The Witcher Season 1 Thoughts
Jan. 5th, 2020 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaIt was okay. I wanted to watch the next episode as soon as I finished one, so there's that. But overall - only okay.
+ I enjoyed getting to watch a very fantasy-based show. I liked the various uses of magic and the different species that inhabit the world. I wish there was a little more wonder and a little less pointless killing (that poor faun (?) creature during the dragon hunt) but that is the type of world this is.
+ My favourite relationship was Yennifer and Tissaia. I love how complicated and fraught it was. I loved the mix of love and hate Yennifer had towards Tissaia - her resentfulness but loyalty and how she's dismissive even while desperately wanting Tissaia approval. Meanwhile, Tissaia was cruel and harsh with Yennifer but also clearly loved her and wanted what was best for her, and did think Yen was her best student. It's not an easy relationship but it's one deeply important to both of them.
Their relationship finally coming together in the finale delighted me. I loved them sharing a laugh at the fire. I loved Tissaia telling Yen that she had a lot to share with the world - and in doing so changed Yen's entire POV. I love that it was Tissaia who instigated that shift in how Yennifer views the world. I loved that final scene between - Yen immediately going to Tissaia for help when everything went wrong, how upset Yen was when Tissaia collapsed and Yen being the one to encourage hope and not giving up, Tissaia telling Yen to let her chaos out, Yen protecting Tissaia from the fire even while out of control, and Tissaia desperate calling for Yen at the end while she searched for her in the devastation.
[I should not be surprised that I loved them so much. They remind me a lot of Khlyen/Dutch from Killjoys who I loved.]
+ The final episode was my favourite on the whole. I loved everything about the mage stand-off and getting to see how mages would work in a battle situation. That was 100% fantasy delight. Triss's mushroom spore idea was brilliant and they should have just had her hunting down the Nilfgaard soldiers. I liked Fringilla creating the portal to send arrows shooting into her enemy's stronghold. I loved the vials of explosions and them being broken with arrows. I loved that there were as many Northern women working/fighting as men.
+ I actually really loved what they did with the timeline shenanigans. All three of our main characters starting in three different points of time, and the fact that the show leaves it up to you to figure out, was great. It makes sense to me that you'd structure it like this instead of doing flashbacks, and worked for me really well.
+ I liked Geralt a lot.
+ I liked Jaskier and Jaskier&Geralt a lot more than I was expecting going in. Jaskier was pretty fun especially against deadpan Geralt. I loved Jaskier's dramatic :O reaction when Geralt insulted his singing. His reaction when he thought Geralt had died and then subsequent change when he discovered him alive amused me. As did his cheerful attempt at abandoning Yen to her fate. Oh, and his about face when he realised Yen would be on the hunt and reaction when Geralt changed him mind was also great. I felt so bad for Jaskier when Geralt rejected him in such a pointedly cruel manner. He was so clearly hurt by it.
+ Yennifer/Geralt were fine. Things moved far too fast between them for me. We basically only got two episodes with them interacting, back-to-back at that, which made their relationship feel far too compressed. I was with Yennifer in being "wtf, Geralt?" at him using his Djinn wish to connect the two of them. They'd just met! We should have had a couple more random meetings happening between that first time and their last time during the dragon hunt in the next episode.
+ I wish the show had done more with Yennifer's fellow sorceresses and her relationships with them. Maybe a few more scenes with Fringilla and Sabrina and how Yennifer's relationship started and changed with them. When did she and Triss meet? They seemed like friends but there was no build up there. I think a lot would have landed better if we'd got just a little more relationship stuff added.
+ The kind farmer offering Geralt the Law of Surprise was a fun little moment. I don't know what I loved best - Geralt immediately asking for a drink instead or the fact that Ciri would once again be what he would get if he'd taken the farmer up on it.
+ I loved the elf healer's reaction when he realised that Yen (and Geralt) had survived, by seeing them having sex. His relieved grin and happiness was such a lovely and unexpected reaction. I hope we see him again.
+ I loved Calanthe/Eist. They were wonderful and I wish we could have seen more of them.
+ I liked that despite her certainty Ciri took Dara's warning to heart and did question Mousesack. The imposter failing to answer properly, eh, he has access to all of Mousesack's memories so it really felt like he got caught too quickly.
+ I liked Ciri but it really felt like she was simply reacting and moving across the board this season and I hope she gets to be more active in her choices next season.
+ I am very glad that both Sabrina and Triss survived. I liked Triss a lot from what we saw of her and I found myself surprisingly attached to Sabrina in the final episode.
+ Yennifer's upset and anger over not being able to have a child, and her obsession with having one didn't really land with me.
+ I really disliked the gratuitous female nudity. Geralt expositing while a prostitute sits half naked beside him was the worst of it.
+ What the hell was up with Vilgefortz killing one of his own men at the end of 1x08? Was he somehow taken over by one of the worms? It doesn't make sense to me that he would have been working for Nilfgaard all along because he was one of the leader of the resistance and could have helped Nilfgaard far more sabotaging things at the castle.
