Just finished episodes 5 & 6. Some thoughts on them.
Likes
- I can understand further why they cast Anya as Yennefer, she has amazing chemistry with Henry Cavill. The scenes between Geralt and Yen could have been ripped straight from the books or The Witcher 3. Though Yen here is much less bitchy than in the books or the game (TW3 does soften her a bit though).
- Joey Batey continues to provide great comic relief as Jaskier. I can't think anyone better to play this role since he's also a great singer.
Dislikes
- Where's the humor? Come on Netflix, you purposely omitted two of the funniest scenes from the stories. The first being Geralt's chant to exorcise of the djinn, which he later finds out translates to "Go fuck yourself." No wonder it was furious. The second being when they first encounter the golden dragon. The knight accompanying Yennefer bravely charges at it only to get swatted aside, to which dragon replies "Next?" Part of the charm of The Witcher series is that it was also a sendup of European fairy stories and had some undercurrent of comedy. Many people like to compare the series to Game of Thrones, when it has more in common with Shrek.
- The cheap special effects. Hoo boy. I know a TV series as a limited budget and all. But you seriously don't expect me to believe those velociraptor ripoffs are dragons? And I guess they ran out of money to show off Yen's magic because she had to resort to dual wielding. Speaking of which...
- The fight scenes are getting lame. After the great Blaviken melee in the first episode the fight choreography here was really meh. And again, why is a mage fighting in a melee like a peasant? I want to see a sorceress in action damnit, not Yennefer Warrior Princess.
- Okay Netflix. I've not really minded your changes to the stories, but that doppler better not be Dudu Beibervedlt You change one of the most decent characters in the series into a serial killer? Fuck off.
- And a bit of a negative on Henry Cavill's performance, which so far has been stellar. But I'm not liking how furious his Geralt is at all that's happening and laying the blame on Jaskier. Come on, as frustrated as Geralt can be with the way fate fucks him over at times, he wouldn't pin it all on a friend like that. That's not the witcher I know.
So yeah. I can start to see some of the negatives now with this adaptation, but I'll still continue on. Hopefully the last two episodes redeem some of the fuckups here.