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Honestly I was amazed that their was a woman in a piece of media who's goal was to be a mother.

“The Fresh Prince of Rivendale” I almost spit out my drink on that one

“Can’t make up my mind about whether I like this guy, or absolutely hate him” In all fairness, this is pretty close to how the other characters in the book perceive Dandelion

Xenophobia is supposed to be a big issue in the Witcher world, yet it is barely even acknowledged in the show.

There's no need to feel bad about praising the early seasons of GOT. They were legitimately great. Its only the later seasons that went down the toilet

Geralt: "I like Fringilla because she looks like Yenn and reminds me of her." Writers: "Better make sure she's inexplicably black with no similarities."

"The fresh Prince of Rivendel". This fucking killed me, well done

I feel that the opening of Game of Thrones with the map, and how it changed across seasons, did alot more world building than people give it credit for.

The only part of this show that was near perfect was Henry Cavill as Geralt. He was amazing.

Henry Cavill lifted this average show on his shoulders when he killed that first monster in the first shot of the first episode, and proceeded to carry it all the way to the finish line like an absolute boss. This show's survival in the long run basically depends on him.

I remember for the first five episodes, I actually thought the kingdom was called Milfgaurd. I'm like, that doesn't sound like too bad a place.

The short stories are actually pretty good and are solid source material for a show. Problem is Netflix decided to ignore most of it and make 75% of the show Yennefer fan fiction, and the few short stories they used were abridged. And of course Henry gets the character of Geralt, he's a huge fan of the books and the games.

We need to talk about the fart sounds.

The people from the forest were not elves, they were Dryads, but still, Dryads weren't black in the books, they have green skin, but their phenotype features are Northern European as well

“There’s a very logical reason generals lead their armies from the rear” *laughs in Julius Caesar and Hannibal Barca*

Henry Cavill is great as Geralt and when he's, you know, doing Witcher stuff. The problem is thats like 5% of the show while the rest is Yenifer and and bunch of "diverse" characters that look extremely out of place. I don't know why Netflix is determined to ruin every great piece of writing they can.

I thought they were gonna give Yennefer the Captain Marvel treatment. I was surprised she actually had to work for what she wanted and wasn't just instantly good at everything.

As someone who's read the books, while watching the show, I consistently thought "Wow, this is confusing as fuck. Will people even be able to understand what's going on?"

Henry Cavill really got the look and feel and attitude right for the Geralt of Rivia role. Spot on in my eyes

I agree about most of this. Except that medieval kings, and princes often took enormous personal risks in the thick of battle. Ask blind king John of Bohemia about that. Or the Black Prince or his dad Edward III. Or Francis I of France. Or Richard I or Henry IV or Henry V, or Edward IV, or Robert Bruce, etc. Also, if you look at extant effigies the knights were not that beefy. The Black Prince, who was one of the most warlike men of his age (or any other) was tall but also pretty thin.

Dryads of Brokilon? More like Dryads of Brooklyn.

I heard Cavill is an actual fan of the games and this was his dream role. It's too bad the writers don't share his passion for the source material.

Making Ciri interesting would have been a great challenge considering that she basically doesn't exist until the 3rd book, and spends that entire book in school in no danger whatsoever. This is also why the timelines are so screwy in season one, you would not have seen ciri until the last episode. The first two books are basically just geralt having random unconnected adventures, you get virtually no ciri, and little Yennifer. Great for world building but would not have done well on screen for new fans.

Well, leading troops from the front lines is a double edged sword. At one side it is incredibly dangerous, as the ruler dying is damn close to an instant loss, on the other hand it may grant great morale. Also, Calanthe has the reputation of being a hardened and skilled warrior. Perhaps they should've casted an actual ripped/ buff woman in the role, that would've been more realistic.

I really liked the striga episode. It felt like a very well-crafted mini horror movie.

The 2 bishes helping the dragons are the only use of “inclusion” that makes sense considering it explains they came from Zerekania which is Witcher Arabia/Africa

Game of Thrones was also aided by a brilliant opening to each episode, highlighting where every scene will take place throughout. It was probably one of the best things it did.

