OK, so today I am gonna try to make my review and quick analysis of Blood Origin and try to survive it.
I'll precise more than once but I am not a defender or a hater of the show. There are aspects of it that I love and other that I dislike, even hate. So I do both parts in my critics. You've been warned.
Before I enter in full analysing mode, I'll just put some thoughts on the main characters and the show itself.
I won't go in full details (but it will be long anyway 😅), so consider that to be my relatively spoiler free review. It contains spoilers but I don't really say how things went, more what I thought about it. For obvious reasons, I will tag nothing but the #twbo.
So you can decide to chose to continue reading or not, I'll make it short here so if you are unhappy with it you can leave already 🙂.
Did I like it ? Yes ! 😶🌫️
Is it a good story ? In my opinion yes.
Was it good with the canon ? No. They are deviating a lot on some points. But for the thematics yes and I understand some strange choices. Other... less.
Did they try to save it with Jaskier ? Yes.
Are they milking the franchise? Yes...
The thematics of the series. The parallels and the cycles.
The characters chimestry (especially the seven). Jaskier is a bonus 😏
The ambiance, the music and the sceneries.
Some cool ideas and good fights.
Too far from the canon for some points that could have been integrated.
Too fast. They should not have cut 2 hours of it. But we don't what was in those 2 hours, so...
The cgi. I don't care about that, it didn't bother me but it can bother some and objectively that's not good 😅
The entity in the void plan. I have an idea of what it is at if it's that, that explains a lot of what went wrong 🧐
Are you still there ? Can I go into a more detailed review?
First of all, I don't find this a masterpiece but there things I really dig in it and overall I enjoyed it.
Huhu, I enjoyed the show and I had a fun experience of watching it with some of you on discord ❤️. It was my first time that way and I liked that we were elaboring theories while watching. The bottom of that is : I am not an english talker so following both the show and the conversation was tricky sometimes. I always watch it in original version so it double the challenge. Some actors have tick accents and I needed the subtitles 😅.
So I watched it again later and it elevated my appreciation of it (and my complains also lol).
About the source material. Well, this is more based on the Netflix canon for some plots. Some things from the books are not explained enough to be associated with them, but there are metaphors that they took and made theirs. For example, I am pretty sure that all the monolith things are their take on the "Gates of Worlds". I never made the link in the main series but now I am convinced they are. I'll get there in analysis.
For the rest, more or so, they took the ideas developed on the books more than exact things. I understand that their vision can be upsetting for those who loved the rich stories of the elves that is nested in the future of the main plot, and for those who liked the game version of it. This is a really simplified and twisted version of the books. Also certain liberties have been taken. So book accuracy criticism can fully be understood from this perspective.
I will always find the book version superior in terms of lore. Yet I didn't have that canon problem personally, because I found the other links to the source material interesting. And in a way I guess that I have accepted the Netflix canon as another take of it. This is my point of view and I am not there to say I am right above others. What I want to do is : try to explain all the connections I found with examples, more that just saying this is OK or this is wrong with passion or anger.
That said... opinion now...
My first impression was positive but I found the series too rushed. I feel that the 2 hours cut is a miss. It would have slowed the pace and would have given us more time with the characters who I enjoyed.
Before hand I had a worry about the voice over of Seanchai, but finally it was discreet and wasn't too explanatory, like "I am telling you what you don't understand because we don't have time". There was some exposition moment indeed but not that much. It was more there to articulate the fast forward moments.
That said some characters suffered from the fast narration. The trio of the woods as i like to call them - Callan, Sacaré and Syndrill - were those who had the less time to tell their story. But they had a good chimestry together. For the opponent side, for me Balor suffered the most. He was cool but his inner motives were not that much illustrated. Like we don't really see the effect of his low cast borned birth. He just says it. For Eredin... well hmmm that's harder in a very twisted way (and it has nothing to do with his sexual inclination).
On the good side, I have a very soft spot for Meldof 😅. Her with Callan was really nice to see also. Even if he hadn't much back story at least he had chimestry. Éile and Fjall were the most developed and at the first watch I enjoyed their story but found their chimestry rushed. On the second watch I dug more into it.
I will develop more on the characters part.
I enjoyed the fight scenes. And that some of them carry some characterisation. Like the fact that they are all skilled in combat but they have to learn how to fight together, for example. Also a part of me was like yeah but why ?
