Critique: Witcher (Series Two)

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Before anything else, I must share the most significant thing about Series Two, for me on a personal level. Yennifer says, “Too strong to fail or too weak to try.” This sentence hit me hard. It seems like a motto to live by. I’ve never taken anything fictional to heart before but this sentence resonates with me.

 

Plenty of things have me the chuckles. Such as when a witcher tells another, “Then you tell a joke, you comedic fuck” and when Triss says, “You’re choosing to be an ignorant arsehole, aren’t you?”

Geralt’s friend states, “I’m being a bore.” Bearing in mind he has boar tusks, this amused me. (Whether or not this effect was intentional.)

When dream-Yennifer’s baby randomly caught of fire (a whole pillar of fire, mind you), it was so unexpected that I laughed. Well, I cackled. (For full disclosure, no, I don’t think non-fictional fiery babies are funny.)

We are introduced to an abbess that once mentored Geralt and is now mentoring Ciri. She is bloody fantastic. She’s funny when she tells Geralt, “Whichever way you look at it, you are fucked.” But she’s also profound, like when she tells Ciri, “Sometimes we assume the worst because we fear to hope.”

 

Jaskier. Oh, Jaskier.

He was the true hero of this programme. Even if a badly-placed retort did result in an elf dying. Although through this the elf redeemed himself. The only thing not heroic was his haircut. So bad. So very, very bad.

His outfit was dashing this time around, compared to all the frivolous clothing he wore in Series One. Both were fine.

He had a lot less screen time than I wanted him to have but he had a lot more screen time than the plot demanded. Plus that topless bathing scene was clearly fan service. (Not complaining.)

            Some of my favourite lines were as follows. One: “It’s my job to put myself in others’ shoes. Even if they are large and clunky.” Two: “Goodbye good luck good riddance” to Yennifer. Three, my favourite: “You’re not allowed to play damsel in distress. That’s my job.”

            The comment that won them all was when he did an impression of Geralt, having a deep, husky voice: “Urgh, I’m so sad and complicated.”

 

There were many good decisions plot-wise.

            Geralt is far chattier in this series than the previous one. In that, across multiple timelines, he’s subdued in speech so his almost-silence seems a big part of his character. So him talking in this series might seem out of character. Not so. He has to talk to Ciri to be a proper guardian to her and he hasn’t seen his fellow witchers for ages so he’d want to chat to them.

Ciri complains that no one has told her how to control chaos. But you haven’t given anyone the chance, though, have you Ciri? When the sorceress Triss comes specifically to teach you, you choose to practice your swordplay instead. (To have Ciri behave like this was a good decision though because it fits with her age group.)

The White Flame, Emperor of Nilfgaard and architect behind the war on the Continent, turns out to be Ciri’s father. I didn’t see that coming at all. Usually if I’m surprised like that I can backtrack and see the clues. But no, in this case I’m well and truly gobsmacked.

At the end, Tissaia agrees with a group of royals that all who protect Ciri should die. Little does she know that this includes her precious Yennifer. This creates a question that could shape Series Three: will Tissaia work to protect Yennifer or will she work to have her killed.

 

Many positive things took my fancy.

The interpretation of the bruxa was bloody brilliant. It creeps along like an insect and moves its head in a birdlike fashion. It had two rows of teeth and a serrated tongue. In its bat form, it has a crunched-up face and these massive ears, placed more centrally than is traditional for a bat. Only one thing baffled me: the bruxa tansformed into its bat form whilst wearing clothing but, when it transforms back into its bipedal form, it’s naked. Was this an inconsistency or did I miss something?

Roach (Geralt’s horse) dying was too much for me. Geralt really got me in the feels when he tells roach to enjoy his last journey through the meadow. Even considering Roach played a very minor role this series, his death was devastating. Almost, but not quite, as heart-wrenching was the elf baby called Hope being murdered. I straight away thought Fringilla did it but it turns out she didn’t and then she pretends she did.

During a fight, Geralt lands on the floor underneath an enemy. He uses a spell to push the enemy into the air and then positions his sword so that the enemy’s eye lands on and through the sword. That was epic.

I loved the dinosaurs at the end. So fun! (My brother keeps on reminding me that they were bizarre basilisks). Specifically they looked like giant oviraptors, some with snake necks and heads.

There is a hut in the woods with something evil inside. A Slavic, evil hut witch is Baba Yaga. Associated with it are red, white and black cloaked figures; Baba Yaga has cloaked riders of these figures, too. The hut witch is confirmed in my mind as Baba Yaga when her hut stands up on chicken legs. In one episode’s intro, the witch laughs creepily. It sets the audience up for that episode extremely well.

 

 

As always, there are things that were off.

            After the battle of Sodden Hill, Tissaia is screaming Yennifer’s name at the top of her lungs. This made me frown because it is out of character.

            My goodness, it started so slowly. The speed had nothing to do with suspense so it was pointless. It did pick up the pace around halfway through the first episode, admittedly, but it made the first half appear to be mostly fluff.

            Geralt takes Ciri to Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the Witchers. There were these giant wooden pillars that Geralt practiced swordplay on, stepping from one to another as he went through the motions of a fight. The movements were slow and unimpressive which was a shame. It had the potential to be a wow scene.

For someone on the run, Yennifer probably shouldn’t be wearing bright purple. Yes, I know it’s for the audience’s benefit so we can spot her among the crowd, but her character is smart enough to hide herself.

For one fight, we had random slow motion. I don’t think it added anything to the scene. Maybe it only added a few more seconds which the writers needed to flesh out the episode?

Geralt saves Jaskier from prison on the pretext that he needs Jaskier to help save Ciri. But why? How on Earth/the Witcher world does this make even one iota of sense?

This last one isn’t a plot criticism. But why is there a random possum nailed to Ciri’s wall?

 

Maybe it was because Series One was so good that we expected so much from Series Two. Maybe it was because we had to wait two years for Series Two to come out that we expected us to blow our minds. Maybe we expected too much. But Series Two was not spectacular. It was good, for sure, but it didn’t meet expectations. I think it’s sensible, therefore, to lower expectations of Series Three. Not because I think it will be anything less than excellent but I don’t want to ruin it before it’s even began, like I almost did with Series Two.