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.
