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my-jokes-are-my-armour · 10 months

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The witcher S3 volume 1

Oki this is my "detailed review" of S3 volume 1. Or should I say thoughts and comments.

Here is the short version so you can choose to step away : I really liked it.

Why do I feel like I need a shield ? Well, because out of my bubble here, the sound of the masses makes my opinion seems like an very unwanted one. It seems very important to dislike this season by all means.

As always I share mostly a gray opinion. Meaning : I have my feelings and within those, I say both what I find good or bad without shitting on everyone and everything. "I like this because... but... I don't like this because... but...". This are my basics. And I try to stay as neutral as possible in the way I say things.

But I won't lie, this time I have some difficulties because there is too much toxicity around and, what I thought was impossible, it finally affected me while watching the show in a very bad way. And for that I am angry. You can tell as I recently put an almost agressive rambling against some review.

I try to stay away from comments or reviews and stuff but sometimes I tiptoe into just just to see another reality. And although I found constructed things in the bad comments regarding S2 (even in BO), although this time this is more a game of pure destruction. And as much as I am angry, I will try not the play the same game that only lead to hatred. So I will try my best to illustrate what I am saying and not just throw feelings at your face.

To be clear also, I don't defend blindly the writers here, I am taking the final product as it is in my analysis.

Spoilers of S3 vol 1 under the cut. I won't speak about what would probably happen in vol 2 though. So if you have seen vol 1 but not read the book, this is safe.

First of all I will say it.

- No, the show doesn't follow stricto sensu the books but more in the S1 way. Though it has many scenes almost taken from the pages, or in the spirit of it.

- Yes, there are some plotline additions and more twisted ones but for me it helps building intrigues more than running to the opposite of characters from the books, giving more relief to some of them and link stuff that needs pages and pages to get through. So I don't see them in a bad eye.

My point of view.

The first sequence with Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer is an example. For me this corrects a lot of bad done during S2. It is not like in the books at all, even if it uses the "dear friend" letter as a trope, but it lands on a relation more in phase with the books. We have trust and tension. And Geralt and Yennefer reconnecting. Of course, this shouldn't had to be necessary at all in the first place but seeing their relation building up put a smile on my face.

My only complaint will be that we still just have glimpses of how magic works in this universe. In the books, Yennefer teaching Ciri magic is THE moment we learn the most of it. So just having crumps is frustrating me.

For Geralt, I had a great time with the fight sequences and the relationships he has with Ciri, Yennefer and Jaskier. The feeling is closer to the book version for me. And I have to say, I really liked the whole sequence in Anika's hut where he learns about his mother. This and the fact that he discovers the false Ciri and the experiments are a twist from the books but it connects a lot of further plotlines. Also when he learns that his mother has died and he has still ressentiment for abandoning him leads to a great emotional side of Geralt and builds the fact that this is the reason why he will never abandon Ciri in return, whatever the coast. And I was missing those kind of vulnerabilities in Geralt that were so nice to read on a "brute" stereotype. So it gives depth to the character. It was not what I was waiting for but I take it as well.

For Yennefer, I connected less with her this season but I loved the growth and the parallels with Ciri. She has learnt from her mistakes found her purpose. So while normally it's not her to prepare the conclave, from where she is coming from in S1 and S2, it is almost the only way to reconnects the dots. I really wish we didn't need this to repair everything, but all considering, it was OK. From her part I mostly liked the journey with Ciri to Aretuza and the humorous parts with Geralt.

For Ciri, I connected more with her this season. Like she finds herself more at ease in a witcher (male) version of her world. That speaks to me a lot. Although I gender myself as a woman my brain doesn't work usually like the "typical" woman. Or at least those I met in my life. I have the typical you are a "garçon manqué" (which I don't know how to translate in English) said about me very often. I was with more men during my student years and at work so learnt to navigate them more than groups of women. I was a bit like Ciri at Kaer Morhen. I have experienced the more frontal, direct approach of men vs the shady, smile in the front, stab in the back approach of women during conflicts, especially at work, too many times so I can relate to Ciri when she can't bare the company of the sorceresses, who are all facades. And I love what she learns from that, in the end.

For Jaskier, I am very pleased that the trauma of the torture was addressed and became a motive of certain "bad" decisions he made. He still has heart to protect those he loves and do what thinks is good for them. Which is basically what he does all the time in the books, especially in the Baptism of Fire, so we kind of see this trait ealier. I liked the honesty between him and Geralt and his relation with Ciri is heartwarming. Now the development of his love life is something I could talk all day (and I probably will later). The Radovid plot, I was nervous at first but I loved it because it has layers and some speaks to me a lot. Basically the whole plotline of Jaskier is a mixture of inventions and scenes from the books but it is coherent with the character in his whole and connects efficiently the dots from Redania politics to the found family.

