The Witcher (TV Series) Voleth Meir (2021) User Reviews

I don't like where this is going...

[finnschneider-25831 · 7/10 · 19 December 2021]

Alright, I'm a bit worried.

But first off the good things, still a good with with nice scenery and great actors. Especially Geralt, Ciri, Dandelion (what a nice reunion) and Yen. But Yarpen Zigrin who came back for this episode was nice. All in all his dwarve gang coming back was a good point of this episode. The female dwarve with the beard was a funny small detail. But I don't know if it would have been better to use more actors like Yarpen with cinematic tricks, than Liliputians. Their fight did seem rather ridiculous than brutal and realistic. But I guess they wanted some more diversity or maybe get on the GoT hype. For Fen ist worked actually quite nice, but a strong fighter is something different.

But, what else is going on. The story went off the rails more and more after episode 1, that I can hardly see similarities between the show and the book. And it's starting to show. Lucky coincidences everywhere for people to meet. People flying all over the map, even without portals. Really weird plottwists and "solutions" for difficult situations are coming up. Neneke is suddenly able to create portals? What the hell, she is no magician, but a priestess and a healer. Overall her actress is way overacting and seemed rather unlikeable. Yen just went completely nuts and believed a well-known "evil" witch and tried to bring her Ciri, just to stop in the last minute and why? No real reason, just because.

Francesca once one of the mightiest magicians in the world and leader of the elves is nothing more than a loving mother with puppy eyes, who is not doing anything to further the plot. Speaking of, Fringilla is becoming more and more annoying. If they somehow make her ruler of Cintra and Cahir obedient, that would be the stupidiest thing ever. Cahir is probably the most loyal and stubborn character in the witcher and never would let himself get controlled that easily. He and Emhyr would have her executed in the blink of an eye. Speaking of which, Emhyr and the Nilfgardians would never give that much power to a magician in the first place. They are originally controlled quite strictly in Nilfgard. I really hope they kill her off, since her scenes are quite unnerving and her actress is not able to transport any emotion or real presence to the screen.

Another thing is evil witch storyline, which is getting to much time and importance for my taste. The story seems to stray more and more and it get's the feeling they just want to check certain boxes (monster fights, strong female leaders, incompetent and brutal male leaders *I mean seriously, every King is incompetent, bored and just doesn't care at all, they don't even try to do anything, if there advisors/mages doesn't push them to do it*, diverse cast, new "fresh" plotline), rather than actually telling the Witcher story or even their own coherent story they had in mind when planning this one out.

But I haven't lost hope yet. Because there are too many things that I enjoy about this show. Hopefully they finish some of their weird storylines (evil witch in the hut and Francesca and Fringilla in Cintra) in the final and return a bit more to the actuall story, which is a wonderful story by the way (read the books!), what would help bringing this show back on the red line and make it that much more enjoyable.

Entertaining, but...

[orgrinrt · 7/10 · 20 December 2021]

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.

How could you

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 29 December 2021]

We've arrived to the pre final episode and I have been given more questions than answers, leaving me hopeless that this will all be resolved. Good acting, action coordination, and cinematography.

the knot

[Kirpianuscus · 16 August 2022]

The episode is just a knot , using different parts of novel, crafting in beautiful manner the tension, defining, in wise way, the characters. In essence, the sketch for the new season. The great virtues - the travel of Ciri and Yennefer , the precise definition of Gerald about his daughter in spiritual sense and the nice remind for an Eastern European like of Muma Padurii .

what??????

