Entertaining, but I'm having huge doubts about the direction the show is going.
I am decidedly not against doing things differently and especially not when *expanding* (not replacing) on the source materials. For example, episode 4 was great, even though a lot of it was something that never happened and some of it even could not have happened. But it was done well and all of it served some purpose. And not only that, it was woven well and had good pacing, so as a package it just worked.
The episodes since, all the way up to this one, have not been so well composed. A lot of the things the show does differently are entertaining, but not all. So far, I have a good opinion on most of it and I can see where they are going with some of it.
Some, on the other hand, I can't really understand yet. I'll not spoil anything, but I think most familiar with the story would probably agree at least on part. Some of it seems to come too soon or go way too far in a different direction. I have to emphasis, that I don't think any of it is terribly off, but part of these things feels dubious at the moment.
There's one episode remaining in the season, and it's hard for me to see how this wraps up for the next season.
I do have to admit that because a lot of these things are stuff that are either just done differently or they are things that are sort of plausible since they were never covered in the books -- maybe hinted at, but some not even that -- this season has been quite exciting at times. It's been a fresh experience on many fronts, and as long as it has been something that could've happened but just wasn't covered, it's been really interesting to get more of those arcs. And especially some characters that weren't really covered at all in the books, some even just barely mentioned. Also, the new characters that weren't in the books but that make sense, they have been great to watch.
That being said, a lot of it I still don't think they should've changed. Or at least at this point, prior to seeing the season finale, some of it does not seem to serve a purpose that'd make it better than it could've been had it been done more aligned with the source. Some of that stuff feels like it might have worked had they introduced it later on, rather than this early. Remember, that we are just barely getting started at this point, and we're already getting... a lot.
Which is also kind of good. I remember reading Blood of Elves and at the end of it, feeling like we didn't really get anywhere. After the exciting and action-packed short stories, it felt a little slow and unimportant. The show's writers seem to have had a similar feeling, since they are throwing in a bunch of stuff to try and make it exciting at all times. Most of it works, I admit, and I'd bet for the average viewer who hasn't read the books, it might just work altogether well. But not all of it works. Some not at all.
I really hope they manage to tie things together in the finale, however, because if not, this show stands to get more and more off base on some fronts and I fear what that may bring us moving forward.
Episodes 1 and 4 have been the two saving graces for this season. Episodes 2 and 3 were not great, at least to me, but episodes 5-7 have been mostly okay. I think episodes 2 and 3 suffered from being sort of an adjustment period for the changes, but even reviewing them now, they weren't great. I truly hope they somehow manage to save a lot of the worse parts in the finale.
But even if I'm being very critical, I still do think that there's great potential with this show. You can't please everyone, and I get that nerdy farts like me probably aren't the real target audience for the show. We already have the books. They aim to cash in on the contemporary popularization of fantasy, which all in all, is good. Even if I don't especially like the decisions made here, it's still great to see fantasy getting more and more popular.
On a positive side, it's no longer giving people such nerdy, sweaty impressions when I talk about the books and worlds I like. But on a downside, e.g when I talk about witcher, a lot of people no longer associate it with the books, but rather on the games (earlier) and even now, this show.
As a lightweight consumer and a moderate fan, I do not care so much, but I do feel for the author and the fans who are really hardcore with the lore.
I am decidedly not against doing things differently and especially not when *expanding* (not replacing) on the source materials. For example, episode 4 was great, even though a lot of it was something that never happened and some of it even could not have happened. But it was done well and all of it served some purpose. And not only that, it was woven well and had good pacing, so as a package it just worked.
The episodes since, all the way up to this one, have not been so well composed. A lot of the things the show does differently are entertaining, but not all. So far, I have a good opinion on most of it and I can see where they are going with some of it.
Some, on the other hand, I can't really understand yet. I'll not spoil anything, but I think most familiar with the story would probably agree at least on part. Some of it seems to come too soon or go way too far in a different direction. I have to emphasis, that I don't think any of it is terribly off, but part of these things feels dubious at the moment.
There's one episode remaining in the season, and it's hard for me to see how this wraps up for the next season.
I do have to admit that because a lot of these things are stuff that are either just done differently or they are things that are sort of plausible since they were never covered in the books -- maybe hinted at, but some not even that -- this season has been quite exciting at times. It's been a fresh experience on many fronts, and as long as it has been something that could've happened but just wasn't covered, it's been really interesting to get more of those arcs. And especially some characters that weren't really covered at all in the books, some even just barely mentioned. Also, the new characters that weren't in the books but that make sense, they have been great to watch.
That being said, a lot of it I still don't think they should've changed. Or at least at this point, prior to seeing the season finale, some of it does not seem to serve a purpose that'd make it better than it could've been had it been done more aligned with the source. Some of that stuff feels like it might have worked had they introduced it later on, rather than this early. Remember, that we are just barely getting started at this point, and we're already getting... a lot.
Which is also kind of good. I remember reading Blood of Elves and at the end of it, feeling like we didn't really get anywhere. After the exciting and action-packed short stories, it felt a little slow and unimportant. The show's writers seem to have had a similar feeling, since they are throwing in a bunch of stuff to try and make it exciting at all times. Most of it works, I admit, and I'd bet for the average viewer who hasn't read the books, it might just work altogether well. But not all of it works. Some not at all.
I really hope they manage to tie things together in the finale, however, because if not, this show stands to get more and more off base on some fronts and I fear what that may bring us moving forward.
Episodes 1 and 4 have been the two saving graces for this season. Episodes 2 and 3 were not great, at least to me, but episodes 5-7 have been mostly okay. I think episodes 2 and 3 suffered from being sort of an adjustment period for the changes, but even reviewing them now, they weren't great. I truly hope they somehow manage to save a lot of the worse parts in the finale.
But even if I'm being very critical, I still do think that there's great potential with this show. You can't please everyone, and I get that nerdy farts like me probably aren't the real target audience for the show. We already have the books. They aim to cash in on the contemporary popularization of fantasy, which all in all, is good. Even if I don't especially like the decisions made here, it's still great to see fantasy getting more and more popular.
On a positive side, it's no longer giving people such nerdy, sweaty impressions when I talk about the books and worlds I like. But on a downside, e.g when I talk about witcher, a lot of people no longer associate it with the books, but rather on the games (earlier) and even now, this show.
As a lightweight consumer and a moderate fan, I do not care so much, but I do feel for the author and the fans who are really hardcore with the lore.