Season 2

And the title of most improved since season 1 goes to...

This season was an actual improvement in my opinion. As someone who has had no previous experience with The Witcher, meaning I never read the books nor played the video games, Season 1 was kind of a confusing introduction.

Thankfully, Season 2 was a step up for me. They dropped the non-linear storytelling (not that I don't like it when it's done, I just don't think Season 1 did it very well), Geralt gets a personality upgrade (thanks to Henry Cavill insisting) and the story feels more coherent.

Season 2 also allows for some great character interactions, special shout-outs to my new favorite Dad and Daughter duo Geralt and Ciri, as well as to best frenemies Yennefer and Jaskier.

New characters are introduced and some of season 1's are better developed (like Triss and Cahir) and there is some real payoff to what it set up throughout the season.

I still have problems keeping up with all the characters and their names though. The show still has a feeling of "too much is going on" but at least coherence is given this time.

It was an overall really good season, I enjoyed it way more than it's predecessor.

I don't even remember much of what happened throughout this season, specifically the first few episodes: besides Cirilla's training at Kaer Morhen, pretty much. There's so much jumping, back and forth, between things, most of which seems so nonsensical now. So much of it dragged out, tedious, and boring.

And for over three weeks, I've been watching through this season, starting with the day it came out. You'd think that would help with engraining a lot of what happened throughout it in my head. Yet because most of it was nonsensical and because nothing much truly happened, just a whole bunch of nothing masked as a whole lot of everything, I'm having trouble remembering what I remembered more clearly after each episode.

Given the source material, I imagine the writers had no choice but to "expand" the world through so-called "worldbuilding" and the introduction of new characters, and so on. The problem lies in the execution. More specifically, the people themselves doing it and their expertise, or lack thereof.

And the structure/editing was weird at times. One instance: for the first three episodes, Aretuza and its inner workings are somewhat a focus. Then, after the third episode, that aspect falls off the face of the Earth until the seventh episode, where you're suddenly tossed back into that pond and have no choice but to accept the vagueness and ambiguity of it all, which isn't clever: it's unimaginative, weak writing.

Not only that, Yennefer's story arc with her struggle, alongside the somewhat shared story arc with Fringilla and Francesca involving the Deathless Mother/Voleth Meir, and the separate story arc with Fringilla and Francesca/the elves in Cintra felt convoluted and didn't make much sense.

• Giving Yennefer that struggle didn't make much sense: there was more unnecessary vagueness regarding how it happened as well. The resolution didn't make much sense, either, on top of it being cheap.

• The whole Deathless Mother/Voleth Meir thing was the weakest part of the season; a huge chunk of the season, and it was meandering. Logic itself seemed to dislike it, which impacted it a lot in a somewhat negative way. And it was uninteresting and tedious as well, for the most part.

• Fringilla's story arc with Francesca and the elves in Cintra was boring. There was also barely any focus on it for most of the season until it's in the spotlight suddenly, giving the impression that the writers somehow expect you to care about all of it.

One thing that was a clear improvement was the production value. The showrunners/producers/or whatever seemed to learn how to use the money for this season. More money than any of us will ever SEE, let alone have, is used for this show, and it hardly looked like it in the first season. But I guess there's a whole lot that goes into the creation and production of movies and TV shows, especially this one. Barely any of that looking super obvious in the first season is what's mind-boggling.

• Something that went hand in hand with the production value was the cinematography. It was a clear improvement as well. Some specific shots stood out, like the one in the premiere with Tissaia and Cahir with the moonlight through the window: the one in the third episode at the beginning of the scene where Vesemir and Geralt left Eskel's body to the wolves; of the lake and the background before it flipped over.

• The practical effects mixed with CGI and the VFX throughout the season were pretty good; much better looking than in the first season. I think the camera used to film this season played a huge part, as well. The technical aspect was done better, on top of being enhanced even further by the better-quality cinematography.

• The soundtrack practically felt like it was non-existent. It's not like there wasn't a soundtrack; there was. For the first two or three episodes, then it decided to leave. And, yes. I know "Burn, Butcher, Burn" was in the fourth episode. The only two scores that I liked, which also happen to be the only memorable ones, were "Power and Purpose" and "The Pendulum." The soundtrack was a massive downgrade in this season.

• The fight choreography was good, I guess. I don't think there was much action in this season. That's how nonsensical the season was. I don't even remember how much action there was. The fight sequence against Rience's accomplices is the only instance that comes to mind. I thought it was cool: and decent, but the choreography could've been better. Generally, the action this season was decent yet lacking.

• The writing was a bit weak for a lot of the overall dialogue. At times, some of it felt worse than the writing of the plot. Those instances may not have been the entire dialogues, from beginning to end, only parts. But they were poorly written and a bit annoying. Rather than being written based on quality, it's like it was, instead, written based on what your average viewer consumes most, therefore likes/prefers, while simultaneously trying to capture the interest of the people who "matter more."

• The writing for the plot is a whole different story. It was nowhere near as good as some people may say it was. When something so obviously could've been done better, you're doing something very wrong. The same thing also applies to the plot's writing regarding what I said at the end of the previous paragraph.

This season had improvements while simultaneously being worse than the first season. If anything, the showrunner(s) and writers deserve credit for pulling that off.

