This is more of a review of the second season of The Witcher. For the record I have neither read the books nor played the games.
This season started out strong. I still couldn't shake off the aftertaste of the first episode. I was rooting for Nivellen and Vereena all the way. It echoed well with the moral of the excellent first episode of season 1, the fight with Renfri. It makes you question, who are the real monsters here?
Throughout the rest of the season, the plot moved forward, but at a slower pace than the first season. It took me three sittings to "binge" through the eight episodes. The intensity and excitement simply wasn't there anymore.
Thereafter we have to wait till the 6th episode for some well-choreographed fights comparable to the intensity of the first season's. Elsewhere we have CGI fights.
Music-wise, the theme "Linked by Destiny" is so overused and misused in scenes. Jaskier's "Burn, Butcher, Burn" is such an obvious rip-off of Hamilton's "Burn". There are no memorable new tunes.
Then comes the season finale. It is my opinion that it is genuinely poorly written. Elements of it are childish, like watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (also Netflix). The main confrontation was simply people standing around and CGI happened. A group of witchers with potions could not do what Geralt could without potion. The gore of tragic deaths turned out to be comedic, even though I would suppose that wasn't the writers' intentions. Sacrifices have no stake, actions have no consequence. Everything was dumbed down intellectually.
Lastly, if the final reveal is true, then the entire series is pointless. The protagonists and the antagonists could have just talked, and there would be no conflict.
This season started out strong. I still couldn't shake off the aftertaste of the first episode. I was rooting for Nivellen and Vereena all the way. It echoed well with the moral of the excellent first episode of season 1, the fight with Renfri. It makes you question, who are the real monsters here?
Throughout the rest of the season, the plot moved forward, but at a slower pace than the first season. It took me three sittings to "binge" through the eight episodes. The intensity and excitement simply wasn't there anymore.
Thereafter we have to wait till the 6th episode for some well-choreographed fights comparable to the intensity of the first season's. Elsewhere we have CGI fights.
Music-wise, the theme "Linked by Destiny" is so overused and misused in scenes. Jaskier's "Burn, Butcher, Burn" is such an obvious rip-off of Hamilton's "Burn". There are no memorable new tunes.
Then comes the season finale. It is my opinion that it is genuinely poorly written. Elements of it are childish, like watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (also Netflix). The main confrontation was simply people standing around and CGI happened. A group of witchers with potions could not do what Geralt could without potion. The gore of tragic deaths turned out to be comedic, even though I would suppose that wasn't the writers' intentions. Sacrifices have no stake, actions have no consequence. Everything was dumbed down intellectually.
Lastly, if the final reveal is true, then the entire series is pointless. The protagonists and the antagonists could have just talked, and there would be no conflict.