Aww man, why did they kill off Eskel... And it meant nothing at this point :/
But other than that the episode was really awesome
I have mixed feelings about this episode, there are some things which are quite good but also a lot of totally stupid ideas.
Let's start with the positive things. Kaer Morhen looks beautiful, it is quite similar to its depiction in the games which is a plus as I feel it was very well presented there. It is definitely atmospheric, and it is always rather dark inside the fortress even during the day, the same as it was in the game. The castle has a feel of mystery as well as long history. I liked the addition of the tree with the medallions of dead witchers, it was quite a nice touch. I wasn't sure about the actor who plays Vesemir when I first saw the promotional images, but it turns out that he plays his role well and fits the personality of Vesemir, he is very convincing as Geralt's father figure and his mentor relationship with Ciri is also well-presented, as he tells her the history of Kaer Morhen and its witchers. The conversation between Vesemir and Geralt, when Geralt tries to get advice about Ciri was also well done. The last scene with Ciri learning sword-fighting with Geralt and the bird-eye view of Kaer Morhen is quite impressive, too. Here we can see the symbolic transition in Ciri's character as she puts away the fox fur mantle to become a fighter, earlier in the episode she behaved with a lot of dignity, a princess every inch, and she could stand up to the witchers. Now as she takes off the mantle, she leaves her life as a princess behind to start a new period in her life.
The story of Yennefer and Fringilla had nothing to do with the books, but turned out to be rather interesting, maybe because I had no idea where they were going to due to the fact it was not taken from the novels. Yennefer and Fringilla cease to be enemies as they are forced to cooperate after being taken prisoner by the elves. There is also a contrast between Fringilla's faith in the empire of Nilfgard and Yennnefer's more cynical worldview. The elven mage Francesca is introduced, though she is a bit disappointing since in the book she was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, she is not ugly but Yennefer and Ciri are better looking than she is. I wonder why the elves from Sapkowski's novels are depicted as rather ugly in all of the adaptations? It is also the case with the games and the Polish TV show. The dreams Yennefer, Fringilla and Francesca have are quite interesting, though they end with the revelation that Yennefer lost all her magical ability during the battle of Sodden, which I don't think was the case in the novels. She is really devastated when she discovers that she cannot perform magic anymore. I wonder why she didn't join Francesca's train as she would be in danger travelling alone without magic to protect her.
The worst thing about the episode was the plot with Eskel turning into a leshen, and the party with prostitutes that the witchers organised in Kaer Morhen, a totally unnecessary addition and without any sense, as Kaer Morhen was in an isolated place and there were no brothels nearby. It had no function in the plot and served only to add some gratuitous sex scenes, I hated that. The idea of Eskel turned into a leshen was totally stupid as nowhere in the books or even games there is said that a person can be turned into a leshen, it seems it was only added to show Geralt fighting and to highlight his father-son bond with Vesemir, as when he is faced with the choice whether to kill the Eskel-leshen hybrid or let it murder Vesemir, Geralt decides to protect Vesemir. But it was completely pointless to kill off Eskel so early as according to the novels he outlives Geralt together with Lambert and Vesemir. It was definitely an unnecessary addition and deviation from the books. Also his character was changed to more aggressive and unlikable one, though it may be said it was the effect of the leshen on Eskel.
I'm not sure about this episode. The premiere seemed better. Even though it was a slow start: and had only a tiny bit of story progression. This episode had more progression, involving Geralt and Cirilla arriving at Kaer Morhen; and whatever the sections with Yennefer, Fringilla, and Francesca were about. Yet, it felt tedious. Almost. Something to do with that. Regardless of that, this episode was still entertaining to watch.
Here are some of my minor beginning thoughts:
At the start of the episode, I noticed that, in her dream, the room Yennefer was in looked like Cirilla's room in Kaer Morhen. They could merely look similar, but I'm guessing that they were both the same set-piece (?) or actual castle-type room. I found that interesting.
