Kaka

The misery continues with shoddy sets in Russia, poor makeup work, and annoying supporting characters. I miss gold old Kattegatt and Ragnar vs Rollo. Fortunately, at least there’s some action by the end.

In the shadow of the brutal carnage of the first three seasons. The actors are stagnant and the script and scenes in Russia are downright annoying. Likewise with the several WTF characters that sometimes turn the show into almost a parody. Also, the make-up work is awful, especially with Lagertha. They do need to get better.

The production design is good overall, but the scenes from Rus are not what we probably expected. They feel contrived and unrealistic, a plot in the style of “only so something can happen”. The Nordic storyline is a lot more entertaining. Lagertha and Bjorn are keeping Vikings literally above water.

Mixed feelings. At times a dark romp, an atmospheric chivalric epic, a visually captivating show. At times a confusing mess of characters, cardboard sets and boring side-quests in the script. A viewer unfamiliar with the source material will sometimes be terribly confused, or even completely unable to grasp the new characters and locations. Praise for the imaginative concept of separate mini-episodes, which in many ways are not very related and yet in individual details systematically bring each character to the point where their fates intersect at expected moments, even in unpredictable situations. The first bold episode, which, by the way, is the only one that offers absolutely every reason the viewer should give Witcher a chance, is followed by others where those unfamiliar with the source material already feel a certain decline in the way the story is presented and conceived. The action in Blaviken in the opening episode remains by far the best moment of the entire season.

The final episode doesn’t look at all like the last. There are many things left unexplained, or at most only in hints. The final battle is imaginative in terms of direction, but not technically proficient, lacking the budget that would have ensured a proper epic.

Everything around Cintra and the fateful night is impressive and gripping. All the gravy around the main characters is uninteresting, though, but the exact parallel with today's world and Yennefer personifying the modern emancipated woman is perfectly spot on.

The romance of the main characters, complete with a dragon escort right from GoT, but with worse visuals because apparently there was no coin left. I was expecting the action to go further and higher after the fight in Blaviken, but it is exactly the opposite, and this episode is an example of that.

Another self-contained episode. There really isn't much to go on this time around, except perhaps Yennefer, who generally has a lot of potential, but the important thing will definitely be how they work with that potential and develop her character further. Either way, there's a little mythology and new names and new characters in each episode, which brings a bit of chaos, but in a reprehensible way.

A wild time-jump. An episode obviously crucial in terms of the future entanglement of the characters, their motivations and decisions, but a high bar for the layman's attention span and readiness to absorb a complex and intricate story viewed from the different sides and perspectives of the main characters. Considering the interaction and the number of characters, it’s looking like there’ll be five seasons.

The pieces of the story are very slowly put together, and it will eventually become clear whether this is scriptwriting clumsiness or mastery. In any case, impressive atmosphere and an even more impressive chilling scene with the Werewolf.