I feel like wishing and believing the next season will be better is a slippery slope, given how this season turned out; the first season, too, in a lesser sense: and how much better both could've been. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm wishing and believing the next season will be better, but as long as the entertainment is still there, that's good enough for me, even though it'll be disappointing that what we get could've been better.

The second season of Netflix's "The Witcher" has gotten much more positive reviews compared to the first one, which I had rather mixed feelings on. Seeing this trend and being a big fan of the series, I decided to continue with Season 2 and see what's up. To that I will say that the most glaring of Season 1's flaws have been taken care of, though the show still struggles with some things I will cover in more detail.

"The Witcher" wants to be one of those series that wants to stray away from its source material and have its own identity, except that it stays in this weird area of being about 60-70% loyal. It follows the general plot and characters, but the changes that are made never serve to give its own identity and are only confusing. They are not all bad, but those other examples still exist. My biggest gripe has to do with some of the character writing, an aspect that requires more work yet. Ciri being one of the lead characters, with a role about as major as Geralt's in the tale, should not be as mediocre as she is here. Frankly, I just cannot get behind Freya Allan's performance, and I am not sure if I am to blame her entirely. Perhaps it's direction, perhaps it's the writing. Perhaps it's all three factors. Ciri is a charming brat with a lot of personality in the source material. I don't buy any excuse for the portrayal here, for one simple reason - she's boring. Indeed, she has seen a major improvement from the previous season where her entire character boiled down to a screaming machine that was chased about all the time. In fact, she even has many charming moments here. Not enough to capture just how great the real Ciri is however. They also seem to be constantly avoiding the tomboy part of her personality for some reason, one I can maybe only explain as a weird attempt to avoid comparisons to Arya Stark from "Game of Thrones"? Comparisons which would be ridiculous as Ciri predated Arya by several years, but never mind that.

A big shout-out to Henry Cavill for being the greatest strength of the show. He's the perfect casting for Geralt, and with some behind-the-scenes info given, the greatest asset all-around as a fan of the series.Joey Batey comes straight after him as one of the best actors of the series. His eccentric performance steals the focus of any scene he's in, a statement that completely disregards how strong his emotional scenes are as well. One in particular sticks with me still - the conversation they have with Yennefer in the ship about losing one's talents. I like Anya Chalotra quite a lot as Yennefer, and while she differs from who she is in the books, I honestly enjoy seeing this version. Chalotra is able to carry out the sass, aggression, and bottled up emotions of the sorceress. Her plotlines sometimes fail to deliver their reward, but I have to admit they were entertaining and I enjoy seeing this vision of who she is.

A big issue with all of these fantasy adaptations I have has to do with both the studios and the fanbases of respective series. Clearly, everyone is trying to find the next "Game of Thrones". People denying this are wilfully ignorant, a kind of naivette I find obnoxious, but understandable. Media newslets won't shut up about how much each show compares to GoT. They are not GoT - so why do they keep trying to be? Yes, there are differences, but the strong focus POV characters, politics, and death scenes directly opposes the true spirit of the Witcher. Sapkowski can suck off Netflix all day if he wants to, guess he found something in common with all those prostitutes he wrote about. He screwed his deal over on the games, I can see why he is salty, but those truly understand the strength of his material, and even are able to improve on this. Netflix's "The Witcher" continues to double down on the epic elements of this tale, which were never its draw; the down-to-earth moments are what give it its soul. There are more of those moments thankfully, but they still feel insufficient. Episode 1 was great altogether, but goddammit, the campfire scene at the end where Ciri and Geralt's relationship shined - Cavill was the one who pushed for it.

We get a bigger focus on the witchers here, an interesting choice. One that dabbled with its quality. The idea to develop these characters more than in the books is solid, but the execution fails. Lambers is an annoying prick, that much is accurate, but I found his attitude written poorly a lot of the time. Vesemir was more flawed than his book counterpart, a bit of an unbelievable trait, seeing as he is supposed to carry much wisdom. Still, I found his portrayal solid otherwise. Eskel suffered from a major writing flaw, one I need to delve into spoilers to discuss. [spoilers]The person shown here has nothing do with Eskel, who wasn't an all that major character in the books. Fine enough, but why would you make him such an obnoxious edgelord the viewers are actually supposed to care for? It is only after his death that we get a glimpse of the brotherhood between him and Geralt, something that should have come beforehand.[/spoilers]

Cahir is someone I enjoy seeing more of, his arc takes on a lot of turns and I like that. Istredd continues to thread into the story, something completely different from his limited role in the books. I like that. Elven lore is exlpored further here and I found it quite engaging.

The fight choreography was great here and improved on from the first season, one of many common complaints they improved on. Similarly, the CGI has seen betterment, though there are still weak spots that are beyond apparent. The finale was where I was able to be genuinely impressed, I will give this credit in particular as it is due. There are no "experimental" timeline shenanigans here, the plot is fairly straightforward.

And before I finish this, the music remains good.

Season 2 greatly improves on its predecessor, but still suffers from an attempt to make the Witcher something it is not. Overall, I enjoyed watching this and hope the series continues on an upward trajectory. If you're looking for something engaging to watch, give this a shot, but it's by no means essential. The quality is a lot more consistent, I'd say I was hooked at about episode 4, and the first episode was great as well. Some weird decisions bring it down, but altogether, a step in the right direction.