#blogdora

I love Yen but everything with Yen and Phil and the Lodge, and Vilgefortz didn’t make sense on my first viewing. I absolutely don’t mind the changes in having Yennefer not in a cell being tortured by Vilgefortz (but omg can’t Fringilla and Istredd get a fucking break, jfc). This is where my rewatch will probably help me think more about what they were doing - or trying to do, or try to figure out what I might be missing. But also I’m always solidly aware of the constraints of productions These Days and we only get a few episodes, and exist on a streaming platform. (That is a subject of a Whole Other Post…)

I have a hard time reconciling the Philippa we’d seen from the last season, and her fall from Redanian grace in season 4, that she would just be licking her wounds in Montecalvo and so willingly let Yen take the reins of the Lodge. I have to rewatch Yen and Phil’s Thanedd scenes again to think more about their dynamic, and wonder more about what the implied relationship Phil had with Tissaia was something that influenced both of their motivations and interactions in season 4, or if I need to write a fic to get my thoughts out on them.

I would have infinitely preferred 8-12 episodes of watching Yen and Phil vie for the leadership position of the Lodge and gain various sorceress backing, culminating in sorceress politicking into diverging plans on how (and why) to get Ciri in their grasp. Buuuut we only have 8 episodes, in a fraught show that has been hanging on through a lot of production issues. And I think they got into a nice writing groove with having episode 6 be the Big Battle of the season. But we ned Sorceress Unity and not a schism on grabbing Hen Icher or Yen’s Daughter.

But really: think of it - how great would have a vignette-style ‘joys of cooking’ be for the sorceresses???? Give me the vignettes of Phil and Yennefer’s past interactions, show me Sabrina’s choices and hard decision’s she’s made, give me more of Assire and TRISS and you could throw crumbs to the Phil/Triss shippers by having Horny Flashback for them. Give me BAMF dwarf sorceress! Then have Lambert show up with a joke and something absolutely devastating that ends with another self-deprecating joke, while Coen shares a story that makes everyone cry.

I don’t understand if they showed or implied why Vilgefortz saw Yennefer as enough of a threat to come and storm Montecalvo to remove her as a threat. Or if he was doing this to find out more about Ciri’s location from getting his hands on Yennefer - I need to rewatch those scenes again, since it was clear Vilgefortz had his a-ha moment during Yen’s attempt of Mindfuck Torture, but that felt like it came after the fact instead of being a motivating factor for him. But again, I need to rewatch and think some more.

Kaer Morhen witchers teaming up with sorceresses is cool except I wish there was more time spent with seeing the witchers work with individual sorceresses.

But I found the whole Battle of Montecalvo to be overwrought and silly.. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the women being BAMFs and doing magic and and working together (YEN’S FACE COVERED IN BLOOD AND ICHOR HHHHNGHHHH) but the season 1 battle sequence had the sorceresses defending their position, season 3 had them defending their position, and now season 4 have them defending their position. It’s all big, brash melee fighting and probably working within visual effects budgets. They go to be BAMFs, and use some magic. But it really did not do it for me (except for Yen’s face covered in viscera, okay, I really am that easy).

Anyway I guess I have a lot of feelings about the Battle of Montecalvo in spite of loving a lot of the visuals and character moments there. WOMENNNNNNNNN. clenches fist

Other things of note:

Oh my god, the inversion of Francesca and Yen’s roles has got me making seal noises. Yen visiting Francesca who is dissociating and wallowing in grief, trying to get her to come and fight for Something. And I SCREAMED when Yen turned Francesca into the artifact. I think all of Francesca’s rage and grief from the last two seasons leading to that point was just— a really great payoff and I fucking loved it. I felt Francesca and Yen’s dynamic was much more clear of how and why they got there and agreed to work together than Philippa and Yen’s.

ASSIRE showing up being perfectly coiffed and glam old witch on a broom = 10/10 no notes, I screamed and clapped. Give me MORE. God the absolute fun of just subverting the haterade the book characters, had for Assire’s appearance an what the other sorceresses thought of her, and giving us this Assire who is poised, and gives no fucks because she is high confidence and doesn’t care and might be a little goofy but that’s okay because we are all here to kick some Vilgefortz ass.

