The Witcher (Netflix) - The Ultimate Critique - Part 1 - Luke Stephens
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- Опубликовано: 11 апр 2020
- The Witcher on Netflix blew millions away when it launched. The quality of the writing and the caliber of the performers helming the series all contribute to what is, no doubt, one of the best adaptations we've ever seen. The story of Geralt, Jaskier, Ciri, and everyone else has never been so eloquently told in this format. In this video we break down what is done well and what we hope to see in season 2.
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Wait... Is this a martenitsa on your wrist?
why are you always so wholesome. I wish i could contribute
The annoying thing about diversity casting is that it upsets the fans and it just makes the person they casted a token so at the end of the day no one likes it I think it will become more noticeable when she gets more screen time in a future Seasons overall though I like the serious
Did you piss off RUclips? For a while, I wasn't getting any recommendations or notification for your new uploads. so i figured i should search your channel and leave you a comment.
Henry actually tried to get a moment in the show where he would be in a bath and put his feet up like the meme
Memu the tub was apparently the wrong shape so he couldn’t get his feet up right.
It’s not a meme, it’s a scene from the game.
@@alexman378 That turned into a meme. Even Luke called it a meme.
not like the meme, like the game
@@thesoftpoo2049 also the meme
So glad Henry Cavil took the role of Geralt
Same
bEnMaC He practically begged for it he loves the Witcher
He's terrible. He's not really a good actor but he doesn't look like Geralt. He's a money sink
@@tinyspeaker stfu
Same
The worst part about the first season is that they cut Geralt’s and Ciri’s first encounter in Brokilon forest. So much character development lost right there.
The last scene in the last episode when they hugged doesn’t make any sense as they have never met each other or talked before.
This was also the thing that bothered me most, Geralt and Ciri meeting each other at the end of Sword of Destiny was so satisfying after all the buildup, but the way the show changed the entire Brokilon section made it lose all of its impact.
It also kind of fails to set up the entire concept of destiny and how important it is to people in the Witcher universe, I still enjoyed season 1 but I'm really wondering how they are going to handle all these plotholes they already created in later seasons, Geralt has never met Eithné for example so they will have to completely rewrite what happens after Thanedd and how Milva is introduced
Honestly, the best way for them to have fixed that in the show that I can think of is having geralt meet ciri in the streets of Cintra (Both not knowing that they are the ones bound by destiny) and have a small adventure with each other to develope a somewhat meaningfull relation and only after they parted geralt realizes that the girl is Ciri. But before he can go after her he gets imprisoned by the bigot guards like what happened in the show (if i remember correctly)
Yes!!!
I just thought they could feel each other especially Geralt he ran into the forest like he knew she would be there so it was a good moment for me
In the books triss is described as young and playful, yet in the show she looks way older while yen looks a bit too young and innocent in my opinion
It's like they did a 180 on them, totally agree.
According to the books King Foltest was slim, handsome and he was not yet forty.
@@keltur2081 and Fringilla is the cousin and blood relative of the Emperor of Nilfgaard. That's going to be funny to explain later, isn't it? Not sure how one claims that this is a 'great adaptation' without knowing what the words 'great' or 'adaptation' means, but so long as it gets this channel views and the creator $$$, he'll say and do anything.
@@keltur2081 I know but it would take an essay to point all the differences of the show and the source material, honestly I wouldn't mind them if they added anything to the story which not only they didn't but made it even worse.
Let's not forget about the penis like armor, ffs...
Holy shit you people are cringe
"Cavill is pronounced like travel. Travel. Cavill." -Henry Cavill
Exactly. Luke said it in a French way .. Cuveeel
So April is now the official Witcher critique month?
Wait...
Well we still dont know when Joe will release his W2 critique, might even be in May
@@Krelion1 Even without releasing it in April, with this, Chris Davis and Joe there's now about 8ish hours of Witcher critiques released in a span of 3 days
@@Krelion1 Joe did say it'd be a few weeks between the first and second videos. Which according to Joe time, might be a month so you're not wrong.
AquaLion GG yes me too!
Cavill would sell his soul just to get casted as Geralt. Mans a massive fan of the games and books and we’re grateful to have him in the role
Still he looks more like Conan than Geralt in this show...
Honestly, I think if Geralt is as big as Cavill in Witcher, I feel like I just need to punch monsters in order to defeat them. Hahahaha
The short version of my longer rant is that I believe they removed depth from Yenn's character by immediately making us very sympathetic towards her instead of the viewer gradually softening up to a cold character, who eventually becomes one we care about the most.
Season 1 should have ended with all the book and game fans being like "OMG it's bae Yennefer" and all the brand new people to the world being like "Wow, she's such a witch I don't understand why everyone's so obsessed with her. Geralt shouldn't have anything to do with her. He's only brain washed by bobs and vag".
Accuracy158 I agree! I didn’t understand why Geralt liked her in the beginning. I still don’t really like her character after reading all the books, but I liked her better than before.
I mean she was pretty cold through most of the series, at least to most other characters.
Henry is more down to earth and knows when to be a fanboy
Not a single word about "the song" that took months to forget, yeap and its back Toss a coin to the witcher...
it sucks.
