"Destiny alone isn't sufficient."
Hello everyone!
And of course, we mustn't forget the fact that there were quite a few shows that debuted right at the tail end of 2021 which haven't had spotlit here yet.
I had loads of fun talking about The Wheel of Time last week, but in doing so I needed to push back one other that I literally devoured within three or four days.
See, with WoT, I took my time and I allowed for breaks and whatnot; I didn't take any of that for the second.
I even took a break from EVERYTHING ELSE I was watching just to make sure I was all caught up and had gone through it all!
So without further ado, toss a coin if you can, aye? The Witcher season two is here.
Now as per usual, all blog posts in connection to this one will be found at the bottom of the page!
Before we dive into the second season of Netflix's wildly popular show, let's quickly and briefly recap what happened in the first, shall we?
Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher by trade, ends up being destiny-linked to Princess Ciri of Cintra, which he's avoiding like the plague (or worse) until the Nilfgaardian Empire attacks and his sense of honour and duty sends him on the road to try and rescue her. Ciri flees and ends up going through misadventures of her own before the pair finally unites, and in the backdrop of that, a sorceress named Yennefer becomes the object of Geralt's obsession (I wouldn't call it love, not really ...).
By the time the second season rolls around, the sorcerers have taken a stand against Nilfgaard at Sodden Hill, and Geralt and Ciri are now trying to figure out what their next steps are - especially in light of Yennefer's supposed death, or disappearance.
This is where we jump into episode one!
See, in this beginning, we not only get to witness Geralt searching for Yennefer at Sodden, but we also realize that Tissaia believes her dead, which puts a dagger right through the Witcher's heart, and he turns himself and his Child of Destiny around, to winter at Kaer Morhen, the Witcher stronghold.
Before they can get there, however, they're caught on the road in the heavy snowfall, so Geralt decides to strike off the path towards an old friend he knows lives in the area, Nivellen. They do in fact get a rather royal welcome from said friend - once he's done attacking Geralt like a beast.
See, he's kind of cursed (think Beauty and the Beast style), but while Ciri is happy to have the comfort of a warm bath, food and bed, not to mention the company of a young woman named Vereena, Geralt's suspicion is on high alert, especially after his medallion shivers a little bit. His exploration leads him to discover that Vereena is actually a bruxa, which is basically a vampire that looks like she has shark's teeth, and she not only ate her way through the nearby village, but she's been feeding off Nivellen, too.
Naturally this leads to a fight, and the conclusion of it is a dead Vereena, and a released-from-the-curse Nivellen, who explains that he was cursed, not because he and his men attacked a temple, but because he raped the priestess. He begs Geralt to kill him, but Geralt decides Nivellen should do it himself, if he really wants to, and he and Ciri leave.
But if you thought THEY were having problems, you should look at Yennefer - who not only has NOT disappeared, but has been captured by Nilfgaard, and is being taken to Cintra when the convoy is attacked by Elves. She and Fringilla, another sorceress, are taken by Filavandrel to their leader Francesca, who initially wants to just off with their heads, but once she learns they've all been sharing the same dream (of a person covered in either a black, a red or a white cloak), she orders them to tag along with her.
Which, you know, they have no other choice but to do, so they enter this weird temple that leads them to a hut in the woods, where each speaks to a different form that shows itself to them, but they all belong to someone called the Deathless Mother. The sum result is that Fringilla and Francesca join forces, while Yennefer calls them fools and takes off ... only to learn she has no more magic.
Sucks to be her, really.
With no real magic of their own, Geralt and Ciri finally arrive at Kaer Morhen where Geralt hopes they can at least spend winter in peace ... until another Witcher, Eskel, shows up, looking annoyed and disgruntled, and eventually turns into a leshy after becoming infected by one, something that SHOULD NOT have been possible.
But nothing seems impossible anymore and Geralt is forced to kill him, though this also makes him realize nowhere is actually safe and, taking Vesemir's advice, starts training Ciri in combat.
