(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Finished the laundry, but it was dicey going -- the lady down there when I got to the basement was in a foul mood. Followed by a nervous hipster. Made me edgy.

2. Mother called to tell me about assorted family members. It's apparently raining in Hawaii at the moment, while sis-in-law prepares for a presentation at a Hawaiian fashion design museum, and niece studies chemistry, because she's taking Chemistry II next semester and sort of skipped Chemistry I (although she did have it a few years back). (This amuses me since I did horribly in chemistry in high school.)

Also, the Uncle who is a writer and former spy, doesn't like Tuscon much any longer. Apparently it's gotten over-developed, crowded, and has too many medical research facilities. He couldn't find a place to stay (they didn't book ahead), and everything was too pricey. He just wants to go home and never come back. (He's 82 and home is Seattle, Washington or thereabouts. I can't say I blame, if I had to choose between Seattle, Washington and Tuscon, I'd pick Seattle. (For one thing I can actually breath in Seattle). But he used to love Tuscon. So there's that. (I never loved Tuscon, I am NOT a fan of desert climates -- the appeal is completely lost on me.) He's also apparently written a book that my mother was supposed to hand me to read, but alas forgot. (Mother is a bit off her game due to my father, I suspect.) I asked my mother what it was about -- she told me that it was about someone who robbed the lottery. Honestly, I think he should write about when he was a spy in the Vietnam War and Cold War (Berlin) but my mother suspects that he can't write about these things.

Mother and I also discussed current events and agreed not to let the Doofus win. The Doofus is divisive and filled with hate. We are not going to hate people or be divisive - or banish people we like just because they support or voted for the Doofus.

3. Started watching The Witcher - two episodes in. It's a lot better than I expected, but I admittedly went in with low expectations. Still. I'm rather impressed. It did kill off the character I'm pretty much watching it for in the first episode -- yet apparently we jump back in time to get her full story in the episodes that follow. So her story is in the flashbacks, while the Witcher and Ciri's stories are in the present. Interesting. And she predicts their present/future before he kills her. (ie. It doesn't really matter that she's killed off in the first episode, since she's in the one's that follow. It just means we don't have to watch her be Geralt's token girl-friend, yay.)

The characters are rather well-drawn, and the casting spot-on. Caville is a good actor and able to get across a chuckle with just a look or eyeroll. If you want to cast a stoic fighter -- who is pretty on the eyes -- go with Henry Caville. He's your guy. Honestly, I can't think of another actor who carries it off quite as well.
Ponders. No. Well, maybe the guy who stars in Outlander. [Who I keep considering watching Outlander on Netflix because of...but I have to get past the grapic sexual violence throughout...and, uhm. Also, I find medieval historicals boring if there are no dragons, monsters, elves, wizards or magic involved. Honestly why bother without those things?]

But, I'm impressed with the actresses and the two characters, Ciri, and Yennifer. Yennifer is my favorite. Also with the production value and writing. It's more complex than I expected -- they are really trying for Game of Thrones. (It's not a Game of Thrones.) Very hard to really tell who the good and bad guys necessarily are here -- although guessing Nilfgaard and the anti-eleven group, also the Wizard Septogard did not ingratiate himself -- I kind of wish Geralt had either let Yennifer kill him or had killed him - himself. Note to Geralt - Wizards who create illusions with naked women waiting on them hand and thought while all the men are fully clothed, and tell you all the nasty things they've down to women over the years, should be killed on site. No questions asked. Wham Bang. Done. Leave the mutant spider monsters alone and just kill the misogynistic wizards.

Also the Bard was far more entertaining than expected and attractive. Also we just briefly see him.

I was informed the first episodes are slow -- they aren't. I thought they were relatively well-paced. Granted my expectations may not be as high? I've binge watched quite a few shows of late that I wouldn't exactly call fast paced.