Given the context I have after having read the books before watching the show, I personally found the show to be overall disappointing. There were several highlights such as Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Geralt and aspects of Yennefer’s storyline. It is always difficult to condense so much story and context into a show, so I can forgive a lot of the choices that I didn’t like, but not all of them, such as the oversimplification of events and moral dilemmas such as with Renfry, the dryads, and Borch. I also didn’t like the super villain-ized changes to Fringilla and Cahir, given the knowledge of how their characters developed in the books. I also thought the whole doppler storyline was pointless and bland, especially when it seemed to replace the bonding moments of the books in Brokilon. I did like how they expanded upon Yennefer’s past and events such as The Battle of Sodden Hill. I do believe that the show has great potential and am glad it has brought more light onto the Witcher series. Hopefully it improves moving forward.
While the in depth on Yennefer's backstory was fun on its own, I think the way the books start by portraying Yennefer as a very cold character provides for a much more interesting character development.
My favorite chapter from the entire series of books is the one where Yennefer makes Geralt stay in the same town as Istredd (A Shard of Ice) and all the moral dilemmas that ensue, writing Yennefer as likeable from the start seems super out of character and will dull a lot of her character progression in later seasons
@@bladex2581 this is a really interesting take, I see where you are coming from.
I agree with this, I just hope this mess of season 1 at least provides a bright future for the show.
@@TheThirdWorldCitizen Haha you've seen Season 2 yet?
That Nilfgaard armor really looks shitty
Well, when you use all your budget making such a "magical and intimidating" dragon. :D
Show runner states in an interview before the coronavirus lockdown that they are correcting the Nilfgardian armor issue in season 2.
Redknight 1621 Didn’t they fire the designer?
I thought Geralt's armour looked shitty too.
No creativity. Just black leather. Like he's a soldier.
@@eatme982 No Geralts armor is perfect. He is a traveling witcher with not a lot of money and he shouldnt have a flashy armor.
If it's not too difficult with RUclips's shitty copyright system, I'd love to see more videos on TV shows or films.
Would love to here your extended thoughts on Breaking Bad which is in my eyes the pinnacle of television. I know it came out a while ago, but to hear your analysis of it would be amazing. Regardless keep up the good work with these critiques.
I would've very much liked the same with the castlevania show as well.
yup yup castlevania is the shit fucking love that show
Breaking bad and The Wire are the pinnacle of tv shows imo. BB may have a small edge on “how to end a series” over Wire, but the Wire overall I think edges it. Could be my Baltimore bias though.
If you haven’t watched The Wire. Do it.
@@fy4b230 I have had someone recommend the wire to me in the past. I might have to give it a watch.
@@justamanofculture12 Funnily enough no. Maybe it's just too old that people have stopped talking about it. It was my dad who recommended it. He recommended it since I liked breaking bad so much. And I since watched it during lockdown and I wasn't disappointed. Great show.
"of course to get on Netflix in any way, shape or form is a reflection of your talent" -Luke Stephens (2020)
Really hope they adapt "A Little Sacrifice" short story. It develops Jaskier a lot as a character. And his friendship with Geralt.
@Jordan Ghill Yea, that one got me in the feels for days lol.
Yeah that’s a great story! I enjoyed that one a lot.
Yessss
We don't need Netflix butchering another short story, thanks.
Is that the sea monster Atlantis one?
If only he’d gotten a good Superman script.
I think you should definitely go through a analysis of each episode compared to by the books.
He would find that it's not even a terrible adaptation, it's not even a good television series. This adaptation is one of the objectively worst adaptations done in the last twenty years. This content creator just posts positive things about highly popular things in order to juke algorithms.
This.
@@Shamino1 ok boomer. Granted I haven't read the books but I'm a fan of the games and I absolutely adored this show and my girlfriend, who isn't even into fantasy stuff thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
@@philllllllll Of course you don't read books.
Shamino Warhen I read the books and yes they butchered a lot of things and they miscasted some characters
but you gotta understand that it's not 1:1 adaptation . There is a whole ocean of limitions you face when you do a TV series adaptation of a book starting from the budget to scheduling and just because you don't agree with Luke doesn't mean that "This content creator just posts postive reviews for highly popular shows to juke the algorithm " . As long as the show is enjoyable which it was , its fine with me and as Luke said they laid a stong foundation for the next seasons and I can't wait to see what they're cooking for the next season
Young cheastnuts in Poland are very reddish. With time it look more like brown color with little reddish shine.
This color is like deep darker ginger for us.
Stregebor’s mancave of tig ol’ bitties
Yeah about that correct portrayal of characters... There are problems, a lot of them. Especially with the lore, they did some baffling and unnecessary changes in there and it wasn't worth it to do so. Henry and Jaskier carried this show, even though there were moments that made me angry and close to tearing my hair out (as a lore freak) I'm glad I saw the show and now this critique :)
Also, there's nods to game and similar camera angles because the guy who did trailers and cinematics for the game helped with the show :)
I wouldn't have minded the many needless changes if they kept the iconic moments from the short stories intact. They got those moments done nearly perfectly, but only changed a detail or two in a way that removed the point of those moments in the books, the things which defined them and the world to the reader. I was fine with most things the show changed, but they got so close in the moments they needed to, just to throw them away... It's like the writers understood those moments were important, but not why. Or didn't, and got them almost right on accident.