I absolutely detest what Netflix has done to the base material, they completely butchered the short stories to get to the saga as fast as possible. Out of the 14 tale-like short stories, which are connected and gradually introduce Geralt, his work, his skill, his character, his backstory, his personal phylosophy and problems, and later Dandelion, Yen and Ciri as side characters, Netflix chose to adapt about 7 of them, poorly, and inflated the rest of the show with Yennefers/Ciris backstories/fanfictions. You could compare Witcher to the Hobbit/LotR. You want to get to the juicy long story of LotR asap, so you trim down the Hobbit to only the most crucial parts: you introduce Gandalf and Bilbo, the ring and Gollum, and rush through the journey in about three episodes. Then you want to set-up the other places and characters important for LotR, so you fill the rest of your season with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Saruman and Frodo-fanfiction. That is exactly what Netflix did with the first season of witcher, a major set-up for the real story of season two. To me, it shows an absolute lack of respect for the book material, and if the writers are not skilled enough to adapt the series without butchering the stories and characters in this way, they should never have been placed in charge of the project. I don't mind the acting, diverse casting decisions, cgi and other stuff, some of it is good, some not so much. But I hate how they carved up the story.

Even as a black guy myself i was asking my self how wtf the some of these black characters get into the position they have because yea it doesn't make much sense in the context of the world.

Just to clarify a thing about Yennefer, during the events of this she is in her 70s-80s. I think that explains her getting bored fairly well.

Actually Calanthe died the same way in the books, she fought, was wounded and then she jumped out of a window so that she is not captured. Or was it Eist who died in the battle? I am not sure right now but Calanthe was a fierce warrior who stood beside their man. At least thats how I remember her from the books

One thing that stood out after i read the short stories was that Geralt's relationship with Dandelion is portrayed as more strained in the tv shows, whereas in the books they are far far more chummy (this is going by the first two short story collections - last wish and sword of destiny) . For instance, theres a moment at the end of sword of destiny where Dandelion's trying to cross a river and says to Geralt 'Don't leave me behind or ill drown!' and Geralt replies along the lines of 'I would never let you drown, dear friend' The portrayal of Geralt in the shows is more along the lines of 'reserved dickhead', but in the books he's actually a lot more human/friendly in interactions with the people *that are close to him*. Also one thing off about this review, I would say is your point about Calanthe only being shown as strong even though she's just a wamen. That was still fairly accurate to the books i thought.

"I honestly can't make up my mind whether I like this character or absolutely hate him." Fortunately that is the point of Jaskir/Dandelion.

I want a Ricky Gervais Acton figure with big ball swinging action

Don't know if you'll see this, but having a general/king/queen/whatever in the frontline can be a HUGE advantage, seeing as it gives a great moral boost to the men. The risk to the commander is also fairly small, seeing as that person would have the best soldiers around for protection.

"i do find myself hoping the gamble pays off" it definitely did not pay off

I can't help but notice you didn't mention Triss in the show even once...which is fitting because for me she was poorly portrayed and cast

remember when fringilla was being mistaken to yen well that's not gonna happen in the show :D

I like how the "go away now" changes based on how good was the review

Sapkowski's novels are a good read, dude's a decent writer.

New Critical Drinker video pops up... Me: "Source of power, should draw from it."

Triss Merigold... Look How They Massacred My Girl... why Netflix... why?

5:04 Literally every swedish King during any conflict up until Carolus Rex

5:45 they mentioned Queen Calanthe nickname which is the Lion and they mentioned also how many successful battles she fought, so I think it's a prestige for her to fight in the middle of the battle, as many leaders did in medieval times... (Richard the Lionhearted also did this many times) generals fought in the rear only become a common thing after the renaissance era (so I think the show has many flaws but this one I do not count)

I didn’t realise that it wasn’t shown chronologically until the 6th episode.

Hissrich: "The books are Polish and packed with Slavic spirit. It was important to keep that same tone in our show". SJW's: "Rheeeeeeeee!". Hissrich: "Slavs are Black".

This was the first show in a long time that I actually had to pay attention to while watching. Even then I was about halfway through before I realized there were multiple time periods, and almost to the end before I actually figured them out. All in all, I thought it was pretty good. The fights were well choreographed and I liked the flawed characters that showed growth/redemption. I didn't notice the forced diversity, as I generally assume fantasy settings are made up of whatever (unless they're based on real world places), and so, when there's someone who wouldn't have been in a climate (like the black general), I will just accept it, unless it becomes overly forced or their character is poorly written.

Fun Fact: The elves in this world actually came from an alternate reality world that basically "collided" with this one during a very rare phase shift event thousands of years prior to this story. That's also basically how all the "evil" creatures appeared. This would have been useful information that could have been included somewhere in the show's narrative.

