Rare Species

One of the better episodes of this season. The chemistry between Geralt en Yenn was portrayed really well, again. I absoluty loved seeing the warrior women of Zerrekenia as well. Great combat scene at the end, followed up by some great acting (especially by Cavill) to end their part of the episode. Fantastic to see Ciri's story developing too. Her part had grown a bit stale but definitely not here.

One thing I'd say, and I've said it before, is that the writers haven't conveyed the different timelines very well. If you don't know the source-material, it'll be very unclear to follow what is linear and what isn't. That isn't a critique specifically for this episode, but seeing as Ciri's story has just continued in a linear way and both Geralts' and Yenns' stories have been a bit more... let's call it flexible when it comes to timelines, makes it hard to really invest in the characters and their journey.

I think most of what I had to say here was already covered by what I said about the previous episode: performances are all pretty great still, it's directed fine, there's some good dialogue (the bants are spicy here), and so far, I think this has one of my favourite little stories for any episode, on both Ciri and Geralt's fronts.

Because at long last, I feel like I'm actually being allowed inside the main character's head a little bit, and I like what is there. I also like his dynamic with Yennefer, I like the plot set up of a dragon hunt and the eventual reveal (kind of obvious plot hole of why the hell did the one with a secret bother taking them so far notwithstanding), and that "Damnit, Jaskier!" was pretty satisfying.

And the thing that Ciri gets up to here was also not too bad, with a little twist I didn't see coming, so while story-wise I still think the Cintra betrothal feast was the most interesting plotline, this episode kept my attention consistently the most.

So who knows, maybe Season 2 won't be as much of a slog as I was initially fearing. Still have to get to it though...

Never having read the books I'm not more than mildly interested in how they differ from this script. So, as an episode of TV I found this entertaining, if hardly original. Not even the 'twist' was any kind of surprise.

What does surprise me is that a show about characters with supernaturally endowed characters seems so reluctant to show the characters using them. Yen fights with a sword, Geralt seems uninterested in using signs. It's a very odd decision from the production team to minimise these powers and miss out on a big part of what makes the characters stand out from the crowd.

Besides that, the show is stunningly shot in impressive locations and mostly very well acted. Anya Chalotra is a revelation, poised, strong and yet able to show great vulnerability and subtlety whilst Henry Cavill is the best brooding stranger-type since Clint Eastwood; impressive and charismatic. This episode is, unfortunately, afflicted with one of the worst fake Scottish accents in tv history from Jeremy Crawford who not only can't do the accent he's attempting but delivers every single line as if he's in the middle of a 'roid rage. He really is very jarring in this episode shattering the atmosphere in every scene he appears in. Pity the RSAMD didn't teach him that anger like that is rarely interesting to watch, is a poor character trait and just puts viewers off. I guess he also didn't watch the scenes where Cavill and Chalotra use justified anger to great effect. I really hope he can calm down a bit for his next appearance and makes some visits to an accent coach.

I'm on my second watch of this series and I'm following it much better this time, partly because I'm playing the game and I have a better grasp on the world but mostly because I'm not thrown by trying to fit the stories together. It took us too long to realise that the stories we were watching are spread all over the timeline on the first viewing and there really isn't enough effort made to make this clear. It's a much better watch with that in mind. I think they assumed most viewers would come to it with foreknowledge of the world and characters, too, as there seems to be an assumption that the politics and conflicts don't need to be explained much. Whilst I don't need the depth the game gives it would have helped to have a little more world building to guide us along the path.

Still, I don't watch this for War & Peace so all-in-all it's a good episode of a very enjoyable series. Well-paced, with very interesting leads.

Wow, so I can only assume the bad reviews are from 1) people who haven't read the books or 2) people that only know the video game. There could be a third option, and that's people hoping for a GoT type show. Guess what? You're not gonna get it here. This is a very "by the book" show and it's coming together beautifully. My only reason for not giving it 10/10 is the somewhat wimpy CGI. I get the dragons are dying off and not as powerful, but it looked a bit campy.

The virtues of episode - to define a convincing Geralt in very significant details and the conclusion than Henry Cavill did a real good job. Anya Chandra got each nuance for the realistic Yennefer and the dragon story is well crafted. So , ignoring the not easy problem of time lines between Ciri adventure and Geralt movements, a decent episode, a not bad adaptation.