At least the games did their own thing, they felt more like a generic fantasy approach to fanfiction of a much more interesting source, but at least it was cool generic fantasy. Doing its own thing turned out to be an advantage, because the show is trying to capture the books and falling on its face for missing the mark by a few mm. If they only didn't rearrange dialogue lines in Cintra, streamline the dialogue when the elves captured Geralt, as well as the circumstances/backstories that gave the lesser evil decision weight...
I was so hyped, but missing the entire point, the reason they even knew of the name Witcher to make a show about it, deflated that hype into ambivolance. That world is supposed to be special, it's supposed to be the same critique of classic stories that A Song of Ice and Fire is of generic fantasy. And it's only a poor, unflattering retelling of a magnificent story, without the pillars that allowed it to be such. Books where the writer was so concise, he even made the action interesting. A triumph over its spinoffs in two different media naturally better at action than books.
Bit of a rant, sorry.
Ugh yes I'm such a perfectionist myself and seeing what they decided to do about Nilfgaard, Triss, Fringilla - even the main storyline with Geralt, Yen, and Ciri - it pissed me off from time to time.
I've heard people comparing this show to GoT and that just doesn't make any sense to me. GoT's strength was in portraying characters and alliances as being in "the greyzone"; no-one was purely evil or good. And I feel like the Witcher books and games have succeeded in the exact same thing. But the show completely misses the point on "lesser evil", even though making characters deliver monologues on it. And that's not even the only major philosophical point made in the books that's completely scratched in the show ( for example, the idea of the bond between Geralt and Ciri being "something more" than destiny; the question whether the end always justifies the means, etc.).
Let's just say there were enough differences between the show and the books to for me to rant all the way into tomorrow and beyond, but what disappointed me the most were major changes to characters, plotlines, and the idea of the Witcher and the Witcher universe.
But, they did succeed in bringing something more to Yennefer's character and Joey Batey absolutely nailed Jaskier's persona, presence and character. So... I didn't hate it. But I definitely didn't love it either.
@David Rapp Well it was supposed to be an adaptation so I feel like we have right to at least question things and be disappointed when the source material was frankly shat on in many places. What's funnier, now I hear some of the show writers don't even like the Witcher series and honestly it explains a lot. With Henry, who was the only person that actually cared, leaving the thing, it's only going to get worse.
I wouldn’t mind The show having more episodes if they get a bigger budget for Season 2!
Thanks for the critique:
All the clues were there on the timelines, beginning with the first episode. BTW, I never read the books or played the games. Refri - "Princess Calanthe just won her first battle' Ciri - 'You [Queen Calanthe] were my age when you won your first battle' Mousesack - "Princesses used to be locked in towers [Stregabor]. Hopefully, people will know to pay more attention in new seasons. I hope they don't dumb it down.
Not sure why you think Yennifer had to give up power to have a baby. She said more than once, she wanted it all. As for the baby, her mother said in the carriage that she was everything to her child. For Yennifer, I think wanting a baby was more about wanting to be someone's everything. This was a point in her life where she was very disillusioned with her life and how things worked out. She thought magic was going to bring her power and make her happy. 'Be careful what wish you for'. I think that attitude was shown with her, 'It's not real. It's magic'.
Henry Cavill is absolutely amazing and I love that he did this for less money than he would take in from Justice League or Mission Impossible, it really shows how much he cares about the characters and the story. He’s amazing in all the interviews that he did for this show. Thanks for the hard work on the critiques Luke!
I totally disagree. I mean hes pretty mediocre in this. Does not represent the geralt from the books.
The Nihilist well it’s not a book, it’s a tv show. And i understand it’s suppose to be an adaptation of the books but just like game of thrones people get hung up on it being 100% faithful to the source material which is just impossible. Like the games, the show is going to be faithful in some areas and more exaggerated in others. Just the reality of it.
@@thenihilist1809 He's was introduced to the series by the games. His performance is a combination of the books and games.
I love the show in general. Not flawless, but it's got a lot of things that I like.
But, having said that, there was one choice that the showrunner made that I really didn't like - deleting the entire Brokilon forest meeting between Geralt and Ciri.
This decision just made the final scene of season 1 feel really hollow, because there was no payoff from anywhere to make this scene worth it.
Even in the books, Geralt & Ciri don't get along right off the bat. He saves her from a monster, but she is annoyed with him, and he is annoyed with her. They bicker, they banter, and slowly, but surely over the course of "The Sword of the Destiny." chapter they begin to bond.
Geralt rejecting his destiny & letting Ciri go was heartbreaking, but that scene further adds to the huge emotional payoff with their reunion in "Something More." chapter (there Geralt & Ciri embracing felt much more sense, because in the books, they know well enough about each other through the previous chapter).
In contrast, in the show, Ciri basically knows nothing about Geralt, except for his name & what he looks like (due to seeing him in her dreams), & that he keeps on yelling Yennefer. And I don't really think that was enough to justify their hug in the end (it's pretty much like 2 strangers were hugging).
