S02.E05: Turn Your Back

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

As a powerful mage joins the hunt for Ciri, she cuts a deal with Vesemir over his extraordinary discovery. Geralt explores the mystery of the monoliths.

 

[Bort]

Powerless Yennefer thinks on her feet pretty well with her hilarious fake drunken distraction to rescue Jaskier. 

[Harvey]

Just came here to comment on that. The moment where she spit his fire back to the magician was so cool.

I also thought the scene where the male historian mage and Geralt discussed Yennefer and how she is still alive was really well-acted. Geralt didn't have to say his feelings for her, you still understood what was going through his head.

[Morrigan2575]

I'm so glad that the Yenn being alive reveal happened. I was waiting for it to be a finale thing. 

I'm interested in the Ciri mystery. She's got Elder Blood and if I understood it correctly she is a descendent of Romeo and Juliet couple from Nivellen's story.  She's also a child of prophecy, destined to destroy the world, or at least everything but, Elves. 

So, now we have Yenn being setup to possibly betray Geralt and Ciri. Not going to happen. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

I'm glad Geralt knows Yennefer is alive.

As amusing as Yennefer and Jaskier's exploits are, I am bothered by the fact that both of them are wearing bright purple when they are supposed to be in hiding. That's not how you hide in plain sight!

Ciri is extraordinary, and I wonder if not allowing her to take that Witcher serum may not have been the right course?  I wonder if she will become a Witcher in her own right later on?

[MissL]

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

 

And I have a really hard time understanding what people are saying…stop mumbling! 

[Smad]

7 minutes ago, MissL said:

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

This show doesn't care about world building so the confusion is natural.

[mledawn]

43 minutes ago, MissL said:

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

I have no idea wtf is going on probably 75% of the time, but I'm still watching! I can't keep the names straight, I can't tell who is good and who is not... The finger snappy fire guy, Ciri's dad, the bearded dude running with Yennifer all look like the same guy! Still watching!

[Mr. R0b0t]

7 hours ago, mledawn said:

I have no idea wtf is going on probably 75% of the time, but I'm still watching! I can't keep the names straight, I can't tell who is good and who is not... The finger snappy fire guy, Ciri's dad, the bearded dude running with Yennifer all look like the same guy! Still watching!

SAME!  The names are confusing.  The places are confusing.  The names of places are confusing.  Yet, I keep watching!

[Harvey]

8 hours ago, MissL said:

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

It's a hard to follow show but Nilfgaard is the country who attacked the city (sodden) in the finale of last season. Yennifer used the fire magic against them and decimated a big chunk of their army. 

[MissL]

18 minutes ago, Harvey said:

It's a hard to follow show but Nilfgaard is the country who attacked the city (sodden) in the finale of last season. Yennifer used the fire magic against them and decimated a big chunk of their army. 

I get that part and they took Centra but WHO are they? A religious group? They follow the white flame but what does the white flame stand for? They say fuck the north so are they all from the south? I haven’t been able to pick up any of that. Can’t pick up all the players in this mess. And yet I can’t stop watching either.

[Nellise]

11 hours ago, MissL said:

And I have a really hard time understanding what people are saying…stop mumbling! 

I mentioned this in the 1st episode thread, but this is one of the only shows I have to put on captions. With all the crazy names and the massive volume difference between the dialogue and the other sounds, it's really hard to follow otherwise.

I'm not sure if it was this episode or not, but it's interesting that they refer to their world just as a "continent". Are there other continents then and we're just watching some local fighting?

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, MissL said:

I get that part and they took Centra but WHO are they? A religious group? They follow the white flame but what does the white flame stand for? They say fuck the north so are they all from the south? I haven’t been able to pick up any of that. Can’t pick up all the players in this mess. And yet I can’t stop watching either.

It's an Empire/Kingdom from the South. Cintra and Sodden were the immediate borderlands. They attacked and captured Cintra in S1E1 and the Battle of Sudden S1E8 was the Mages's holding the pass until the Northern Kingdoms Armies could arrive and defend. 

[iMonrey]

Also, Nilfgaard was humiliated by Cintra in the flashbacks - or, at least, their leader was by Calanthe. We also know from the mages that their ruler is constantly being overthrown. So they have long been a kingdom of some turmoil. We've yet to see their present ruler, as far as I can tell.

[Bort]

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Also, Nilfgaard was humiliated by Cintra in the flashbacks - or, at least, their leader was by Calanthe. We also know from the mages that their ruler is constantly being overthrown. So they have long been a kingdom of some turmoil. We've yet to see their present ruler, as far as I can tell.

