I would have been very happy with a monster of the week type series with a small portion of each episode revealing a main story that ends on the last episode with a big finale cliffhanger for the next season.
The Witcher series (Netflix)
- Thread starter Devrij
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I would have been very happy with a monster of the week type series with a small portion of each episode revealing a main story that ends on the last episode with a big finale cliffhanger for the next season.
The whole of season 2 feels kind of boring, I couldn't even remember what happened at the end of season 1 though so maybe that's why.
Geralt visiting his old friend was probably the highlight..
maybe I'm getting old or too used to series that are more gripping or faster/better paced.
I can't say I would have been left longing for the next episode if I were watching on a week by week basis, kinda found it hard to binge it..
IDK is binging things killing my experience? does anyone else feel maybe the binge is the problem.
Unless a series is really good then maybe binging leaves an unpleasant after taste you otherwise wouldn't have noticed.
Right? it takes exceptional talent as a screenwriter to transcribe material from a fantasy series as expansive as The Witcher and have it play out coherently on screen. As much **** as Weiss and Benioff got for GoTs, there ability to do just that was EXACTLY what made that show so great. Having writers as gifted as them is a truly rare thing in television. Hissrich and her writing team at Netflix don't have that same level talent and should adjust accordingly. The short hand storytelling they do really is great. They keep it snappy and they know how to balance out tension properly. But the long form narrative they're attempting to spin out is painful and it takes up so much time each episode. It's just really poor storytelling because it doesn't inform your intrigue as a viewer, despite the fact that's precisely what it's designed to do. I really feel sorry for anyone who isn't clued into the lore from either the books or the games because the show throws so much at you to process all the time.
The Mandalorian is a great comparison. That show always hints towards something more but always keeps it's focus dialed into the main characters.
I don't think that's the case. If something is well written and performed it'll shine through regardless and to be fair TV binge culture isn't a platform issue, it's an audience one.
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Man of Honour
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I’m absolutely loving this season so far.
me too!
Dropping the whole series all at once doesn't allow a TV show to build hype or to breathe opposed to a once a week old school episode schedule. I do feel like this is detrimental to the whole viewing experience personally.
Not at all, I can't put my finger on why but I've found people are far more accepting of utter mediocrity where sci-fi, fantasy or comic book TV shows are concerned. I don't know if it's the faux geek culture that's jumped to the forefront in recent years due social media or something else.
I watch very little TV for the reasons well demonstrated by series 2 of the Witcher.
The first series was an often bemusing fantasy, anthology-like in presentation, featuring an amusingly indifferent lead with some characters developing in sub-plots. It was great, apart from the last episode which featured barely any Witcher and a lot of uninteresting background characters.
The second series is absolutely ****ing ****. Almost everything good about the first series was nuked in favour of extremely generic TV-like meandering boringness, with very little actual plot development and not the dialogue or intrigue to back it up. It felt like a supermarket ‘own brand’ of Game of Thrones. Even Jennifer and her mentor were made boring (the latter emotional when she was previously harsh and cold).
Really gutted. The first episode, in the castle with the magic beast, was by FAR the best (and actually rather great). The rest was mind numbing.
I actually laughed out loud at the ‘make it up as you go along’ storytelling, when a dump of new plot information was introduced and followed up with “we don’t know what this means!!!” - well no ****, nobody does! How could we know!!
My wife seemed to enjoy it but she is more drawn to the ‘be fed stimulus and enjoy’ type things, whereas I’m much more critical.
Urgh.
Edit: I wrote that blind to anyone else’s views, looking back at other comments I completely agree with those that think this show is best as a ‘monster of the week’ / ‘mandolorian-esque’ episodic type thing. I lost all interest in the silly / boring ‘war’.
Edit 2: @DrToffnar I know exactly what you mean - the ‘long narrative’ they try to spin is excruciating
Edit 3: OK I was being dramatic, on an episode by episode basis it wasn’t mind-numbing but I feel like it was as a whole. Thinking back to how good the dragon episode and ‘possessed princess’ episodes were from season 1, then the first episode of season 2 with the beast… to the lame ‘monolith plodding / political war’. Such a shame!
The first series was an often bemusing fantasy, anthology-like in presentation, featuring an amusingly indifferent lead with some characters developing in sub-plots. It was great, apart from the last episode which featured barely any Witcher and a lot of uninteresting background characters.
The second series is absolutely ****ing ****. Almost everything good about the first series was nuked in favour of extremely generic TV-like meandering boringness, with very little actual plot development and not the dialogue or intrigue to back it up. It felt like a supermarket ‘own brand’ of Game of Thrones. Even Jennifer and her mentor were made boring (the latter emotional when she was previously harsh and cold).