The showrunner actually acknowledges this criticism, and seems to be hinting at quite a bit of bonding/emotional moments between Geralt and Ciri in season 2 (with word going around that Ciri may accompany Geralt when he visits Nivellen). But regardless, it's still a shame, because their interaction scenes in "The Sword of Destiny" & the last scene at the end of "Something More" chapter are some of (if not) the best moments in the "Sword of Destiny" book.
p.s. To be honest, I feel the show's Ciri looks a bit older than the character's age in the books (isn't she supposed to be like 11 or 12 when Cintra falls?), but hey, that's just me.
that was the thing I disliked the most as well, with how well it was done in the book especially for setting up their relationship, I was definitely disappointed with the show
You can't make characters bond after the fact. They had an entire first season, including a book short enough to fully and totally adapt to this need of the story, and fully squandered it. It was a terrible way to bring the two characters together, and they cannot retroactively fix this. Giving me new spark plugs when my pistons are shot will not fix my car, and trying to make Geralt and Ciri's 'destiny bond' appear after squandering every opportunity provided by the books to do will not fix what was the most awkward ending to a 1st season in 20 years.
JinHan Juhn Probably one of the only problems with the show really, removing so much development was a mistake.
Shamino Warhen For how much you seem to hate this series and this RUclips creator, you sure seem to be wasting a lot of energy replying to everyone in the comments and harping on about it.
@@mariawolterstorff145 Thanks for noticing I've replied to three (3) posts. What are you, the moderator?
Correction: It is not a videogame based IP. The Witcher is a book based IP.
yes i'm aware of the fact that all the episodes are based on specific short stories, iv read the first book
@@alexs_toy_barn good. 6 more
@@ugakawabungga3183 Actualy 7
@@annexcendent8511 ah yes my bad
@@annexcendent8511 looking forward to the werewolf one
34:20 the wizard have no women in his tower, there's nothing alive there but himself. Even the plants there is debatable, everything is illusion.. it's very clear in the books, and it's almost clear in the show if you watch all what Yen does later. So yes, he don't have women slaves ... that's stupid way to portrait the wizard ..
In books, The witcher despise him because of what he does to all girls born under that eclipse (like Renfri), the wizards hunts them down and kill them, he confronts him about it, and the wizard reveal that they didn't kill them, they locked most of them in towers, and when they died they perform autopsy that revealed so much messed biology in these girls. He try very hard to defend himself and his cause to convince the witcher to protect him, and it seems for few pages that the witcher doesn't care.. but in the end, Geralt take active steps to get rid of Renfri and her gang of professional murderers. . He is convinced that Renfri is dangerous, and he try to give her one chance to escape death by just leaving... because if she don't he will kill her.. not for the wizard, but because the people will not let Renfri kill their town wizard,, he is protected by law. And that would mean the people will get in the middle and death come on both sides and THAT'S what Geralt will never allow
In the end, she seems to agree to leave, and they spend the night. Then at morning, Geralt realize they would hold the town hostages and start massacre them one by one to force the wizard show up and give himself to her ... that's why Geralt go killing spree on Renfri gang..
Final result is, Geralt protected the people, none of them died, and he protected the wizard. And only killed the gang, who are hired thugs with long history of murdering and stealing.. and yet, everybody hated him, and people threw rocks at him, and cursed him.. that's the brilliance of the story and the nickname he's given.. a brilliance the show failed in every way , mean , and form to catch ..
And no, I haven't come from books, I've never read any witcher books before the show. And I'm fan of the games ... but after the show I went to read first book, and realized how poor the show did in this first episode
'It's true to the description of the characters in the books.' What? No it's not.
Ikr Geralt should be skinny.
Yeah, Geralt should've been slimmer and worn a head band. Geralt in the games is badly done because he usually has a beard and book Geralt hated facial hair. TV Jaskier shoulda had lighter hair, and maybe facial hair-- See how easy it is to pick apart what folk look like. Telling how people focus on a certain one or two tho...
@@Spamhard geralt only had a beard in the third game but ok
@@petersmittens6222 I was being pedantic for the sake of showing how dumb picking apart precise looks are, but ok
I instantly disliked when he said that. Is he just saying he read the books to look more credible? Because the show strays away from the books as far as they can; all their 'original' content is pure trash.
pretty much went into this series blind and i actually enjoeyed it, A LOT. So when i saw witcher 3 being discounted on steam i got into it and have spent 40 hours in less than a week (someone help me pls) and i also got into the books wich are pretty enjoyable in general a great way to spend 2020 covid quarentine :D
With the Triss thing, they likely didn’t make an active decision there at all, they just found someone they liked for the role moving forward. So much of casting is about performance and personality, she’s probably easy to get along with, talented and hard working so they wanted to work with her. I’ve been part of the casting process for TV before and often the question being asked is “do I want to work with this person for 12 hour days for weeks on end?” It’s kind of the most important question to ask for this kind of role tbh
Yeah, it's cringe when people say it was solely a diversity pick. Much of casting is dependent on how an actor will work within the team and what their personality is like. Things like Jaskier's casting was partially based on his chemistry with Henry. If those two hadn't have gotten on, the casting would've been shit. I agree with Luke that she played her part well considering how little she had to work with. We'll likely see more of what she has to offer in S2, but for a first impression she was likeable enough.
Same as any social/front facing job, you could be the most qualified person out there, but if you're an asshole and don't interview well, you may lose that spot to someone more amiable and easy to work with. No one wants to spend 5 days a week with an asshole.