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 1 January 2022]

The penultimate episode of the season does a solid job at bringing together the most dramatic moments of revelation and tragedy and then leaves us with a sinister cliffhanger. I'll admit that I didn't recognize Vola's home when Ciri and Yennefer portalled there at the end of The Witcher Season 2 Episode 6, but seeing as it's where Ciri and Geralt first met, it seems fitting that Ciri and Yennefer make their first magical trip there. Unfortunately for Vola and her family, Reince visits before Ciri drops in, leaving their bodies for her to find. It's no wonder that Ciri thinks she attracts violence and death. There was a lot of horseback travel used here, which makes my slightly distractable brain wonder how far apart the various cities and landmarks are. In essence, it modifies a plot point from the books - Yennefer being blinded during the Battle of Sodden Hill - and stretches it out over the entire season, adding a brand-new monster for good measure. The rest of the season - Francesca's elves, Rience, even the exploration of Ciri's heritage - is more about laying the foundation for next year, making it in effect one big sidestory. In other words, while a lot happens this year, relatively little is actually resolved. In the meantime, "Voleth Meir" features a number of major developments for The Witcher's various season-long storylines. Francesca loses the baby; Yennefer finally betrays Geralt one too many times, and Rience's accomplice Lydia accidentally burns her face off. In the meantime, "Voleth Meir" features a number of major developments for The Witcher's various season-long storylines. Francesca loses the baby; Yennefer finally betrays Geralt one too many times, and Rience's accomplice Lydia accidentally burns her face off.

Great set up for the finale.

[jaqmeister · 9/10 · 20 December 2021]

Not sure about how i feel about Voleth Meir at first. I watched the episode again and it grew on me.

I hated how Yen tried to sell out Ciri to Voleth Meir but at least she stopped before it was too late.

The episode really is better after watching the end.

💓

[luvskatz5 · 10/10 · 12 July 2022]

Love the show and the different interpretation of characters from books and games. Some people need to stop getting their panties/bots into a wad and go watch something else or GROW UP.

Consistency is key!

[ha77y73ad97 · 8/10 · 19 January 2022]

For some people this may not be the best series in the world but for the level that they were going for in this series i cannot deny that im enjoying this from start to finish.

After Yennifer and Ciri escape their journey together is awesome, teach Ciri some minor magic and then cause a lot more harm than good leads me to believe that this is going to be a good end to the series!

Geralts annoying little brother Jaskier being broken out of prison was just a great scene, the song to how easily dispatch's the guard was great to see. They were certainly a highlight of the first series and to be back together that will be great to see.

Overall i love the ending of the series could go perfectly in terms of the netflix series but in terms of the books this will be completely different.

[7.6] Yennefer - a shadow of her former self

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 8 April 2022]

Episode 7: Good rating for the story-telling (true or not), development, some acting, above-average thrillingly interesting vibe and a great score. I have to admit that I don't see the next episode bringing a bright momentary end to the season till the next one sees the light.

True to the books or not, the writers failed blatantly in having a smooth coordinated screenplay and according storyline's arcs and plots and it shows itself in this season and up to now.

Still weak. Or getting weaker.

[LegendaryFang56 · 6/10 · 6 January 2022]

Great, more political warfare/chess. That's easily the weakest aspect of this season. I have no idea whether it's the opposite in the novels. It's certainly not very interesting in this season. But I imagine there are plenty of people who love the way it's written/done. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Another of the weakest aspects is everything to do with this Voleth Meir demon/monster thing. When it began in the second episode, it didn't make much sense: and now, it still doesn't make much sense. I mean, I guess it does make sense now. The most important thing, anyway. What the whole Deathless Mother thing was. It was so she could free herself. Still, everything about that seems so disconnected, so thank god it's kind of over now.

The structuring of all the plot points has also been weird. It's like the ones responsible for that don't have enough experience, or they aren't good at it, yet the source material requires more characters to be introduced and for the world to expand, and so on. So, they have no choice but to structure everything, probably to the liking of the writers/directors of each episode, or Lauren Schmidt Hissrich herself, only they just aren't suited enough for the task.

For example:

• I think the last time Aretuza showed up was in the third episode. That's when Yennefer rescued Cahir. Yet we're thrown back into the swing of things with Aretuza. Not only that, Tissaia and Vilgefortz are suddenly a thing as well as a part of the Council now. I guess them making "a play for their seats" worked out for them, yet it's sudden to us. To begin with, we don't even have that much context and information on all of that, either. The Council, their purpose, etc. You're just expected to and have no choice but to follow along based on a whole lot of vagueness and ambiguity.