It is rather violent. Lots of death and torture in that first episode, and major characters that I was starting to become attached to -- slaughtered. I've gotten used to this on television shows, however. And can no longer be shocked by it. Usually, I just mutter, dang-it, you had to go and kill the characters I like and just one episode in, this is not going to bode well for our continued relationship - writers. Although, the death and torture aren't quite as graphic as Game of Thrones or The 100 for that matter. If you could watch those, you can definitely watch this without any difficulty. But, if your idea of graphic violence begins and ends with Doctor Who, you may want to pass.

So far so good. Going to stick with it. Mainly because of Geralt and Yennefer. I'm tolerating Ciri at the moment. Since it is clearly going to take a long time for her to hook up with Geralt -- it's not a really a problem.

Comments

[wendelah1]

But, if your idea of graphic violence begins and ends with Doctor Who, you may want to pass.

You've just explained one of the reasons I no longer watch much television.

It's okay. I'm reading more.

[shadowkat]

There are quite a few that have no violence though...but I don't know if they are on DVD?

Lost in Space was fairly low on violence -- if you can handle X-Files, you could handle it.

Mrs. Maizel, the Crown, Boys Over Flowers, Greys Anatomy, The Kominsky Method, Million Little Things, The Connors, Bob Hearts Abishola all have no violence at all.

Actually I don't watch many shows with that much violence any longer. The shows that don't have it outnumber the ones that do.

[wendelah1]

Mrs. Maisel is not yet on DVD. I've seen the first two seasons of The Crown--thought it was great and I'm looking forward to season three. Because it's a joint production with the BBC, it will be released, eventually. Let's see. I am not a fan of Grey's Anatomy, as you might imagine. The Kominsky Method is not on DVD. Lost in Space, ditto. Nor is The Connors. I wasn't a fan of the original series anyway. It looks like I could watch Boys Over Flowers on my computer for free if I wanted. Bob Hearts Abishola is new. Since you recced it, I'll for it on Spectrum On Demand, although that's getting dicey, too. The networks want to make you subscribe to their own online set-ups. No thank you.

As you know, the other reason that I don't watch TV is that I don't want to pay for streaming. I say I'm cheap but the money isn't really the issue. The screen is much too small. It's hard to find a position whereby two people can watch at once. It's just not worth it to us.

I'll keep an eye open for new DVD releases through the library.

[shadowkat]

Uh, some of these shows are on network/broadcast television not streaming.

Bob Hearts Abishola is situation comedy on CBS. I can't remember what day. It's like Big Bang Theory was on CBS. It's not on streaming.

[rose_griffes]

From everything I've seen and read, Ciri will never hook up with Geralt. (If that's what you meant in your last paragraph; it seemed a bit ambiguous.)

Yennefer gets a whole lot more screen time than I expected, which is good. She was by far the most dynamic character in season one.

[shadowkat]

Mefisto told me there were three separate time lines but I didn't pick up on the third one until the fourth episode. So the question is does Geralt live long enough to met up with Ciri, or does his shrugging off of Destiny doom them?

I know they don't appear to hook up in this season. But I'm beginning to think the point is that they don't. Which surprised me. I honestly thought from trailer that this was going to be one of those epic romantic fantasies between an older guy and young twenty-something, with a kind of love triangle between Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer. But, it's really not -- which is such a welcome surprise.

Instead what it is - is three time lines. Yennifer and Ciri never meet up, but I'm guessing Yennifer may have to some degree or another set certain events into motion so that Ciri exists. Geralt meets Yennifer (Renfri) and kills her. I have a feeling if and when he meets Ciri, she'll kill him or he'll die. Or she won't. There's a heavy theme about setting one's own destiny and not letting the rules and laws of men have power over you. It's a weirdly feminist fantasy series -- which also surprised me, was expecting the exact opposite.

And far more diverse in its casting. I think it is actually a lot better than Game of Thrones in both respects.