I thought it was pretty great. The thing I was most conflicted on was Yennefer's backstory. While I thought it was all good, and definitely made her the most interesting character in the series, it seems that her backstory was created in the place of other character developments, such as other stories with Geralt, and most of all, Ciri. I thought it was a big missed opportunity to not have them first meet in Brokilon forest years earlier, which is what happened in the books. Not only would it give both of them more time to show character development, but it also adds significantly to the payoff when Geralt finds her after Cintra falls.
eh if anything they spent way too much time with ciri doing pointless, boring bs. they could have easily replaced that with geralt meeting her in brokilon, and left in yennefer's entire backstory
I really really appreciate the quality you’ve provided here. This is my fourth time I watch this video from start to end.
I just finished a 4 hour review of the Witcher 1 and now I have this. Goddamnit i still have an hour and a half of the 'season of storms' book.
peyj Its weird. I just finished Witcher 3 a week ago, and now it's everywhere I look...
Joseph Anderson is the man
I thought they rushed a lot of interesting storylines to make it fit into one episode instead of making it a 2/3 episode arc and saving some for later. Also the last episode is really CW/Syfy level of effects and action. Overall Cavill and the actor who plays Jaskier carry this show.
OMG Luke when I got the notification I was just watching funny videos about the show, because IT is actually what made me fall in love with The Witcher series after I saw it last week and now I’ve been binging through the books, something I hadn’t done for years, and also just can’t wait to play the games after.
Thank you for putting a long form up again. Really love your work man
Triss in the show isn't even that close to triss in the books, the actress for the show did good and has tallent, but it wasn't very faithful to the books or games. In my opinion it was blatently and obviously a diversity hire.
Many of the female characters were, unfortunately, especially her and Fringilla. Yennefer’s issue wasn’t as much that as it was that she was way younger than Cavill and it showed, there was imbalance. Eva Green would be the perfect casting choice for her, for sure.
Personally, I really enjoyed seeing more eastern European actors and actresses in this show, considering that is where the show takes place.
It could be considered a diversity hire, but I think it was done very tastefully, especially keeping in mind where the books were written and the fairytales it covers.
Having gotten to Luke talking about this, I'm very much with him. His take seems nuanced and well thought out.
Alexander Angelus Doesn’t Fringilla look like Yennefer with short hair
Alexander Angelus Anya Chalotra who plays Yennefer is of Indian heritage. She’s not a diversity hire though for reasons
Thanks for making this. Love your videos. I really enjoyed this show. I am so excited for season 2!
"Any story without conflict is boring". Totoro begs to disagree.
@Tom The Fish Coping does not qualify as conflict, the only conflict is between the two sisters and is quickly resolved, and millions disagree with your take. It's a classic.
About the casting of Triss.
Yes, the games exaggerated with the tone of red and has other inaccuracies too. But the wrongs of the game doesn't makes Netfix casting good.
By books descriptions Triss has blue eyes, her hair color is the color of "new chestnuts" (auburn ?) and she is supposed to be one of the few sorceresses as young as she looks at the time of events in the books. On the other hand, Yennefer is supposed to be 94 in the last book. On account of that the dynamic between Triss and Yennefer is very different in Netflix show.
I think we'll see if Triss was casted well once we see content from the Blood of Elves come up in the show
if you watch the law of suprise scene one of the guards says my queen like jon snow XD
Well it isn't a adaptation of the games its more of the books but even then its got alot of issues.
As for the timeline it took me till about the end of episode five to realise how messed up the timeline was I understood that Yen's backstory would be in the past but I didnt then think it was all out of sync.
The shame is how badly the lesser evil was butchered in terms of the politics and the reasons why he has to get involved and what her plan was in the first place
I also hate how three books were so poorly mashed together which really could of worked as they were anthology style books The Last Wish the Sword of Destiny and they could easily of adapted those stories in a more clean manner
The Triss casting was jarring to me as a diversity hire, but even more jarring to me was the black knight who served under the queen. I'm black myself, but seeing this slightly chubby black man with a fro in knight's armor looked to me like bad cosplay or LARPing. It just looked off. I get that it's fantasy, but as you said there's the broader perception of the base lore that this is built from. Honestly I felt that way about most if not all of the black characters. It pulls me out. If I want to watch black people act I'll watch LeBron James fake his fouls lol jokes aside though, it bugged me. The bad guys also don't strike me as threatening...very small in stature, puny, non-threatening, generic. The show needs some men with the presence that Tywin Lanister had in GoT.
I think most of the diversity hires felt out of place because they were just thrown there without any effort. Was I supposed to pretend that black guy was actually white or what? Apparently I was because a half-Indian girl was born from white parents. At least give them some damn context to explain it.
The dumbest part is that they're half-assing the diversity. Just give us a fucking series on Malik Ambar or whatever, and the entire cast could be diversity hires and I'd love to watch the damn thing too.
Also yeah, the only man with a presence is Geralt. Truly Cavill is the only reason I watched the whole season.
He looked like Weeknd before he lost weight.
@@ivanlagrossemoule I agree with all that. It wasn't to the same extent, but season 1 of the Witcher feels a bit like the last couple seasons of GoT to me in terms of how by the end of it they killed off and/or diminished all the men, Jon Snow and Tyrian being the biggest disappointments. The Witcher feels a bit soy-injected at this point and I'm hoping that changes.
EDIT: If I had to name a couple shows that do a good job of depicting men with stature in this current climate, it'd have to be Spartacus as well as The Last Kingdom, to of my favs.
