Watching: The Witcher S3

2023, Netflix

By reasons that can only be lost to the ether, we dropped it three episodes in, when it first came out, and then pretty much binged it this Canada Day Weekend.

What 100. Geralt (Henry Cavill, Enola Holmes), Ciri (Freya Allan, The Third Day) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra,Wanderlust) are on the run from: bounty hunters seeking Ciri for her dad in Nilfgaard, the Elves who want her Elder Blood, and a mad fire wizard named Rience. Eventually they tire of that and go to Aretuza so Ciri can learn magic from the school, as well as allow Yennefer to repair her relationships there. That doesn't go well. Conspiracies abound. They culminate in an attack on Aretuza, which pretty much destroys the place, and then tosses Ciri into a portal, sending her far far away. Lots of people are betrayed, lots of people are killed.

1 Great. This is a challenge. Based on the bland paragraph above which dismisses about 75% of what's going on in the show, I guess the best thing about the season was the multi-perspective episode 5, "The Art of the Illusion" where Geralt and Yennefer attend a ball. We see the conversations happen, edited for one perspective, and then we see them again, edited for another perspective. And so on, and so on. I guess the show, which made made some creative buzz back in S1 by having two stories told in different timelines, and not informing us until the very end, wanted to at least have one episode where they fuck with our perceptions? Either way, its well done and a lot of fun.

2 Good. At this point in the series, where I am no longer very into it, possibly even not-liking-it, I guess the general aspects of what I did like about the show are still there, on occasion? At its heart The Witcher (book, TV shows, games) is about a D&D-like adventurer for hire who kills monsters with sword and magic. So, whenever we do actually get that in the show, I enjoy myself? And, despite my boredom with the rest of it, Cavill's investment in the character is always apparent, and I do enjoy that immensely.

3 Bad. My boredom with the politics of the show. I get it, a key aspect of the books and the game was the continental politics, reflecting the author Sapkowski's fantasy version of European history with Elves, and Dwarves, and Dragons, but their attempt to match Game of Thrones for all the machinations and complicated plotlines involving many political powers just bored the fuck out of me. It is trying to be epic but in doing so, loses sight of the primary focus of the show -- a man killing monsters. And if the show's goal is to get to a game-changing (pun intended) plotline involving The Wild Hunt, then... fuuuuuuck, just get there already.