Really gutted. The first episode, in the castle with the magic beast, was by FAR the best (and actually rather great). The rest was mind numbing.
I actually laughed out loud at the ‘make it up as you go along’ storytelling, when a dump of new plot information was introduced and followed up with “we don’t know what this means!!!” - well no ****, nobody does! How could we know!!
My wife seemed to enjoy it but she is more drawn to the ‘be fed stimulus and enjoy’ type things, whereas I’m much more critical.
Urgh.
Edit: I wrote that blind to anyone else’s views, looking back at other comments I completely agree with those that think this show is best as a ‘monster of the week’ / ‘mandolorian-esque’ episodic type thing. I lost all interest in the silly / boring ‘war’.
Edit 2: @DrToffnar I know exactly what you mean - the ‘long narrative’ they try to spin is excruciating
Edit 3: OK I was being dramatic, on an episode by episode basis it wasn’t mind-numbing but I feel like it was as a whole. Thinking back to how good the dragon episode and ‘possessed princess’ episodes were from season 1, then the first episode of season 2 with the beast… to the lame ‘monolith plodding / political war’. Such a shame!
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Finished it last night. Absolutely not for me. The first season was dross but it knew it exactly what type of show it wanted to be whereas this season was just meandering twaddle from start to finish. If it weren't for the GF wanting to see where it ended up I'd have abandoned it after episode 5.
Soldato
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Finished s2, meh.
I am the opposite of you, thought this was not bad and matrix 4 was dreadful. I got a lot more fun out of this than matrix 4.
I do agree though that yennifer and tris are very badly cast. Henry is an awesome fit though.
I quite enjoyed wheel of time also. Not awesome but again better than most other content out there for me personally.
Soldato
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I really enjoyed s2 as well.
WoT says hi lol
Just finished season 2 and I'm really disappointed.
I thought the writing was poor, almost childish (constant F bombs just felt really weird and out of place), almost every character (especially younger cast) had the same exact dialogue and way of speaking that it made it difficult to distinguish between them. Aside from the core characters, the ocean of exposition and running waffle from the constantly rotating cast, all using the same voice, was so dire it was difficult to get through.
Unless they narrow the focus onto the main cast, which should be 90% Geralt and Ciri, then it'll continue to go down the drain. Fringilla, Francesca and Cahir's is a tale for Geralt to hear on his travels, not hours of waffling nonsense between badly adapted characters with a poor script. Let novels be novels, television needs to be television. CDPR adapted the novels to tell stories in videogames really well, surely Netflix can find people to do the same for television?
I want to see Geralt being a Witcher, I want to see monsters from the lore and legend, I want to see him teaching Ciri the world of monsters and men, I want the supporting cast to teach her about her power. I want to watch her as she uncovers her destiny and deepens her relationships with the core cast and gradually becomes more independent. The story and script needs to be adapted to better suit audiences and the relationships between these core characters, everything else needs to facilitate this. Locations and its people need to be better represented and easily distinguishable from each other.
Skipping from character to character, location to location might work in Game of Thrones, but here, with these writers and directors? Nope. If they don't change it, I'll be surprised if Netflix goes beyond a 3rd season. Because right now The Witcher is a sporadic series of quality moments floating in a sea of drudgery. And yet, there's so much potential for something incredible, they're just going about it in the wrong way.
I thought the writing was poor, almost childish (constant F bombs just felt really weird and out of place), almost every character (especially younger cast) had the same exact dialogue and way of speaking that it made it difficult to distinguish between them. Aside from the core characters, the ocean of exposition and running waffle from the constantly rotating cast, all using the same voice, was so dire it was difficult to get through.
Unless they narrow the focus onto the main cast, which should be 90% Geralt and Ciri, then it'll continue to go down the drain. Fringilla, Francesca and Cahir's is a tale for Geralt to hear on his travels, not hours of waffling nonsense between badly adapted characters with a poor script. Let novels be novels, television needs to be television. CDPR adapted the novels to tell stories in videogames really well, surely Netflix can find people to do the same for television?
I want to see Geralt being a Witcher, I want to see monsters from the lore and legend, I want to see him teaching Ciri the world of monsters and men, I want the supporting cast to teach her about her power. I want to watch her as she uncovers her destiny and deepens her relationships with the core cast and gradually becomes more independent. The story and script needs to be adapted to better suit audiences and the relationships between these core characters, everything else needs to facilitate this. Locations and its people need to be better represented and easily distinguishable from each other.
Skipping from character to character, location to location might work in Game of Thrones, but here, with these writers and directors? Nope. If they don't change it, I'll be surprised if Netflix goes beyond a 3rd season. Because right now The Witcher is a sporadic series of quality moments floating in a sea of drudgery. And yet, there's so much potential for something incredible, they're just going about it in the wrong way.