Everything I said for the first episode goes for this one as well. Directing and cinematography remain excellent. Pacing is better. I'm curious to see how the different storylines will unfold.
The visual beauty of this show is breathtaking. I really liked "The Song of the Roots of Hithaeglir" btw, it perfectly illustrates how myths and legends work on a meta level. Can't wait for the next episode, looks like shit will hit the fan in the Southlands.
"I came here because I love seeing wasteful souls struggle to accomplish something meaningful and fail spectacularly."
Looks like they changed a lot of things but oh my goodness, Avatar Kyoshi was amazing!
Suki was perfect btw, I loved the way she looked and carried herself in costume and make-up.
The ending suffered from the weak writing which was the main problem in this season. Geralt and Ciri's meeting didn't have any emotional weight. Had they met in Brokilon for the first time, the hugging at the end would have been effective. And Ciri's first words to Geralt shouldn't have been "Who's Yennefer?" which was absolutely ridiculous. Geralt's "something more, much more" speech would have been perfect, but why they scrapped that despite naming this episode "much more" is beyond me.
On a pure technical level, by which I mean everything that has to do with telling a story on screen, this season as a whole fails spectacularly. Bad writing, amateur directing, bland cinematography, messy editing, cheap effects, uninspired soundtrack. All the money in the world won't do a thing if you lack vision and/or basic knowledge on storytelling and filmmaking. This is my main gripe with this season and everything else stems from it.
Soulless is how I'd describe it. I simply don't feel the passion behind this project. It doesn't make me feel invested in this world or care about the people in it. It doesn't convey any kind of emotion through the screen. For contrast, in one episode of The Witcher's second season, I shed a couple of tears when Roach received a fatal wound and Geralt had to put her out of her misery. For a horse I barely knew ffs! WoT on the other hand doesn't make me feel anything at all; be it sadness, joy, anger, or anticipation. It comes off as hollow and sterile.
Acting is another issue. EF5 already suffers from bad writing and they don't have good acting chops either which makes their scenes cringy to watch. Seasoned actors/actresses do generally better but even Rosamund Pike doesn't seem fully invested in her character and every now and then gives a "wtf am I doing here" vibe.
On a semi related note, I really don't like the direction TV/streaming has been going for the past five years or so. I grew up on shows with 20-ish episodes per season which gradually got lesser over the years and here we are now stuck with bite sized shows specifically tailored and produced for binge watching/fast consumption. Don't get me wrong, it does work well for certain genres/stories, and I know WoT was released weekly but still, 8 episodes per season is nowhere near enough to properly adapt an epic fantasy story.
With all that said, I'm kinda curious to see whether or not the team will manage to fix the issues of the first season and where things will go from here story wise so I'll likely watch the second season as well.
Random tidbits:
- My favourite characters so far are Moiraine and Nynaeve followed by Lan and Thom.
- I'm a sucker for elemental magic so seeing fireballs and lightnings on screen is awesome.
- Aes Sedai, their politics and other similar conflicts in the wider world intrigue me more than EF5 youngsters.
- I already knew before watching who the dragon reborn was.
- This season made me lower my expectations for the upcoming Middle Earth show but who knows, it may just turn out amazing. Fingers crossed!
Decent enough parody of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.
Corpses that look like mannequins and skin cuts that look like stickers. It's all very amateurish and immersion breaking. I'm guessing they had a budget cut due to this being the final season.
Perfect ending for our beloved duo. I will miss them dearly.
Bending looks so fucking cool!
Gotta admit, the attack on the Southern Air Temple was heart-wrenching to watch.
The first two seasons were great. And that's how this show should have ended.
The first half was great. The second half... I don't even know what that was.
This is classic Moffat though, with his shocking revelations, seemingly profound yet cringy one liners, underdeveloped characters with nonsensical motivations... the list goes on. He ruined Doctor Who with his massive ego and is the only reason why I'll never watch Sherlock. Someone's gotta tell him it's time to retire now.
I really don't get why they all made such a fuss about the crib. And they should have thought about the financial implications before popping out five kids ffs.
Pointless subplots, overused clichés, drawn-out scenes, soppy dialogues, irrational decisions, stupid motivations... How did it come to this? How did it come to such awful, lazy, uninspired writing? This season was so bad it's a fucking insult to the audience.
Dustin spoke my mind lol, they were really that stupid.
A huge step up from the previous episodes. Pacing was much better, we learned some new stuff (that twist was great), and got lots of action. Hope the last two episodes will be up to par with this one.
And man, I love Jamie Campbell Bower's voice, the way he speaks is mesmerising.