This is going well enough - if you consider that Ciri is hacking away at straw dummies most of the time, but Geralt is kind of busy investigating the mutated leshy and burying Eskel, which is how he misses some of the other Witchers giving the girl some bullying and challenging her to the Witcher training path - which, technically, can only really be done by Witchers who've already been mutated.
Not that Geralt can do much about it other than support her, but he and Ciri do discuss the possibility of her inheriting her magic from her mother, who, as Geralt himself had witnessed, possessed an unusual amount of it. He's also intrigued by the fact that Ciri seems to be "called" somewhere, so he has the girl lead him into the forest, straight at the leshy ... and a second weird creature that attacks them both.
Luckily there's more to Geralt than just trying to win Father of the Year award, so he manages to dispatch it, but he also learns that these things are all going FOR Ciri, though maybe not to hurt her.
This is added food for thought, especially on top of what's currently happening at the magical stronghold of Aretuza, where a shift in power seems to be occurring, going from Stregobor to Tissaia and Vilgeforz. However, Yennefer's return threatens everything and everyone, because Stregobor is still an old asshole who seems determined to prove she's a spy just so he can say he was right - even if she isn't.
Tissaia intervenes before too much harm can be done through torturous interrogation she herself performed on Cahir, the Nilfgaardian commander who is now sentenced to death ... and Yennefer has to be the one to kill him to prove her loyalty.
Which, screw you, Council of the Brotherhood, she frees him instead and they take off together into the night.
They make their way to Oxenfurt, where a pogrom against the Elves is currently in place, with many trying to escape and make their way to Cintra, which has become a haven under Nilfgaardian protection (think Cahir's happy to hear about that? Not too much, I can promise you). They decide, hey, might as well enlist this dude, The Sandpiper, to try and get to Cintra themselves ... and this is where, half a season in, WE SEE OUR FAVOURITE BARD AGAIN!
That's right, Jaskier the Magnificent, who is getting over his breakup with Geralt (somebody try telling me this isn't their love story I DARE YOU, with Burn Witcher Burn hitting Top 10 Continental three weeks in a row!), is now helping Elves escape. After getting over the fact Yennefer is there - and gleeful that she has no more magic - he explains that he's helping them because, what if artists are next? This is just the first step.
He agrees to get her and Cahir on board the ship leaving for Cintra, but then of course has to open his big fat mouth and gets in trouble.
Naturally.
Then again there's much more trouble coming at him later, but for right now, Yennefer decides to stick around to see if she can locate him again and help him; this means she's still about two steps away from reuniting with Geralt, who has no idea she's alive, and has invited Triss (another sorceress, who happens to KNOW Yennefer is alive but doesn't mention it) to help Ciri with her magic.
She also tries to help her with some other feminine stuff (including but not limited to telling the Witchers off for being brutes), and more importantly, to figure out what's going on with these new mutated monsters, who all seem to carry the same sort of residue powder on them. Powder, what's more, that only comes from monoliths.
Geralt: Ciri, sweetie, did you by any chance to anything to a monolith at some point?
We all know she did, so they theorize the monoliths must have something to do with these monsters, which leads to Triss portaling Geralt to none other than Istredd who ... well, if you remember, he's Yennefer's OTHER lover. He also knows Yennefer's alive, while Geralt STILL DOESN'T KNOW.
He figures it out now though. From Istredd.
Bloody brilliant.
He and the mage explore the monolith of Cintra, probably one of the oldest on the Continent, and discover that they're most likely used as gateways when they're activated - and they seem to be activated by none other than Ciri, because Geralt hears her screaming his name while he's down there at the roots, and he SEES a monster suddenly pop out of there.
Not that he's worried about the monster so much as he is about his daughter ... see, he left Ciri in Vesemir's hands thinking she'd be safe, and in theory she is, but Vesemir figures out she has Elder Blood, which if legends hold true was part of the mutagen that originally made the Witchers. So, naturally, the old man asks her for some, and she agrees, but only if she can be the first one to try this new concoction, turning her into an actual Witcher.