In a way, I find the spy element of this Jaskier more grounded here than the one in the books, where it has like no explanation except "i am a patriot" 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Then, am I going to address the elephant in the room ? The pansexual Jaskier. Yes I am gonna do it, but I want to finish with the characters and the bits that I want to talk about first.

I liked the interactions between Philippa and Dijkstra which helps building the politics from Redanian side while enveiling progressively some leads to the final reveal of who is the bad guy. The only sequence that bothered me was the bdsm thing. Except to re-enforce the dominatrix trait of Philippa personality, it adds nothing more to what was shown before, except this face 😬 on me lol.

Speaking of the leads to the final revelation, I liked that this was made within different characters' journey, connecting the dots step by step. So sure it shifted some narratives but it was fluid and paced the whole thing without having big revealing time, except the whole episode 5 where they tried something in the structure, to make it more digest. But for me this is the episode I liked the least because of this artifice exactly. The loop was too repetitive in its first iteration and it made my attention drop seriously for the next part. But it was interesting on a technical point of view. They like to play with past and present a lot in this show and here it was well done as it was treated like a rendition of Geralt and Yennefer side of the event, confronting what they learnt from the people they talked to. And they mixed it with some "hot" moments, that I think may have pleased a lot of people.

Well, for me the complicity and complementarity was more rewarding but I don't see it as a bad thing. That echoes their relationship in the books but overall I am not very interested in that. The playfulness between them during the ball was more attractive to me. But I am aware that this is a very personal take of it as I tend to loose interest the more I see "love" scenes lol. The shorter, the better 😅.

For the other characters, I was not convinced by Fringilla plot, but I dug more into Cahir's whose faith is shifting badly.

The White Flame had little exposition but help filling the blanks a little bit for his story and I am surprised they are seemingly running down the hill of this incest plotline from the books. It will be certainly different, but the first hints are there.

On the brotherhood side, I don't have much to say for the moment. I think I will elaborate more after vol 2, especially on Vilgefortz. Just I note that Istredd connects some things with BO. This is very short and maybe confusing for those who having seen it but it makes sense within this version of the story. And I like that Stregobor that is set up to be disliked from the bigining is just a false thread to find the real bad guy.

From the elven side, I feel this is rushed. The jumps from S2 to S3 isn't hard to understand but the struggle connecting with Nilfgaard is due to the strange plotline of S2 again. Gallatin helps connected things together but it shouldn't have been so convoluted in the first place. Yet I understand where it leads later for Francesca.

I have like the use of certain minor characters like Aplegatt who had a running gag with the arrow until the futur Ciri foretold happened which leads to consequences we will see in vol 2. I didn't like the "professor" though who had the trash mob treatment. You recognise him and seconds later he is dead.

And I found Valdo Marx hilarious. His song his catchy and even if it is not subtle for the plot it gives a real rythme to the ball iterations.

This is pretty much my global thoughts on the volume 1.

Now what's in the books ?

Here is the resume of each chapter of Time of Contempt to the point it stopped for the show :

- Aplegatt is doing his job being the messages between kingdoms. He meets on the road Yennefer and Ciri who prophetised his death and more things. Geralt visits Codringher and Fenn to have informations about Rience. A lot of political stuff and schemes are discussed and bits of False Ciri. Aplegatt dies from an arrow.

- Yennefer and Ciri are in Gors Velen. Yennefer goes to the dwarven bank (politics politics schemes schemes). Ciri visits the city with Fabio and... kills the wyvern in the monster show. While she tries to escape she bumps into Tissaia and Margarita Laux-Antilles. Politics and schemes at the baths. Ciri flees to find Geralt. The wild hunt appears in the sky. Ciri rushes toward Geralt's position who is with Jaskier. Yennefer saves her. When reunited Geralt and Yennefer are arguing. Ciri watch from afar with Jaskier explaining they love each other.

- Jaskier babysits Ciri while Geralt and Yennefer go to the Thanedd ball. A lot of dialogs there that set up everyone's position. Hot scene between Geralt and Yennefer.

- In this chapter the only thing I can take is Codringher and Fenn killed and burned by Rience minion.

Well everything seems here, with changes of course, but I guess we covered it all. But there is more. So what's more that are in the books also.

Here is what is from The Last Wish incorporated in S3 (what I remember)

- Belleteyn

Here is what is from of Blood of Elves incorporated in S3 (what I remember)

- Shaerrawedd story, even if the set up is twisted.