"The Fresh Prince of Rivendell" - Tea out the nose stuff.....

It irritates me that this show is clearly made for Witcher fans, evident by its lack of real world building and explanations, and yet it cuts SO much important content, delivers it in such a broken, poor way, and just expects us to clap because its The Witcher.

I actually know why it's called Witcher. Talked to Sapkowski himself some 15 years ago, probably more. Apparently he was wondering why there is no male equivalent of the word witch (wizard is a bit different), and decided to create a world in which there is.

Perfectly reviewed. Basically mentioned everything I thought about when watching and researching the show just a few days ago 👍🏼

“Why risk your entire kingdom fighting on the front line where you could die at any moment?” *Cries in King Harold*

"The Fresh Prince of Rivendale".....I died😂😂😂😂😂

I was confused as well but after rewatching it, the whole show made so much sense and kinda built the world with each episode.

One thing I enjoyed about how they did the timeline, is it made it enjoyable to watch multiple times. Ive probably seen it through 8 times now and each time I feel like it gets better, which is because there is more I understand and catch.. But admittedly the first go through felt pretty bad. As far as just throwing you into the story, I felt that way in the games also... They were extremely hard for me to force myself to play and get into. But once I did I understood why people liked them so much.

The only reviewer I trust. You are doing God's work sir.

“Set in your typical medieval fantasy world...” exactly where the problem lies. The setting from the books was unique af. Nothing like you’d see somewhere else.

Yen's message to 'some women' ends up being something about 'don't let the baubles cloud your eyes, family and children is the road to happiness'.

Thanks for another great review. I agree with almost all you said, however I did thoroughly enjoy it and was happy to not be sure what the world was about or what exactly was going on, trusting and hoping that it'll be revealed later. This was a strength of it I think. Really looking forward to your review of the next season.

06:23 "These people" are Zerrikanian women, guarding Villentretenmerth. That's actually in the books and them being black makes sense, because Zerrikania is supposed to be a country with huge deserts and savannahs where Zebras live. In fact, I guess these two are the only characters who were intended to be black at the time the books were written.

You forgot all about that Black Triss Merigold.

I've watched the season twice, with the second time of watching with a youtube recap after each episode. After that I fully understood which made it worthwhile.

I’m weird but I enjoyed the Anthology style of stories for an opening season to set the world before the real meat of the story hits. I agree though it was a gamble. Casting Cavill was smart though he brought big star power and enough interest to get a second season

I do like the lack of CGI for this one. It gives it an old school appeal that I find oddly refreshing.

"The heavyhanded 'diversity' grates on the nerves after a while." Sums up eighty percent of television nowadays, doesn't it?

I felt like I had the same problem with the geography of The Witcher when I read the book series. I felt like I was constantly saying "What is this place and what is it near by? Which Kingdom is this?"

I didn’t realize until you mentioned that there was very little worldbuilding that I don’t remember them bringing up the Conjunction of the Spheres at all which is a pretty big detail

"You're a wizard Harry" *fart noise* laughed way too hard at that, what the hell

“Fresh Prince of Rivendell” 😂😂😂

I actually really liked the way they did it non-sequentially, however i completely agree with your second point in that i had no idea where they were in relation to where anyone else was at any given time, nor the rules or idiosyncrasies or even the social norms of the world they were trying to build.

The fresh prince of Rivendell broke me.. I'm still laughing..

After having a slog of Mary Sue female characters (namely one Star Wars character) Yennefer was SUCH a breath of fresh air: learns from her failures, struggles/isn’t a prodigy and earns her success and power. Then as you say the complexity of her feeling everything she fought for wasn’t worth her current situation and she’s jaded and now motivated to amend what’s she done to herself. Nothings given, everything is earned and that’s why I love her

It felt more like *The Yennefer* than The Witcher

But monarchs did actually sometimes fight beside their soldiers, leading from the front. Medieval battles weren't nearly as chaotic and bloody as portrayed in fiction - at least until one side is routed. Also, full plate armour would protect you against arrows and regular blows. You'd have a bunch of well trained guards watching your back too. As for the benefits, it was probably a giant morale boost to your troops, since they knew their leader is fighting with them. And the troops' spirit was important - battles were usually lost when your soldiers panicked, broke formation and ran away, not when they were all slaughtered.

Love your videos. I'd love a short series as well if ever an option!