Does Vesemir agree? Not lightly and not at first. See, he tells her straight off that she's Geralt's kid (and since Geralt is technically Vesemir's, I suppose that makes Vesemir granddaddy), and Triss is on his dissuasive side, too. She offers to perform a ritual to investigate the source of Ciri's power, which is how they end up deep in the girl's subconsciousness ... where things don't react the way they should, but they DO uncover Ithilinne's prophecy: a child of Elder Blood will destroy the world.
This only makes Ciri want to turn that power into something else MORE, but luckily, Istredd is more useful than one would think and portals Geralt back to Kaer Morhen just in time for him to stop her from getting jabbed with that needle. He also takes care to tell her that she, alone, just as she is, is more than enough, and never needs to be anything or anyone else.
Listen, he's winning on all fronts here and even Vesemir's ashamed that he let himself get talked into almost making her a Witcher (or trying), since that pissed the White Wolf off.
Their time at being mad is running out, however, because Yennefer locates Jaskier ... and he's being interrogated by a fire mage, Rience, who's working for an unknown benefactor to locate none other than Ciri. The race and the hunt are now SO ON it's impossible, especially as Yennefer finally gives in to what we've all known she would do all season long, calling on the Deathless Mother, who tells her to bring Ciri to a location outside of Cintra.
Come on. We all knew she'd take the bait. She can't live without her powers so she'll do anything to get them back and serve herself again, but luckily Jaskier is a good listener and watcher, even if he ends up in prison for his troubles. This is important for later, so remember that while we check back in with Geralt.
See, Geralt needs to take Ciri someplace where she can learn to control her powers, now that Triss was a bust, so he decides on the Temple of Melitele, but not before the duo get attacked by the same monster that Geralt and Istredd saw flying out of the monolith. While he manages to dispatch said monster, his horse Roach is mortally wounded, AND EVERYONE CRIES. If you don't, you have a rock for a heart.
There's no other way than forward from here, however, because Rience is hot on their trail. Oh yeah, he's recovered half his face from where Yennefer set it on fire (on purpose) and attacks Vesemir and Triss and steals the mutagen they concocted to make more Witchers, while I'm left thinking how none of the other idiots heard the commotion in the lab.
Did your medallions all fall asleep on you or something?!? You're practically useless!
But there can only be one reason why Rience would want that mutagen, and Triss hurries to Aretuza to tell Tissaia about both that AND Ciri's Elder Blood, something that she believes the other woman needs to know. Unfortunately Tissaia tells Vilgeforz, who demands to know more from Triss, something the other woman isn't willing to share yet, especially since she told all that to Tissaia in confidence, and was betrayed.
More importantly, she betrayed Geralt, since he's over here trying to protect Ciri, ecstatic that Yennefer is still alive, but nowhere near knowing just what's up with her, too distracted by her just breathing (no joke). This is how Rience manages to pop up in the temple with Geralt basically almost pantless (he isn't, sadly, but he might as well have been with how unprepared he is) after Yennefer tells him Jaskier's in trouble by that same mage.
Deducing (rightly) that Rience is after Ciri, Geralt trusts her to Yennefer and tells them to run, he'll catch up to them afterwards ... after, that is, he makes a quiet temple room his personal playground, tossing all these morons about who thought an unarmed Witcher would be easy pray.
Sorry lads. Don't work that way!
But Geralt's blinders finally fall off when he sees Ciri and Yennefer disappearing through a portal (of Ciri's make, since Yennefer taught her how to do it) and he realizes that the sorceress has an agenda of her own - and it includes his daughter.
By this point, if you've haven't figured out all bets are off if someone's going after Ciri, you're way behind, because this means open war now for Geralt, with Yennefer his primary target.
