Netflix's The Witcher - Season 2

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I finally finished season 2 yesterday.
I am amazed at the people who were able to see it all on a single day, specially the ones who disliked it. Personally, i was never able to bingewatch shows, even though i have the free time to do so.

This time i tried my best to see the show through the eyes of someone unfamiliar with the books and games, i really did. But i dont think i was successful at all, as the next scene would bring something that would make my eyes roll.

Somewhere in the middle, (episodes 4-6 i think) i was starting to like a few things, like things are finally getting back on track, but the end quickly destroyed that feeling.

I wont list all the things i disliked or we would be here all day.
I will just try to summarize them, and also point the things i found positive:

+Kaer Mohren looks really amazing, both in distant shots and the insides, halls and rooms
+the timeline is way more linear, without any flashbacks or time jumps to confuse the casual viewers
+Ciri isnt as obnoxious as in season 1, and her training (witcher first, then sorceress) is one of the few things that felt right. I still dont like most of the changes to her powers, but that is a problem with the writing, not the character
+Triss gets way more screentime and she's probably one of the most accurate representations
+Rience was also a good surprise, although i may be forgetting some stuff from the books since i read them almost a decade ago, but it felt spot-on
+some special effects were really good, although some were terrible. but its an improvement from S1 where they were all terrible

The bad?
Overall, the showrunner and writers clearly didnt read the books, or much worse, they did and thought it wasnt good enough and they could change a lot and improve it. It was like getting stabbed every other scene, when a new major change was implemented.
Also, the budget for this show is supposed to be respectable no? So, why does it look campy so often, lacking any finesse, like something from Scy Fy channel? I think the runners like horror b-movies too much and thought The Witcher would fit that style, with the monster hunting... Except it doesnt.

I will NOT watch season 3, and the spin-off 'Blood Origin' im undecided, i will wait for reviews (i really Like Michelle Yeoh and martial arts, so i dont want to see that fail too). But the main show, this is where i draw the line.
 
I just finished it as well. I have to say I like the books quite a bit, but I didn't feel bad that showrunners deviated from them. It would have been less interesting to watch knowing too much in advance and having less intrigue and surprises.

So I actually came to appreciate that they weren't afraid of deviations. Overall I think S2 is good, but it felt a lot darker than S1.

Also, I disagree that they didn't read the books. They totally did and they knew what they were doing when following them and when not. You can like it or not, but they did their homework.
 
Season 3 has already been approved by Netflix.

After finishing it, I'm somewhat in agreement. I thought that Season 1 was rough, but I thought that it had promise. I was hoping that they might find their feet in Season 2, with a bigger budget and a year of experience. The presentation and cinematics are much better, but the story is terrible. Or stories. Ugh. The writing was so bad that for one scene, which I won't describe to avoid spoilers, Henry Cavill refused to use it, and re-wrote the scene himself.

I've become tolerant of his portrayal of Geralt. I like the portrayal of Ciri. Triss is barely tolerable, sometimes (I think that the actress does pretty well with what she's been given to work with). The rest -- please just discard them and start over. The writing is terrible, and the rest of the actors don't seem to be able to compensate for it.

I finished watching it today. It was brilliant! Much better than season one.
I especially liked how it actually showed some of the witchers getting killed. To see it on screen instead of just imagining it was great. Even though it sucks they died. Showing their numbers dwindling. Its not how I imagined it in my head. It felt rushed.

The effects were really good this time. Not that they weren't good in season one. But they're leagues above this time.
The portals and tearing apart of the earth was really well done. That flying dragon thing was sooo good. The amount of detail on it looked like it could have come out of a videogame.

Triss is so underused. She needs more screen time. I want to see her history. She's always been my fave of the mages. I never really liked Yennefer. She is too in your face and uppity. Though I do feel for her and how she was treated before she became a mage.

Overall the season was great! That twist ending though. Did not see it coming. I wonder will we get to see how Duny faked his own death? And where is his wife? All this time we were to believe he was dead. So maybe she is alive too? What else did Ciri's grandmother hide from her?

I can't wait for season three. I want to see more spheres. And more of The Wild Hunt. Not too much a bit of fighting against them would be good.

I wonder what do those symbols at the title of each episode mean? Is there a glossary of what they are and their meaning?
 