The one Calanthe humiliated in the flashbacks is what they eventually called The Usurper and the current ruler is what they’re calling The Rightful Heir. So I guess the turmoil is someone took over the throne (most likely from some sort of coup) and the actual inheriter took it back.

[thuganomics85]

Putting aside the moral issues and fear over Ciri being the guinea pig for the Witcher serum: since it is her blood that is being used, wouldn't have also just been risky to have her go first from a logistic standpoint?  Say it didn't work and she died, then wouldn't they eventually run out of blood to use?  Obviously both Vesemir and Triss had more emotional reasons for being concerned about Ciri's plan, but that should have been mentioned or taken into consideration as well, I would think.

But, of course, it sounds like there is something even bigger going on with Ciri and it might not be a good thing: Triss in particular now thinks Ciri is destined to destroy the world or something.  Whoops!  At least Geralt is still in protective dad mode.

Glad for more Yen/Jaskier scenes.  Those two are always fun together.

Cahir makes it back home, but I'm not sure he's going to be thrilled over Fringilla's leadership or her alliance with Francesca/the Elves.

Looks like Yen might finally be willing to make a deal to get her magic back.  But it sounds like it would involve her going after Ciri.  Twist!

[Bort]

21 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Putting aside the moral issues and fear over Ciri being the guinea pig for the Witcher serum: since it is her blood that is being used, wouldn't have also just been risky to have her go first from a logistic standpoint?  Say it didn't work and she died, then wouldn't they eventually run out of blood to use?  Obviously both Vesemir and Triss had more emotional reasons for being concerned about Ciri's plan, but that should have been mentioned or taken into consideration as well, I would think.

That was what I was thinking too. Clearly, Vesemir and Triss have never heard the goose and the golden egg fable.

Quote

Glad for more Yen/Jaskier scenes.  Those two are always fun together.

I think Yennefer and Jaskier were my favorite pairing. It was funny how he was still afraid of her, even powerless. Good example of that was their different styles when cornered by thugs in an alley. His go-to method was to try and talk his way out of it while hers was to kick the nearest guy in the crotch and run like hell.

[Silver-hyren]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:30 AM, MissL said:

They say fuck the north so are they all from the south? I haven’t been able to pick up any of that. Can’t pick up all the players in this mess.

The Northern kingdoms have been waging a genocide against elves (started by Calanthe? Definitely supported by her). Fringilla allied with Francesca's group of elves so now Nilfgaard is offering safe haven to elves in Cintra. Helps Nilfgaard look like not-so-evil conquerers to some of the population of the North but how else it's going to play out to further their ends is yet to be seen. 

[Smad]

I'd really love to know what Triss was teaching Ciri in 'magic class' considering

Spoiler

Nenneke had to explain what chaos (aka the basic of all magic lol) is to Ciri in episode 6. And Yen actually taught her spells.

No wonder Ciri started skipping those classes. Bad teacher there Triss.

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, Smad said:

I'd really love to know what Triss was teaching Ciri in 'magic class' considering

  Reveal spoiler

Nenneke had to explain what chaos (aka the basic of all magic lol) is to Ciri in episode 6. And Yen actually taught her spells.

No wonder Ciri started skipping those classes. Bad teacher there Triss.

Probably healing magic, fixing calluses, gashes, fatigue, cracked ribs, broken bones, regrowing teeth, etc.

[WatchrTina]

I'm watching this now and I had to pause to come here and share that there was cheering and unbridled joy in my house when Yennefer did the fire-spitting trick to rescue Jaskier.

I just got to Genralt's line "Yen's alive?"  Whoo hoo!  More cheering in my condo.

Well, I've seen the whole thing now and -- like many of you -- I'm confused.  Remember how Game of Thrones opened each episode with a map that highlighted the areas that would be featured in that episode?  And you know how there is a detailed map of Middle Earth at the back of the Lord of the Rings books?  And remember the tactic of kicking off each episode of "Lost" with a short, "previously on . . . " segment that helped the viewer recall key plot points from earlier episodes?  We could use something like that here.  But I guess the theory is that these days -- with content that is streamed on-demand and thus available for binge-watching and/or repeated viewing -- TV writers don't need to "help" the viewer quite as much because they can count on us to view the episodes more than once.  And now I'm off to watch this AGAIN before watching the next one (so as to increase the odds of the next episode making sense.)

One comment on the episode in general -- damn, this show is pretty to look at.  The sets and costumes and hair and make-up are all stellar.  (Geralt is also pretty to look at, but you all knew that.)

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by WatchrTina

[Smad]

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

Remember how Game of Thrones opened each episode with a map that highlighted the areas that would be featured in that episode?  And you know how there is a detailed map of Middle Earth at the back of the Lord of the Rings books?