He's right to think that, too, because not only has Istredd made a connection between Ciri and a legendary Elven warrior, Lara Dorren (because, why would he just drop a fascinating subject if he didn't have to, right?), but Francesca has given birth to the first full blooded Elf in years in Cintra, which is cause for celebration, up until the point Cahir reminds Fringilla what the Nilfgaardian goal was supposed to be (aka: find and grab Ciri), and that Emhyr, the Emperor, happens to be on his way.
This will mean problems if Fringilla can't get the Elves back under her control, because they're now hell-bent on rebuilding instead of fighting for Nilfgaard, reneging on their agreement, which won't look good. Even less good is the fact that Fringilla's uncle at Aretuza refuses to help her, forcing her to take matters into her own hands, and she kills four of the Nilfgaardian generals before terrorizing Cahir into vouching for her in front of the Emperor.
People calling this a move that made Fringilla a player ... yeah, sure, if that's what you'd like. I call it desperate measures, and not even the best ones, as you'll see.
More desperate than Fringilla is Geralt, however, who arrives at the jail where Jaskier's at, frees the bard, and reconciles with him (THE LOVES STORY IS BACK ON TRACK!). Jaskier then tells him all about how Yennefer lost her magic and other things he heard, which helps Geralt deduce that she's in league with Voleth Meir, a demon that feeds off pain. He and Jaskier team up with a band of dwarves to hurry to Cintra, where Yennefer and Ciri already have a massive lead.
See, Yennefer kind of played up to Ciri's fears that Geralt is being tortured, so she's going to try and save him ... only for her to accidentally read Yennefer's mind and realizing hey, this bitch is actually going to betray me.
This causes another outburst of power which alerts the Nilfgaardians, but like an avenging angel, Geralt arrives just in time and cuts down everyone standing in his way to get to Ciri. He then trusts her to Jaskier to take her to Kaer Morhen (LOVE IS ALIVE!) while he and Yennefer go to have a little chat with the Deathless Mother (Yennefer at sword-point, mind you, the first smart thing Geralt has ever done where she's concerned).
They arrive at the hut just as Voleth Meir escapes, with some help from Francesca's pain when the priestess wakes up and finds her baby murdered; Geralt, in the meantime, explains that Voleth Meir was one of the things the very first Witchers were contracted to lock up, because she feeds off pain - and little does he know about the pain Ciri's in, when Voleth Meir possesses her on the way to Kaer Morhen.
But he makes an educated guess and rides like the hounds of hell are behind him, forgetting all about Yennefer in his quest to get to his daughter, who is currently not his daughter and is killing Witchers in their sleep. Of all of them, only Geralt sees something wrong with Ciri and rightly deduces that Voleth Meir is inside her (seriously, guys, how did you NOT figure it out based off that ridiculous dress she's wearing? Where did she find it, Vesemir's closet???).
A battle ensues, while Geralt tries desperately to reach Ciri, locked away deep within her own pain, in a world where the pain is gone and she's safely in Cintra surrounded by everyone she loves. But a desperate father will do anything, and after figuring out they need a human host for Voleth Meir (this is only AFTER the demon uses Ciri's powers to uncover a hidden monolith in the Witcher medallion tree, which enables her to get some basilisks into this world), eventually Yennefer offers herself instead, seeing just how much Ciri means to Geralt.
This works, and all three of them land in the middle of nowhere on some other world, having been sucked through the monolith, where not only does Voleth Meir escape - having returned home, apparently - but they witness the Wild Hunt, who point at Ciri and are like YOU'RE OURS NOW, KID!
Speeding out of there like Secretariat on wings, Geralt concludes that the monoliths are remnants of the Conjunction of the Spheres, and allow a connection between their world and other worlds that were previously separated. He also knows Ciri and he can't stay at Kaer Morhen, not because of anything Vesemir or anyone else has done, but because Ciri's power will draw everyone and everything to her, and they have to stay on the move, PARTICULARLY because she can open those monoliths.
He's right, too, because Tissaia reveals Ciri's Elder Blood to the Brotherhood, as well as the fact that Redania has been trying to locate the princess through Dijkstra, their chief spy (who also enlisted none other than Dara, the Elf who helped Ciri back in season 1). This results in a bounty being placed on the heads of Ciri and all of her protectors, because ... we needed more complications.