I just finished it as well. I have to say I like the books quite a bit, but I didn't feel bad that showrunners deviated from them. It would have been less interesting to watch knowing too much in advance and having less intrigue and surprises.

So I actually came to appreciate that they weren't afraid of deviations. Overall I think S2 is good, but it felt a lot darker than S1.

Also, I disagree that they didn't read the books. They totally did and they knew what they were doing when following them and when not. You can like it or not, but they did their homework.

I finished watching it today. It was brilliant! Much better than season one.
I especially liked how it actually showed some of the witchers getting killed. To see it on screen instead of just imagining it was great. Even though it sucks they died. Showing their numbers dwindling. Its not how I imagined it in my head. It felt rushed.

The effects were really good this time. Not that they weren't good in season one. But they're leagues above this time.
The portals and tearing apart of the earth was really well done. That flying dragon thing was sooo good. The amount of detail on it looked like it could have come out of a videogame.

Triss is so underused. She needs more screen time. I want to see her history. She's always been my fave of the mages. I never really liked Yennefer. She is too in your face and uppity. Though I do feel for her and how she was treated before she became a mage.

Overall the season was great! That twist ending though. Did not see it coming. I wonder will we get to see how Duny faked his own death? And where is his wife? All this time we were to believe he was dead. So maybe she is alive too? What else did Ciri's grandmother hide from her?

I can't wait for season three. I want to see more spheres. And more of The Wild Hunt. Not too much a bit of fighting against them would be good.

I wonder what do those symbols at the title of each episode mean? Is there a glossary of what they are and their meaning?
I'll say that S2 proved that a bard who never touched a sword can be as ripped as a witcher. It's inspiring, really
 
sif comparing The Desolation of Smaug to The Witcher :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: The Witcher is way better.
I consider The Witcher season 2 really bad so at this point I am not really interested in trying to arguing what's the worst between the two. As far as I am concerned both are a hot pile of garbage. Witcher season 2 is certainly worse because it is 3 time longer lol
 
I consider The Witcher season 2 really bad so at this point I am not really interested in trying to arguing what's the worst between the two. As far as I am concerned both are a hot pile of garbage. Witcher season 2 is certainly worse because it is 3 time longer lol
I'll keep watching even tho it is a great insult to the source material, if only because I enjoy laughing my ass off every now and then
 
Hi,

At what point of the story in the book did season 2 of the series end? If I would like to read it now, continuations, which book would I have to start with?
 
Hi,

At what point of the story in the book did season 2 of the series end? If I would like to read it now, continuations, which book would I have to start with?
S2 doesn't follow the books, if it did we would've seen in it most of the events from Season of Storms and Sword of Destiny (interprequel between Book 1 and 2, and Book 2 respectively).
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At this moment, bad or good, whatever :)
https://top10.netflix.com/tv
Most watched 13th - 19th December
1 - The Witcher - season 2
And by far.
Sophisticated taste is not the norm, indeed :shrug:
 
Writing on the show is seriously pathetic. There are many dull or cringe lines.
It's really hard to watch this second season. The 1st was only entertaining in my regard but at least the chronicle order made us have to be paying atention. I almost fall asleep watching any episode in this season, I watched like 4. The dialogue writing is so much worse and full of those "tv series logic", like someone asking Geralt a question and countdown 3 seconds to end of scene with some commentary facial expression on those 3 seconds that we already know will happen,...
 
S2 doesn't follow the books, if it did we would've seen in it most of the events from Season of Storms and Sword of Destiny (interprequel between Book 1 and 2, and Book 2 respectively).
Not correct.
I mean, the first statement is correct, the series' season 2 definitely doesnt follow the books.

But season of storms is a standalone prequel story, while sword of destiny is a collection of short stories.
Neither of those two is part of the 'Witcher Saga', the 5 "main books". Book 1 and 2 are 'blood of elves', and 'time of contempt'.
 
Not correct.
I mean, the first statement is correct, the series' season 2 definitely doesnt follow the books.

But season of storms is a standalone prequel story, while sword of destiny is a collection of short stories.
Neither of those two is part of the 'Witcher Saga', the 5 "main books". Book 1 and 2 are 'blood of elves', and 'time of contempt'.
S1 was more or less The Last Wish, so they should've continued with SoS and SoD. Another option could have been to start with Blood of Elves and show in flashbacks the events from those short stories.

