Kaer Morhen even though the Witchers are meant to keep low profile and no, Vesemirs explanation "yeah they'll forget everything in the morning" does not exactly fly. And speaking of Vesemir, both his and Yennefers characters were kinda butchered.
That said the serie is a net positive but it really needs better writers and people who know the story better because as it is the serie is dancing on the edge of a knife. Hell, Henry Cavill has to push things in right the direction now and then (like the scene with Roach, that was all on him 😭) but that may not be enough in the long run.
 
Just watched the second season. Much better than 1, if not only because this time the timeline made sense and moved forward logically instead of trying to be Pulp Fiction v2. But the second season is not without its faults. First episode was amazing, I want more of these small stories that stick to the book. 👌But the rest is riddled with some really stupid writing, like the whores in Kaer Morhen even though the Witchers are meant to keep low profile and no, Vesemirs explanation "yeah they'll forget everything in the morning" does not exactly fly. And speaking of Vesemir, both his and Yennefers characters were kinda butchered.
That said the serie is a net positive but it really needs better writers and people who know the story better because as it is the serie is dancing on the edge of a knife. Hell, Henry Cavill has to push things in right the direction now and then (like the scene with Roach, that was all on him 😭) but that may not be enough in the long run.
It's Netflix, season 3 will be even worse. Season 4 will probably be cancelled. They have a pattern.
 
I definitely played Geralt in the games like he is in the show. Was your choice to make him wordy.
Me too. I don't need Geralt to tuck me in and read me a bedtime story.

Videogame Yenifer, on the other hand...
 
This episode was not. At least unless I remember the story wrong, it was one of the short stories in Last Wish yes? 🤔
I mean sure, it happens. Literally the only thing that matches is Geralt goes to a place, there's a curse, and he fights a bruxa. 90 percent of it is pure fabrication, hence "loose".
 
I mean sure, it happens. Literally the only thing that matches is Geralt goes to a place, there's a curse, and he fights a bruxa. 90 percent of it is pure fabrication, hence "loose".

Of course things change, it is nigh impossible to put a book into a film in 1:1 fashion and make it work. Difference is do the writers go completely off the tangent and start inventing their own stuff and force it into the story. Unfortunately Witcher serie as a whole is full of that but this particular episode is not.
 
it is nigh impossible to put a book into a film in 1:1 fashion and make it work
No, that excuse doesn't float. I know the whole "You can't expect 100% adaptation", but really? 10%? That episode is full of inventions as well.

We can agree to disagree on what an "invention" is I guess.
 
No, that excuse doesn't float. I know the whole "You can't expect 100% adaptation", but really? 10%? That episode is full of inventions as well.

We can agree to disagree on what an "invention" is I guess.

Hmm... Maybe I have to read the book again.
 
"Hmm."

I haven't watched season 2 yet, but I kinda wished in S1 they'd gone into "what is a witcher" as the genesis. The others in my house don't get it. What they went through, the costs, the risks. All to be later reviled as a mutant.

Imagine your emotional fuse was blown. And imagine you were granted powers to help save humanity. And now imagine, they kinda hate you for it.

That's a really interesting arc, and while I like the show, I don't think they explore that angle enough.
Have them watch The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf on netflix .. it will show how Geralt was "made"
 
The only one which still throws me off is Triss. I actually don't dislike the actress at all, but her appearance is so utterly different than what I've had in my head all these years - it's just really jarring. Every episode, because I have the memory of a fruit fly apparently.

I'll get over it. It's still a fun show, and sometimes different visions can be fun.

Also incredibly cool they cast a bard who can - heh - sing!
Same here. I feel the actress is excellent, and is able to portray the playfulness, kindness and vulnerability of the character quite well. That said, her appearance is so different from what the games and books engrained in my mind over the past 10+ years it's hard to get over.
 
then this season theyre like "just sorta dye her hair and dot on some freckles... close enough"
 
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