Netflix has been butchering The Witcher books since the first season so I want to go through all the things they've ruined. In this video I'll focus specifically on the relationships. #thewitcher #netflix #henrycavill
Here's a list of artists and cosplayers whose artworks and photos I've used: Artists NastyaSkaya: www.deviantart.com/nastyaskaya Bathorygen: www.deviantart.com/bathorygen steamey: www.deviantart.com/steamey Martina Belli: www.artstation.com/martinabelli Zuzana Sikorová: www.artstation.com/zuzanasikorova JustAnoR: www.deviantart.com/justanor Tony Sart: www.artstation.com/tonysart Lipeka: www.artstation.com/lipeka Huey Martinez: www.artstation.com/comedicneutralartph June Page: instagram.com/june_page Vladimir Kafanov: www.artstation.com/vlak Hikaru Yagi: www.artstation.com/yagi Cosplayers Gerutskiy: www.deviantart.com/gerutskiy If there's anyone I forgot and you know them please let me know and I'll add them here.
The Witcher was DOOMED from the very second episode of the first season. It became solely female centric with Geralt being nothing more than a passing segue from one female hogging scene to the next. How Unremarkable and Craven of them. The Jennifer character, just to name one of the numerous female characters that have hijacked the crap show, is told by Tissaia, another one of the numerous females that have hijacked the crap show, portraying the rectoress at Arituza, that Jennifer needed to control her emotions so that she could move on as a magess to some Kings Court, but, then, every episode dealing with Jennifer is nothing but emotional outbursts that Really go overboard in the second season, where her most spoken word, in the form of a scream or grunt, "FUCK !". Don't get me started on the artificially enhanced, excessively enforced, unnecessarily infused, absolutely unneeded "diversity" driven race swaps ! I literally could go on and on and on about all of the other long list of female characters (I really like the Sabrina character, though !), but, will leave it there for discussions sake. Yes, this Nutflicks series absolutely SHIT on the Source Material. I feel better for Henry Cavill for having moved on to preserve his own personal integrity. #NetflicksWitcherSucks! #DestroyDiversityOverQuality! #GetWokeGoBroke!
This is spot on. There are times when Geralt and Dandelion are arm in arm, making merry and reveling in one another's company, complimenting one another's levels of debauchery and self-restraint. A perfect friendship. There are also times where they butt heads, and more than that they outright state their disdain for one another, elaborating on the qualities of one or the other which might fit comfortably at the far extreme end of the spectrum of their personalities. Dandelion's naivety and big-headedness, and Geralt's stubbornness and isolationism. The show does not capture the complimentary nature of their relationship. Instead, it is portrayed as supplementary. Geralt is Geralt, but with Jaskier he is just more Geralt. No tempering of his righteousness, no cooling of his hot temper in tense situations. Likewise, Jaskier does not get the realistic framing of reality that Geralt in the books provides Dandelion. In the show, Geralt and Jaskier feel like acquaintances, almost strangers. They just both exist, next to one another, not boosting the strengths of one another.
I played the first 2 games then jumped in at book 3. I started reading and thinking about my squad in the Army. We were family. Even when we didn’t like each other. All said and done I spent almost 2 years in and out of hell with a handful of people I’ll never forget. I saw the show and thought maybe I just misinterpreted.
I remember hearing that one of the best things about the Show. Was Jaskier and Geralts friendship. Then I actually saw more of the show. And was like: What friendship?
Yeah, I don't think that people who like their relationship in the show haven't read the books and don't know that Geralt isn't constantly annoyed by Jaskier's presence in the source material.
Yeah Dandelion knows intimate facts about Geralt that Geralt would only indulge to a true friend. Dandelion is clever, intelligent, loyal, and brave...the Jaskier imitation is none of these things
In the books, Dandelion usually enters the story by way of needing rescuing in some form or another. Geralt always has something more important to do, at least in theory, but he's already running to save Dandelion before his first grumbles have left his mouth. Despite whatever Geralt may say, his actions say Dandelion is one of the most important people in his life.
A little Sacrifice from the Sword of destiny collection is my favorite Dandellion story. Like how they work together to handle the main focus even if Dandellion gets stuck. Wish we could see any of the other characters of the story reappear.
I hate it how they have forgotten dandelion is a full fledged genius, aceing every test in the academy without even really trying. In season of storms he can even remember the lecture about the meteorite steel, that happened at least a decade ago. He should be well educated in multiple subjects.
He's also, by the way, a legitimate count (by his own words), a redanian spy, and a master womanizer ( he even managed to get laid with some actual queens and countesses). Literally the only thing about him that survived the Netflix treatment is his lute.
With him no aging in the first season I thought they were going to have it leading to an old dandelion teaching young bards Gerralt’s tale. So as he tells it he’s always young. I thought one of the short stories was framed that way but maybe I’m confusing it with another series.
good point :) in the book he was aristocrat, diplomat, spy remembering hundreds of heraldry of important persons and their genealogies. and as he is a poet his memory is one of his main skills.
YES that scene with Geralt and the priestess tells you EVERYTHING about who he is. How deep inside he really just wants to be a white knight and help everyone, it's heartfelt and meaningful, just him spilling his guts to this girl even saying things like "am I boring you?" And "please I need this" What did Netflix do? Rushed it in the middle of another rushed short story and had him talking to his horse! his HORSE! 🐎
And this is why the ending with the pitchfork is so good. Geralt was fighting for something else, not for himself. At that moment, he embodied all the knightly virtues, thus he goes to Avalon.
Skipping all the short stories is one of the dumbest things ive ever seen a TV series do. They had an A list superstar...great stories which could be done with minimal casting and budgets that could have floated the first 2 seasons. People would have been going wild to see the Ciri saga begin after the proper buildup
I cannot tell you how much I wanted to see the Melitele framing story in this show. A beat-up, bandaged Henry Cavill begging this random girl to hear him out, confiding his weaknesses to the priestess, struggling still with who and what he is...
@@90sshuffle Yeah, really only needed a small budget for the first two seasons, until the end at least, because they definitely would show the Fall of Cintra and Battle of Sodden no matter what.
Geralt would never - EVER - punch Jaskier like that. Dear God, how did they manage to ruin literally every little aspect of every single relation, scene, topic and problem there is? Seriously, at this point I'm impressed, it's an art of disaster comparable to The Room - no matter how hard you try, you couldn't make it up yourself.
True. That's because that other show's writer Michał Szczerbic probably knew all his additions and changes from the books (there are plenty) were pure BS, so he had at least copy pasted the source material wherever he could. That old polish show is basically like: some dumb fan-fiction -> parts of the first book 1:1 ->some more dumb sh*t -> parts of the second book 1:1 -> fan-fiction ending. (only short stories where filmed, novels were left untouched). Whereas Netflix is like: butchered fragments of the first three books -> dumb sh*t using books characters -> some more dumb sh*t with books characters -> butchered fragments of third and fourth book.
Another great video. Netflix completely missed the point Sapkowski was making with the lost family/found family dynanic. Ciri loses her biological family...but finds family with Geralt, Yennifer, Nenneke, and Vesimir. IMO skipping the real Brokilon story was the death nail in this show as it ruined the foundation if the most important relationship in the entire story.
My favorite part in the books was when Triss is ill, and Geralt gently lifts her off her horse, carries her into the woods, and then carries her back after she's done, without saying a word. It was probably the most romantic thing I've seen a fictional character do.
This is something that's been bothering the shit out of me for so long man. From the moment Jaskier appeared on screen, I could tell immediately that whoever wrote Jaskier's relationship with Geralt in the series had absolutely no idea, not even the slightest tiniest notion of what a real friendship between adult men looks like. It's like some 13-year-old girl's idea of what men are like toward each other. Jaskier is such an amazing character in the books man, the kind of bro you can't help but love even when he annoys the shit out of you. It's sad to see what they did to his character, like really fucking sad, almost as sad as the petty, petulant, small-minded idiots that made this show.
Considering the showrunner and the writers are all about The Message, you aren't far wrong. Caville left due to their disrespect for the source material. Current Hollywood writing doesn't acknowledge male friendships as being deep, unless, OF COURSE, they are gay.
@@sarasunshinemt4444The casting director admitted to race swapping because of THE MESSAGE. I hate Hollywood getting their claws in any book/game that I love. I just know they are going to change it to the point of only the setting and names being the same. The Wheel of Time show is really really bad.
I used to think the Yen and Ciri relationship was the most badly written by Netflix, but now I am not sure which is the worst written. Possibly Yen and Geralt. So the 2 worst written relationships are 2 of the 3 most important to the overall story. I hate watch the Netflix version now.
I think the worst thing they did in the show was cast someone too young for Yennifer, and someone older than a child for Ciri. It just looks wrong to watch because they look so similar in age, especially when compared to Henry Cavil. They don't look like mother and daughter, they look like friends.
For me the relationship between Triss and Ciri is also important. It's the relationship between sisters. I love how Ciri menstruation is explained and how Triss helps her become a young lady from a child. Percival slavic music (from Lazare-Bulgarian folk to Gusta mi magla-Serbian folk) is replace by what? "Toss a coin to the witcher" for the Boat man perhaps? Beautiful wild landscapes and medieval period fortification buildings from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Baltic Region, POLAND used in the games are replaced with cheap ink CGI with only the Rings of Power remaining in the picture. Not even the relationship between Gerald and the monsters are right. Hell I want to see the cynical and funny vampire or the devil from the Wild Hunt. 😭😭😭 Even the elements from the folklore used in the books are destroyed and trolled. But the relationship that Netflix really f*up is well with us... THE FANS. We have bought the books, and the games, and made fan-art, and cosplay. Why??? Because we love the "The white wolf". And according to Netflix "we are to stupid to understand". Sorry for the long comment but you are right brother. In every part of your video.