If they gave a damm about the books, that is.
 
S1 was more or less The Last Wish, so they should've continued with SoS and SoD. Another option could have been to start with Blood of Elves and show in flashbacks the events from those short stories.

If they gave a damm about the books, that is.
Yes, and it was precisely because they included those short stories from Last Wish there, sprinkled between the main story, that S1 timeline got so confusing and threw off a lot of viewers.

In S2, only ep 1 includes a short story (if im not mistaken), the Nivellen one, the rest is linear, although it's not fair to say its following the main books... :giveup:
 
I don't care if it follows the books or not. I'm fine with deviations as long as they're comparable or better. And it's not the case with Netflix. I find games to be better than the books and the show worse. Massively worse.
 
Yes, and it was precisely because they included those short stories from Last Wish there, sprinkled between the main story, that S1 timeline got so confusing and threw off a lot of viewers.

In S2, only ep 1 includes a short story (if im not mistaken), the Nivellen one, the rest is linear, although it's not fair to say its following the main books... :giveup:
They could've easily done it in a coherent way if they had basic cinematography/writing knowledge lol :coolstory:

I mean, look at Westworld Season 1, they threw in flashbacks without telling you explicitly (there were hints tho) and it worked :smart:. It all depends on the quality of the technique, which in this show is non-existent :disapprove:

Oh by the way, I though show Nivellen looked like a furry :ROFLMAO:
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Jokes and negative criticism aside, I'll mention 2 things this show has actually gotten right:

- Dwarf actors portraying the dwarves
- Using the name Jaskier instead of Dandelion, which sounds corny and ridiculous IMHO
 
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Shows like The Boys, Hannibal and early GOT have done that successfully. Obviously not this one. This show feels like a parody of The Witcher, and I've watched it with that in mind. The show got the worst showrunner/scriptwriters/costume design/acting it could possibly have, and what makes them bad is mostly the fact they do not seem to be aware of the mistakes they've made and still make. The only question left now is how come it doesn't get cancelled just like so many other Netflix Flicks :coolstory:
Probably because it got 142 million hours streaming in the 1st 3 days .... Witcher first season got another 50 million hours streaming the same week .... That's 192 million hours streamed in a week for the Witcher series
 
Probably because it got 142 million hours streaming in the 1st 3 days .... Witcher first season got another 50 million hours streaming the same week .... That's 192 million hours streamed in a week for the Witcher series
Same deal as Star Wars and the MCU: we the corpos know it's shit, you the public know it's shit, but hey, they'll keep watching so who cares?
 
The show is extremely bad regarding scenario, direction, and all that "showrunning".
It is even worse than the old polish version - where the creator admitted, that he only managed to skip through....the comic books.

Overall it`s 3/10 at best.
And it is only that high, because of Cavill and Baginskis attempts to push anything even close to the source into the show, like Cavill fighting hard to improve his dialogues.
But the Netflix showrunners just don`t care about quality, maybe only thing they care is tokenism, done in a very bad way.
(opposite to some changes in Dune, where the changes do not feel forced, Villneuve managed to do the "representation" thing smoothly).
 
The show is extremely bad regarding scenario, direction, and all that "showrunning".
It is even worse than the old polish version - where the creator admitted, that he only managed to skip through....the comic books.

Overall it`s 3/10 at best.
And it is only that high, because of Cavill and Baginskis attempts to push anything even close to the source into the show, like Cavill fighting hard to improve his dialogues.
But the Netflix showrunners just don`t care about quality, maybe only thing they care is tokenism, done in a very bad way.
(opposite to some changes in Dune, where the changes do not feel forced, Villneuve managed to do the "representation" thing smoothly).
That's it, they don't give two fucks about quality because they know people will keep watching it, just like there have been good shows that were cancelled due to low audience rates.

Regarding tokenism, I kinda like the actors of Istredd and Vilgefortz (he looks like a psychopathic Dornish warrior-mage and I like that idea) but yeah, it's supposed to be a land resembling medieval Poland but with all the fantasy/folklore elements and nearly half the cast looks like they're Zerrikanian. Heck in the anime movie there was a witcher that tells Vesemir about him spending his coin on a male prostitute (unthinkable to speak of that openly in a medieval setting). They may think tokenism is somehow a good thing, but it isn't :smart:
 
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