+ I enjoyed getting to watch a very fantasy-based show. I liked the various uses of magic and the different species that inhabit the world. I wish there was a little more wonder and a little less pointless killing (that poor faun (?) creature during the dragon hunt) but that is the type of world this is.
+ My favourite relationship was Yennifer and Tissaia. I love how complicated and fraught it was. I loved the mix of love and hate Yennifer had towards Tissaia - her resentfulness but loyalty and how she's dismissive even while desperately wanting Tissaia approval. Meanwhile, Tissaia was cruel and harsh with Yennifer but also clearly loved her and wanted what was best for her, and did think Yen was her best student. It's not an easy relationship but it's one deeply important to both of them.
Their relationship finally coming together in the finale delighted me. I loved them sharing a laugh at the fire. I loved Tissaia telling Yen that she had a lot to share with the world - and in doing so changed Yen's entire POV. I love that it was Tissaia who instigated that shift in how Yennifer views the world. I loved that final scene between - Yen immediately going to Tissaia for help when everything went wrong, how upset Yen was when Tissaia collapsed and Yen being the one to encourage hope and not giving up, Tissaia telling Yen to let her chaos out, Yen protecting Tissaia from the fire even while out of control, and Tissaia desperate calling for Yen at the end while she searched for her in the devastation.
[I should not be surprised that I loved them so much. They remind me a lot of Khlyen/Dutch from Killjoys who I loved.]
+ The final episode was my favourite on the whole. I loved everything about the mage stand-off and getting to see how mages would work in a battle situation. That was 100% fantasy delight. Triss's mushroom spore idea was brilliant and they should have just had her hunting down the Nilfgaard soldiers. I liked Fringilla creating the portal to send arrows shooting into her enemy's stronghold. I loved the vials of explosions and them being broken with arrows. I loved that there were as many Northern women working/fighting as men.
+ I actually really loved what they did with the timeline shenanigans. All three of our main characters starting in three different points of time, and the fact that the show leaves it up to you to figure out, was great. It makes sense to me that you'd structure it like this instead of doing flashbacks, and worked for me really well.
+ I liked Geralt a lot.
+ I liked Jaskier and Jaskier&Geralt a lot more than I was expecting going in. Jaskier was pretty fun especially against deadpan Geralt. I loved Jaskier's dramatic :O reaction when Geralt insulted his singing. His reaction when he thought Geralt had died and then subsequent change when he discovered him alive amused me. As did his cheerful attempt at abandoning Yen to her fate. Oh, and his about face when he realised Yen would be on the hunt and reaction when Geralt changed him mind was also great. I felt so bad for Jaskier when Geralt rejected him in such a pointedly cruel manner. He was so clearly hurt by it.
+ Yennifer/Geralt were fine. Things moved far too fast between them for me. We basically only got two episodes with them interacting, back-to-back at that, which made their relationship feel far too compressed. I was with Yennifer in being "wtf, Geralt?" at him using his Djinn wish to connect the two of them. They'd just met! We should have had a couple more random meetings happening between that first time and their last time during the dragon hunt in the next episode.
+ I wish the show had done more with Yennifer's fellow sorceresses and her relationships with them. Maybe a few more scenes with Fringilla and Sabrina and how Yennifer's relationship started and changed with them. When did she and Triss meet? They seemed like friends but there was no build up there. I think a lot would have landed better if we'd got just a little more relationship stuff added.
+ The kind farmer offering Geralt the Law of Surprise was a fun little moment. I don't know what I loved best - Geralt immediately asking for a drink instead or the fact that Ciri would once again be what he would get if he'd taken the farmer up on it.
+ I loved the elf healer's reaction when he realised that Yen (and Geralt) had survived, by seeing them having sex. His relieved grin and happiness was such a lovely and unexpected reaction. I hope we see him again.
+ I loved Calanthe/Eist. They were wonderful and I wish we could have seen more of them.
+ I liked that despite her certainty Ciri took Dara's warning to heart and did question Mousesack. The imposter failing to answer properly, eh, he has access to all of Mousesack's memories so it really felt like he got caught too quickly.
+ I liked Ciri but it really felt like she was simply reacting and moving across the board this season and I hope she gets to be more active in her choices next season.
+ I am very glad that both Sabrina and Triss survived. I liked Triss a lot from what we saw of her and I found myself surprisingly attached to Sabrina in the final episode.
+ Yennifer's upset and anger over not being able to have a child, and her obsession with having one didn't really land with me.
+ I really disliked the gratuitous female nudity. Geralt expositing while a prostitute sits half naked beside him was the worst of it.
+ What the hell was up with Vilgefortz killing one of his own men at the end of 1x08? Was he somehow taken over by one of the worms? It doesn't make sense to me that he would have been working for Nilfgaard all along because he was one of the leader of the resistance and could have helped Nilfgaard far more sabotaging things at the castle.