In my opinion, forced diversity is more racist than its absence.
Yes, we have black and asian people in the series but in European settings with European armaments and architecture, it is simply European Middle Ages. It strips other races of their achievements and culture as if they have never created anything by themselves.
The way CD Projekt presented it seems to me much better. In the game, black people came from Ofir. In the books from Jaskier we learn that zebras lives there, so Ofir is based on Africa. But the inhabitants of Ofir in the game have not only a different skin color but also different wapons, beliefs, language and architecture.
The books also mention the invasion of people from Hakland (based on Mongolia) lying further than Zerrikania.
If the creators of the series were more creative they could create much more than just put people of color in the series but also made for them uniqe equipment based of the region they came from and create entire episodes in far foreign land such as Ofir, Zangvebar, Zerrikania or Hakland with monsters based on the legends and beliefs of Africa and Asia such as Werehyena, Inkanyamba, Tikbalang and Nue.
Holy self loathing Batman "If I want to watch black people act I'll watch LeBron James fake his fouls". Its a fictional character. Out of the thousands of films/shows that have had "accurate" casting its honestly rare characters are cast as non-white.
Great vid, love your stuff so I just decided to support your patreon, keep up the good work!
The show bastardized everything that is pre established witcher content, but on it's own the show is good.
Please, ABSOLUTELY do episodic reviews, I can be patient. I know on my end, I just consume and that puts an unfair amount of pressure on you; know I expect nothing, I would just appreciate the insight if you managed to make/find time for it.
Thanks for your thoughtful hard work, brother!!
You nailed it loved your breakdown it was refreshing and you brought a style and flair that I have not seen before very well done
Oh yes and please continue to critique the other episodes
*laughing at your uncertainty*
Renfri, Queen Calanthe and Ciri bring up the timeline in ep 1 by mentioning the same battle Calanthe fought as a girl in different scenes
Good god please do all the episodes! Love the chanel man, can't get enough.
Triss not being ginger, as well as the "wrinkled ballsask" nilfgardiaan armor are my only problems.
But Triss isn't supposed to be ginger... 🤔
That armour was hideous
It’s from the books not the games
@@lowkey6134 changing a character's skin tone breaks the lore? lol okay. I forgot that triss being white is so important to the events of the books lmao
@@lowkey6134 'Chestnut' is brown, my dude. Her hair in the books is described at chestnut, which is brown with a reddish tinge. The actress in the series even dyed her hair chestnut for the series, she just spends so many scenes in low lighting and indoors that it's usually hard to see. Triss has never, ever been ginger in the books, she's always had brown hair.
You fake ass fanboys play a game and think you know shit, lmao.
its great your expanding your content, keep it up!
About the monologue on the beach, I liked it except for the part where Yennefer tells the baby, that its better for it to be dead, since the baby was a girl and men would only use her, her entire life. Which sounded like complete BS, especially coming from Yen. She as an advisor to the king is one of the most powerful and influential people in her country, possibly second only to the king himself, it just doesn't fit her in any way to complain for inequality.
This. Pretty much none of her problems come from being a woman. It was so out of place that we had to stop and make couple of circles around the room.
Interesting lol, I don't disagree
i'm pretty sure yennefer is not so obtuse that she fails to notice that she is extremely atypical for a woman in this world. we just saw this baby girl and her mother essentially executed by their father/husband, after all, and basically just for being women. and they were nobles.
Just finished watching your odyssey crit last night so this was nice to wake up to!
Geralt in the books was said to be lean. The Witcher 2 is probably the closest(body wise) to the books. But Henry did a great job
Id love more of these episode analysis type videos!!
Luke, you are awesome . I listen to your videos at work. Can't wait to finish ac oddyssey in order to watch your critique without spoilers. Keep up the good work !!
"gaming inspired series"
*books*:
"am I a joke to you?"
I feel like I'm in the minority in being slightly disappointed in this. I felt as if this had a ton of potential (and still does) but failed to present itself in an appealing way. While I understood the timeline they went with in terms of jumping around I only understood it in the moment because I have read the books. My girlfriend watched it with me and she had no idea what was going on and essentially gave up after the third episode (which is fair, if you don't understand or enjoy a series three episodes in when each is around an hour I would not expect you to continue watching it).
Essentially what I'm saying is that I'm disappointed with their timeline. That the content within the show was true to its lore and simply missed on its timeline, which I fear alienated it from anyone other then a die hard witcher fan.
You know it's actually funny with the books the timeline is really not all that confusing due to how they frame the story with the interlaced story in between them. I feel like the show made it confusing for the sake of being confusing
The timeline wasn't even that confusing, I've never read the books and I got it. You know what the best thing you can do is? Put your phone down and actually pay attention to every moment on screen and think about every line of dialogue. Too many people now in the binge watching era will sit in front of a show and scroll through Facebook glancing up at the screen when the dialogue sounds like its ramping up.
@@0saintclark0 Agreed. I was able to follow the timeline having no prior experience with the series by listening to clues in the dialogue that were frankly pretty obvious if you just payed a bit of attention.
I haven't read the books OR played the games (just started after watching) and I went in knowing only that it had more than one timeline, and I had no problem. They interlaced a lot of references between them to recent or past events to tell you when it is. I think the only way you could get confused is if you weren't paying attention to it?
