The Witcher - Netflix **Spoilers**

Sudden Valley

Some leaks on how they are explaining the recasting in story have come out, and it doesnt sound good. Next season must be last one, doubt it has viewership to justify anything more. I hope they make another Witcher game as I dont think they will make another Witcher Tv series /film in at least a few decades and I dont read the books.

Brock Turnpike

I won't be watching after Cavill goes. I'm sticking until end of this season as I've come this far ( against my better judgement)

Sudden Valley

I will watch next season, even though I think it will be a trainwreck. I just think we will be starved for Witcher content after this, so will continue until the end.

Potential-Monke

I had binged all the seasons again once part 1 of S3 came out, so I was only quiting about a week to see these 3 episodes.

Not gonna go into the many small issues, but I have to say I did enjoy the last 3 episodes after the first 5 were poor. I particularly liked the fight scenes, the one at Aratuza was really well done (aside from not having a number impact at the start to explain the amount of bodies and length of the fight). The mixture of close combat and magic was done really well.

No idea how they're gonna explain the swap. It doesn't leave any hints as to how that'll happen, and indeed leaves you expecting to see more Cavill. Also felt a bit rushed, but enjoyable all the same. Having binged the whole lot I wasn't lost with the sheer amount of names and factions!

Will watch the next one. Not sure what to expect.

Varik

will watch the start of next season at least for some schadenfreude.

They really don't have to explain the recast, the actors may not be similar but the white hair and gravely voice do enough.

Cordell

If it's going to be good I won't have any problem with the recast. But for that they need to go back to what made it big in the first place. Until then

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_witcher/s03

Brief_Lives

hold on... is the 3rd season over already? it finished with a stupid ballroom dance?

Nody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908551#Comment_120908551

Yes it's over; no it did not end there as they released the last 3(?) season 3 episodes yesterday.

Brief_Lives

ahhhh great, thanks...

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120908860#Comment_120908860

It ended even more ridiculously with a pub brawl.

What a complete mess of a final 3 episodes

6 was descent

7 was a waste of an episode

8 was a total mess.

CastorTroy

My memory sucks so I couldn't remember how Fringilla ended up with the elves or who any of the mages were that lived or died outside maybe the main 4 or 5.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one to expect change during the healing process, especially with Yen giving a warning and asking if she'd see him again.

It does feel like a different show with the introduction of that new one with Geralt and the Rat Pack. Something about their addition makes it feel like it's tagetting a younger audience.

Brief_Lives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120909523#Comment_120909523

just watched them, agreed.. honestly episode 7... why?

a pity they didn't concentrate on The Witcher... can't blame Cavill for leaving. Those writers should be fired.

I.am.Putins.raging.bile.duct

Jesus they absolutely butchered it. I can't force myself to watch the last episode.The writing and casting is just terrible. What a bloody waste.

martyos121

Finished it last night. Yikes.

I feel like those last three episodes were a guide of sorts. If someone else ever has a crack at writing a Witcher series in future, they simply have to do the exact opposite of every f**king thing in season 3.

It’s gotten so bad, that even Liam Hemsworth is above this now. I sort of feel bad for him.

Cordell

The casting is the least of its issues. We can get over the questionable casting choices for Triss, Keira and Fringilla, but that's not what made this show drop as much as it did.

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120914532#Comment_120914532

Triss barely appears in the show, which is very surprising for the game players as she appears more in the games then Yen. Yen was miscast too, they needed an older lady that had a more powerful presence. Season 3 has been terrible and my standards are not even that high, I enjoyed alot of season 2!

BKtje

Part of season 3s problem are the books unfortunately imo.

I thought season 3 was ok. Not great but not terrible.

Cordell

It's not the books, it's the writers, who are too ignorant or boneheaded or both to admit what is actually popular and successful. Which is not the books. They had one of the best-selling game as inspiration, but they probably decided that what made the game successful wouldn't work for the show, too much cleavage and action of all kinds for current audiences who apparently prefer emotional drama.

Nody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120915414#Comment_120915414

Seeing how they dropped 60% of the audience from episode 1 to episode 5 in season 3 I don't think it's an audience problem; it's an writer problem. It suffers from the same issues as GoT, RoP, WoT etc. in that the writers think they are clever and/or "modern" when in reality they are worse than fan writers in story telling. The fact they keep insulting the audience with five year old characters with "This person good; this person bad" style writing and dialogue does not exactly help the story telling either and of course any crictisim is due to "racism, sexism" etc. when it's simply **** writing.

Personally I watched the first five episodes but after reading the comments on the final three I'm going to skip them most likely. I've already written of future seasons as well and never bothered with the spin off series and I'm a prime target for this material, or should be based on the fact I've read and played fantasy for over 30 years now.

Cordell

I was a bit sarcastic there, of course its not the audience.