Why would anything be simple?
At least Yennefer now has her magic back, so looks like she'll be back to being reasonably tolerable until the next time she needs to do something for herself and leave everyone else in the dust behind her.
But for now she seems to be on Geralt's side, which is SOME consolation because of that bounty, and also because of the fact that Istredd's gone to Francesca to tell her all about Ciri; Francesca, desolate after the loss of her baby, has been killing human babies in Redania as revenge, to the horror of her own people, but now realizes Ciri might be the Elves' hope because of her Elder Blood.
However, she isn't the only one who'll be after her: Emhyr finally arrives, revealing HE was the one who ordered Francesca's baby killed, and just as Geralt is trying to figure out how and why Nilfgaard came after Ciri, it's revealed that Emhyr is none other than Duny, Ciri's father.
DUN DUN DUN!
Remember him? The dude who was supposed to be dead? Yeah, he's alive and kicking, AND, if you watch closely, when Ciri's in her dreamworld during Voleth Meir's possession, on her way to waking up everyone around her turns to dust and disappears ... except Emhyr, indicating early on that he's still alive somewhere.
With that though, the season comes to a close, but luckily we know a third has already been green-lit, and not only that but we're getting a prequel, called Blood Origin, to tide us over until then!
And man, it keeps on getting better and better!
It really is a story about Geralt and Ciri, to be honest (yes, it's Geralt and Jaskier's love story but ... they can share the spotlight). Their bond and their strong connection is what drives this, and I find it especially poignant that, when everyone wants Ciri for her powers or her political position, or her value as Princess of Cintra, Geralt alone, the socially inept growling behemoth with the graces of a wild boar, sees her as a person and someone worth something simply because she exists.
If that isn't parental love I don't know what is. The amount of times you get the feels during the eight episodes of season two is just astounding, and I cannot WAIT to see how this bond develops and deepens further.
Yennefer, I could still do without. She has zero redeeming qualities because her entire focus is to help herself and get herself further in the world. Supposedly she sees some of the error of her ways with the Voleth Meir debacle, but honestly, I doubt it. Selfishness will be her inherent core trait forever, if you ask me, and how Geralt sees anything in her is beyond me with how selfless and compassionate he is.
Of course Jaskier remains an absolute gem on the other end of the spectrum, and I wouldn't mind watching a spinoff show all about him either. Give us more Joey Batey!
Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan all kill it in their roles, though, with the supporting cast coming in hot on their heels to make this a well-rounded season. The world seems to be even more immersive than before, the stories are becoming more complex, and we need to start paying attention if we want to keep up, which I love.
What I don't love, though, is someone's "brilliant" decision to keep Freya's makeup flawless every time it went from cut to action; you can clearly see where some scenes begin because her mascara looks like she's got false lashes on (in a recent video I watched of her, I think it's actually just her natural lashes being that long, but they're so weighed down by mascara that it looks like she's wearing half a tube), and her pink lipstick makes her look like a runway model, not a runaway princess and Witcher-in-training.
Listen, I get it; Freya was a teenager and unknown in season one, so no real makeup was applied. She's now a rising star and powerhouse, so makeup seems to be a must, but would it have been SO hard to make her look like she actually fits in that world, too? The lashes and lipstick always took me right out of whatever scene we were in because they looked so unnaturally made-up.
And Henry's contacts were a bit weird this season, too, constantly giving him a lightly astonished look which kind of contrasted against whatever actual emotion he was trying to portray.
Then again, if that's really the only complaints I have about The Witcher's second season, I guess they did a good job now, didn't they?
All in all, to sum this up because it's getting too long: fun-filled, heart-wrenching and heart-warming, The Witcher manages all that and so much more with its action sequences and witty comebacks, and I can't wait for season 3.
10/10 recommend!
xx
*images and video not mine
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