It's the messed up relationships and characterisations that make the series so hard to watch. Jaskier is treated as comic releif when he is so much more, especially his friendships with the main characters.
I missed Yarpin. In the books he did a ton of heavy lifting in terms of being a friend to Gerralt and Ciri as well as explaining the politics of the world.
I think in general, Dwarves were done DIRTY on the show, none of the martial prowess, advanced technology, deep cultural nuances or anything were mentioned or shown. Fuck, there's even a goddamn soup recipe in the books.
I found realky hearthwarming in books that Yennefer anonymously let's bank contact people who gave him contract to increase his reward, so he could live from it Also the things what have they done to other Witchers are terrible, my poor Eskel
I quit watching completely after that episode. I got through season one with complaints, but I was going to give the second season a chance cause I liked Henry Cavill. Then the whole thing with Eskel went down and I was done. My sister made fun of me, but I was like nah. Read the books then come back and talk to me about it. (She did and was just as pissed)
Dude they had a nice friendship in the games too, after almost 6 years I was playing blood and wine and decided to go for the bad ending where Syanna dies, and Geralt goes to prison, Jaskier is the one who comes to his rescue and you feel so relieved to see him.
They hate males. You could think that they like black men at least but it is also a lie. They treat them like purse puppies. They are just accessories for woke people. They hate family men conservatives. And every shit show they make must remind the viewer that those are bad.
Dear God I just watched the first episode of the Hexer. This show is a phenom. The atmosphere, the music, the pacing. The child actors are phenomenal. The script is beautifully paced, emotional and full of depth. I can't believe this was just a TV show. It's way, way ahead of its time, while still keeping the tone of dark 80s fantasy I so crave. People you all need to watch the Hexer TV Series, in Polish with Subtitles preferably! It's beautiful! Thank you so much for showing that sequence here, it inspired me to watch this in full! It's exactly what I wanted out of the Netflix Witcher.
I think the relationships between the characters is what made Blood of Elves so interesting to read, despite not having a villian or a lot of action scenes and it's a great setup for the following books. It's basically what the main characters want to get back and return to. Ciri for example is surrounded by people who like her, like Geralt, Yennifer, Triss, the witchers at Kaer Morhen, and priestesses and adepts at the temple. She has all these people who teach and influence her and then all of it is taken away from her at Thanedd and she struggles to deal with it. Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer all risk their lifes and often make desperate decisons to meet each other again. You can't even begin to comprehend, why they would act that way, if you only watched the show. The only change that they made I'm okay with in that regard, is the change in the relationship between Geralt and Triss. Their romantic involvement is interesting to read, but in no way important to the books and a lot of it is explored through Triss' internal monologue, so I think it would be difficult to explain in a TV show.
“It’s always the most idiotic people who think they’re the smartest.” No truer words were ever spoken in history. It seems that stupidity is the new intelligence these days; this world is so blatantly ignorant about actually being intelligent, that they’ve chosen to adopt stupidity instead. Ignorance is bliss, after all.
So basically, they wanted a Marvel-style comic relief, thus they turned Jaskier into an annoying silly buffoon. Lovely. Also, I didn't see the show yet (I'm not that brave), but quick google search told me, that they completely ignored A Little Sacrifice, which is ludicrous. The tale of A Little Sacrifice is very important for relationship between Geralt and Jaskier, because here they shared a common tragedy and sorrow. The Netflix writers missed the mark so much, that the Stormtroopers would look like sharpshooters compared to them.
Yeah, don't even bother with watching it. It will only piss you off if you like the books. I'm kinda glad that they ignored A Little Sacrifice. It's one of the best short stories and they would just butcher it. Although there might be a chance that they'll insert it somewhere in the future like they did with A Grain of Truth in the second season..
It's incredible how non-existent "armour" of Michal Żebrowski still looks better than Cavill's armour 😅 You have found a great scene from the Polish version. I really liked Żebrowski in this role.
That is a czech version of the polish show. Notice how Geralt calls Jaskier Marigold. Triss was written and named by Spakowski after czech name for Jaskier was established (different flower used) and in spite. And I agree Żebrowski was perfect
You make quality content, friend. This and your mythology/folklore videos. I admire the fan projects that do fan Witcher material, it shows how they understood the love between characters and importance of bonds more than Netflix. It really is sad. I’m sure you’ve seen but Russian artist Denis Gordeev has done more love and beauty in all his art than Witcher Netflix ever could. Highly recommended for artistic adaptions of important Witcher scenes. You featured his art in your video.
Thank you 🙂 To be honest I don't like Godreev's artworks in regards to their aesthetic because I like the very medieval visuals of The Witcher and he used something that looks almost like baroque period. But I still appreciate his artworks because other than aesthetics all the scenes are captured really well and often exactly how I pictured them when reading the books.
@@FolkWalkCZ ah I like baroque style but understandable lol but even still, it’s funny how he adapts characters to a completely different era and yet still is more faithful than Netflix. Original Wiedźmin show had great aesthetics if horrible budget though. At least their changes felt like necessity instead of arrogance.
@@ronaldood4678 Yeah, well said. The Hexer has bad costumes but you can see that it's at least distinctively Polish and has a heart which The Witcher Netflix show lacks despite their big budget.
The Gerault and Jaskier friendship cannot be written by modern writers, they cannot write non gay men's friendship's. I have noticed that all male relationships, in all shows and movies, that are not homosexual in nature, are toxic. It says a lot about the writers that they are unable to imagine two men as just friends.
Or a man and woman as just friends, for that matter. It's as if they thought affection and sex are the same thing. Maybe has something to do with their horrible treatment of people in general - when you see every relationship as a power relationship... you're not going to have much understanding of actual relationships.
Having read the books, I think what the show's relationships lack is sincerity. None of the characters feel sincere. The interpersonal connections are what make the books for me. It's not about drama, but about their humanity, or lack thereof. The show completely missed what makes the Witcher special.
My only addition is that for Season 1 I was able to ignore the fact that Ciri was played by a significantly older actor (I do like Freya Allen), but this was just not possible to strain credulity so far once we got to Season 2 and 3. This made it really difficult for the mother-daughter type relationship between Ciri and Yennefer to be created.
@@avad8868 Ageless is apparently impossible for streaming networks. Yennefer looks too young, and then over in the WoT show they cast a bunch of old women who very obviously LOOK older to play characters whose main recognizable schtick is that they look ageless.Apparently there's no middle ground where you just pick a 30 year old woman, or use tv magic on an older woman to erase the things that people would recognize as making her older. It's only 20 years old forever or crone.
There's nothing better than watching these videos and remembering the exact points that are being referenced. It makes me feel so accomplished as someone who has only read the books, but read the whole set multiple times. I absolutely loved the arc with Yennefer and Ciri, and Ciri with most of the characters in the story, like when her, Geralt, and Triss are travelling and they join another company. The dialogue and scenes between those three/two, and the people they meet always makes the characters so much more complex. It's a shame that netflix hasn't done the Witcher justice.
Best channel. You are the only one Ive seen that has THOROUGHLY explained how EXACTLY they’ve messed up the relationship between characters. Specifically Yennefer and Geralt.
I never watched Netflix's Witcher after the first season. I thought it was just my high expectations from books that I didn't like the show but seeing these videos makes me think ,how can they intentionally write all this?
THANK you for this video, I always wasn't a fan of the series, but the issues were SO numerous that I struggled to put it into words, but now I have something I can refer to and it's so goddamn helpful! Thank you so much!
Since I played the first 2 games before the third game I already liked dandelion and after reading the last wish and the sword of destiny cdpr definitely got his character better in the Witcher 1 and 2 (especially 2 in my opinion) compared to how goofy he was in the Witcher 3 but he had his moments unlike Netflix. Now seeing what Netflix have done to him and is relationship with Geralt just pains me physically and I can’t bring myself to finish the show.
You're not alone with this feeling of disappointment. I forced myself to watch episode 3 last night and I can't continue to waste my time and put myself through even more disappointment and frustration.
Yeah, Witcher 3 doesn't really need to build up Dandelion and Geralt's relationship so much as the games are direct continutation of the books and the previous two games. The relationship is already estabilishd, so they can afford Dandelion being more goofy.
Good job these two videos describing the discrepancies so far. Even some of the chapters in each book almost fit perfectly into their own episodes, such a shame eh
They butchered the relationships in more ways! In the books just before Aretuza Ciri escapes because she wanted to meet Geralt one last time. When Yennifer finds out she chases after Ciri. This ends up with the Wild Hunt going after Ciri and Geralt, Ciri, Yen and Jaskier meets up in a small village. Here Geralts and Yens relationship deepens further and Jaskier teaches Ciri about love in his own poetic way. In the Netflix series however, Ciri flees because she didnt want to go to school?? And yen does not chase after Ciri, why dont yen care enough about Ciri?? And since yen does not chase after Ciri the whole group never really meets up before Thanedd. The whole series is so shallow.
Geralt and Jaskier - best friends forever and help each other! And of course, Nethex will turn they friendship into mess, like unfunny Shrek and Donkie
Thanks for this video i share the same specifications that if they are to develop characters you cannot rush their introductions into the show, Triss's allergies to potions for eg. was not stated in the show(i think), small things that build things up were rushed
It really infuriated me when people were saying that they loved Geralt and Jaskier's relationship in the Netflix show. Like, what relationship? All you ever see is Geralt being annoyed by his presence when in actuality Jaskier is Geralt's best friend in the entire world.