Penn

Yeah I'm done. It rarely ever feels like a continuing, developing story, and is more like it's just constantly threading water, promising it's building towards to giant story that never comes.

Game of Thrones obviously did similar with the story of the White Walkers and who will end up on the throne by the end, but there were always character stories along the way. This always just feels like "I must find Ciri.... I've found Ciri.... I must train Ciri.... We have to split up.... I must find Ciri... (repeat ad nauseam)"

Everyone else is just taking turns to betray people, switch allegiances, help for an episode then f*ck off for a few, point out how powerful and feared Emyhr is even though he hasn't f*cking done anything, and how powerful and important Ciri is which just means we know nothing is going to happen to her (which made episode 7 an absolute chore to sit through).

The performances carried me through this far, but even if Cavill was staying I don't think I'd watch any more.

Also there was a scene in the last episode where Jaskier was talking to one of the wood elves, and Geralt appeared from behind what can only be described as the thinnest tree in the forest, where he clearly would have been in the elf's eyeline.

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120916175#Comment_120916175

Ciri was the focal point of the books, I believe, and definitely a major part of witcher 3. I've heard that Ciri is going to be main character of the show to make the recasting of Geralt easier, but that would also follow the books

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120918321#Comment_120918321

She's definitely central to the entire story, but it's just failing to give us a reason to care. She's just constantly popping between different groups, being chased by everyone, escaping from everyone, with Geralt because they have to stick together, without Geralt because they have to split up, all the while gradually getting caked in more and more makeup (that last episode it nearly looked like she was the one being recast and they were trying to CGI her face, her face was that bronzed and shiny). But it all means she's always in danger, and therefore never in danger.

Obviously, main characters will always have plot armour, but she just feels like more of a talking MacGuffin than a character.

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120918433#Comment_120918433

Wouldn't be the only fantasy series where the whole world seems to revolve around one person :)

I wonder does the ciri actress have skins problems, she is pretty young and the makeup may be caked on to cover it.

I haven't read the books but in witcher 3 ciri just seemed to have been something to chase after.

Brock Turnpike

Episode 7... Wow... Actually had to skip forward a few times while she was in the desert. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120918629#Comment_120918629

That was literally the main plot of the game, Geralts need to find and help Ciri as his duty as she is his child from the law of surprise. The show got that much right insofar as he did genuinely try to live life without acknowledging her (games 1 and 2). From a game point of view, I wouldn't be averse to Liams Geralt being a prequel to the series, maybe do the Assassins of Kings storyline from the second game (if the show lore allows) and would allow Ciri to grow up to the Ciri from the games. But they're most likely going to follow Ciri's evolution to a not-Witcher instead. And the ending to Season 3 makes it look like it will be an immediate continuation.

Game spoilers:

Spoiler Warning

Right now would have been a great point for Ciri to jump to a different plane, like in the game, to grow up. And it would allow old and new fans to warm to Liam, and then age him appropriately to continue with the Ciri storyline when he has a beard so doesn't look as vastly different to Cavill as his shaven face does! Then again, maybe they'll do this in the upcoming season, or split the show in 2, one following The Witcher, the other following Ciri in a different plane.

Overall, the tv show did go from good to bad, but there's still potential. I'm less strict, because it's different enough from the games for me to really care (they done me bad with #TeamTriss), and I'm able to ignore most of the crap as I find the action pretty well done, and I want to see how/if it'll differ greatly from the 3rd game.

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927886#Comment_120927886

yeah I think it would be harder for book fans to enjoy the show compared to Game fans. Triss has definitely been done bad.

He will either be a different timeline or different dimension Geralt, my understanding is that they are going to acknowledge a difference with the Cavill Geralt.

pixelburp

If this acquires legs, the show might finish much sooner through fan backlash: in a translated interview, one of the producers basically blames Americans and young people on TikTok for necessitating a dumbing down of the adapted stories.

Not sure "insulting your audience as being too stupid to get all that Polish nuance" is a smart play... basically recreating the "am I out of touch?' Simpsons meme.

When a series is made for a huge mass of viewers, with different experiences, from different parts of the world, and a large part of them are Americans, these simplifications not only make sense, they are necessary

...

When it comes to shows, the younger the public is, the logic of the plot is less significant. […] Those people grew up on TikTok and YouTube, they jump from video to video.

https://redanianintelligence.com/2023/08/02/the-witcher-producers-talk-plot-simplification-for-modern-western-audiences/

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120935302#Comment_120935302

I'd say it will limp to one more season, depending on how long this strke lasts. Picard continued for many years being hated by traditional fans but it kept coming back season after season. Fans don't care what producers say about their shows, they stay for its stories, characters, that is why the series is in trouble.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120935302#Comment_120935302

not if the American audience are too dumb to know they are being insulted... which is very, very possible.