3x05 The Art of Illusion

Part One of Henry Cavill's final season ends with the strongest episode out of the first five. The storytelling was on point and allows you to discover more and more as the characters do as well. I do think it got a little old and too repetitive after a while, but overall this was the best written episode so far this season. As a whole, season 3 so far has been solid, but nothing special. There are a lot of characters at this point with a lot of different things going on and it has been a little hard to get back into the swing of things and remember who everyone is and what they're motivations are. But as the season goes on it's starting to settle well as characters converge, and Ciri being at the center of story helps tie everything together. This season's dialogue is written to be much more accessible and modern as well, and I'm not a huge fan of it. It's a bit off-putting watching characters in this setting talk to each other as if they are from modern times and makes the show feel a little inauthentic. I am really liking the character relationships this season between Ciri and everyone else. She has different dynamics with Gerald, Yennefer, and even Jaskier, with each of those three characters bringing different influences that I think are shaping her up to be a strong and capable leader. Geralt offers a fatherly presence and teaches her how to be strong, how to fight, and defend herself. Yennefer offers a motherly presence and teachers her how to use her magic but also how to demonstrate control, and Jaskier is like a brotherly or friend figure in which she is able to still have fun and be the kid that she is, as well as how to be personable and appeal to others. She has less time with Jaskier than with the other two, but she has really good and different dynamics with each of them. Cavill as Geralt continues to just be perfect casting and he proves yet again that he can not only embody the character so well physically but he has the acting abilities and fighting choreography to pull off Geralt. It pains me to think about the show without him.

Season 3 so far has been....fine. Not great, but not bad either. The production is amazing - with the sets, location and visuals being almost flawless. You can tell they filmed on location, as some of those landscape shots were glorious. However, it doesn't get any better than that. Aside from Geralt, Yen and Ciri, all the other characters are just, meh. Henry as Geralt as we all know, is just brilliant and the series doesn't deserve him, but he does give his all in this last season. Anya as Yen is also really good. I wasn't sold on her in season 1, but in this third season she has improved greatly. The story of season 3 is all over the place. We follow our trio as they try to keep Ciri safe, but the season never really does anything with it. There never feels like any real threat. Then there is the stuff with Jaskier. Jesus. Jaskier was a good character in the first 2 season, but here, he is irritating. The rumours were correct - they have made him Bi. For those who know the books, or the games, you know that he is not interesting in men at all. He is very flamboyant, and that doesn't mean he needs to like men. They clearly have no respect for the characters and world they are trying to replicate. Season 3 also suffers from dreadful editing. Now I don't know if Netflix just had a problem when I was streaming, but there were several scenes with dialogue and you would be in full site of the actor delivering said dialogue, but their mouth wouldn't move. It was distracting. And it wasn't one or two scenes, it was several.

Overall the first half of season 3 has been average.

(613-word review) Since I already knew about you-know-what at the end, which, despite my prior knowledge, was impactful, giving the semblance of actual worthiness to be, albeit not 100%, engaged in what's happening (while perhaps being one of the most competently and well-done examples in this entire show at anything of such, and there's likely only a few examples overall) my biggest takeaway was the creativity and unconventional nature, directing and writing-wise.

To me, it seemed to be for adding some extra "this is the Volume 1 finale" seasoning to it, on top of stretching this episode's events out to full length – and maybe even some inspiration was taken from the first season's controversial and divisive 'different timelines' storytelling, which was treated too harshly and is one of a few things that continue to shine more positively, including in the sense of being, in a wishful manner, preferable to what we're getting now (there hasn't been much apparent distinction with the direction and writing in the show after that: it's all been generically routine) – as this would've been more unfitting as a finale without those elements.

That final scene was already abrupt (potentially because this season may not have been written with Netflix's occasional Volume 1 & 2-of-a-season model in mind), so thankfully, Loni Peristere (the director: directed seven episodes of Banshee, nine episodes of American Horror Story, one episode of Queen of the South, six episodes of (HBO) Max's Warrior, plus the last two episodes of the currently airing third season – and he's the upcoming executive producer of House of the Dragon's second season, AND he's the director for the next episode/the "premiere" of Volume 2!) and Clare Higgins (the writer) brought some homemade flavors to the cookout for enhancement.

However, I have one criticism: replaying some of the dialogue/scene sections that already happened "for the sake of" leading up to the new portions, instead of using some visual storytelling to create that connection element, dragged down the execution of an otherwise commendable choice. But the possible reason was to avoid repeating the whole disorder about the different timelines in the first season.

My conspiracy theory? The more accurate reason was to keep replaying, 'All is not...As it seems.' Once was never enough. "They" want you to be haunted by it – molded by it. Mr. "All is not...As it seems," you're not Mr. "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher." Stop it; get some help.

Regarding more general criticisms, and I've mentioned this before, but it was at its worst this time, so here I go again: the hair and costumes for Yennefer are usually dreadful. Did Anya Chalotra get under someone's skin in that department of production? Her hair styling in this episode was the worst it's been, along with whatever, makeup-wise, made her look orange; while her outfit wasn't as much so, it came across as having been picked immediately without any consideration and effort – in a negative way if it wasn't obvious. More borderline palpable thought and care went into Cassie Clare's appearance, which is still appreciated, but come on. Be consistent. What a tragedy.

And to a lesser extent of criticisms: more of that sublime modern language usage – with Sabrina saying the three-letter "S" word to Yennefer, and then, later on, saying, "Artaud's wasted again." Both terms, 'wasted' and the 'three-letter word,' seem too modern. But I'm no etymologist, so perhaps I'm off on that.

This was the best episode of Vol. 1, which isn't that significant of a compliment, as achieving that amid mediocrity is easy – but it was surprisingly decently crafted. Hopefully, Vol 2. (the last three of the season) surpasses it, or at least an episode.