*****SPOILERS*****
Jaskier
(Dandelion)
I
was expecting Dandelion to be more of a dandy, to be honest. But for a
travelling bard, his clothes were still fancy, bright and exceptional. Him
being called Jaskier threw me off a bit at first (it sounded like Geralt was
swearing at Jaskier, to be honest). Although ‘Jaskier’ is, I believe, the
Polish word for ‘dandelion’, so calling him Jaskier was a nice touch.
I loved how Jaskier, minutes after
meeting Geralt, just tagged along with Geralt’s mission. Never mind that the
scary monster hunter said no, or that you’re bumbling into a dangerous
situation. Geralt look of unenthusiastic, resigned contempt and misery is
hilarious. At first Geralt doesn’t care about Jaskier so doesn’t mind if he
dies but the more Geralt cares about Jaskier, the more he wants him there.
When he releases a djinn, Jaskier
loses his voice and wheezes instead. His outrage and disbelief are great. (Both
actors have amazing facial expressions.) Despite the silence being a gift for
Geralt, he still fixes the problem. Even if along the way the witcher hopes a
guard explodes and then the guard does just that.
One might say that Jaskier is simply
comedic relief. Yes, his reactions when people refuse to give him money at
taverns are top notch. Yes, he says line like, “Why would you let anyone but a
friend rub chamomile on your sore bottom?” (My, that escalated quickly.) Yes,
Jaskier wakes up to an empty camp, his confusion priceless, and somehow he
bumbles along in the right direction. Yet Geralt’s rough exterior portrays him
as distant, something other, so
having a friend like Jaskier to be affectionate towards brings out the humanity
of the witcher.
Yennifer
In
the second episode, a young girl drops a flower in the barn, finds it missing,
and then the camera pans up. So there’s me, body tense because it’s expecting
to jump and scream at a monster, and instead the hunchback Yennifer is revealed.
So that was a relief.
Yennifer’s actions were often on the
edge, like when she cuts herself or when she gives drugs to the young students
of Aretuza (the magic school). Whilst having sex with Istredd, there’s an
audience (which confused me: is it some kind of ritual?) and the audience claps
when the shagging’s over (which made me laugh) and then the audience disappears
when Yennifer ends the illusion. Three of her fellow trainees get turned into
eels and Yennifer sweeps them into the magical pool; this was just hilarious
anyway but she did it without question or guilt which made it my joint funniest
moment in the entire series.
Like all graduates of the
Brotherhood of Sorcerers, Yennifer can have her body remodelled. She is told to
think of the most powerful woman in the world and she thinks of herself exactly
as she is, deformed and all, except for her new purple eyes. This is a
wonderful message. )Even if she does ruin it by having surgery to be seductive.)
Yes she keeps her self-harm scars
but I was enjoying having a disabled lead character. The cost of the surgery is
her fertility. Yennifer desperately tries to restore it via djinns and going
off the grid to find forbidden ways. Yennifer seems genuinely distraught when
she fails to save the life of a baby princess (never minding that she dumps the
queen as soon as she can to give her time to escape with the baby. Morbid but I
had to chuckle).
After graduating, Yennifer was
assigned to Nilfgaard and Fringilla to Aedirn, a northern kingdom. Yennifer
made them swap. But if Yennifer went to Nilfgaard instead of Fringilla,
Fringilla wouldn’t have become a murdering nutcase and Nilfgaard wouldn’t be
threatening the lives of people (especially sorcerers) in the northern kingdoms.
I think Yennifer feels slightly responsible (although certainly not guilty) for
this which is why she eventually agrees to fight Nilfgaard at Soden Hill.
Usually, war scenes in films/tv bore
me to death but Soden Hill was fascinating. Magic was used in many inventive
ways and it was far more important, prominent and focused on than the mundane
weapons. In most other fantasy stories, even those that focus on magic, battle
scene often to my frustration focus on mundane weapons. So ten out of ten for
Soden Hill.
The Witcher
(Netflix Series One) 1/3
The Witcher
(Netflix Series One) 3/3
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