The show had clearly a low budget in comparison of the main show but I found it visually good. Yes sometimes cgi is a bit low but it didn't bother me at all. And god, I love Merwyn's wardrobe and stylists lol. On the other end, I wish we could see more of the high cast elves. We had more of the low cast that displayed more "human like" costumes. On the main series it has meaning as they live on humans lands now. So they adapted. I am a bit deceived that they didn't add something distinctive for their culture there.
The music is great and seems very nordic to me. Maybe this is a good point as much as a bad point as it would have been better with more eastern influences? I don't know. The Lark songs are good and I liked her voice. I liked a lot 2 songs of her. The Black Rose and The Echo and the River because they hold meaning within the story. I'll tell more in a more specific post also 😅.
Mild spoiler (mild because the official clip is already out lok). As much as I listen in repeat the song, the Jaskier's song is not his strongest. It was clearly made in a rush. It slaps and the lyrics have meaning but this is not up to the narrative building. Also musically, the verses are clearly a mixed of "Toss a coin" and "The Golden One" so... Yeah lazy. I saw that Joey was credited for the music not the lyrics (well yes I can tell haha - they are not that bad but it covers only the riot part and they are straightforward) but for the music I find it strange because the verses are clearly not in his confort zone in low range. Maybe he played instrument in it or helped for some arrangements. Or maybe he is credited to get something from it in compensation 😅. Seriously I feel like this is the minimum for being the biggest PR shield they used all along. But I'll elaborate my bittersweetness of that in another post. So many posts I want to write 😮💨.
That said I question myself a lot about that story Jaskier has to bring back to galvanise non humans.
Anyways. Nonetheless to say, I loved Jaskier's part in the series but I am not really objective about that. Yet I will argument in another post dedicated to the narrative (one more...).
And just because I'm in the narrative part in my general opinion bloc, I can say it there. This is what I enjoyed to most about the show. The parallels and the cycles 😅. I didn't find it confusing at all even at my first whatch. This is too fast yes but not hard to understand. Very straightforward on the surface, richer under.
Some references about the lore are there but not said, as for the Aen Seidhe and Aen Elle. Those we see are Seidhe a long time after the depature of the Aen Seidhe.
Éile and Fjall are the main focus. They have the most time to develop their relationship. The accent was almost made on that, only for the drama 😅. Their back story is fast but a least we have something to understand their motivations. They are used to make us understand clan's rivality at first and unveil sordid stories about their species. (I have a problem with the clan thing by the way but I need to find the time to elaborate)
My complain here is more on the emotional part with other members of their siblings that falls flat for me. They have no time to grieve or to comfort each other more than for the relation they have together. Some deaths should have more meaning for example. Death of members of their family is used just like a trigger that fuels a burst of angry to justify a sudden change of mind, not very much more.
Meldof doesn't have this problem as her arc is about grieving and vengeance, and what's left behind... She is the most attaching one. Her story is simple, it has a beginning and an end. Her story with Gwen is bittersweet and mirrors the cycle of hatred. Also it refers a lot to the main series. It helps build the elves not as innocent than they were protrayed before and leaves us wondering of what would happen if their would overcome the humans...
Scian has an interesting back story and arc that make us understand her motivations and her scepticism. The back story isn't very detailed but it is part of the global narrative. Her combat scenes are great.
Callan is the weakest link in terms of storytelling but he has a marvellous synergy with Meldof and I loved their relationship.
The Celestial Twins, Sacaré and Syndrill are so important and very little developed 😭. I feel like in their past, in their relationship, there was a lot to say but that was probably cut. Basically she is the key to understand old magic used by the elves. He is the key to understand monoliths. And this is so rushed. I wished we could see more of them to understand some things better. Also this connects dots from the main show that were vague. It has nothing to do with the canon for what I remember about magic, but I find it interesting in its ways.
What I like the most about the Celestial Twins thing is that the elves value both high science and superstitions but the mystical part has really concret effects on their lives.
Now for the antagonists part.
Balor is the pivot point but he is not fleshed out. Said low born he aimed the top. He has a personal quest to gain power so he can rule everything. But we don't see his low born condition. We don't see disdain for his birth in other high born characters. Also he has an assistant who proves herself the person he valued the most but we don't understand why. They barely interact. I would have guess something like Celestial Twins for them but she didn't display any kind of magic so... It's very hard to connect with him even if his part is interesting. He is the character that makes us understand that the magic the elves are using is not chaos until it pour into our world.