I had a feeling that it was elves at the end of the premiere, but I'm a little mad that I didn't bring that up in my review. Elves are always depicted alongside archery, and I found it doubtful that Tissaia/the Aretuza mages would be using harpoon-like weapons to shoot. Two plus two equals four.
Even though I haven't read the books, the casting choice for Francesca is a bit dubious, appearance-wise. I think she was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Yet Mecia Simson doesn't seem to reflect that. Considering she's part Jamaican, her looks emanate somewhat of an "other-worldly vibe."
cont.) But Anya Chalotra, MyAnna Buring, Jodhi May, Emma Appleton, and Anna Shaffer all look "more attractive" to me. It's all relative, though: isn't it? And she does look somewhat otherworldly; I feel like everyone else doesn't have that factor. At least to the extent that she does, so I guess the casting choice for the character was, in actuality, pretty decent.
Here are things that I liked:
It was nice to see Kaer Morhen in live-action. Everyone involved in bringing it to life did a great job. The first shot of it from the inside, as Geralt and Cirilla were coming in, looked very much like in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Since Cirilla will probably begin training more seriously in the next episode, I wonder if something big will happen at the end, like in the game. Or maybe the equivalent of that was leshy-infected Eskel.
I liked Eskel's character, despite the very little of him there was. Basil Eidenbenz did a good job with the tiny bit of material he had to work off of. His death was disappointing, even though I haven't read the novels. That should be a testament to how killing him off wasn't a good decision.
The fight sequence against leshy-infected Eskel was much better than the one against the Bruxa in the premiere. Henry Cavill's movements were pretty smooth; although, I wish more was done by Eskel. But maybe that would've cost a lot more to do, as well as being harder to film/coordinate.
The score during the end credits was super good. I liked it a lot. The beginning of it was reminiscent of scores in Assassin's Creed games, specifically the ones with Ezio Auditore da Firenze: and then it started sounding reminiscent of scores in the Modern Warfare trilogy. Very nice.
Here are things that seemed iffy to me:
Having prostitutes at Kaer Morhen was weird, given how Cirilla never heard of Kaer Morhen in the premiere and how Geralt told her it's because they like it that way. Bringing any outsiders to there would be risky, given that what almost wiped them all out was because the attackers knew where it was. The writers seemed self-aware regarding that based on the dialogue by Vesemir to Geralt after the latter asked him about the party. But that doesn't make it any better.
cont.) Maybe it was only fanservice for those who've played the games. In the games, I think some moments considered iconic involve parties. But they may not have taken place in Kaer Morhen. This series is based on the book series. There probably were parties in the books and probably in Kaer Morhen, too. But something about how it happened in this episode is iffy.
How did Danica, the prostitute from the first season, know about Cirilla? Geralt seemed taken aback, so I was expecting him to ask her. But he didn't. I guess one of the other Witchers brought it up to her. Pretty stupid if you ask me. I can't think of how else she would've known that Geralt "has a daughter now."
I remember the leak/rumor a while back that Eskel was killed; people were pissed. I wonder if they're more pissed now: because it was correct. Seemingly, there was no point in doing that. His death didn't seem to serve a purpose. Supposedly, it was never said in the novels or even the games that someone can be infected/turned into a leshy. And even Vesemir said that's not possible to Geralt when the latter told him that the leshy infected Eskel.
cont.) In the premiere, Nivellen did say that the world is acting of its (own) strange accord these days. He also mentioned the Wild Hunt. Maybe Eskel getting infected was done to coincide with that. If so, that counts as a purpose behind killing him, I guess. Still, his death could've been done better. Or better yet, no need for that if he wasn't off-ed.
In short, the premiere was better. But this episode was still somewhat entertaining. The first ten minutes up to the title sequence was good, so was the second half and everything in Kaer Morhen; that had the best parts. The plot with Yennefer and Fringilla, while necessary: to introduce Francesca and bring the elves back into play; as well as revealing that Yennefer is having a magic problem; was the weakest. The ending with Cirilla's training starting was nice, too.