As a non book reader, but a lover of fantasy, and fiction, I could not get passed the halfway point of this show. Especially when I see Geralt and Jaskier on screen together. I would always eye roll whenever they banter. I also didn't like the sex scene between Yennefer and Geralt, even though I'm someone who enjoys NSFW content.
idk why you choose not to read books, but the show isn't even a morsel of the world of the books. Not even a blurry window into the world of the books, so I recommend reading
I'd love to join in this discussion with you, but I haven't been able to force myself to watch season 3 yet. The more you like something, be it books or games or music, the worse it feels to see someone else f*ck it up. I really enjoyed the books, their immense cleverness and lightness of touch, their deep understanding of Slavic and European folklore, the palapable affection Sapkovski feels for the characters he created. This Netflix series feels disrespectful to me, as though the creators neither liked nor understood the material they were working with, and by series 2 it was actually painful for me to watch.
I only got into The Witcher after seeing how enthusiastic Cavill was about it. Watching someone passionately talk about this thing they like makes you want to find out for yourself why this thing is so great, ya know? So I read the books - and Dandelion is WAY too in love with himself to ever write JUST about the Witcher. He has other works. He only writes songs about Geralt for the stories he witnesses. Whereas Jaskier seems to only write about Geralt whether he has first hand knowledge or not. Plus, not saying Geralt doesn’t insult Jaskier, but Jaskier also spends a lot of time actively dismissing Geralt when he tries to communicate with him and express his viewpoint - like with Toss a Coin to Your Witcher. Dandelion saw how the elves were declining and he sympathised, as i remember from reading the book. Jaskier on the other hand, sings a song that makes elves seem less than and glorify the Witcher. Geralt would never be comfortable with the role Jaskier assigned to him. Their "friendship" in the show is Jaskier creating a persona in his head for Geralt and forcing him to play the part and being disappointed when Geralt falls short, and Geralt shutting down and resorting to insults.
Man, they also ruined my favourite scene in "the edge of the world", in which Geralt and Filavandrel have a really deep debate on how elves should try to survive, and in which Jaskier-Dandelion shows surprising courage, by denying any kind of liniency by the elves and siding with Geralt even if it means death. there's so many moments that are completely butchered that it's hard to count :/
It’s obvious the show writers hate the source material. They’re trying to twist it into what they like forgetting that millions of other people liked it the way it was.
I have quit watching the Netflix show as they have totally ruined the story of Geralt. Like many American hollywood types - they emphasis only nasty things that will provoke or incite, never the true things or gentle feelings of humans. I say this as an american who has watched hollywood butcher all kinds of things (like the girl with the dragon tattoo - another great disaster) Thank you for stating what was truly written and intended. The books are charming and meaningful.
It's why we should look at the Lord of the Rings movies as a trio of magical fucking unicorns. While they did change things for the sake of drama, they made sense and still led to the same general plot points of the books. As for the gentler feelings... I can sum it up with one line 'Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf.'
Yen and Geralt is the worst relationship that Netflix wrote. Yen's motives are entirely changed from the start. Issue no. 1: Istredd still exists in the story. Why? The book's "A Shard of Ice" made it clear that Istredd and Geralt would never ever want to see each other again, especially if Yen was around. Additionally, this short story reveals that Yen-Geralt relationship has many many layers and added a lot of depth to the characters. Issue no. 2: Yen never tries to kill Ciri / never has her powers stolen. For this reason, two things happen impacting her character: she becomes untrustworthy and selfish (having to rebuild that trust, which never happens in the books. Book Yen always thinks about Geralt and Ciri and prioritises them over her own self). These personality traits are highly highly uncharacteristic of Book Yennefer. This makes her an entirely different character from the one from the books. Only thing that she retains from the books is her name.
As a Pole I have to say that the clip from the Hexer with the dubbing in your language had me in stitches from laughing ;-) [EDIT: of course I mean it in a non-offensive way, it's just something I didn't expect!]
And apparently there is supposed to be 20 years of Jaskier walking with Geralt and annoying him, then Geralt says that one thing and Jaskier just goes away? It would make sense if it was one year or less, maybe first big argument, but 20? And now it polluted fanfiction to witcher too and it's so annoying to read Geralt only saying "Hmm.", Geralt being constantly annoyed and Jaskier constantly accepting it orthinking to himself how annoying he is, and Jaskier, you know, the weaker and richer guy from those two, walking beside Geralt on a horse when travelling. There might be very interesting story but with such a wimpy Jaskier and Geralt being a jerk or even cruel to Jaskier, how can I read that?
There are so few channels that actually criticize this show for the writing and characters, everyone is just praising Henry Cavill and saying that it got worse because he's leaving. I remember Jinzee had a great critique of the first season (surprising because she's very woke, unsurprising because she's a REAL fan of the books), which she later deleted due to toxicity of netflix fans and her own thin skin. Anyway, you've earned a sub!
Yeah, I know about Jinzee and her situation. I actually want to do a video about the reaction of The Witcher fandom to the Netflix show and how the view of it evolved over the years. I want to mention what happened with Jinzee there.
Book Jaskier is such a bro, the only thing he did that was a violation to the “bro code” was that he chose a hoe before his bros (But tbh that’s just andrzej sapkowski’s way of keeping him alive in the story)
Great content. Both attempts of adapting Witcher to series were a disaster, but watching Polish tv series last time like a 15 years ago, I forgot that it had much more small good moments then current Netflix attempt. One more relationship Netlfix screw up is Ciri with Triss. I actually read first part of Saga before I I read short stories and I liked Triss more then Yeneffer for a very long time. Triss really helped Ciri in Kaer Morhen. With the coming to age problems, explain nature of her nightmares and teaching her how to be a lady, what nice dress and proper make up can do. Netflix change Triss from a attractive and charismatic lady that loves to dress up, make up and see how man admire her beauty to a steady middle age auntie who can give you milk and cookie but will not make any man crazy. But the relation was even worse. Triss freaked up when she entered Ciri's nightmare and make her fill alienated.
May be a hot take but Hexer is severely underrated. It's biggest flaws are the shoestring budget it was made on and that it pretty much requires the viewer to have read the books beforehand but if you can get over those 2 it's fairly decent. Unlike Netflix.
Just stumbled on this today right after you uploaded it... Liked it to so much I immediately began perusing your entire catalog... Great work man, keep it up.
My main problem was that, aside from a few good moments, they made Jaskier out to be a bumbling arse and the main punching bag of the show. Which is the complete opposite of Jaskier in the books and games. Jaskier is *very* intelligent when he wants to be and is shown multiple times to have a vast vocabulary and can talk his way out of almost anything. He can be annoying, sure, but he supplements Geralt's no-nonsense attitude with his charm to avoid confrontations. He's also supposed to be amazing at, basically, shittalking. Geralt tried once to win an argument with Jaskier and the latter ran circles around him, completely tore his character down with facts and logic, while throwing absolutely brutal insults. That one verbal smackdown was so bad that Geralt literally never tried it again and made him respect his wit that much more. And this leads to the main reason Jaskier keeps getting into trouble. Its not *just* his lecherous lifestyle, its the fact that most people can't seem to win an argument against him and pisses them off. It doesn't help that he occasionally rubs it in with a shiteating grin. Now compare this to the Jaskier in the show who can't seem to win an argument to save his life and who's main purpose seems to be the comic relief.
There's a scene in the Rare Species episode where Yennefer tells him "The crow's feet are new." and he can't come up with anything better than "Yeah, well, your jokes are...old." and then leaves embarrassed. Jaskier from the books would roast her without mercy.
This supposed to be a reunion scene from Netflix just annoys me every time I see it, it's supposed to be an incredibly emotional, powerful and meaningful moment between Geralt and Ciri, but instead Netflix decided to not only not include the Brokilon meeting between them but also ignore the dialogue between Geralt and Ciri, and instead have Ciri ask Geralt "Who is Yennefer?" 😡
It was great seeing the scene from Hexer (a Polish show) with English subtitles but dubbed in Czech. I am Czech myself and have seen the show only in Polish. 😂 Agree with you on all points you made. I wouldn't care about each character being changed as much as them changing the relationships. If they want to make Geralt more grumpy, I can live with that but every single relationship is butchered and the new ones they create are just cringe. Who enjoyed Cahir and Fringilla? Who the hell invented that.
Imagine a woman would wanted to sacrefice you for the sake of gaining power than you turm out to respect her like she is your own mother lol. Makes fucking no sense whatsoever. Idk what's in the writer's head but she clearly has mommy issues.
The friendship between Geralt and Jaskier was the thing that bothered me the most about the series. In the books they used to have such a geniune friendship with lots of fun moments and also hard times. But in the series Geralt was a complete douchebag to Jaskier for no reason.
The family dynamic between the three main characters was the heart of the books, so messing that up basically destroyed the emotional stakes of the story. Big part of the change is also that Ciri was supposed to be much younger at the beginning, so Geralt really was raising her at one point (not just training). It was also important to his character, since as you mentioned, he struggles with people not accepting him, and then there was this child who simply trusted him and liked him, even before he became her only option.
I really hate how much the Witcher series makes Gerelt out to be an angry asshole when partying and making friends are his hobbies in the books/games. Gerelt loves having social links but the show goes out of it's way to make Gerelt as much of an outcast as possible.
I want to read the books again. I read them a while ago and don't remember all the details. Specially Jaskier and other characters but knowing how much the showrunners messed up the 3 main characters and the series of events, I'm not surprised how many differeces are and it's the main reason why the show never felt fully great to me. I just wanted it to be good.
an idea for a video - Where Netflix could've and should've took inspiration from the Polish Hexer series. Anyway. a brilliant analysis, thank you for this one as well!
