#witcher liveblog

[gaystreetsmarts]

first of all jasks eyes are def Enhanced this season and I can't tell if it's just the eyeliner but Oof

"platonically" sure jaskier. sure.

staring at geralt fondly "yeah sounds about right" he said totally platonically

It's so weird hearing jimmy talking all deep like this

Jaskiers "wots" are always my favorite

Oooh seeing yen fully fall apart gddd

Damn this moment is really giving book!geralt vibes. my man is talkin feelings, giving backstory...

JIMMY NOO

Ohhh the wild hunt returns!!

[battlecries-dear]

"does the witcher know how lucky he is to have you?" AFTER THAT SONG?? AFTER THAT CONVERSATION??? this show is bonkers bananas im obsessed

[lokiiied]

me when i first saw jaskier and geralt interacting: mm idk if i feel this one as strongly besties. jaskier is clearly the annoying musical theatre clingy gay best friend but idk if i see them as romantic yet

me when 1.04: oh my god frenemies to lovers, friends to lovers, hurt comfort, flirting, innuendos, THE BATHTUB SCENE, “you must want something for yourself after all this monster hunting nonsense is over with” “i want nothing” *eye fucking* “…well. who knows maybe someone out there will want you” “i need no one. and the last thing i want is someone needing me” “and yet…here we are” ARE YOU KIDDING ME SHUT UP. “hey where the fuck are my clothes jaskier”, body guard/fake dating trope, you guys weren’t joking.

[mareastrorum]

I am irrationally suspicious that there's three pigs.

[eerna]

I always seeing love in-universe bards writing songs about the story, but Wolven Storm woke up in my heart the most specific niche of a female bard singing a song from the first person perspective of a male character

[falderaletcetera]

this is my nth time reading this and I still can't believe geralt just goes along with being bathed and dressed fancy for Unspecified Purposes when queen calanthe orders it.

[communistkenobi]

Nick I am SO glad you liked lotr so much, I watched these movies when they first came out as a child and I’m not exaggerating that it altered my brain chemistries forever. Something I always loved about them is the dialogue—I think they really figured out the balance between more flowery, “fantasy-speak” and more laymen dialogue, with both ends of the spectrum being really well-written and utilized to max impact when appropriate. A lot of that is ofc due to Tolkien paying so much attention to language craft, but also a brilliant job of adaptation by the writers (so much so that some of the most iconic lines from the films are film-original!) and speaking to the vast cultural impact of the films, I think many post-LOTR fantasy films have all sought to replicate that high-fantasy speak (most recently Rings of Power….) but I’ve always felt too many of them go for style over substance without realizing that LOTR dialogue was stylIzed without ever losing substance. Idk if this makes sense but to sum it up it’s a movie series where people will quote all of Theoden’s speeches from heart AND also instantly lose their shit over simple lines like “I can carry you” and I think that’s indicative of good dialogue writing lol

Also unrelated but one of my fave shots in the whole trilogy is the visual parallel of Frodo pulling Sam out the water in fellowship and Sam pulling Frodo out the lava pit in Mt Doom in return of the king like 😭😭😭

ITS SO GOOD!!!! I’m almost mad how much I’m enjoying them lol. I also knew that lotr was foundational to the fantasy genre but was unaware that it was like responsible for THAT much of the fantasy genre. As we were watching the films I kept turning to my brother and going WAIT THATS WHERE THIS FANTASY SHIT COMES FROM??

The movies have definitely renewed my enjoyment of fantasy as a whole. For the most part I’ve disliked fantasy and most of my experiences with it have left a bad taste in my mouth. and like lotr obviously has problems worth bringing up, but I enjoyed the films much more than I thought I would.

Also!!! In addition to the good dialogue. It’s been so long since I watched something that wasn’t extremely mean and cynical. I don’t seek out mean and cynical media on purpose, but it feels inescapable sometimes. Very self ironic, averse to vulnerability, always winking at the camera - shit that is so deeply unfun to watch. So like watching lotr and seeing dudes hugging each other and crying and being like love is going to save the world!!!! and being completely sincere about all of it is really refreshing and wonderful

[armory-rasa]

Cat bag round 2, complete!

And here’s it open:

Close-up of the magnets:

And then Monster came over to “help.”

Okay now I can be done with this thing. 🤣

[abeautifulblog]

What was the verdict? What did you think? Is blood origin worth watching?

Yesssssss, question mark?