- Geralt leaves Ciri with Yennefer so she can teach her magic while he is tracking Rience. The Dear Friend letter (but we know it is used differently) .

- Jaskier has some spy duties (the set up is entirely different). And some more politic stuff.

(The scene with Vespula is from The Sword of Destiny.)

So now, I know everything is twisted because they chose to tell the story differently. But all the bricks are here with some pretty close to the books moments and everything is set up almost properly for what's to come. That's the reason why I like this season and I don't find it outrageous.

My rambling.

Now... This is the part where I will be less tempered.

You may noticed that I have kept Radovid almost away from the equation. Well because... this is where I can loose myself because of the bad comments. Not just the ones on the divergence from the lore only. I includes what comes usually with it. The pan Jaskier and people of color kind of divergence from the lore comments.

Last week I lost my temper on a review using false book accuracy arguments to justify a rant about Jaskier been queer in the show. The person wrote incorrect things, stated them as truth, for their readers. So angry people could find examples of what was so wrong in the show using their anger to validate their lies blindly [x].

I don't go much to see the comments and the reviews because it hurts me most of the time. And I am someone open to critical stuff. But you know statistically if people were fair, I should find perfectly argumented rants about the show along with the blind rage ones. For S2 and BO it was the case.

Here, the vast majority of what I read are just "the show did wrong" without any argument. "They are not faithful to the source material" without any example. Some are openly racist or queerphobic. Some hide behind the things like the reviewer I was angry about.

I am sad to see an actress had to justify her portrail of her character because she doesn't look like what people expect, to say it politely, and because she made some artistic choices that are not european coded [x].

I have seen many comments with bollywood memes under the first twit of RI reporting that Anya chose to incorporate Indian dances moves to her magic. She wouldn't have said it, except for the battle in Shearrawedd, I am sure no-one would have noticed. And for those who are angry about those cultural inserts, please explain me what looks like a perfect european magic move. Show me then the problem in Anya's portrail.

I am sad to read bad things under the Valdo Marx extract, because the actor is black.

I am sad to read homophobic comments on Joey's insta (but extremely proud and moved by the Dear Hearts response to that).

And I am angry that people don't even try to understand what are the stories told. They are on a hate bulldozer and simply crush everything under.

Is the show perfect : NO ! Is the show deviating from the source material: YES ! I already said it. But this is still WAY closer than the former season (cf my preceding point).

I took time to say in my first point what I like and dislike, pointing purposely things that diverged from the books in their structure or narratives. And there is a lot as you can see, and I didn't say it all.

Maybe you miss Geralt hitting on many ladies, even while being officially with Yennefer, and hyperfixating on boobs sometimes (while they blinked politely at it in the show this time) ? The more classic family portrait adaptation doesn't hurt anyone's feelings apparently. Or that least THAT kind of divergence doesn't come front when it comes to book accuracy.

Why is it always the "race" and the queerness ? The real question is : where does the hypocrisy ends ?

The Radovid part and pretty much all of Jaskier's plotline this season are invented. It has anchors in the books in some scenes but, like the rest of the divergences, this plotline setup many things that are more a lot of dialogs in the books.

They use this Radovid and his relation with Jaskier to show the con games of Philippa and Dijkstra in a more easy way to absorb in a tvshow. But I guess you sure want 10 min straight of people throwing names and places you don't know about and learn about them 5h later. It is sure not easier to have the whole thing built slowly over the course of the 5h.

They also used Radovid to put some new layers on Jaskier with the romance. Those layers includes his pansexuality, sure, but there is more. Things that have been played but not said are out up front now. His extreme empathy that helps him read people. It is his superpower and his weekness. We see a more clever side to him too. We see him trying to navigate with Radovid to find solution for Rience and maybe safe conduit for Ciri. And this is a part of how he has now a place in the found family and how he connects with them, which was inexistant in both S1 and S2.

This is not just about sexuality. But apparently it overshadow everything else. So...

For those who found the kiss coming from nowhere, I invite you to listen and watch more carefully.

For those who found Jaskier too promiscuous this season, I remind you that Jaskier is known to have multiple affairs in the books, and this is mentioned in the show as well in S1, and teased in S2, so this is not new. This is just the first time it is shown clearly.

For those who simply cannot bare the view of two men kissing, just close your eyes, you have plethora of heterosexual book accurate relation in the next episode.

And you know what :

We know little about love. Love is like a pear. A pear is sweet and has a distinct shape. Try to define the shape of a pear.

Jaskier

#tws3 #tws3 spoilers #not tagged properly on purpose #long post #rambling #critical #review

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