I was going to give this episode a seven out of ten. I did, initially. But after getting to this point of writing all of this, I decided to change it to a six. It's still close to a seven, but I think a seven would be an overstatement. It had its perks, though.
It's stupid but I loved seeing stuff like the training pillars that Ciri trains on and the Witcher medallion from the games just hanging there near the end.
Some big departures from the source material, but disregarding that, it was a pretty good episode.
Never read the books so I don't care about changes. All I know is this was confusing af compared to the simplicity of the previous episode. Back to season 1 feels :/
So in this episode, we are introduced to Kaer Morhen, the Wicthers’ “hideout”, which I thought was supposed to be secluded place so it was pretty weird how on our first viewing of this place, we see it flooded with a bunch of outsiders.
As for Eskel, I think his death was supposed to have some emotional impact but it fell flat since we were just introduced to this character and we barely made any connection to him due to the fact that whomever we saw was already possessed by that leshy!
The hut scene coincided with Vesemir’s talk with Ciri about the demon in the forest so I am guessing this is what we see taking on different forms, but it was still very confusing to follow.
Makes me wonder if creators read the saga. There is only one thing here that’s close to the books, which is Ciri and Gerald at Kaer Morhen.
Really good episode where we are introduced to Kaer Morhen which is really well depicted. I love that it looks similar to the location in the Video Games. Also Ciri is so gorgeous this season. Her look is much stronger now and I can‘t wait to see where the journey will take her character.
I guess I'm in the minority who thinks Henry Cavill's performance feels very self-conscious. He doesn't disappear in the role.
Storytelling wise, I was more engaged in this episode than I was during season 1.
8.5/10 - The cinematography/visuals and music are superb and the story is great :)
The elves are quite interesting.
And Ciri at the hideout of the Witchers is quite "entertaining" :)
Must be quite scary to be the only girl amongst these brute men but she's tough and brave! "Princess Cirilla of Cintra. Nice to meet you." :D
And Geralt's parenting is of course great/funny <3 And, finally, he's even teaching Ciri to fight for herself.
Lmao why did they kill off Eskel? He is pretty much alive in Witcher 3 iirc
Wtf they changed everything about Eskel... that sucked.
Oh my god! This is so epic! What a fantastic episode, and the chills I got in the last scene of this episode! Wow!
Not sure.
I am still at loss if I like the changes from the source material here or don't.
But... this was really well executed.
And if I leave out what I might've expected from the books, this was a great episode. High quality, well scripted.
And holy fuck, a Leshen. Cool stuff.
Wow, the production quality puts everything in the shade. Very good episode, I'm curious to see what else happens.
I don't remember this episode from novel
I don't understand why did show runners decide to kill the nicest guy of the whole saga. Eskel should had been a kind and patient witcher, who was supposed to train Ciri. Apparently, show runners decided that there's no need for him to stay around. It makes me really sad, because those who like Witcher series know that he lived through it all, even appearing in W3 (the game).
Overall the episode is quite cool and mysterious, like it.
Shout by SinanOnlineVIP EP 7BlockedParent2021-12-17T16:48:49Z
Kaer Morhen is so beautiful. :sob: Also Vesemir looks way younger and thinner than in the game. :face_with_hand_over_mouth: We're slowly coming into timeline regions that gifted us with hundreds of hours of beauty and joy in The Witcher 3. Can't wait to see more. Also Henry Cavill is the best cast they could have ever found for Geralt's role, this feels so real, he looks exactly like in the game, just a bit younger. Also the ending shot of Kaer Morhen, even with the pillars Ciri was training on blindfolded in the tutorial part of the game. :sob: I might tear up at some point if this continues to be executed this well, just because of remembering the beautiful times I had in the game. I'm glad they didn't butcher this series. Looking forward to the rest of this season!