[My thoughts/opinions on Blood Origin, accompanied by screencaps from the groupchat liveblog -- spoiler-free, actually!]

Blood Origin has a more interesting story than TWN S2 (it's the story of how the Conjunction of the Spheres happened, and how the first witcher came to be, eyyy! :D), and the actors do a better job convincing the audience that their characters actually care about the other people onscreen.

In fact, coffee-mage said, "Honestly, Blood Origin is rekindling my enjoyment for Witcher more than S2 did, just because this is such an interesting universe"

The scenery is quite beautiful, and so are a lot of the costumes. The empress's costumes in particular have that gorgeous, hedonistic opulence reminiscent of Queen Amidala's outfits, stunning and original, legitimate works of art in their own right -- although they are offset by a lot of pleather armor with no coherent aesthetic, and wigs that are worse than what you'd find at Party City.

I didn't even hate the het romance, because it was a friendship first and a romance second, and it was built on a foundation of earned mutual trust and respect. (And it's enemies-[to-friends]-to-lovers, if that sweetens the pot for anyone.) It was a bit zero-to-sixty when they make the shift from being friends to making cow eyes at each other, but a lot of things in the show were, which brings us to Blood Origin's two main failings:

1) That the story was too rushed. This show had kind of the opposite problem from TWN S2 -- that instead of fucking around and wasting time in order to make a thin amount of plot stretch to cover eight episodes, Blood Origin was frantically trying to cram a complex, multi-layered story with a large cast (like, 8+ primary characters?) and all their backstories and motivations and character arcs into four episodes.

2) That the writing is just. not. good.

I'll be blunt with you guys -- whoever's writing for TWN is simply not smart enough to tell a grown-up story, not on an individual level, and not a world-building level. Blood Origin is supposed to involve a lot of complicated political maneuvering, but these writers' idea of what makes up the mechanisms of power is childishly, cartoonishly simplistic, and it could not be more clear that they have no idea how empires are administrated, how diplomacy and soft power work, what kind of time scale these things run on.

Which isn't even touching on the nonstop abuse of As You Know, Bob dialogue, and how, thanks to the time constraints, almost everyone's backstory is told-not-shown. "AS YOU KNOW, I WAS A FOUNDLING AND YOUR PARENTS TOOK ME IN, AND THUS I GREW UP TO REGARD YOU AS MY OWN SISTER--"

Like, guys. GUYS. This is the kind of shit I wrote in middle school.

It's better than TWN insofar as they remembered that they needed to actually introduce us to these characters, tell/show us what they're like as people, what their relationships and conflicts are, but MAN the dialogue is clumsy as fuck. Character interactions are as basic as can be, and any nuance or complexity there is coming from the actors, not the writing.

The premise of the show -- the story, the characters -- is not fundamantelly flawed. It had the potential to be very good, but it's not, because the execution was hot dogshit.

Joey is a delight as always, but his role in this show is so tiny and SOOOO pasted-on, just a sliver of framing narrative at the beginning of the first episode and the end of the last, so if that's what you're coming here for, you're going to be disappointed. I truck with the theory that they shoehorned him in at the last minute to try to draw in Jaskier fans and keep Blood Origin from being a total flop, because he's not integral to the story at all -- you could remove the framing narrative without a single hiccup.

(Although from a meta perspective, a lot of the plot holes make so much more sense if you interpret it as Jaskier making shit up. Something unbelievable happens and you're just like, LOL, OH LOOK, THERE'S JASKIER BACK ON HIS BULLSHIT. XD)

Michelle Yeoh is also a treat, though god only knows how they roped her into this trashfire. To be sure, her role is so thin that she's basically doing nothing but serving stage presence, but by god she's serving it in spades.

Anyway, tl;dr --

C+

High production value, and a concept with a lot of interesting potential, but foiled yet again by the holistic incompetence of TWN's writing team.

(Seriously, just -- HIRE. BETTER. WRITERS. It blows my mind that they pour all this money into these shows, but then don't think it's worth their time to find people who know how to tell a story?? Like they don't seem to think that part MATTERS? When to my mind, it's the only part that matters??)

So, is Blood Origin worth watching? I can't say, that is a question you will have to answer for yourself. *I* had a great time, but that was more about the day-drinking and getting to share the experience with friends.