Whatever people think about hexer, I need to say that I liked show very much. Watched show between Witcher 1 and 2 games. It captures Slavic folklore while Netflix adaptation looks nothing close to it.
I feel like the writers of the tv show didn't even read the books, they just read a summary of the first two books and decided to take a couple of main ideas from it and adapt it.
I mean the amount of depth that the characters in The Witcher is what makes the stories so compelling. Yet the writers/activists at netflix came out with some straight garbage
Jaskier/Dandelion is a character with no character development, but hidden depths which are gradually and surprisingly revealed. He's an inveterate womanizer, seducing women nearly on instinct, and his only motion towards caution is setting up escape routes and getaways. He's impulsive to a fault, completely incapable of thinking through his actions. He's often the butt of the joke, can't stand the sight of blood, and his mouth has more than once written checks that Geralt's fists need to pay. And yet...when Rience tortured him, his quick wit allowed him to frame his responses as technically accurate, all while risking maiming to protect his friend. When Little Eye died of smallpox, he carried her out of the city and buried her himself. Meanwhile, his talents as a bard have earned him international acclaim. With Yennefer, I have a theory as to what Geralt's wish actually was, and why it their relationship was so tumultuous. The priest mentioned that he needed to make the right wish, implying it required more cleverness than simply "bind my fate to hers." I think his actual wish was to grant her wish. And that's what pulled them together and apart so many times over the years. Yennefer's greatest wish, to have a child, to have a family, was apparently to be granted by a sterile witcher. From her perspective, over the years that followed, destiny was trying to force them together in a futile attempt to fulfill that wish, and the resentment that brought about drove them apart time and time again. Until, years later...they have a daughter.
I appreciate the comparison to the polish adaptation. It's so rare, most of the people in the western audience aren't even aware of it's existance. I know it did some questionable things to the story too, but compared to Netflix version it gives it a new shine
As someone who consider the Witcher books to be my favorite books, i completely agree with every word you said here! I also agree with you in the other videos about the casting and characters. This Netflix show is an example on how to butcher an adaptation and turn it into fanfiction!
ok i have a theory..... the creators of the netflix show butchered the show so bad comapired to the books because they wanted you to go read the books because theyre far more interesting. at least, thats the vibe im getting. I cant believe the massive differences from the show vs. the books. I also cant believe they thought they could really take something with a fanbase that runs so deep and do what theyve done with it. The way you describe the books has me ready to order the complete series. Thank you for being passionate about this and speaking out!
When it comes to adaptations, there will always be some changes and sacrifices in order to create art in a different medium. Famous screenwriter Alfred Hitchcock once said about adapting a book that he “read(s) the story only once, and if I like the basic idea, I just forget all about the book and start to create cinema”. However the key is to understand the idea of the story and the Netflix show completely gets that wrong.
Never was a big fan of Jaskier’s casting in the first place. Looks too much like somebody who knows what a phone is for me. Robert Sheehan who played Klaus in The Umbrella Academy would have been a perfect fit. He looks like Witcher 3 Dandelion coming right out of the video game.
I like Joey Batey and I think Netflix writers just ruined Jaskier's character and his relationship with Geralt but you're right Robert Sheehan would be even better 🙂 He's hilarious in the first season of Misfits 😁
Holy crap, this is really bad... Seems they completely earned losing 60% of their viewers over the course of Season 3... and I'm even more assured that I will never watch this show. I bet they had to make Dandelion unlikeable, because he's sleeping with different women all the time. I must say that I didn't like him too much after reading the books, for me he was always just an idiot, except for a few times, but it was always clear what he meant to Geralt. And that scene from the Hexer looked really good and emotional actually, maybe I'm gonna watch the Hexer soon. It certainly made me feel very sad for Geralt again.
I will say that the only scene I really liked in the last wish episode was the jail scene when Geralt wishes "I wish you would burst you son of a whore!" Though it's still way better in the book
The show writers simply do not understand male/male friendship. They seem to be writing a pathological male/female marriage scenario for the characters.
If that scene between geralt and Jaskier (polish version) would be done again, these modern critics would call it "homo-eroticism" or that they have romantic feelings for each other etc... Just like with Frodo and Sam.
I feel you man. In bollywood, there is an old film, Sholay, which also had such amazing friendship - heck they literally had a song about how amazing their friendship was. The Wikipedia page however, mention that that isn't friendship, but homo-eroticism An insult
@@anuragpradhan7500 Omfg. That's how deep the insanity goes. These people don't understand strong male friendships, because they are not men. I think it was in the Three Musketeers book (or another from the 19 century I don't remember) There were 2 soldiers and one said "I love you with all my hearth" to the other, because they were like brothers. Imagine hollywood/netflix etc recreating that scene. They would be having a homosexual scene by the end of it:))
Never read the books but now that I have some perspective on how the author intended the relationships to be the story actually makes a lot of sense. Really recontextualizes some stuff for the better. Thanks
my absolute favourite scene in the whole saga is when Geralt first brings Ciri to Kaer Morhen, and the witchers don't know what to do or say, so they just stand around awkwardly while Ciri's clearly uncomfortable. and Eskel, sweet dear Eskel with the scariest face of them all, comes forward and clumsily comforts her and coaxes her to relax. something that even Geralt can't really do in this situation because he's a big ol' dum-dum. this one shirt scene shows so much about the witchers - about their bond with each other, how ready they are to take in their brother's kinda-kid even though they know jack shit about raising little girls (until Triss spells it out for them), how even Lambert, the bastard that he is, is patient and gentle with her. and most of all it just kinda shows that for all the posturing and brooding and ruminating Geralt is probably the most mal-adjusted among them, probably exactly because he's so deep inside his own head all the time. i can never understand how you can look at this tiny little gem of a scene and think, "nah, Eskel has to be an evil tree"
Man, I'm SO glad I dropped watching early in season 2, I feel disgusted just listening to your retelling.... And I fully agree with your assessment of the rest. Leaving out the meeting with little Ciri in Brokilon removed the fundamental basis of their relationship. Geralt's first encounter with Yennefer had such comedic potential but they also left it out because we can't have Yennefer hung over having had drunk sex, can we, and that tender scene you mention was completely killed. Plus, changes aside, I just don't see any chemistry between Chalotra and Cavill whatsoever, so one really wonders why they are supposed to be together. What I miss are those interplays between Geralt and Calanthé, which subtly imply Calanthé's appreciation of him as a man (and I'd say that Geralt is not entirely uninsterested, either) as well as their mutual respect. The show Calanthé is just so crass... Tl;dr: the show is simply fundamentally broken in every respect I can think about.
This is one of the things....the show's depiction of the friendship between Geralt and Jaskier/Dandelion....it was so bad, at least in season 1, it as portrayed indeed as a sort of weird Shrek and Donkey type relation where Geralt barely tolerated the bard, it was really odd! Their friendship was hundred times better depicted in the oft hated and controversial Hexer, old polish series haha :). Zamachowski and Żebrowski at least managed to make a genuine friendship on screen.
Here's a list of artists and cosplayers whose artworks and photos I've used:
Artists
NastyaSkaya: www.deviantart.com/nastyaskaya
Bathorygen: www.deviantart.com/bathorygen
steamey: www.deviantart.com/steamey
Martina Belli: www.artstation.com/martinabelli
Zuzana Sikorová: www.artstation.com/zuzanasikorova
JustAnoR: www.deviantart.com/justanor
Tony Sart: www.artstation.com/tonysart
Lipeka: www.artstation.com/lipeka
Huey Martinez: www.artstation.com/comedicneutralartph
June Page: instagram.com/june_page
Vladimir Kafanov: www.artstation.com/vlak
Hikaru Yagi: www.artstation.com/yagi
Cosplayers
Gerutskiy: www.deviantart.com/gerutskiy
If there's anyone I forgot and you know them please let me know and I'll add them here.
The Witcher was DOOMED from the very second episode of the first season.
It became solely female centric with Geralt being nothing more than a passing segue from one female hogging scene to the next.
How Unremarkable and Craven of them.
The Jennifer character, just to name one of the numerous female characters that have hijacked the crap show, is told by Tissaia, another one of the numerous females that have hijacked the crap show, portraying the rectoress at Arituza, that Jennifer needed to control her emotions so that she could move on as a magess to some Kings Court, but, then, every episode dealing with Jennifer is nothing but emotional outbursts that Really go overboard in the second season, where her most spoken word, in the form of a scream or grunt, "FUCK !".
Don't get me started on the artificially enhanced, excessively enforced, unnecessarily infused, absolutely unneeded "diversity" driven race swaps !
I literally could go on and on and on about all of the other long list of female characters (I really like the Sabrina character, though !), but, will leave it there for discussions sake.
Yes, this Nutflicks series absolutely SHIT on the Source Material.
I feel better for Henry Cavill for having moved on to preserve his own personal integrity.
#NetflicksWitcherSucks!
#DestroyDiversityOverQuality!
#GetWokeGoBroke!
Jaskier is just treated as a punching bag by the show, but in the books, Geralt and Jaskier have an actual friendship, with ups and downs.
It makes me so sad seeing them make a mess of their friendship season one got the closest but it still needed to do better
I was hoping they would make an arc to adress the punching bag problem to develop their friendship and dandelion as a character. I was naive.
This is spot on. There are times when Geralt and Dandelion are arm in arm, making merry and reveling in one another's company, complimenting one another's levels of debauchery and self-restraint. A perfect friendship. There are also times where they butt heads, and more than that they outright state their disdain for one another, elaborating on the qualities of one or the other which might fit comfortably at the far extreme end of the spectrum of their personalities. Dandelion's naivety and big-headedness, and Geralt's stubbornness and isolationism.