Toss a glass to your drinker Oh valley of whiskey

''She struggles to master Khaos'' The Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquistion would like a word with you

I agree with most of your points, in particular the lack of world building. Yet, at least for me, the complexity and non-chronological order to the story, is a huge benefit. It got me really invested once I realized the non-linear nature of the episodes as I had to start the series again with full focus and my phone turned off.

Regarding Medieval battles. it is NOT the case that generals would stay off the field. A) the field would be small, so range of command is important and presence is required for command. B) It was HUGELY important that captains of whatever station be active in combat for the sake of prestige. the armies would be relatively small so the captain would be relatively personally known by the troops. Not just that, the captains prestige (their ability to recruit and lead their troops) was dependent upon their personal combat ability. Yes they'd be guarded by capable warriors and likely be armed and armoured with the best equipment, but they'd need to be seen to be involved. Large numbers of pre modern monarchs had reputations based upon their personal ability (from Alexander, through Caesar and Medieval European kings like Edward Longshanks and Robert the Bruce). The rest of the review is great XD

Hollywood's new slogan: "Strive for mediocrity!" When you've set the bar so low that "The Flintstones" is high art by comparison, there's almost nowhere to go but up. (And if any producers, writers, or directors are reading this...no, that is NOT a challenge!)

I said "damn you all . Damn you all to hell" after i saw what they done to my girl triss

You make some of the best content on KZfaq! Thank you for making me laugh so hard!

Why does that Commando insert make me laugh so much??! Great stuff again!

It was good enough to keep me interested until Season 2, but none of the emotional beats landed at all for me. Henry Cavill carries the show almost entirely and he needs more screen time.

Ciri was sent to find Geralt because he had earlier been there to take her away for protection. The whole "law of surprise" thing. Knowing that Geralt is a travelling badass and Nilfgaard was closing in, she thought he could keep her safe. Not her ideal course of action, but she was about to die and her city was burning.

Please review season 2! I hate it but I can't put it into words

Back when we thought these shows had a chance. When we thought the makers wanted to try to impress us instead of piss us off deliberately.

Diversity for..."reasons".

This makes me wonder if Braveheart would have been filmed nowadays would we see a bunch of black guys running around in kilts? Maybe some women too.

A lot of the gorgeous landscape shots that you mention are in the Canary Islands, Spain. Specifically Tenerife and Gran Canaria, as far as I know, with possibly one of the other islands.

You have a real talent for taking lengthy, excruciating pain and disappointment and turning it into twenty minutes of real information and entertainment

The obligatory black/minority cast in the medieval Poland was disturbing.

I really hope Jaskier The Bard goes the “Merry and Pippin” route of being a silly and ineffectual comic relief at first but growing into a hefty role in later seasons.

I think it might have been better if they had left Ciri and Nilfgaard's whole thing off until season 2, because then they could have taken season one to do the world building and explain Ciri's connection to Geralt. Then we might have actually cared more about Nilfgaard trying to kill Ciri (well, cared about it more than you usually care about people trying to kill a girl). At the very least, they shoulda done SOMETHING to show what time each episode was in. With the two anthology books that this season pulled from, there is at least a sense of a cohesive timeline. I only read them once, but I don't think you meet Ciri until after you meet her parents.

Priceless!!! “Dated worse”, “gets sad” and “fresh prince” were amazing!

I am a huge fan of 'The Witcher' book series, and for me, this season was really, say, 'infantile' sometimes. What I mean is, some motifs or scenes, which were really developed and had a great sense in books were made stupid in the show. For example - the scene of Yennefer's transformation, when she becomes infertile. In the books, infertility is the price for magical power, not for beauty! And it's clearly explained in the books. There's a serious theory why magicians are infertile. Sorceresses were transformed into beautiful women merely to look more 'professional'. And in the show, they made it just incredibly 'flat' and stupid and I really don't understand why :/. Of course, I don't really think that they must do it exactly as it was in the books. But if they want to do it their way, I wish it had more sense :/.

denying us a hot crazy redheaded Triss is hard to forgive

I really think they should have done the Game of Thrones way and shown the world map in the opening or something like that. Also, I think they should have modified the Stregobor-Geralt dialogue and the Aretuza meetings to make some exposition of the politics in the world, explaining the big players. Also, for anyone wondering why Nilfgaard in obssessed with Cintra, it’s a big spoiler and it’s later revealed in the books (those who played Witcher 3 also already know): SPOILER: . . . . The emperor of Nilfgaard is Ciri’s father