So yeah, I guess that's my recommendation -- watch it with friends.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[magic-multicolored-miracle]

The Witcher S3 Ep6: Everyone Has A Plan 'til They Get Punched in the Face

There is no aka this time, because how could I ever dream of coming up with something better?

(There was so much happening, I didn't even get to properly appreciate Jaskier's doorway lean)

You might, but I don't, Djikstra. The fuck?

Also why are you coming after the mages?

Not Artaud! He was chill. I think...who was he again?

Oof that sounded like a threat to Yen. Geralt don't take kindly to those

Do all mage chambers have hidey holes behind the walls?

I don't like that look...Jaskier, why did you tell him the barrier came down at dawn?

🥺 babies...

Don't be so fast to count my wife out, Lydia. Especially if she's in a place with friends

Well, that takes care of that. I thought she was a much more significant character...

I like Radcliffe. He's probably going to die

There can be more than one traitor, Tissaia, especially among men that think themselves all powerful

I don't think those are Redanian...

Well if you didn't want him to be rash, maybe you shouldn't have threatened Ciri

Just 50? I think you might need more than that, your current ones are folding like a hand of cards

Get fucked. Like, I kind of wanted to root for you and your duplicitous ass, but you don't need to be such a dick about it

Do we actually trust Cahir to do that? Or is he going to cart her straight home to Emperor CreepyDad? He serves so many masters at this point, and thus serves none

RIP Filavandrel! Damn!

Oh heeyyyy Fringilla! FrinFran reunited! And fucking shit uuuup!

Oh shit. I knew that ring was going to be trouble...

That. Was. Sexy. And the best way for Fire Fucker to die. Mom and Dad teamwork, no chance of resurrection

Ooh. These twins are neat.

God, Istredd 👀👀 Triss and Marti too honestly

Tissaia, don't give up...please...

Triss is not allowed to die. Especially now that I'm shipping it extra hard

That was an excessive number of arrows guys...

🥺 "my daughter" "come back to us" this family, I can't 😭

OT3 maybe? I'll have to figure out how to add in Cahir's name when FrinFran is so perfect...

Damn Tissaia. That...might also be killing your people but it's super badass

Get. Fucked. Vilgefortz. If you touch a single gorgeous hair on his head...

Where did you just send my boy?!

You should have known better my guy. Philippa and Djikstra are never far apart

Go Ciri! Rage your little heart out! And hold your own against a trained soldier like Cahir, even on the defense

Ooh! It's the moment Bonnie's been waiting for!

You are one man against five on horseback, bitch...what are you doing?

...where is my beloved bard in all of this chaos? Honestly also my beloathed one?

Am I...rooting for Stregobitch in this moment? I feel itchy and uncomfortable.

Shit, now what?

Ooh, Renfri's brooch/gem glowing is new and fun. Is it just for effect, or Significant?

Where is your other sword though? I feel like Vilgefortz is a two-sword situation

Oh yeah, that really helps your case that you're the good guy...

Oh look, he's been impaled

Shiiiiit...Geralt might actually not walk away from this one...

Why? Why only you? Who the fuck are you? You still haven't given a good reason for shit

🎵Get fuuuuucked🎵

Wait, he was on the beach, how'd he end up in the water?

Triss and Geralt having a Little Mermaid moment?

That's probably not a good thing, but it was really cool so...

[gaystreetsmarts]

"Not your best" fjdkdks okay but that implies that you to appreciate some of his quips, ger-bear

[battlecries-dear]

"i cant take you inside im sorry" "then take me here" oohoohoh h i have melted into a pile of goo on the groundf................. the potential in those two simple lines..... goo i tell u

[ashes0909]

"Does the Witcher know how lucky he is to have you?"

[kuwdora]

season 3 of witcher netflix has me losing my mind like, I am still rolling around in my vilgefortz wankery. it's still 10k and messy and hilarious and sexy and so thinky. but oh my god i told @flootzavut about the post-3x06 yennskier idea that i didn't have the brain to write....and then i ended up starting to write it anyway. and now i need to be able to write two things at one time otherwise i might just disintegrate. could I be writing anything more different right now? lmao. Not sure how I'm gonna make it during August.

[araglas1989]

Witcher Season 3 Episode 1 liveblog

Allright we start with Geralt killing the Professor and with yens Letter 😅

[eerna]

If the TLC adaptation ever airs I will literally be unbearable. An animated TV show is the perfect option and if I ever get it I am afraid I’ll have to be quarantined off for purposes of annoying fangirling