Wtf is this writing, terrible and straight up lazy.
Why does it have to be the lake? Just go to another murder scene. And why the do they want to find the gate in the first place? What are they going to do without Eleven? These kids have done this before, they know what they're against but they act like clueless idiots.
Eleven's memory. We've seen it in the first episode. And now we're going through it again. Why? No idea. I thought maybe it's not what it seems, maybe it was someone else or some strange shit happened. But no, looks like they're playing it straight and telling us what we already knew.
Oh and we got another cheap comedy gag at Suzie's.
This show is running out of goodwill fast. What a shame.
My goodness, writing is awful. Russian plotline, Eleven's memory stuff - oh look, papa is back now, comedy hour at Suzie's... And how the fuck do the cops let Jason speak at all?
An underwhelming start to the season.
This series has lost its charm and novelty that made it a success and should have ended after Season 2. There's not much else to do now which I suspect is why they amped up the horror factor this season.
Been a fan of the graphic novels since my younger days and never thought I would actually see it in live action. I do have some nitpicks but as a whole it's a well-crafted season. Hope we get more and see the story in its entirety. I'm particularly looking forward to Season of Mists (Volume 4) and Ramadan (one-shot short story).
No idea why people go so hard on this one. It's fun, it's entertaining, it does what it sets out to do. Acting isn't consistent across the board, though. I found most of them meh but Hathaway was great.
Even worse than the second movie.
Not a good documentary from a filmmaking perspective but Britney's story is so moving I couldn't help but got angry and teary-eyed. From what I've heard about conservatorship is that it's a very rare occurrence that is usually opted for as a last resort (in Europe at least, not sure how it's like in the US). It's truly baffling how they so easily placed a 27 year old woman under a conservatorship AND refused to lift it in later years even though she was obviously a sane and functioning adult. Why did this happen to her in the first place? And more importantly, why did it take 13 years to right this wrong? Britney's ordeal proves once again that there's something seriously wrong with the system and I wish the documentary had examined it more closely.
Weaker than Paris, Je T'Aime in regards to writing and cinematography. My favourites are:
Segment Seven by Shekhar Kapur
Segment Nine by Fatih Akın
Segment Ten by Yvan Attal
Segment Eleven by Joshua Marston
Such a passionate film; beautiful and full of emotions. I liked most segments but my absolute favourites are:
Bastille by Isabel Coixet
Place des fêtes by Oliver Schmitz
Faubourg Saint-Denis by Tom Tykwer
Quartier Latin by Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu
My main issue with this season is the writing. I liked the different timelines converging at the end, but 1. Yennefer's arc was way too rushed and Ciri's arc was way too slow. 2. Geralt and Yennefer's relationship wasn't convincing. They met for the first time in episode 5 and were all lovey dovey in episode 6. We never saw them bond. There's a reason why the rule "show, don't tell" exists. 3. Geralt and Ciri's meeting at the end didn't have any emotional weight. Had they met in Brokilon for the first time, the hugging at the end would have been effective. And Ciri's first words to Geralt shouldn't have been "Who's Yennefer?" which was absolutely ridiculous. Geralt's "something more, much more" speech would have been perfect, but why they scrapped that despite naming the last episode "much more" is beyond me.
That being said, I enjoyed watching this season and am looking forward to the second one. It also made me want to read the books and play the games, so there's that. In fact, I installed and started playing the first game and will get the books as soon as possible.
Loaded with clichés and stereotypes. Misunderstandings, miscommunications, stupid decisions and motivations (or lack thereof) abound.
The first half of the season looked promising, but the second half went in a completely different direction. It was too much drama for drama's sake.
Kat grated on my nerves more often than not. Serena's actress clearly lacks acting skills, which made every scene she was in cringeworthy. Dasha was such a delight to watch. She's easily my favourite character and the actress did a great job.
The use of color and lighting in this episode is incredible. I can't even begin to imagine how much time and effort must have gone into creating such a beautiful visual aesthetic.
Agatha Christie is one of my all time favourite authors. I've read most of her works and seen several adaptations of them. Murder on the Orient Express (2017) was flawed in certain aspects, mainly the writing, which ultimately made the film fall flat despite its all star cast and impressive visual aesthetic. I know I shouldn't get hyped for Death on the Nile, but it's one of my favourite stories by Christie and I do hope that they do it justice this time.
Snowpiercer? Seriously? Do they really have to remake, reboot, and possibly ruin every good thing out there? It hasn't even been a decade since the film came out.
A good entry to the new season.
