The Witcher (Netflix TV series)

[Halliwax]

Not unless he's bringing Chris along for the ride

It may just run in the family lol

 

[Solo4114]

My wife and I really like Season 1. Season 2 was okay. This season... we're three episodes into it, and I think we're out. It's just boring now. I do not care about the characters anymore, I have no idea what the supposed conflict is intended to be, it seems like everyone is now written to be an antogonist, and the antiheroes are not engaging as characters. Not sure who the protagonist is supposed to be. Who am I supposed to be rooting for? Geralt? Yennifer? Ciri? Do they even have character arcs that make me want to root for them? It's all politics that aren't gripping in any meaningful way. Is Nilfgard supposed to be a threat? To whom? And why would we care?
BOOOORING. Shame, this series had a lot of promise early on and a lot of energy.

Much of Season 3 made sense, but its presentation was jumbled, and not in a clever "told out of order" manner like Season 1.

In Season 3, as far as I could tell:

• Nilfgard remains the major threat. They threaten the Northern kingdoms, which are fragmented and could be easily picked off unless they can unite.
• The Elves still wish to establish their own homeland. Previously, they wanted to try to go to another dimension (a.k.a. "sphere"), but now they just want their own kingdom.
• The Mages are the power behind most thrones, but they're too tied up in petty internal politics.
• As noted, the Northern Kingdoms are mostly fragmented, but Redania has probably the biggest army, as well as the dumbest king.
• Ciri remains the hot potato that everyone wants to possess and control because of her power. Nilfgard, Redania, the Elves, mages, everyone.
• Geralt and Yen have formed a family with Ciri, and are doing everything in their power to protect her from everyone else, while also training her to be a mage AND a witcher.
• Ciri is starting to think about taking over in her own right, but is conflicted about her own legacy. The last elf who tried to do this was Falka, and she led a rebellion and was burned for the threat she posed (and in her dying, unleashed great power to torch anyone watching. (In the games, "Falka's Blood" is like a fire enhancement you can add to your weapons, I think, or maybe a potion that gives you fire resistance or something.)
• The show is still exploring the monoliths, which seem to be gateways to other dimensions, and which Ciri is able to manipulate. But it hasn't revealed much about them.
• Also maybe the Wild Hunt is around somewhere lurking? Those were, I think, the smokey rider guys who tried to get Ciri in one episode, but have otherwise been ignored in the show for the most part.

The problems are, I think, that all of this is presented in a very "matter of fact" way, but the first season of the show -- when you'd normally be doing your world building/table setting -- was presented in a way that did not effectively convey most of the state of the world to the audience. People just say names and you're supposed to know what it means. Cintra, Redania, Kedwin, Nilfgard, Aretuza, etc., etc. On top of that, there was a long production delay from COVID that meant Season 3 dropped a while after Season 2, so people forget what the hell was going on, but the show just continues as if you remember what happened last season like it was just yesterday.

The show also seems to be kinda slow-playing the story, which would be great if (1) their lead actor didn't walk out, and (2) they hadn't been hit with yet more production delays, and (3) they weren't on Netflix which has a history of killing shows in Season 3.

I can see the potential for Season 3, and see it as possibly a good middle chapter IF Season 4 were able to wrap things up, but...um...yeah, that seems difficult. There was also some big discussion about how Season 3 would explain the switch to Liam Hemsworth, but if it did, I sure missed it. I thought for sure it'd be the all-too-common "multiverse" thing, but no, that was mostly ignored this season. So, now I'm left thinking they're just gonna be like "Huh. Thought you'd be taller/bigger/whatever" as a joke in Season 4 (if it gets made), and just move on. Or never address it, the way we never talk about Terrence Howard as Rhodey in the MCU.

 

[Mottrex]

It may just run in the family lol

I was hoping it was the other other brother who was in Westworld (Bernard's Security guy)