The show does not capture the complimentary nature of their relationship. Instead, it is portrayed as supplementary. Geralt is Geralt, but with Jaskier he is just more Geralt. No tempering of his righteousness, no cooling of his hot temper in tense situations. Likewise, Jaskier does not get the realistic framing of reality that Geralt in the books provides Dandelion.
In the show, Geralt and Jaskier feel like acquaintances, almost strangers. They just both exist, next to one another, not boosting the strengths of one another.
I played the first 2 games then jumped in at book 3. I started reading and thinking about my squad in the Army. We were family. Even when we didn’t like each other. All said and done I spent almost 2 years in and out of hell with a handful of people I’ll never forget. I saw the show and thought maybe I just misinterpreted.
I remember hearing that one of the best things about the Show. Was Jaskier and Geralts friendship. Then I actually saw more of the show. And was like: What friendship?
Yeah, I don't think that people who like their relationship in the show haven't read the books and don't know that Geralt isn't constantly annoyed by Jaskier's presence in the source material.
That's how californians think friends are :p
@@Kadwid That is so true. I get that sometimes two totally opposite people can form friendships. But this was not one of them.
Jaskier is unbearable in this show.
Yeah Dandelion knows intimate facts about Geralt that Geralt would only indulge to a true friend. Dandelion is clever, intelligent, loyal, and brave...the Jaskier imitation is none of these things
In the books, Dandelion usually enters the story by way of needing rescuing in some form or another. Geralt always has something more important to do, at least in theory, but he's already running to save Dandelion before his first grumbles have left his mouth.
Despite whatever Geralt may say, his actions say Dandelion is one of the most important people in his life.
A little Sacrifice from the Sword of destiny collection is my favorite Dandellion story.
Like how they work together to handle the main focus even if Dandellion gets stuck. Wish we could see any of the other characters of the story reappear.
I hate it how they have forgotten dandelion is a full fledged genius, aceing every test in the academy without even really trying. In season of storms he can even remember the lecture about the meteorite steel, that happened at least a decade ago. He should be well educated in multiple subjects.
He's also, by the way, a legitimate count (by his own words), a redanian spy, and a master womanizer ( he even managed to get laid with some actual queens and countesses). Literally the only thing about him that survived the Netflix treatment is his lute.
That wouldn't fit the picture "enlightened" liberals paint about medieval people, especially men. And he would overshadow the strong whamen.
With him no aging in the first season I thought they were going to have it leading to an old dandelion teaching young bards Gerralt’s tale. So as he tells it he’s always young. I thought one of the short stories was framed that way but maybe I’m confusing it with another series.
good point :) in the book he was aristocrat, diplomat, spy remembering hundreds of heraldry of important persons and their genealogies. and as he is a poet his memory is one of his main skills.
Nah remember "your show is only as intelligent as your writer" and these writers have European room temperature IQ.
YES that scene with Geralt and the priestess tells you EVERYTHING about who he is. How deep inside he really just wants to be a white knight and help everyone, it's heartfelt and meaningful, just him spilling his guts to this girl even saying things like "am I boring you?" And "please I need this"
What did Netflix do? Rushed it in the middle of another rushed short story and had him talking to his horse! his HORSE! 🐎
And this is why the ending with the pitchfork is so good. Geralt was fighting for something else, not for himself. At that moment, he embodied all the knightly virtues, thus he goes to Avalon.
Skipping all the short stories is one of the dumbest things ive ever seen a TV series do. They had an A list superstar...great stories which could be done with minimal casting and budgets that could have floated the first 2 seasons. People would have been going wild to see the Ciri saga begin after the proper buildup
I cannot tell you how much I wanted to see the Melitele framing story in this show. A beat-up, bandaged Henry Cavill begging this random girl to hear him out, confiding his weaknesses to the priestess, struggling still with who and what he is...
@@90sshuffle Yeah, really only needed a small budget for the first two seasons, until the end at least, because they definitely would show the Fall of Cintra and Battle of Sodden no matter what.
Geralt would never - EVER - punch Jaskier like that. Dear God, how did they manage to ruin literally every little aspect of every single relation, scene, topic and problem there is? Seriously, at this point I'm impressed, it's an art of disaster comparable to The Room - no matter how hard you try, you couldn't make it up yourself.
The whole Hexer scene have more emotion and narrative quality than the whole netflix show!!
And it's not even original audio.
Hexer in the terms of Geralt-Jaskier and Geralt-Ciri relations is very good in my opinion.
Yeah, the audio in Czech made my day :D
True. That's because that other show's writer Michał Szczerbic probably knew all his additions and changes from the books (there are plenty) were pure BS, so he had at least copy pasted the source material wherever he could.
That old polish show is basically like: some dumb fan-fiction -> parts of the first book 1:1 ->some more dumb sh*t -> parts of the second book 1:1 -> fan-fiction ending. (only short stories where filmed, novels were left untouched).
Whereas Netflix is like: butchered fragments of the first three books -> dumb sh*t using books characters -> some more dumb sh*t with books characters -> butchered fragments of third and fourth book.
Another great video. Netflix completely missed the point Sapkowski was making with the lost family/found family dynanic. Ciri loses her biological family...but finds family with Geralt, Yennifer, Nenneke, and Vesimir. IMO skipping the real Brokilon story was the death nail in this show as it ruined the foundation if the most important relationship in the entire story.
they totally butchered vesimir.. wtf trying to make new witchers???
My favorite part in the books was when Triss is ill, and Geralt gently lifts her off her horse, carries her into the woods, and then carries her back after she's done, without saying a word. It was probably the most romantic thing I've seen a fictional character do.
And he's not doing it because of his infatuation, either. It's that purer love for a true friend.
This is something that's been bothering the shit out of me for so long man. From the moment Jaskier appeared on screen, I could tell immediately that whoever wrote Jaskier's relationship with Geralt in the series had absolutely no idea, not even the slightest tiniest notion of what a real friendship between adult men looks like. It's like some 13-year-old girl's idea of what men are like toward each other. Jaskier is such an amazing character in the books man, the kind of bro you can't help but love even when he annoys the shit out of you. It's sad to see what they did to his character, like really fucking sad, almost as sad as the petty, petulant, small-minded idiots that made this show.
Such a great comment. I have nothing to add
Considering the showrunner and the writers are all about The Message, you aren't far wrong. Caville left due to their disrespect for the source material. Current Hollywood writing doesn't acknowledge male friendships as being deep, unless, OF COURSE, they are gay.
@@sarasunshinemt4444The casting director admitted to race swapping because of THE MESSAGE. I hate Hollywood getting their claws in any book/game that I love. I just know they are going to change it to the point of only the setting and names being the same. The Wheel of Time show is really really bad.
They hate Men and Male Friendshipa.
@@silverhawkscape2677 they ruined women of the show too. They just don't care about the books and don't know how to tell a good story.
I used to think the Yen and Ciri relationship was the most badly written by Netflix, but now I am not sure which is the worst written. Possibly Yen and Geralt. So the 2 worst written relationships are 2 of the 3 most important to the overall story. I hate watch the Netflix version now.
Just don't watch it, don't give them views
I think the worst thing they did in the show was cast someone too young for Yennifer, and someone older than a child for Ciri. It just looks wrong to watch because they look so similar in age, especially when compared to Henry Cavil. They don't look like mother and daughter, they look like friends.
For me the relationship between Triss and Ciri is also important. It's the relationship between sisters. I love how Ciri menstruation is explained and how Triss helps her become a young lady from a child. Percival slavic music (from Lazare-Bulgarian folk to Gusta mi magla-Serbian folk) is replace by what? "Toss a coin to the witcher" for the Boat man perhaps? Beautiful wild landscapes and medieval period fortification buildings from Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Baltic Region, POLAND used in the games are replaced with cheap ink CGI with only the Rings of Power remaining in the picture. Not even the relationship between Gerald and the monsters are right. Hell I want to see the cynical and funny vampire or the devil from the Wild Hunt. 😭😭😭 Even the elements from the folklore used in the books are destroyed and trolled. But the relationship that Netflix really f*up is well with us... THE FANS. We have bought the books, and the games, and made fan-art, and cosplay. Why??? Because we love the "The white wolf". And according to Netflix "we are to stupid to understand". Sorry for the long comment but you are right brother. In every part of your video.
It's the messed up relationships and characterisations that make the series so hard to watch.
Jaskier is treated as comic releif when he is so much more, especially his friendships with the main characters.
I missed Yarpin. In the books he did a ton of heavy lifting in terms of being a friend to Gerralt and Ciri as well as explaining the politics of the world.
I think in general, Dwarves were done DIRTY on the show, none of the martial prowess, advanced technology, deep cultural nuances or anything were mentioned or shown. Fuck, there's even a goddamn soup recipe in the books.
I found realky hearthwarming in books that Yennefer anonymously let's bank contact people who gave him contract to increase his reward, so he could live from it
Also the things what have they done to other Witchers are terrible, my poor Eskel
What was done to Eskel will never be forgiven
I quit watching completely after that episode. I got through season one with complaints, but I was going to give the second season a chance cause I liked Henry Cavill. Then the whole thing with Eskel went down and I was done. My sister made fun of me, but I was like nah. Read the books then come back and talk to me about it. (She did and was just as pissed)
Dude they had a nice friendship in the games too, after almost 6 years I was playing blood and wine and decided to go for the bad ending where Syanna dies, and Geralt goes to prison, Jaskier is the one who comes to his rescue and you feel so relieved to see him.
That one scene broke me to tears 😭😭😭
Why did Netfilx rob us of this beautiful, strong male friendship?