@@0saintclark0 read the books then. I'm sure someone with a real focus like you will find it more confusing how the show presented the story
A youtuber called XLetalis has great videos about the casting and if they work in the world of the Witcher
I think it's fair to say that some aspects are very questionable, like, some changes, designs and making some characters unnessesarily evil but maybe there is a twist further down the road. Some storylines felt too rushed and I hope they're not afraid to take their time in the next season. The cast for the main characters is really great and like you said, this is a very good foundation for next seasons to come. I'm looking forward to watch it!
Really great critique mate, just one thing - Henry Cavill is pronounced 'kah-ville' not 'cuh-veal'
Great job, man!
Yes give us more!!! :) Love the show and enjoy your analytical view, bring it on!
I didn't think of the actress for Triss as a diversity hire at all until you said anything. I don't usually expect adaptions to be so loyal as to make sure characters look exactly the same. I'm actually really impressed with how loyal they were, but I don't come into adaptions expecting the character to look the same. The main protagonist I get but the rest? Eh who cares? I had mixed feeling on her acting but I felt she got better in her later scenes. We'll see what happens.
I don't see how it's loyal to cast so many Africans and Asians in a medieval Polish story, but okay ^^
@@bardoomguy With Geralt and Jennifer and Ciri and Jaskier. The main cast are pretty faithful to the descriptions. The diversity in medieval Poland is a little weird I guess but it really doesn't make a difference. They could really work on polishing the writing more than anything else. Messy start.
@@GoodVolition how come yennefer doesn't count as "diversity hire"? Because the actress is pretty, unlike the actress who plays triss?
@@atinity6749 Lmao right? Everyone just forgets about Yen because she's pretty and people liked her performance. Same as stuff like Samual L Jackson in Marvel. That's no longer a "diversity hire" because people like him in the role. It's almost as if skin colour don't matter so long as the person plays the character well. Weird that.
@@GoodVolition It's more than just weird. It doesn't make any sense and pulled me out of the story. Even Ciri was supposed to be another diversity hire, but that was only changed because of fan backlash. I'm not surprised the show turned out so bad, given how the showrunner couldn't even be bothered to build a cohesive world
Awesome analysis! One thing I can't believe you didn't mention though - the soundtrack of this season was awesome! It felt similar to the games at times but still new, plus toss a coin to your witcher is a straight up banger
400k per episode is extremely low for an actor of his station. Sharly Sheen charged more per episode for being on two and a half men.
"Ca-veal"???
ger -AHLT
When you keep mispronouncing someone's name over and over again. Le sigh.
id love to hear your thoughts on each individual episode
As someone who knew nothing about the Witcher other than the fact that games and books exist when I watched the show, I ended the season incredibly confused. They didn't take the time to explain integral things about the world, and in fact just glossed straight over points that would have been perfect exposition for new fans. The moment in the last(?) episode where Geralt says to [spoiler] "Do you know what they do to a Witcher's eyes?" comes to mind. I was excited when he said that line! I thought that after 8 episodes, I was finally going to learn something concrete about what a Witcher is! But instead, [spoiler] just said "Yes, I do" and the only information that was delivered is that whatever happens to make a Witcher is frequently lethal. Cool. Okay. Guess I have to look that up separately instead of getting it from the source in this show, which is honestly bad worldbuilding.
The aesthetics of The Witcher are incredible, but in my opinion, the outstanding visuals make the messiness of the actual storytelling incredibly obvious in comparison.
Can't imagine a book fan liking this series unironicaly tbh
Yup, thought this was the second part of Joseph Anderson's new witcher critique series, but instead there's just this non-fan gargling mediocrity and declaring how much he loves it. Shame.
Unironically love it. Why are you speaking for all book fans?
@@bridge_four "Why are you speaking for all book fans?"
I'm not, I just don't understand them.
@@Birmanncat I am not talking about all book fans. Where did I say that? You said that you can't imagine people liking it. Which is you talking about all the people. I can imagine People who read books liking it and disliking it. Personally, it's 8/10 for me.
@@bridge_four Do you have a habit misreading comments? I was quoting you.
He is a pretty good actor fo what it's he really brings it in every scene.
Great critique. I'm glad you like the show. And Henry nailed it in every scene. Also the Anya, Freya and Joey were amazing as well.
good stuff Luke!
8:17 was that intentional? ;)
Going through each episode sounds dope!
Speaking as a fan of the books and games, I liked the show least of the three, but I still liked it. I think the best part of it, in my experience, was getting to share something I really love and enjoy with people whom I know would never read the books or play the games. I got to talk about it with colleagues at work and share the books with my dad (after he watched and enjoyed the show). It doesn't have to be for me - I am willing to accept some gripes - as long as it means that the wider world gets an entry point into a universe that I've come to care about so deeply.
I was happy with the show as well. I didn't expect the pilot season to blow up with everything fans would have hoped for. A solid foundation must be made, to open up more doors for upcoming seasons.
Now I want to rewatch the show. Awesome critique.
The casting could have been a bit better except from Geralt, Jaskier and Ciri and some minor roles. Some are not even close to their book description. I love the show anyway and I love how you are always honest, critical, but in a positive way. Love your video’s and you are underrated! 🥺
This was wonderful, completely agree with your critique and love the Witcher franchise!
