Recent TV: The Witcher

[swan_tower]

Like many people, I recently inhaled the first season of The Witcher. I enjoyed it a lot, even if in some ways I think it’s a bit of a mess?

One part of the messiness is that the show does not do an excellent job of communicating to you off the bat that the various plotlines are not all happening at the same time. I found that out because I looked at a summary of the first episode after I watched it (which I did because often either the actors are not great at enunciating the names, or the sound editor is not great at making sure those moments are loud enough, so I was having trouble figuring out what anybody or anywhere was called), and there are a few hints here and there about the non-simultaneity, but I think it’s entirely possible not to realize what’s going on until Geralt meets up with some characters you saw die several episodes ago in someone else’s plotline.

And the structure is kind of choppy in general. Lots of Geralt’s plots are basically monster-of-the-week deals which appear to be drawn from short stories, and while they do end up echoing forward in a few places, it means he doesn’t have a lot of through-line except “I’m a monster hunter and I wander around being paid to kill monsters.” I’m told the second season and onward will be more cohesive, with the central characters interacting more frequently, so that will probably help.

Finally, the ending . . . kind of isn’t. An ending, I mean. It’s a stopping point with some amount of cliffhanger, but — if you’ve watched Nirvana in Fire, you know how the episodes there often seem to go to the credits at absolutely arbitrary points? It feels a bit like that. There’s not no payoff, but if you’re expecting a clear narrative shape to the season (as I was), you won’t really find it here.

But! Having said that, I still enjoyed the heck out of it, and that is about 98% due to the characters, dialogue, and performances. I am much more willing to put up with a main character who is stoic, grim, and frequently cynical when there’s no shortage of other characters ready and willing to take the piss out of him at every opportunity — and many of those characters are women. My impression (from those who know the source fiction and/or the games) is that this is largely an innovation of the TV show; certainly the presence of characters of color fits under that header. I’m glad of both things. The first episode alone has four women playing significant roles in the plot, and that’s before Yennefer shows up to be a protagonist. And while there’s a lot of nudity, most of it female, the show (mostly) isn’t nearly as exploitative about that as it could be — I could have done without Stregebor’s illusion of naked women wandering around his garden. They do put Geralt naked in a bathtub not once but twice, though, plus a number of shirtless scenes.

Also, Jaskier is hilarious. Geralt’s “rarr I don’t have friends rarrr” attitude means we don’t get as much of him as we might otherwise; hopefully he’s returning for season two. Even if he has earwormed us all with “Toss a coin to your Witcher.” 😛

Fair warning: do not start a drinking game that involves taking shots when somebody says “destiny” or when Geralt says “hmmm.” Not unless you want to court liver failure. Taking a shot when Geralt looks at something for a moment and then delivers a deadpan evaluation of “fuck,” though, might be entertaining.

The show is very violent, and like I said, the overall narrative structure isn’t all that hot. But I find it very pretty — the costumes are way better than on Game of Thrones — and fun on the level of smaller plots, and I’m looking forward to what future seasons do now that the component pieces are in place.

Comments

[sovay]

But I find it very pretty — the costumes are way better than on Game of Thrones — and fun on the level of smaller plots, and I’m looking forward to what future seasons do now that the component pieces are in place.

I had legitimately never heard of The Witcher before it hit Netflix (I don't play video games and more importantly it seems I live under a rock with respect to Polish fantasy) and I am really enjoying the reviews of the show popping up across my friendlist. I watch little enough TV that I am unlikely to pick it up, but at least I'll recognize gifsets.

[siduri1959]

I have read only one book in this series and it is one of the short story collections. I expected the series would be made of the novels so was surprised at how familiar the plots were and how they moved back and forth through time-then I was told that they based the series on that short story collection so that seemed to account for some of the back and forth and the familiarity. I was expecting that end because this story has a lot of mileage as there are a number of books and the author has no problem writing them unlike some other people, *cough*.

I have to say that what I appreciated the most is how magic was drawn-there is a give and take to what is done by the mages. This implies there is some sort of law, some sort of rules that apply with how magic is done. I find that many times magic on the screen is just *poof* and the problem is solved. And not understanding this leads to consequences either immediate or down the line. Yennefer knows exactly what she wants and she gets exactly what she wants and all the consequences that come with that-and she knows it at the end. Character development AND laws of magic, wow what a concept for a series. LOL.

Finally, that damn song...you can't even say the title without getting stuck in your brain.

[marthawells]

I liked it a lot, too. I'd seen someone mention the different timelines, so I was watching for it, but all the clues were really subtle until episode 4, where everything started coming together.

[clhollandwriter]

I love it for pretty much the same reasons.

They start seeding the different timelines at least as early as episode three (Geralt dealing with adult Foltest, while child Foltest appears in a scene with Yennefer). My guess is they expected people to binge watch and hit the point where it shakes out before they got too confused, which didn't work out for a lot of people. It did for me and my partner, but then we watched the whole thing in a day.

I rolled my eyes at Stregobor's naked ladies illusion, but didn't mind it in the end because it showed he's the kind of person who doesn't view women as people - hence his treatment of the girls born during the eclipse. Yennefer's orgy actually seemed more gratuitous to me.