• cont.) You'd think that Yennefer escaping with Cahir would've destroyed that effort. You know, considering how Stregobor is always using Yennefer as a talking point to sway the masses in his favor and against Tissaia; by extension, Vilgefortz, too. Guess not.

• cont.) As far as Tissaia and Vilgefortz and being together are concerned, it wasn't as sudden. It was foreshadowed and hinted at in the finale of the first season. But still. There's a little too much ambiguity and not enough explaining regarding stuff in this season, and the way the plot points and plot lines are structured isn't doing any favors.

My other thoughts:

• The cinematography at the beginning and end of the episode looked nice. The blue color palette (?) at the beginning looked nice. As did the end of the episode with the sun setting. Especially at the end of the episode. Something about how the shots looked with natural lighting and being a little dimmed because of the sun setting looked great.

• I can't believe I didn't notice it until now, but Mecia Simson would make a fantastic Diana Burnwood. Her voice is perfect.

• Wait, what? Is Lydia dead, just like that? If she's dead, that's hilarious. Dying, all from inhaling the Witcher mutagen with Cirilla's blood in smoke form. Or something more magic-y. That's a good one. I think we'd all like to go out as she did: an idiot. If only there were other ways to do what she was doing that isn't so conveniently made to where she'd die from it. /s

• cont.) Or Rience did something to it. It did look like her face was burning. And he said to her that he hadn't the time nor strength to open a portal; also aided with his escape. But he did. That's how he escaped, so he lied to Lydia.

• cont.) There's no way she's dead. In the finale, so it shall be revealed. I guarantee it. But if she is dead, let us all come together to create some good ol' hearty laughter. Boy, was her death hilarious! AMEN!

• Fringilla taking matters into her hands was cool; how everyone was stuck as she went through them, one by one. The entire scene itself. That was one of this episode's highlights, for sure.

• As far as Francesca's child getting murdered is concerned, I think it was Cahir. He did tell Fringilla at the beginning of the episode that if the elves refuse to serve, to let him deal with them. Everything he does "is in service of the White Flame." And he seems devoted. Devoted enough to where he'd likely make hard decisions; if it were for the White Flame.

• cont.) The only other person I can think of is Dara. But it couldn't have been him. Fringilla is another possibility, and I think some people think it was her. I don't think it was her, either. It could've been Voleth Meir, but she'd have to have a physical body, which I don't think she has.

• cont.) So, it had to have been Cahir or someone else. Maybe it was nobody in a physical sense, and the baby magically blew up or something like that, thanks to Voleth Meir, and that's why there was blood. Or General Hake told someone to go and kill Francesca's child before Fringilla did her thing. The camera did focus on him when Gage yelled to Filavandrel that the baby was early in the previous episode.

• I guess the callback was cool. To the second episode. The callback to what Vesemir told Cirilla about one of the first Witchers, including one of the oldest monsters: a demon. And how the Witchers bound her deep in the forest. At the time, I figured that story was referring to the hut-in-the-woods lady, and now it's confirmed. Now, Cirilla is possessed by Voleth Meir and heading to Kaer Morhen. The knife she used to kill Klef, one of the first Witchers, also comes to mind. It could end up used against Voleth Meir-possessed Cirilla.

Who, what, huh?

[TheCorniestLemur · 6/10 · 21 April 2022]

Okay I know it's been a while since I watched the previous episode of this show, but I swear they just dropped a completely new character in, who seems to have a long-term relationship with Tissaia all of a sudden? Maybe my memory isn't sharp enough, but I don't remember this guy at all.

But aside from that, it's largely the same sort of affair that I remember the majority of this show being up until now - all the performances are good, the cinematography looks nice even if it's crying out for some better direction a lot of the time, decent soundtrack, and broadly speaking, the plotlines I cared about before are the ones I still do now, and the ones I didn't care about, I still don't, really.

I liked Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri's parts as is the norm for this season (even though Ciri says the nearest way to cross a river is half a day's ride away when you can clearly see a shallow part with rocks making convenient stepping stones not even half a mile away from her, like come ON), and seeing Geralt and Jaskier back together again did bring a not insignificant smile to my face.