They hate males. You could think that they like black men at least but it is also a lie. They treat them like purse puppies. They are just accessories for woke people.
They hate family men conservatives. And every shit show they make must remind the viewer that those are bad.
Dear God I just watched the first episode of the Hexer. This show is a phenom. The atmosphere, the music, the pacing. The child actors are phenomenal. The script is beautifully paced, emotional and full of depth. I can't believe this was just a TV show. It's way, way ahead of its time, while still keeping the tone of dark 80s fantasy I so crave. People you all need to watch the Hexer TV Series, in Polish with Subtitles preferably! It's beautiful! Thank you so much for showing that sequence here, it inspired me to watch this in full! It's exactly what I wanted out of the Netflix Witcher.
You think that way about episode 2 too? It is so bad episode for me, but after that it gets pretty good actually (If you consider low budget).
I think the relationships between the characters is what made Blood of Elves so interesting to read, despite not having a villian or a lot of action scenes and it's a great setup for the following books. It's basically what the main characters want to get back and return to.
Ciri for example is surrounded by people who like her, like Geralt, Yennifer, Triss, the witchers at Kaer Morhen, and priestesses and adepts at the temple. She has all these people who teach and influence her and then all of it is taken away from her at Thanedd and she struggles to deal with it.
Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer all risk their lifes and often make desperate decisons to meet each other again. You can't even begin to comprehend, why they would act that way, if you only watched the show.
The only change that they made I'm okay with in that regard, is the change in the relationship between Geralt and Triss. Their romantic involvement is interesting to read, but in no way important to the books and a lot of it is explored through Triss' internal monologue, so I think it would be difficult to explain in a TV show.
Well said 🙂
@@FolkWalkCZ Same to you and your video 🙂
Damn, that one clip from Hexer captures the essence of Witcher better than the whole Netflix series. We didn't know how good we had it...
the more I learn about the books, the more I learn how stupid the show is. It's always the most idiotic people who think they're the smartest.
“It’s always the most idiotic people who think they’re the smartest.”
No truer words were ever spoken in history. It seems that stupidity is the new intelligence these days; this world is so blatantly ignorant about actually being intelligent, that they’ve chosen to adopt stupidity instead. Ignorance is bliss, after all.
The scene from the hexer when Geralt and Ciri are reunited is so much better. Geralt even shows alot of emotion
I really appreciate your content. I don't see many creators talking about what Netflix actually ruined.
Thank you for not just making this into an argument about the characters' appearances. This was very well-written and detailed.
So basically, they wanted a Marvel-style comic relief, thus they turned Jaskier into an annoying silly buffoon. Lovely. Also, I didn't see the show yet (I'm not that brave), but quick google search told me, that they completely ignored A Little Sacrifice, which is ludicrous. The tale of A Little Sacrifice is very important for relationship between Geralt and Jaskier, because here they shared a common tragedy and sorrow. The Netflix writers missed the mark so much, that the Stormtroopers would look like sharpshooters compared to them.
Yeah, don't even bother with watching it. It will only piss you off if you like the books. I'm kinda glad that they ignored A Little Sacrifice. It's one of the best short stories and they would just butcher it. Although there might be a chance that they'll insert it somewhere in the future like they did with A Grain of Truth in the second season..
It's incredible how non-existent "armour" of Michal Żebrowski still looks better than Cavill's armour 😅 You have found a great scene from the Polish version. I really liked Żebrowski in this role.
That is a czech version of the polish show. Notice how Geralt calls Jaskier Marigold. Triss was written and named by Spakowski after czech name for Jaskier was established (different flower used) and in spite. And I agree Żebrowski was perfect
You make quality content, friend. This and your mythology/folklore videos. I admire the fan projects that do fan Witcher material, it shows how they understood the love between characters and importance of bonds more than Netflix. It really is sad. I’m sure you’ve seen but Russian artist Denis Gordeev has done more love and beauty in all his art than Witcher Netflix ever could. Highly recommended for artistic adaptions of important Witcher scenes. You featured his art in your video.
Thank you 🙂 To be honest I don't like Godreev's artworks in regards to their aesthetic because I like the very medieval visuals of The Witcher and he used something that looks almost like baroque period. But I still appreciate his artworks because other than aesthetics all the scenes are captured really well and often exactly how I pictured them when reading the books.
@@FolkWalkCZ ah I like baroque style but understandable lol but even still, it’s funny how he adapts characters to a completely different era and yet still is more faithful than Netflix. Original Wiedźmin show had great aesthetics if horrible budget though. At least their changes felt like necessity instead of arrogance.
@@ronaldood4678 Yeah, well said. The Hexer has bad costumes but you can see that it's at least distinctively Polish and has a heart which The Witcher Netflix show lacks despite their big budget.
@@FolkWalkCZyea i would say hexer has more soul than the netflix show even if hexer is kinda low budget
The Gerault and Jaskier friendship cannot be written by modern writers, they cannot write non gay men's friendship's. I have noticed that all male relationships, in all shows and movies, that are not homosexual in nature, are toxic. It says a lot about the writers that they are unable to imagine two men as just friends.
Or a man and woman as just friends, for that matter. It's as if they thought affection and sex are the same thing. Maybe has something to do with their horrible treatment of people in general - when you see every relationship as a power relationship... you're not going to have much understanding of actual relationships.
the audacity and sheer arrogance of these writers thinking they can do better than the original.
Having read the books, I think what the show's relationships lack is sincerity. None of the characters feel sincere. The interpersonal connections are what make the books for me. It's not about drama, but about their humanity, or lack thereof. The show completely missed what makes the Witcher special.
My only addition is that for Season 1 I was able to ignore the fact that Ciri was played by a significantly older actor (I do like Freya Allen), but this was just not possible to strain credulity so far once we got to Season 2 and 3. This made it really difficult for the mother-daughter type relationship between Ciri and Yennefer to be created.
@@avad8868 Ageless is apparently impossible for streaming networks. Yennefer looks too young, and then over in the WoT show they cast a bunch of old women who very obviously LOOK older to play characters whose main recognizable schtick is that they look ageless.Apparently there's no middle ground where you just pick a 30 year old woman, or use tv magic on an older woman to erase the things that people would recognize as making her older. It's only 20 years old forever or crone.
There's nothing better than watching these videos and remembering the exact points that are being referenced. It makes me feel so accomplished as someone who has only read the books, but read the whole set multiple times. I absolutely loved the arc with Yennefer and Ciri, and Ciri with most of the characters in the story, like when her, Geralt, and Triss are travelling and they join another company. The dialogue and scenes between those three/two, and the people they meet always makes the characters so much more complex. It's a shame that netflix hasn't done the Witcher justice.
Best channel. You are the only one Ive seen that has THOROUGHLY explained how EXACTLY they’ve messed up the relationship between characters.
Specifically Yennefer and Geralt.
Thank you 🙂
@@FolkWalkCZ No, *thank you.*
I enjoy not having migraines.
I never watched Netflix's Witcher after the first season. I thought it was just my high expectations from books that I didn't like the show but seeing these videos makes me think ,how can they intentionally write all this?
THANK you for this video, I always wasn't a fan of the series, but the issues were SO numerous that I struggled to put it into words, but now I have something I can refer to and it's so goddamn helpful! Thank you so much!
I'm glad you like it 🙂
Since I played the first 2 games before the third game I already liked dandelion and after reading the last wish and the sword of destiny cdpr definitely got his character better in the Witcher 1 and 2 (especially 2 in my opinion) compared to how goofy he was in the Witcher 3 but he had his moments unlike Netflix. Now seeing what Netflix have done to him and is relationship with Geralt just pains me physically and I can’t bring myself to finish the show.
You're not alone with this feeling of disappointment. I forced myself to watch episode 3 last night and I can't continue to waste my time and put myself through even more disappointment and frustration.
@@dcpowered oh yeah I gave up last week it pained me to much
Yeah, Witcher 3 doesn't really need to build up Dandelion and Geralt's relationship so much as the games are direct continutation of the books and the previous two games. The relationship is already estabilishd, so they can afford Dandelion being more goofy.
Good job these two videos describing the discrepancies so far.
Even some of the chapters in each book almost fit perfectly into their own episodes, such a shame eh
Anyone else loves the Jaskier casting in The Hexer? For some reason it's exactly how I imagined him in the books.
They butchered the relationships in more ways!
In the books just before Aretuza Ciri escapes because she wanted to meet Geralt one last time. When Yennifer finds out she chases after Ciri. This ends up with the Wild Hunt going after Ciri and Geralt, Ciri, Yen and Jaskier meets up in a small village. Here Geralts and Yens relationship deepens further and Jaskier teaches Ciri about love in his own poetic way.
In the Netflix series however, Ciri flees because she didnt want to go to school?? And yen does not chase after Ciri, why dont yen care enough about Ciri?? And since yen does not chase after Ciri the whole group never really meets up before Thanedd. The whole series is so shallow.
Geralt and Jaskier - best friends forever and help each other! And of course, Nethex will turn they friendship into mess, like unfunny Shrek and Donkie
Thanks for this video i share the same specifications that if they are to develop characters you cannot rush their introductions into the show, Triss's allergies to potions for eg. was not stated in the show(i think), small things that build things up were rushed
That scene in the hexer in Czech was very enjoyable.
It really infuriated me when people were saying that they loved Geralt and Jaskier's relationship in the Netflix show. Like, what relationship? All you ever see is Geralt being annoyed by his presence when in actuality Jaskier is Geralt's best friend in the entire world.