Eredin is the most damaged character there. I don't mind the part with his lover as it seem to bother a lot. It's here to illustrate that the elven civilisations has the cast system as discrimination, not sexuality or skin colour. A system that have here the same repercussions. My main problem with him is... him lol. Yes he has ambition but he is flat and his story is all over the place with the canon. And I don't understand why they did this. I get that we met him "before" he is evil but in the book he is evil before what happened to him in the end. Lore character wise this is the one that I wasn't pleased at all with. He could have matched way better the empress ambitions with some good evil traits. Its a bit like Balor and Merwyn had stolen his purpose.
Speaking of her, Merwyn in another hand is a very interesting antagonist. Puppetised and puppeteer. She has a passion for those who came in the Continent first (the Aen Elle I suppose) and she wants the elves to return to their past glory. She has a complex of greatness and she turns out to be a coloniser. She wipes the current system and becomes empress with Eredin and Balor's help but she makes awful mistakes. Some seems done due to the fact she is a puppet but then... Her ambition is her fall down. She seems to care about her people but her ways are built on a terrible past.
One problem that is not clearly said in the main show and in this one is the fact that elves do not use agriculture, they collect. So her solution for the famine that is spreading is to get the resources they need in other worlds. And to achieve that she wants to "civilised" those worlds. This is a good use of the lore and a miss at the same time. We barely can connect the dots there. (I will explain later for the lore)
She is gray and at the beginning we can empathise with her until she reveals herself. I liked her ending.
There are other characters from the lore in it but I tried to speak about the main ones that cary the story. For me there was way too many characters for a so short among of time. They tried to tell too much.
Seanchai is the narrator of the story. They tells it to Jaskier for him to ressurect it from the past of the elves to help them. Both are used as the narrative framing device for the show. We have to keep in mind that those two weren't initially in the show. My guess here is that Jaskier was pushed in for audience reasons but his cameo was less important in the first place. Yet he would have been told the story anyway.
I really want to see that piece of musical he had done in the first place 😅.
That said. I catch the Jaskier bait. And for some reason this is interesting for his development too. He learns something valuable that is strangely connected to the lore but in a twisted way. And it goes back to S2. That is for another post again 😮💨.
Also from a less grounded perspective, I loved the implications of him being told the story of another heroic bard from the past and his warrior lover 😏. They are two many dots to connect there so even if I tried to keep my head out of it, sometimes I remembered that Jaskier was listening to the things we were watching and I was like : Seanchai don't give him ideas, please 🤣.
We already know Jaskier so he is easy to connect with and Joey put on a hell of a range of emotions for his short appearance.
Seanchai is an intriguing character and interesting overall but they is just a voice in the end. Their motives are unclear. Someone pointed me out a Gunter theory before the show aired and I have to say there are some similarities. I don't think that's them but probably there is some inspiration.
The thematics (this is the most spoilery part)
There too much there lol. This is where I think they lost themselves. Telling too much in a so small among of time.
I am not against action packed movie or series, but The Witcher have long contemplative parts. This is something I miss a lot in all the shows. There were some bits in S2 but here almost nothing. With so many characters it would have helped flesh them out. I had read that they cut to keep the action up and I remember in interview of S2 where LH said that the there was not enough action material in the book she was adaptating for a TV show. For me this is one enormous mistake but it underlines how TV shows are conceived. Are we that much distracted to can't stay focus on a calmer development ? Also I get the need to not give too much to build the need to have more. But in this case I don't like it. The milking plan of the franchise is way too obvious.
For me the main plot, and the story that I liked, is how stories can change the world. And how a song can carry hope.
The Lark (Éile) is a warrior that became bard and one of a song speaks to the heart of the lowest cast. This song gives them the courage to rise. A lot of that is confirmed by Balor that fears the hope that The Seven are giving to the people as they can't be stopped by the empire. He want this heroic story to stop before it set fire in the heart of those who are oppressed. "Put them to clay". He tries and fails but my complain is that we don't see it.
I guess that a lot we don't see is because we can't 😅. For the same reason we barely see any crowd to the crowning the Merwyn. No budget to make it real lol.
The fall and rise of empire is ok. This is a common theme. What I liked in it though is the cycles. We have those who want things to stay as they were. Those who want a change. Those who make changes. And those who believe that they are changing things and just repeat the cycle instead.
And it is a perfect metaphor of what is happening right now with the show... are we just repeating ourselves ? Blind to what is good for some. And unacceptiing what others find so wrong for the others. In a sad way I think showrunners are pushing too far and too fast for changes to be tolerable. In my opinion, they will end it all the same way Merwyn ends and that sad.