But I still can't bring myself to give a toss about Nilfgaard even if Fringilla does do something interesting towards the end, or the magic brotherhood even if I am somewhat curious to see what Dijkstra's up to, so that's a good half of the episode I'm still not that interested in.

I guess it could all come together next time?

Why so many changes?

[wojciechwrona · 5/10 · 19 December 2021]

I understand some thing had to be changed and adapted for a tv series, but they have went too far with changes to original story. I mean Yennefer kidnapping Ciri and bringing her to some witch living in a weird legged house? Rience as powerful magician? Cahir as an absolute ass? Stregobor as a main player?

This is ridiculous. I love how Henry is playing Geralt, and many other actors like Dijkstra or Jaskier are great but come on... there is not much really left from original story.

Saving private Cirilla. Netflix should have tried better.

[alexxxlibra · 5/10 · 2 January 2022]

Geralt and Jaskier: Showrunners should really mind the clothes their characters wear. I'm pretty sure lots of viewers consider the witcher's jacket and the bard's coat to be cool, but to me Geralt's breastplate and all those hundreds of rivets look a bit Batmanlike or even bdsmlike, and I'd rather expect to see Jaskier's outer clothing at a modern fashion show.

Dwrafs: it's good that Netflix gives job to people with dwarfism, I really appreciate and respect that. But in the Witcher world dwarfs are not midgets (!) They are pretty like Tolkien's dwarfs from The Lord of the rings and the Hobbit. They are short and stocky, generally around the height of a human male's chest. However, they are more sturdy than humans, which makes them tougher and stronger, otherwise they couldn't counter human warriors in combat.

Geralt takes a horse from Yarpen Zigrin to get to Cintra faster and the dwarf follows him in a carriage with his crew while Jaskier keeps walking alongside like some kind of dog. You might say the bard's just stretching his legs as he's got tired of sitting in the carriage but aren't they supposed to be in a hurry? Anyway, I don't like the way Netflix's Geralt treats Jaskier.

From Lydia's example we might learn not to sniff every substance from the bottle that's fallen into the hands.

Vilgefortz: every time I see this guy he makes me think I'm watching some kind of X-rated fanfic for adults not a real series. This actor is definitely miscast.

Yennefer and Ciri: I might be a bit slow-witted but I had to watch the scene at the river several times before I realized that Ciri had teleported them with the horses to the far bank. In fact, it was the horses grazing serenely in the background that tripped me up. I don't think animals would stay that calm after having just been teleported!

As I haven't read the books I really enjoyed the moment when Fringilla assassinated the White Flame's generals in front of helpless paralyzed Cahir intimidating him into vouching for her to the emperor. You may tell me it looked like a tribute to feminism but it was still cool and unexpected.

As Ciri reads Yennefer's mind and learns about her betrayal, she has an outburst of anger and magic power and disrupts the ground alerting Nilfgaardians in Cintra that send a patrol to get them. Yennefer must have forgotten her fighting skills, she demonstrated in episode 6 of season 1 when she took down several mercenaries using a sword, and just clumsily brandishes a stick. Luckily, Geralt and Yarpen's squad arrive in time to defeat the Nilfgaardians. Jaskier catches freshly cut Nilfgaardian head and does not get a single drop of blood on his white shirt. Then Geralt tells Yarpen to take Ciri to Kaer Morhen. Ciri predictably ignores Jaskier who seems to be the one to wipe boots on in Netflix series. They leave. Geralt and Yennefer teleport to Voleth Meir's hut. And Nilfgaardians seem not to give a damn about their guards who have just been massacred at several miles from the town walls.

The series sucks in every episode in a greater or lesser degree.

PS Bare-chested Joey Batey must have made thousands of female (and probably a certain percentage of male) fanbase ecstatic.

Just read the books and your show will be 10/10.

[giridharidas · 1/10 · 19 December 2021]

I am so mad about season 2, they changed tooooooo much.

• Ofc. Rience brought Ciri's blood to Lydia, and ofc this never happened.