As a non book reader, but a lover of fantasy, and fiction, I could not get passed the halfway point of this show. Especially when I see Geralt and Jaskier on screen together. I would always eye roll whenever they banter. I also didn't like the sex scene between Yennefer and Geralt, even though I'm someone who enjoys NSFW content.
idk why you choose not to read books, but the show isn't even a morsel of the world of the books. Not even a blurry window into the world of the books, so I recommend reading
I'd love to join in this discussion with you, but I haven't been able to force myself to watch season 3 yet. The more you like something, be it books or games or music, the worse it feels to see someone else f*ck it up. I really enjoyed the books, their immense cleverness and lightness of touch, their deep understanding of Slavic and European folklore, the palapable affection Sapkovski feels for the characters he created. This Netflix series feels disrespectful to me, as though the creators neither liked nor understood the material they were working with, and by series 2 it was actually painful for me to watch.
Well, I'm mainly talking about the first two seasons in these videos and I'll discuss the third season in a separate video.
@@FolkWalkCZ Good, I look forward to agreeing with that one too :D
I only got into The Witcher after seeing how enthusiastic Cavill was about it. Watching someone passionately talk about this thing they like makes you want to find out for yourself why this thing is so great, ya know?
So I read the books - and Dandelion is WAY too in love with himself to ever write JUST about the Witcher. He has other works. He only writes songs about Geralt for the stories he witnesses.
Whereas Jaskier seems to only write about Geralt whether he has first hand knowledge or not. Plus, not saying Geralt doesn’t insult Jaskier, but Jaskier also spends a lot of time actively dismissing Geralt when he tries to communicate with him and express his viewpoint - like with Toss a Coin to Your Witcher. Dandelion saw how the elves were declining and he sympathised, as i remember from reading the book. Jaskier on the other hand, sings a song that makes elves seem less than and glorify the Witcher. Geralt would never be comfortable with the role Jaskier assigned to him.
Their "friendship" in the show is Jaskier creating a persona in his head for Geralt and forcing him to play the part and being disappointed when Geralt falls short, and Geralt shutting down and resorting to insults.
Man, they also ruined my favourite scene in "the edge of the world", in which Geralt and Filavandrel have a really deep debate on how elves should try to survive, and in which Jaskier-Dandelion shows surprising courage, by denying any kind of liniency by the elves and siding with Geralt even if it means death. there's so many moments that are completely butchered that it's hard to count :/
Taking away the meeting of Geralt and Siri in the forest is probably the most confusing omission.
It’s obvious the show writers hate the source material. They’re trying to twist it into what they like forgetting that millions of other people liked it the way it was.
I have quit watching the Netflix show as they have totally ruined the story of Geralt. Like many American hollywood types - they emphasis only nasty things that will provoke or incite, never the true things or gentle feelings of humans. I say this as an american who has watched hollywood butcher all kinds of things (like the girl with the dragon tattoo - another great disaster) Thank you for stating what was truly written and intended. The books are charming and meaningful.
It's why we should look at the Lord of the Rings movies as a trio of magical fucking unicorns. While they did change things for the sake of drama, they made sense and still led to the same general plot points of the books. As for the gentler feelings... I can sum it up with one line 'Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf.'
I had read several of the stories after season 1. Books were 100% better. I couldn't finish season 2.
Yen and Geralt is the worst relationship that Netflix wrote. Yen's motives are entirely changed from the start.
Issue no. 1: Istredd still exists in the story. Why? The book's "A Shard of Ice" made it clear that Istredd and Geralt would never ever want to see each other again, especially if Yen was around. Additionally, this short story reveals that Yen-Geralt relationship has many many layers and added a lot of depth to the characters.
Issue no. 2: Yen never tries to kill Ciri / never has her powers stolen. For this reason, two things happen impacting her character: she becomes untrustworthy and selfish (having to rebuild that trust, which never happens in the books. Book Yen always thinks about Geralt and Ciri and prioritises them over her own self). These personality traits are highly highly uncharacteristic of Book Yennefer. This makes her an entirely different character from the one from
the books. Only thing that she retains from the books is her name.
As a Pole I have to say that the clip from the Hexer with the dubbing in your language had me in stitches from laughing ;-) [EDIT: of course I mean it in a non-offensive way, it's just something I didn't expect!]
What to be offended about? Everybody knows both languages have a lot of false friends
And apparently there is supposed to be 20 years of Jaskier walking with Geralt and annoying him, then Geralt says that one thing and Jaskier just goes away? It would make sense if it was one year or less, maybe first big argument, but 20?
And now it polluted fanfiction to witcher too and it's so annoying to read Geralt only saying "Hmm.", Geralt being constantly annoyed and Jaskier constantly accepting it orthinking to himself how annoying he is, and Jaskier, you know, the weaker and richer guy from those two, walking beside Geralt on a horse when travelling. There might be very interesting story but with such a wimpy Jaskier and Geralt being a jerk or even cruel to Jaskier, how can I read that?
There are so few channels that actually criticize this show for the writing and characters, everyone is just praising Henry Cavill and saying that it got worse because he's leaving. I remember Jinzee had a great critique of the first season (surprising because she's very woke, unsurprising because she's a REAL fan of the books), which she later deleted due to toxicity of netflix fans and her own thin skin.
Anyway, you've earned a sub!
Yeah, I know about Jinzee and her situation. I actually want to do a video about the reaction of The Witcher fandom to the Netflix show and how the view of it evolved over the years. I want to mention what happened with Jinzee there.
@@FolkWalkCZ XNetalis had a similar thing happen recently, There's some toxic people on the net these days.
@@DianeBethra Yeah, I've seen his video and even commented under it.
Book Jaskier is such a bro, the only thing he did that was a violation to the “bro code” was that he chose a hoe before his bros
(But tbh that’s just andrzej sapkowski’s way of keeping him alive in the story)
Great content. Both attempts of adapting Witcher to series were a disaster, but watching Polish tv series last time like a 15 years ago, I forgot that it had much more small good moments then current Netflix attempt.
One more relationship Netlfix screw up is Ciri with Triss. I actually read first part of Saga before I I read short stories and I liked Triss more then Yeneffer for a very long time.
Triss really helped Ciri in Kaer Morhen. With the coming to age problems, explain nature of her nightmares and teaching her how to be a lady, what nice dress and proper make up can do.
Netflix change Triss from a attractive and charismatic lady that loves to dress up, make up and see how man admire her beauty to a steady middle age auntie who can give you milk and cookie but will not make any man crazy. But the relation was even worse. Triss freaked up when she entered Ciri's nightmare and make her fill alienated.
May be a hot take but Hexer is severely underrated. It's biggest flaws are the shoestring budget it was made on and that it pretty much requires the viewer to have read the books beforehand but if you can get over those 2 it's fairly decent.
Unlike Netflix.
Just stumbled on this today right after you uploaded it... Liked it to so much I immediately began perusing your entire catalog... Great work man, keep it up.
My main problem was that, aside from a few good moments, they made Jaskier out to be a bumbling arse and the main punching bag of the show.
Which is the complete opposite of Jaskier in the books and games. Jaskier is *very* intelligent when he wants to be and is shown multiple times to have a vast vocabulary and can talk his way out of almost anything. He can be annoying, sure, but he supplements Geralt's no-nonsense attitude with his charm to avoid confrontations.
He's also supposed to be amazing at, basically, shittalking.
Geralt tried once to win an argument with Jaskier and the latter ran circles around him, completely tore his character down with facts and logic, while throwing absolutely brutal insults.
That one verbal smackdown was so bad that Geralt literally never tried it again and made him respect his wit that much more.
And this leads to the main reason Jaskier keeps getting into trouble. Its not *just* his lecherous lifestyle, its the fact that most people can't seem to win an argument against him and pisses them off. It doesn't help that he occasionally rubs it in with a shiteating grin.
Now compare this to the Jaskier in the show who can't seem to win an argument to save his life and who's main purpose seems to be the comic relief.
There's a scene in the Rare Species episode where Yennefer tells him "The crow's feet are new." and he can't come up with anything better than "Yeah, well, your jokes are...old." and then leaves embarrassed. Jaskier from the books would roast her without mercy.
I watched The Hexer last week and actually really enjoyed it. More than season 3....
This supposed to be a reunion scene from Netflix just annoys me every time I see it, it's supposed to be an incredibly emotional, powerful and meaningful moment between Geralt and Ciri, but instead Netflix decided to not only not include the Brokilon meeting between them but also ignore the dialogue between Geralt and Ciri, and instead have Ciri ask Geralt "Who is Yennefer?" 😡
Gotta do that sequel-baiting..
It was great seeing the scene from Hexer (a Polish show) with English subtitles but dubbed in Czech. I am Czech myself and have seen the show only in Polish. 😂 Agree with you on all points you made. I wouldn't care about each character being changed as much as them changing the relationships. If they want to make Geralt more grumpy, I can live with that but every single relationship is butchered and the new ones they create are just cringe. Who enjoyed Cahir and Fringilla? Who the hell invented that.
Imagine a woman would wanted to sacrefice you for the sake of gaining power than you turm out to respect her like she is your own mother lol. Makes fucking no sense whatsoever. Idk what's in the writer's head but she clearly has mommy issues.
The friendship between Geralt and Jaskier was the thing that bothered me the most about the series. In the books they used to have such a geniune friendship with lots of fun moments and also hard times. But in the series Geralt was a complete douchebag to Jaskier for no reason.
This the equilivent of giving the students cheat sheets and they can openly use it, but surprise surprise they still badly fail
The family dynamic between the three main characters was the heart of the books, so messing that up basically destroyed the emotional stakes of the story.