I can’t remember her name, the sorceress dwarf with the BAMF hammer, using chaos similarly as Vilgefortz does to create more strength in the strikes?? Fucking loved her, 10/10 flirt with all the women and beat the shit out of everyone with her amazing hammer.

Okay, what else. Pivoting to.. Hhhhhghmm. Oh my fucking god, Istredd and Fringilla. Istredd basically taking the place of book!Yen’s role in being tortured for information, tying it into the macguffin monolith nonsense. Istredd’s brain and heart is too powerful for the show. If he got to be in more scenes, he would be able to explain everything and give everyone a roadmap of what to fucking do and why. RIP Istredd, you deserved better narratively and emotionally.

Yen recruiting Fringilla — this is another relationship I need to chew on some more, but I’m absolutely in Fringilla’s thrall. Her arc in the show is so fucking compelling and Mimi’s performance is absolutely fantastic. I wasn’t sure if Fringilla was going to yet again Double-Agent this shit and fuck off with some extra power on her own at the last minute. But I am absolutely impressed and frightened of Fringilla’s resiliency and ingenuity and deftness at navigating the shittiest situations. She is probably the best sorceress of the show who does this, which is why Yen was the one who came to her in the first place with her recruitment call and ask to infiltrate Vilgefortz's side.

And more:

Sitting on the edge of my seat, babbling to myself about Cahir being called a Nilfgaardian. He’s gonna say it, he’s gonna say it. He’s gonna say it. Truly glorious, and such an easy layup but still 100% perfection.

CAHIR AND THE FISH. clappy hands CAHIR’S DEVOTION. All of Cahir’s scenes with Geralt love love love.

CAHIR AND EMHYR. HHHHHNGH the shitty terrible relationship one builds with the monster you feed in the forest, and then you grow up and he brings you into the inner circle of trust and strength and purpose. My god. Cahir be fucked up. I love it.

MILVAAAAAAA MY BELOVED. Wiggling with glee about her - and the unexpected delight of her scenes with Cahir. Yes, more, very good.

Ciri getting the tattoo - and stabbing the fuck out of those three guys who burst in on them, then casually flopping back down to get the tattoo finished. 10/10 I love you Ciri.

Eva getting to live their best life. Get to fuck Philippa Eilhart last season, murder a king, then casually watch as Dijkstra and Philippa’s power disintegrates, AND getting to be the one who boots Dijkstra from camp and defacto Redania??? BEST LIFE.

Everything with Regis and his cottage. Everything REGIS.

Everything with the riverboat. Including they actually let Meve show up and omg with missing teeth. Thank you show for giving us more shots of women being amazing.

Vilgefortz looking so fucking pissy, what a fucking loser nightmare, please keep being shitty, can’t wait to see you die.

AND SOME MORE:

Bonhart and the Rats. I’m gonna make another post about The Rats: A Witcher’s Tale. But let me try and talk a little about the season 4 presence of the characters. I had low expectations and wasn’t sure what to expect with the Rats, considering how dark everything got in this part of the book with Ciri and them.

I think what Netflix did to Rats can be best described as, “massaging character temperaments” and making some changes to subvert some of the nastier dub-con and adding some backstory to Mistle for some thematic parallels and motifs about the shit that happens to women and what they do to survive. And to do some contrasting with The Rats Trauma and Ciri’s Trauma.

It feels less like a drug-fueled feral gang of orphans, and more like nihilistic punk misfits who have been jaded by colonialism and war, and become brigands who are living fast and dying hard. Which isn’t to say there the Rats aren’t dark and feral in the show, they are drug-addled and opportunistic and Kayleigh definitely was trying to coerce Ciri.

But massaging the temperaments of the characters I think did a great job enforcing and juxtaposing Ciri’s personality and her descent into darkness by having the Rats notice that’s Ciri is really Other in spite of what she has in common with them. Like, I think that’s fucking fantastic. Ciri is not really the same, and yetttttt.

Bonhart. Okay, I am totally on board with the casting. Fucking nasty incredible. I think there was also some really interesting massage in temperament for Bonhart for the show. Book Bonhart is really terrifying and gross and dark, and there’s this sinister cloud that surrounds him.

The show Bonhart is equally terrifying, gross, and dark, and he’s got this darkness that surrounds him. But for me I think the psychopathy was elevated with how casual he was about murder, the performance was just.. so gross and great. I think it really came across well on screen and is core of Bonhart in the books. But there's this playfulness and glee in the murdering that is like, "oh fuck, this dude is crazy."