• Voleth Meir, WHO THE FFFF IS SHE??? SHE NEVER WAS IN THE BOOK, VILGEFORTZ IS THE MAIN BAD GUY, BUT NO, NETFLIX NEVER READ THE BOOKS!

• Ciri has blood as tears, I swear, this is nonsense.

• Yen's and Ciri's storyline in the show has never exicted.

• Yen betrayed Ciri and Geralt, by the way, this never happened :)

• Witcher were made to stop Voleth Meir the first? I am out, this is a TOTAL JOKE.

So let's go full circle with our imagined witcher story

[tju-04522 · 5/10 · 17 January 2022]

I think it's nice that Geralt and Jaskier see each other again after so long. But I don't know why they show Yarpen and his dwarves for literally two scenes, which was about 100 pages in the book, so why show them at all when they only take up 2-3 minutes of screen time in the whole episode. I think it's good that Netflix wants to give work to people with dwarfism, but the dwarves in the Witcher universe are chest high. Therefore, they are more powerful and stronger than most humans and can defeat humans in hand-to-hand combat. This would also show people that smaller humans can still be very strong, but the way they are shown here is just a waste of time and doesn't do justice to the great portrayal of the dwarves that Sapkowski showed in his epic.

Yennefer tries to take Ciri to the witch, which is supposed to be a reference to the Slavic folk tale of Baba Yaga, but it seems completely out of place the way the producers use it. The use of swear words this season is so out of place that I cringe every time they are used, especially in the scene where Ciri teleports Yennefer the horses and herself while yelling "FUUUUUUUUCK". The horses didn't even seem to act any different after they were ported, which doesn't fit in the universe because people get exhausted and can even vomit after they are ported.

The only scene that was kind of cool was the one where Fringilla stopped time and killed some officers to get Cahir to follow her orders. It was kind of another sign of female dominance, but I still liked the scene. The elf child is killed to serve as a new motivation to fight the humans, and it seems to bring the witch story arc full circle (we learn it was Emhyr in the next episode). This whole artificial elf story arc only served to get to the same point as the elves in episode 3 or 4 with their fighting spirit, and is therefore a complete waste of airtime in my opinion.

After that, Geralt and the dwarves kill some Nilfgaardians with only one attack per knight. I don't know why they put in such a forced action scene to fill 1 minute of screen time. The witch leaves her physical form and takes possession of Ciri to create a completely artificial season finale that never happened in the books.

In conclusion, they used all the airtime for the elves, Fringilla and Yennefer to tell a story that was never in the books. They could have saved the airtime and made a proper season finale according to the original. They should rethink what they want to portray, whether the Witcher should be the Witcher or just a cheap GoT with names from the Witcher universe.

Tacky, crude, callous

[Matt345 · 28 September 2023]

This is the kind of episode that makes one just hate what one is watching, even it is from a franchise one believes one likes. Right from the beginning words of "Come back to bed. You have far too many clothes on" (incidentally to a character one initially definitely expected to be not cast for this), all the dialogue and behaviour is horribly clichéd. There is constant crude, shrill brutality and other hysteria, and the storyline reveals more than ever to be a million miles away from the original. One can almost feel how this must have seeped into Henry Cavill's brain to turn him away from the main role he so loved, especially with one symbolic scene towards the end... The writer and director of this have zero respect from me.

Almost a program about traveling by horse.

[forpassord · 5/10 · 18 April 2022]

I am no fan of Netflix and usually find their movies flawed with plot holes, bad manuscripts and other annoyances. And this is another episode in this season that was barely OK and a letdown after the first season and this seasons first episode! After the first episode of this season this series have become more and more disappointing to me.

I have played the three The Witcher games, but not read the books.

In a series about The Witcher I expect action and at least a scene with a monster being fought. In this episode there was not even a glimpse of a monster or a monster fight! I really hope that this episode at least is a part of a build up for something large, because except for the first episode, the second season have been a disappointment so far!

Other than that, the acting, some of the characters, the CGI, the music, were..................................good ;-)