Big part of the change is also that Ciri was supposed to be much younger at the beginning, so Geralt really was raising her at one point (not just training). It was also important to his character, since as you mentioned, he struggles with people not accepting him, and then there was this child who simply trusted him and liked him, even before he became her only option.
I really hate how much the Witcher series makes Gerelt out to be an angry asshole when partying and making friends are his hobbies in the books/games. Gerelt loves having social links but the show goes out of it's way to make Gerelt as much of an outcast as possible.
I want to read the books again. I read them a while ago and don't remember all the details. Specially Jaskier and other characters but knowing how much the showrunners messed up the 3 main characters and the series of events, I'm not surprised how many differeces are and it's the main reason why the show never felt fully great to me. I just wanted it to be good.
Great work! I didn't read the books or play the game, but this helps me understand why the show didn't seem great to me.
At this point the og Witcher show is looking pretty good compared to Netflix's dumpster fire
an idea for a video - Where Netflix could've and should've took inspiration from the Polish Hexer series.
Anyway. a brilliant analysis, thank you for this one as well!
Thank you 🙂 I want to do a video about The Hexer and what it did right in the future.
@@FolkWalkCZ I'm very much looking forward to it then! 🙂
Whatever people think about hexer, I need to say that I liked show very much. Watched show between Witcher 1 and 2 games. It captures Slavic folklore while Netflix adaptation looks nothing close to it.
I feel like the writers of the tv show didn't even read the books, they just read a summary of the first two books and decided to take a couple of main ideas from it and adapt it.
I mean the amount of depth that the characters in The Witcher is what makes the stories so compelling. Yet the writers/activists at netflix came out with some straight garbage
Thanks for making these videos; it sums up the most major points that I also seen.
Apart from all the fuckedupness, look at two seasons witcher eyes at 2:41
At season two, even Geralt's eyes became lazy.
Jaskier/Dandelion is a character with no character development, but hidden depths which are gradually and surprisingly revealed. He's an inveterate womanizer, seducing women nearly on instinct, and his only motion towards caution is setting up escape routes and getaways. He's impulsive to a fault, completely incapable of thinking through his actions. He's often the butt of the joke, can't stand the sight of blood, and his mouth has more than once written checks that Geralt's fists need to pay. And yet...when Rience tortured him, his quick wit allowed him to frame his responses as technically accurate, all while risking maiming to protect his friend. When Little Eye died of smallpox, he carried her out of the city and buried her himself. Meanwhile, his talents as a bard have earned him international acclaim.
With Yennefer, I have a theory as to what Geralt's wish actually was, and why it their relationship was so tumultuous. The priest mentioned that he needed to make the right wish, implying it required more cleverness than simply "bind my fate to hers." I think his actual wish was to grant her wish. And that's what pulled them together and apart so many times over the years. Yennefer's greatest wish, to have a child, to have a family, was apparently to be granted by a sterile witcher. From her perspective, over the years that followed, destiny was trying to force them together in a futile attempt to fulfill that wish, and the resentment that brought about drove them apart time and time again. Until, years later...they have a daughter.
Poor Geralt. Poor everyone, really.
I appreciate the comparison to the polish adaptation. It's so rare, most of the people in the western audience aren't even aware of it's existance. I know it did some questionable things to the story too, but compared to Netflix version it gives it a new shine
I've made a video about The Hexer if you would be interested 😉 th-cam.com/video/5jpn96qrgTU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=irDSALEMGIHmhwEs
As someone who consider the Witcher books to be my favorite books, i completely agree with every word you said here! I also agree with you in the other videos about the casting and characters. This Netflix show is an example on how to butcher an adaptation and turn it into fanfiction!
ok i have a theory..... the creators of the netflix show butchered the show so bad comapired to the books because they wanted you to go read the books because theyre far more interesting. at least, thats the vibe im getting. I cant believe the massive differences from the show vs. the books. I also cant believe they thought they could really take something with a fanbase that runs so deep and do what theyve done with it. The way you describe the books has me ready to order the complete series. Thank you for being passionate about this and speaking out!
When it comes to adaptations, there will always be some changes and sacrifices in order to create art in a different medium. Famous screenwriter Alfred Hitchcock once said about adapting a book that he “read(s) the story only once, and if I like the basic idea, I just forget all about the book and start to create cinema”. However the key is to understand the idea of the story and the Netflix show completely gets that wrong.
Unpopular opinion: the Hexer is a lot more Witcher than the Netflix show.
If people have watched it, I'm pretty sure most would agree with your comment.
This is an universal opinion from what I've. I for one, completely agrees with you.
Calling Netflix product an adaptation of Witcher is like calling a goat's butt a trumpet
Never was a big fan of Jaskier’s casting in the first place. Looks too much like somebody who knows what a phone is for me. Robert Sheehan who played Klaus in The Umbrella Academy would have been a perfect fit. He looks like Witcher 3 Dandelion coming right out of the video game.
I like Joey Batey and I think Netflix writers just ruined Jaskier's character and his relationship with Geralt but you're right Robert Sheehan would be even better 🙂 He's hilarious in the first season of Misfits 😁
The Netflix Jaskier just makes me think of Epic NPC Man. Except that would have been better casting.
Holy crap, this is really bad... Seems they completely earned losing 60% of their viewers over the course of Season 3... and I'm even more assured that I will never watch this show.
I bet they had to make Dandelion unlikeable, because he's sleeping with different women all the time. I must say that I didn't like him too much after reading the books, for me he was always just an idiot, except for a few times, but it was always clear what he meant to Geralt. And that scene from the Hexer looked really good and emotional actually, maybe I'm gonna watch the Hexer soon. It certainly made me feel very sad for Geralt again.
I will say that the only scene I really liked in the last wish episode was the jail scene when Geralt wishes "I wish you would burst you son of a whore!" Though it's still way better in the book
All they had to do was to fallow source material.... :( and they failed horribly.
They basically just took the characters and the setting to tell a totally different story that is inspired by the events happening in the books
The show writers simply do not understand male/male friendship. They seem to be writing a pathological male/female marriage scenario for the characters.
If that scene between geralt and Jaskier (polish version) would be done again, these modern critics would call it "homo-eroticism" or that they have romantic feelings for each other etc...
Just like with Frodo and Sam.
I feel you man. In bollywood, there is an old film, Sholay, which also had such amazing friendship - heck they literally had a song about how amazing their friendship was. The Wikipedia page however, mention that that isn't friendship, but homo-eroticism
An insult
@@anuragpradhan7500
Omfg.
That's how deep the insanity goes.
These people don't understand strong male friendships, because they are not men.
I think it was in the Three Musketeers book (or another from the 19 century I don't remember)
There were 2 soldiers and one said "I love you with all my hearth" to the other, because they were like brothers.
Imagine hollywood/netflix etc recreating that scene.
They would be having a homosexual scene by the end of it:))
Never read the books but now that I have some perspective on how the author intended the relationships to be the story actually makes a lot of sense. Really recontextualizes some stuff for the better. Thanks
Lets make this short.
The Netflix series uses the same character names.
Thats pretty much it.
We got a dubbed version of Polish Witcher? That's kinda cool and it doesn't sound half bad either😀
Huhuhuhu, I'm Polish so I can tell that's not the original Polish version. It's probably Czech or Silesian dubbing 😆
@@loke-miru I know that's my language Im just saying I had no idea it was released on Czech TV😉
Oh... I misread your comment, sorry 😅 Drank too much wine today probably 😶
@@loke-miru everything is fine don't worry 😉👍
my absolute favourite scene in the whole saga is when Geralt first brings Ciri to Kaer Morhen, and the witchers don't know what to do or say, so they just stand around awkwardly while Ciri's clearly uncomfortable. and Eskel, sweet dear Eskel with the scariest face of them all, comes forward and clumsily comforts her and coaxes her to relax. something that even Geralt can't really do in this situation because he's a big ol' dum-dum. this one shirt scene shows so much about the witchers - about their bond with each other, how ready they are to take in their brother's kinda-kid even though they know jack shit about raising little girls (until Triss spells it out for them), how even Lambert, the bastard that he is, is patient and gentle with her. and most of all it just kinda shows that for all the posturing and brooding and ruminating Geralt is probably the most mal-adjusted among them, probably exactly because he's so deep inside his own head all the time. i can never understand how you can look at this tiny little gem of a scene and think, "nah, Eskel has to be an evil tree"
Moc vám děkuji za vaši práci, umíte skvěle upozornit na idiociu Netflixu. Čekám na vaše další materiály. Pozdravy z Polska!
Man, I'm SO glad I dropped watching early in season 2, I feel disgusted just listening to your retelling.... And I fully agree with your assessment of the rest. Leaving out the meeting with little Ciri in Brokilon removed the fundamental basis of their relationship. Geralt's first encounter with Yennefer had such comedic potential but they also left it out because we can't have Yennefer hung over having had drunk sex, can we, and that tender scene you mention was completely killed. Plus, changes aside, I just don't see any chemistry between Chalotra and Cavill whatsoever, so one really wonders why they are supposed to be together.
What I miss are those interplays between Geralt and Calanthé, which subtly imply Calanthé's appreciation of him as a man (and I'd say that Geralt is not entirely uninsterested, either) as well as their mutual respect. The show Calanthé is just so crass...
Tl;dr: the show is simply fundamentally broken in every respect I can think about.
This is one of the things....the show's depiction of the friendship between Geralt and Jaskier/Dandelion....it was so bad, at least in season 1, it as portrayed indeed as a sort of weird Shrek and Donkey type relation where Geralt barely tolerated the bard, it was really odd! Their friendship was hundred times better depicted in the oft hated and controversial Hexer, old polish series haha :). Zamachowski and Żebrowski at least managed to make a genuine friendship on screen.