This is a guy who really fucking loved his hobby: murdering, murdering witchers and skilled fighters in particular. He approaches every scene and moment with the care of someone who has honed his craft and appreciates skill. The scene with him investigating the mercenaries’ deaths and showing admiration and interest of Ciri’s skill? Fucking hell.

Moving on from the Rats for a moment….

Okay, what else? Oh fucking fuck. I fucking forgot that James fucking Purefoy was going to be in the show as Tawny Owl. Is there anyone out there who is as obsessed and in love with Purefoy’s low-key swagger and quiet plotting as I am?? I don’t know if non-book people are gonna care about Skellan but I fucking care, omg.

I think it took me two episodes for me to recognize Purefoy, I’m so used to him being much more in your face,playing braggadocios and center of attention - so this was a real fucking treat for me to see him do this role. Fucking nuance, man. Purefoy nailing it for me.

I’m not sure what non-book people would make of all the Nilfgaardian scenes, but I’m also low-key impressed by the subtle worldbuilding and things they kept for Nilfgaard, showing without telling. Like having the fucking weirdo astrologer there as an advisor for Emhyr. But also Tawny Owl’s machinations and hhhhhhngh. I will enjoy rewatching and thinking some more on them.

Teryn and Yen's scene broke my fucking hear and is going into multiple vids, Milva punching the dude's nose is A++++ forever, Francesca's dead-eyed gaze, full of grief.

Also, lastly, I loved Liamralt through and through. Geralt being disabled, Geralt’s scenes with Jaskier, with Yen, with Ciri. I loveeeeee.

And then I started adding more clips and women as I made some visual connections between the way women have been treated in Aretuza, at home, everywhere from the beginning of the show. The more I added, the less it was … it was falling on the beat just fine, but it didn’t… feel right. It wasn’t bad, but… It wasn’t what I thought the vid would be about when I started working on it (a whole 2 days earlier).

So I stopped what I was doing. I created a new project and added all these clips there, and then tried to figure out what was going on. There was a greater arc and message about the women in the show here. And it was not as flashy and surface level as the BAMF Sorceresses. I had a whole other fucking vid here that I did not plan for in this album.

Now I’m going through my checklist of: is this actually a vid for the album? Or something I’ll make and share separately? What fucking song….is going make sense with this mess of clips? I spent 3 entire days between work and burnout, hunting for songs and rummaging through song recs in reddit, prodding my dusty forgotten playlists of abandoned songs. I knew… I could feel what kind of song it needed, something darker and more intense.

I was able to narrow down my choices and find something that I think could have worked. I bought the song and placed it under the jumble of clips and it absolutely turned into The Vid I Needed to Make for this album. I added more clips to this new project and I feel like my third eye opened. I shuffled 4 vid ideas around in the track listing and it feels like it was meant to be, omg.

I am tacitly calling this new vid WIP: Metamorphosis.

Let me put my journey another way with gifs. How it started —> how it’s going.

Okay. I started the movie and I’m watching…I’m watching. Oh, hey, there’s a Cat Witcher. Oh, sad story, he’s drunk and full of regr—oh, he’s the witcher who took Foltest’s money and ran off instead of killing the striga? Okay now that’s an incredible throwba—HANG ON. IS THAT DOLPH LUNDGREN.

THATS DOLPH LUNDGREN.

DOLPH LUNDGREN IS THE CAT WITCHER.

Dolph Lundgren. Is the cat witcher !!!!!!!!

This is. this. I am LIVING FOR THIS.

I grew up watching all of the 80s and 90s films with Dolph Lundgren. I am shaken by the absolute perfection of this casting. His character’s look. His performance. Oh my god it hit all of my buttons so hard, I was a goner immediately.

It’s a crying shame there’s so much time between the release of each new season, and they couldn’t have (magically gone back in time and) made this and released it in 2021. Because fandom would become absolutely feral and batshit bananas about Brehen and the thieving gang of youths that adopted him.

I love it so much. I’m excited to rewatch it, and I’m excited to make a vid about it, and I’m… just.. If you would have told me two months ago I would be this excited about this movie, you would have seen my eyebrows disappear into my hair.