Those cycles and the bad things that are implied is the reason why I don't get why Seanchai gives Jaskier this story (except for the very last part with the prophecy of course). But she ask him to sing about the Seven to give hope to the elves of his time. And he does that with that song in the credits. But in the end she is using him to revive a dying fire.
The thing I find interesting too is this : forgetting means repeat error from the past or lost purpose on the way. Clearly elves use masse massacre as a way to rewrite history, as their very long life span make the stories last longer, as long as there is someone to remember (Scian or Meldof are tiny exemples). Then when it's the time of humans to rule, this is the same thing but those who want to rewrite history have a easier task as generations of humans come and go faster.
On the other hand, remembering seems as wrong as forgetting here. They use the past believing they would make better things of it than their ancestors. Balor ends up breaking everything on his way. To save the present Merwyn believes she has to repeat the horrors of the past. Éile changes things and she breaks the cycle in a certain way but this is in vain as we know how it will go centuries later for her people. What impact would Jaskier make with his song ? Fuel anger ? Help them resist ? He feels for them and empathise to their suffering. He believes he does good but would he ?
I mean that's what I love about this spin off. It's all gray and that easy to see the world we are living in into that. There is no perfect answer. But plenty of room to think. There are large parts of the books that hold those thoughts. The world changing too fast, hard to find a place under other rules that don't match ourselves. Racism and colonialism. Twisted story told (by Jaskier himself until he learns what truth carries) that makes the concerned ones to react in anger but debate also. Those with longer life span that still carry the past (Yarpen Zigrin is way more interesting in the book for that).
All those things are in the books. They are not told the exact same way because it would take forever. But this is a part of how I connect with what I love about The Witcher stories.
Then we have two other plot points that are unfortunately rushed. The first one is the proto witcher. Mark my words, this is not the first one. He will be created by humans later.
This plot here has three (four...) purposes. And I don't like any of them haha ! Nonetheless it was kind of cool. First, they use it to implant the idea that it is the historical answer to the monsters later on. Could have been said (better) in the main show many times. Secondly, they use it to twist (not fully but just too much...) something of the lore about what is special in elder blood. This is interesting in the Netflix canon but this is not in terms of lore. I understand a bit the simplification but in the same time I find it bad. Thirdly, it gives an explanation on how twisted the creation of witchers is. It taps onto forbidden magic and ethical blindness. The thematic is interesting but not really necessary as the fact that submitting children to the trial of the grass already reflect that in the show lool. And the (fourth) point: this is a big trope to connect both shows of the franchise. As much as I like the love story and the drama it carries, the tropes are too big.
The other plot is the Conjunction of the Spheres. That one is OK I think but its importance is somehow under the water. This show tells us about the parallels worlds and I loved that trying to end the use of the monoliths (the gates) they ended in the biggest catastoprophy. They give little about the monoliths except there were used differently when the dwarves had them. There is a lot to connect to the original lore there, but they used it almost the other way round. Until it falls back "almost" in place.
The last thing I want to say without going into much spoilers of other stuff is the ghost entity in the empty realm. If this is what I think it is then it connects the shows with the thing I found the worst part of S2's writing, justifying a colossal mistake. For me this a very wrong take. But one it connects with something of the first season that was not clear and explains a lot. I don't know how to feel about it. Maybe there is a answer in S3.
But everything is about parallels and cycles, right ? So i dread a lot 😅
There is a lot that I didn't speak about because I want to dig more with it and it will be way too spoilery.
I had a good time and I like the show. I found a lot to dig in. I found a lot of twisted lore. I am passionate for some parts but I understand constructed criticisms of the fans that dislike it for what it does to the canon. For me the representation isn't the issue. There are bigger problems underneath.
That said, I believe it gives a lot to think and it has some great underlying connections with itself, the main series and the books.
I believe also that this may put an end to the franchise. The main reason I am sad about this is because Joey's Jaskier is, for me, the best iteration of the Jaskiers. In this show I loved him to bits because they pushed simultaneously the "old" Jaskier and the "new". For my tastes, he is perfect. (And Joey teasing us is just the best part of it 😅).
This blog is about Joey so I'll dig really further on his part later on.
I hope it was clear enough that is my opinion only and I don't push anyone on a direction or another. I am not stating. I tried to justify my plus and my minus the best I could, so please don't use this for spreading hate to any side.