Speaking as someone with no prior experience with the Witcher (yes, including the games), the timeline confused me. Not in a 'when is this scene taking place' sense? But in a 'what is the story purpose of showing us the events in this order?' sense?
Why go into Yennifer's backstory when it just distracts from Geralt and Ciri, which should be the focus of the story? Why not save that for a later flashback episode for another series? Why start with the inciting incident, only to double back and built up to something we already know is coming, but then don't go into why it happened beyond generic fantasy exposition (Badplace is going to attack because of special princess)? Why focus so much on Jaskier as a supporting character only to get rid of him for the last two episodes?
I've heard the books are out of order as well, but as a newbie to this universe, all this structure did was distract from the story. I really hope they find a more consistent timeline for Series 2 and onward.
Dear Luke,
this is a very interesting commentary on the series. I came to your channel via your critique of TW3. So I was really looking forward to your sight of the series, esp. considering your background in acting. Lots of your insights are on the same wavelength as mine. E.g. casting of Geralt, setting the tone of the production in episode 1 etc., yet I want to make some of my own conclusions.
Triss's hair. So much confusion over her hair's colour. In some slavic languages there is only one word for "brown" and this would be translated with "chestnut-coloured" (e.g. Russian "maronovyj" like Italian "maroni"). In fact, Polish knows more than one "brown". Choosing "kasztanowy" (chestnut-coloured, from German "Kastanie") over "brązowy" (bronze) or "brunatny" (from old high German [and old English, btw] "brun" with a long "u" like in "[to] do") only indicates a red shine or reflection in sun-shine. My hair is dark-brown, almost black, yet it's got a reddish glow in the sun-shine. So I think, the hair is ok. But the actress looks too old, at least by ten years, yet I like her acting and portraying Triss's character.
Remarkable performances (besides Geralt) are by Calanthe, Tissaia, and Jaskiers. Though only Tissaia's hair colour is correct (Calanthe's got "ashen" and Jaskier's got "blond" hair). And I like Yen, Ciri, Eyst, and Moussack
I don't like many of the changes to the books, esp. concerning Fringilla, Cahir and Vilgefortz, because I can't imagine how they might turn the story in a way that is true to the source material. My fear is a total deviation from the original storyline. And in episode 1 I disliked the change from Caldemeyn to Marilka. It was unnecessary and detrimental to the story. In the source material Renfri's men chatter about the town of Tridam when Geralt meets them for the first time. The next day at breakfast Caldemeyn tells Geralt from some bandits who stated an ultimatum at Tridam. Geralt instantly realizes the meaning of this and rushes to the marketplace. There's no dream necessary.
Though I really like the combat scenes between Geralt and Renfri or her men respectively, but why is Geralt so stupid not to wear his armour? Even if he wanted to solve the issue between Stregobor and Renfri peacefully, he must have been aware of the danger he was putting himself in. It looks cool, yes I get it, but it is outright dumb.
The different timelines may have been hard for total strangers. But there are hints all over the place. You might have missed it, because Renfri said this in a byline of sorts. Something like "Calanthe of Cintra, who is my age, has just gained her first victory at Hochebuz." Which clearly indicates the different timelines Geralt and Ciri are in. Yet I would have preferred a clearer indicator such as distinct years or dates.
CU twinmama
I like how quickly yen becomes desperate for a new thing to focus on. It helps accentuate the idea that she has no clue what she really wants, she just knows she doesn't like where she is.
The first hopeful sign was, that they did not adapt the games, but the books who inspired the games
I love the poptart squirrel analogy
He wasn’t obsessed with the books before getting casted. He admitted in an interview he didn’t even know the books existed after he was casted then he read the books for the role
I’d love to see you go through all the different episodes from the book’s perspective
Good job on the analysis. I think you missed the possibility that some people who enjoy the series have not played the game. I for one have read all the books but never played the game. When it comes to Tris, she is close to the way I pictured her from reading the book.
Luke buddy u don't know but you have this particular aura (i literally don't know how else to describe it) to drive people into watching or playing the same thing that they have done in the past....
I need to watch this season again.
the choreography in the Blaviken fight scene makes it real hard to keep that disbelief suspended; expecting us to believe a witcher, extensively trained, highly disciplined, and famously skilled swordsman, would ever in their life use a reverse grip
I did not like the reverse grip. It was an amateur flashy way to behave. Flashy is just not Gerault.
nice vid my dude
For someone who isn’t familiar with the story or the lore, the nonlinear timeline is likely to be so confusing as to render it unwatchable.
Except it's not. Pretty much everyone I know who's watched the series had no prior book or game knowledge (beyond a couple of close friends) and they all understood it and enjoyed it. If a nonlinear timeline is what makes a show unwatchable for you, you must really struggle with a whole lot of movies and TV shows.
The witcher audiobooks are absolutely fantastic. The guy who reads the books, Peter Kenny, I actually really love his northerner Geralt.
I watched this by myself then rewatched it with my mom when she wanted to. While we watched I always referred to Jaskier as Dandelion and now my mom calls him dandelion. I’ve taught her well.
Well, I guess I'll go and rewatch this again for the 5th time
def do the rest of the episodes!
Yes, please. More episodes
The entertainment industry’s success rate of bringing novels to the screen is even worse!