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[dutchrvl]

So, I read that The Witcher on Netflix is immensely popular globally, and after watching the first 2 episodes, I am thoroughly confused as to why it is....

My impressions: mediocre production, fairly poor CGI, clunky dialogue, and way too many unknown/unfamiliar terms/words they're introducing making it confusing. Cavill is okay as the lead, although the deeper voice he uses seems to restrict what he can do acting-wise (he's not helped by his dialogue to be fair). Also, but this may just be me, the look and way of talking of characters regularly feels too 'modern' to me.

The overall feel of monster-of-the-week episodes with an overarching plot is fine, and the show doesn't take itself too seriously so that helps as well.

Maybe the show gets better in later episodes?

[LeeC]

I like it. I really liked episode 3 (Striga!) and 4 (where they reveal the timeline). I have 3 more to go to finish and its just fun. My wife and I have not read the books or played the games but we're really enjoying the story, characters, and humor. Its a bit like a mystery as you figure out how these 3 stories relate and converge with each other.

[TheEvilDog]

That's the thing, from what I understand, if you've read the books or played the games, you won't like the series. Its a mess, its chaotic.
But if you're coming with only a hint of the material, its decent enough.

[oddtail]

I like the series. The dialogue is not nearly as good as in the short stories/books, and some things are left out in a way that I find absolutely infuriating.

But when I approach it as its own thing and don't lean on my memory of the source material too much, I find Witcher to be a rather good, if not spectacular, series. And I was a pretty big fan of the books/stories, and I loved the video game series (especially Witcher 3)

(I do recommend the books and especially the short stories to anyone who watches the show and likes it. It's much wittier and funnier in my opinion, and has snappy dialogue. Keep in mind that the books are two decades old by now, short stories are even older, and they're all a product of their time. Plus, I have no idea how good the translation into English is)

EDIT: spoilers for the first episode (and more importantly, the short story it's based on) below to illustrate a point:

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(click to show/hide)

In the short story the first episode is based on, Renfri is very clearly a dark take on Snow White - complete with a version of the seven dwarfs (I don't think her crew are dwarves, but there's seven of them IIRC). There are multiple allusions to just about every part of the fairy tale. It's not exactly subtle, either. In fact, almost all short stories involving Geralt are dark or humorous retellings of classic fairy tales, and it's a big part of the appeal.

If I didn't know that, I don't think I would ever have guessed Renfri is supposed to be Snow White. I am not sure why the series almost completely ignores this, as it's a defining aspect of the franchise before the novels were published. Maybe it's the fact that there have been dark takes on Snow White (and other fairy tales) since the short story was published, and people unfamiliar with Witcher would think the episode is a rip-off of those, despite being based on material from decades prior? No idea.

EDIT 2: this is very subjective, but while I was sceptical of the casting of Cavill, I think he pretty much nails Geralt as a character (better than the video game version's actor, either in the Polish version or the English dub). He is the perfect emotionally stunted asshole that book Geralt is, IMO.

[Blue Kitty]

The best thing I've heard about it is that it's similar to the old Hercules and Xena shows, and that makes me want to watch it all the more

[RedWolf4]

Ehhhhhhhhh . .. . Maybe?

The pacing really threw me for a loop, feel like they could have gone a bit more linear. But overall, I enjoyed it.

[dutchrvl]

The best thing I've heard about it is that it's similar to the old Hercules and Xena shows, and that makes me want to watch it all the more

Hm, I guess I can see that, now that you've mentioned it. Maybe I should keep watching, since I loved the Hercules/Xena shows.
I wonder if my impression is partially colored by my expectations of it from the start.

[Tova]

I wonder if my impression is partially colored by my expectations of it from the start.

I'm beginning to suspect this of almost every negative review I read these days WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME 

[cybersmurf]

The first two episodes are somewhat chaotic.
Also, there's like jumping around in time and it took me way too long to realise.

[sitnspin]

Yea I found the time skipping to be poorly communicated to the audience, it made it difficult to follow. I'm not sure if that was deliberate on the part of the creators or not, but either way it wasn't well done in my opinion. The mostly silent brooding white boy lead trope isn't something does it for me as a viewer, so I was pretty meh about that. The parts with the young girl whose name I don't remember wasn't particularly engaging for me, either. The bard character was pretty grating and the humor around him fell pretty flat for me.  The Jennifer storyline was good though, I enjoyed that. I would have gladly watched a show just about her.

I have no previous context for the series, I am completely unfamiliar with the work it is based on, so these are my impressions as a relatively neutral viewer.

[LTK]

What I liked about the books is that Geralt being an antisocial brooding loner is something that's often called out by his friends, who don't take any of his shit and know that he values companionship no matter how much he pretends otherwise. You see a bit of that in the series as well, from Jaskier, but if Milva and Regis appear in future seasons I think that'll start to become more evident.

[cybersmurf]

I had the feeling that although there is an overarching storyline everything felt somewhat thrown together randomly.

[Aimless]

Cavill sucks as an actor, and I was incredibly skeptical after the first episode, but the show gets better even though Cavill continues to suck. The Westworld move wasn't executed all that well. The supporting cast is solid. I like the quality of production and the evolving storytelling style. The fight-scenes are surprisingly well-choreographed. The battle scenes are tiresome, as they always are. Looking forward to season 2, which I really didn't expect when I started watching.

[dutchrvl]

Cavill sucks as an actor, and I was incredibly skeptical after the first episode, but the show gets better even though Cavill continues to suck. The Westworld move wasn't executed all that well. The supporting cast is solid. I like the quality of production and the evolving storytelling style. The fight-scenes are surprisingly well-choreographed. The battle scenes are tiresome, as they always are. Looking forward to season 2, which I really didn't expect when I started watching.

I don't mind Cavill as an actor, although I do think his range is very limited. Given a suitable role he can be quite decent. The man from UNCLE and the Tudors come to mind.
ANyway, all points to "keep watching after episode 2", so I guess I have something to do!

[Aimless]

Throughout the series, Cavill looked like someone who thought he'd auditioned for a show inexplicably titled "The Itcher".

[LeeC]

Well I just finished season 2 and I loved it. It picks up right were we left off from season 1 and is just great to watch.

[zmeiat_joro]

Sapkowski is not a very friendly person, you should know that. I had dinner with him, Ian Watson, and Robert Scheckley in 2003. He got drunk and made all of us else uncomfortable. That was when his first novel was being tranlsated into English.

[LTK]

Everyone who has read or watched even one interview with Sapkowski knows that he is not a friendly person.

[zmeiat_joro]

I have not been interested about his shit since. He was a piece of shit that I had never heard of talking about his books, while I was trying to talk about people's books at the table I was actually interested in.