Agreed, Yennefer is by far the most dynamic character. Although, I'm liking Ciri far more than expected -- she's a lot stronger and less a damsel (the trailers had led me to expect the opposite). And Geralt as far more interesting and appealing (possibly due to Cavill's portrayal and the writing -- he isn't the cliche classical hero that I expected.).

[rose_griffes]

Renfri and Yennefer aren't connected, as far as I can tell. Other than they both know Geralt and have an impact on him.

I looked up Ciri and Geralt out of curiosity; neither the novels nor the video games develop a romance for their relationship. It's more paternal in nature. This makes me wonder if Ciri and Yennefer actually will have some screentime together in later seasons, given that it's show canon that magic users like Yennefer don't age at the same rate as humans.

I found a show canon timeline; I don't know if you'll want to look at it while still watching s1 or wait until you're done. But there are spoilers for various events in s1.

Edited to add: hmm, it looks like my hoped-for "Yennefer is older than Geralt" is possible. That's not established so far.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I finally figured out that Renfri and Yennefer are two separate characters and portrayed by separate actresses -- this was in episode Six, when it became clear that Yennefer was alive long after Renfri had been killed by Geralt. And that Yennefer hadn't done any of the things Renfri had done and most likely predated Renfri.

My confusion lay in the fact that the two actresses look a lot alike which I'm thinking may have been deliberate. I liked Renfri better and am still annoyed she got killed off, although -- was relieved that Yennefer wasn't Renfri and still alive.

Geralt and Ciri do meet up at the end of S1. And yeah, it's looking more paternal. She's not his type. And she asks him who Yennefer is -- so I have a feeling she's going to help him find Yennefer in S2. I'm thinking Yennefer may be his romantic interest. There's definitely no love triangle. And he sees her as his child -- not as his bride. "The child of surprise, not bride of surprise".

I'm thinking Yennefer may be older than Geralt -- but it is hard to tell, since I've no clue how old Geralt is at this point.

I may check out the timeline. Thanks for reccing this by the way. You're right it's entertaining and it surprised me.

[rose_griffes]

I don't know if the books make it clear which character is older, Yennefer or Geralt, but either way, the show can do what it wants.

I finished the season and have re-watched episode one. It's still holding up well and the timeline crisscrosses are more fun now that I know what's going on.

[shadowkat]

I may re-watch too - if I have the time. Be nice to see after I've got all the timeline and character stuff clear in my head. Will state that the time line stuff was rather clever and added to the story. And easier to follow than This is Us, which well...what it does with timeline narratives is insane.

I've asked a couple people on my flist who have read the books or are currently reading them -- if this is clarified in the books. I know from one of them, that the series is following the books rather closely and is actually a close adaptation. Just updated a bit for a modern audience (it was written in the 1980s so they changed a few things.)

[shadowkat]

Oooh, I found out some stuff -- looking up the books. The books are somewhat interesting, there's short stories, books, saga, etc. Also they did Polish movies, Polish television series, Graphic Novel series, and the video games. Apparently it has a serious cult following in Poland and Eastern Europe. And a lot of the characters have political significance - neo-liberal - in Poland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher

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Anyhow, we're right -- Yennefer is Geralt's soul mate. And Ciri turns out to Yennefer and Geralt's adopted daughter in the books and is training to become a Witcher herself. The books take place after the war. And Yennefer/Geralt apparently get married in the books.

I don't know if the series is going to continue to follow that closely or not. But it gives me hope that Yennefer will be back -- because honestly Yennefer is my favorite character. Also, I rather like the idea of Ciri becoming a Witcher, which up til now has only been men.

Hmmm...I may try the books. I'm rather bored at the moment with my reading choices.

[shadowkat]

Actually Ciri does hook up with Geralt in the very last scene of the very last episode...of S1.

[rose_griffes]

Ahah. Different assumptions about what "hook up" means in context. Heh.

[shadowkat]

LOL! Yeah, I meant meet up. Not..well hook up like he does with Yennefer and Renfri. Because ick.