Thursday, August 17, 2023

The First Geralt's Last Ride


 

I have my daughter to thank for some new toys. 

Explanation: I have never liked super deformed or caricature figures, funkos included. However, there was something about the Witcher ones that captured the spirit of the show. I kept seeing them on sale but never all 4 of the main characters at once. Without knowing any of this, for Father’s Day, Anabelle (having heard his songs in the car and me talking about how funny he was) got me the Jaskier one as a joke along with a note saying she’d watch the series I’ve been telling her she’d like with me. Therefore I “NEEDED” to order the other three. She helped me pick the coolest looking ones. 
Thanx kiddo , they look great and I enjoyed seeing the series with you.

Translation- Not only have I watched The Witcher season three, but I watched the whole show again from the beginning with Anabelle.

As she will be very quick to point out, I have no ability to remember most characters names, the ones I do remember, I spell incorrectly...
And this level of confusion has led to me not noticing certain things.
Like one of her favorite characters in Blood Origin not only dying but literally and violently exploding.

However, I will state again how much I enjoy being a low level fan of something with huge amount of pre-existing lore that I can happily ignore.

Henry Cavill is the reason I started watching this show and I will certainly miss him. However, Yen's and Ciri's stories and performances have drawn me into the plot just as much as Geralt's and I am looking forward to following their adventures.
And Yarpen should come back as often as possible, because he's an awesome hoot.

I am amazed people were surprised when the show runner pointed out, after Season Three was released, that Ciri is the actual main character. 
Really, you didn't notice that?
Have you been watching the show? 
She's the character going through the most changes and having the most complex character arc.

Geralt and Ciri are her parents and mentors. 
This may not fully follow the books (although I've seen some folks say it does) and games, but there is no concern about actors aging in those media. This is Ciri's coming of age story. 
Yes, Yen is a better mage, and Geralt is a better Witcher, but they pretty much completed their character arcs to become Ciri's surrogate parents in the first two seasons. 
Now Ciri's arc continues with their support, protection and training. 
I'm not sure if Jaskier has an arc...or if his role is only to sing awesome songs and point out how ridiculous everything happening around him is. 
He's excellent at his job, though, and this kind of story needs a character doing that.

I was also amazed when those against the show's changes from original cannon celebrated the rumor than season four is on hold indefinitely as evidence that their viewpoint is correct. 
Dude, writers and actors are not working...
EVERYTHING is on hold indefinitely.

Anyway, I'm having fun, I will continue to have fun, and after those final three episodes of this season, I'm glad I didn't bother learning many of the characters names.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of that archer we met with the Dryads. She seems to be a cool new main character. I think her name starts with an "M."

Before signing off, here's a spoiler free episode guide for Season Three:

Episode 1- A butt kicking family on the move.
Episode 2- Icky, magical experiments discovered
Episode 3-  Old villains return and political shenanigans happen
Episode 4- Fun on a boat
Episode 5- The Met Gala with Magic Users
Break
Episode 6- The insanely huge, honkin' battle
Episode 7- Ciri's vision quest
Episode 8- Setting up for next season and a nice violent farewell scene for Henry
(Bonus- Freya gets a violent scene too!)

OK, Liam, you've got some huge boots to fill. Good luck!

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