They absolutely needed that. They probably thought 'we get compared to GoT enough' and skipped it. But there is a way to do this without copying GoT. And other shows also do the map thing and no one minds. In S1 plenty people were confused as to who is what from where. This Season though makes it seem like everything is 5 minutes away from each other anyway.

1 hour ago, WatchrTina said:

 And now I'm off to watch this AGAIN before watching the next one (so as to increase the odds of the next episode making sense.)

Oh you poor, sweet summer child...

[nodorothyparker]

On 12/21/2021 at 2:42 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Putting aside the moral issues and fear over Ciri being the guinea pig for the Witcher serum: since it is her blood that is being used, wouldn't have also just been risky to have her go first from a logistic standpoint?  Say it didn't work and she died, then wouldn't they eventually run out of blood to use?  Obviously both Vesemir and Triss had more emotional reasons for being concerned about Ciri's plan, but that should have been mentioned or taken into consideration as well, I would think.

This was my immediate reaction too. We've been told that the survival rate for boys injected with the witcher serum wasn't great. And yet it occurs to none of them that if Ciri also doesn't survive it they've got no backup plan to make any more witcher candidates? They're just going to let her guinea pig it and if she dies, oh well we tried? I kind of loved that Geralt didn't even dignify what he walked in on by speaking to Vesemir or acknowledging him or his half-assed reasoning at all. You knew he was beyond furious without him saying it.

Finally, five episodes in somebody happens to mention to Geralt that Yennefer's still around. I quite liked how understated the entire scene was for all the ridiculousness of hey, here's a head I'm lugging around and let's go stand in the bottom of Ciri's giant ravine. 

I have no idea who the fire mage guy torturing Jaskier was. I kept feeling like I was supposed to know but I didn't. I guess we're about to find out just how badly Yennefer wants her magic back.

 

[Haleth]

Glad to know I'm not the only one seriously confused!  So many factions and interests.  I guess everyone is coming after Ciri for one reason or another.

[tennisgurl]

I continue to love the odd couple adventures of Yen and Jaskier, and Yen pretending to be his drunk wife before blowing fire onto the fire mage's face was quite cool. I also loved that when they were confronted in the alleyway, Jaskier tried to talk his way out of it, while Yen just went for the balls, with Jaskier commented on how scary she is even without powers. Kind of their personalities in a nutshell. 

I am very glad that Geralt knows Yennefer is alive, I was worried that it would take all season. 

[statslady]

  ON 12/20/2021 AT 12:10 AM, MISSL SAID:

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

I have no idea wtf is going on probably 75% of the time, but I'm still watching! I can't keep the names straight, I can't tell who is good and who is not... The finger snappy fire guy, Ciri's dad, the bearded dude running with Yennifer all look like the same guy! Still watching!

 

So much this!  Never played the game or read the books, but we're watching anyway!  I get help from this forum and on the Witcher Wiki they have recaps with links to different characters stories https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Witcher_Wiki.  I go there when I'm feeling particularly confused.  

[Kasienka]

Great episode. I liked all the pairings in this one, Jaskier and Yen work great together and it was so sweet that he was worried for her when Rience attacked her, even though he knows he's the damsel in this duo:) Yennefer doesn't need powers to be badass, the way she took him down was awesome:)

Also liked the Geralt/Istredd interactions, finally he knows Yen's out there. Cavill was really good in this, you could see on his face what he was going through.

Like posters above I think Vesemir's plan is stupid. I headcannon that grief after losing Eskel is clouding his judgement, because using untested mutagen on a child that is so clearly dear to Geralt and a girl at that is just idiotic. In the past they only used it on boys and survival rate wasn't that high, so using in on a female is extremely dangerous. Not to mention that Ciri is special and they know that, there's no telling what it could do to her especially. Triss should have opposed it harder, I can't help thinking that if Yen was in her place, Vesemir wouldn't get a chance to even extract her blood. Best part of this storyline are the visions that Ciri saw. It was good to see Pavetta and Duny again, though it's painfully obvious they couldn't get Calanthe actress, so we only so her back;) The last vision shook Triss pretty hard, again I think Yennefer would have handled it better and wouldn't allow Ciri to run away.

But know we know that Nivellen story was some foreshadowing for the main storyline, and Istredd the Historian is looking into Cintrian family tree;) I'm worried Stregobor might get involved, we all know his opinion on powerful women with special powers. Now when I think of it, maybe that's why they gave him backstory with Falka in one of the previous episodes , to explain why he's so terrified of them.

I'm trying not to watch it all in one sitting, but it's getting harder with every episode.

[blackwing]

Just finished episode 5.  I had no issues understanding the first season.  But this season, I am done with more than half the season, and I still have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on.  Too many people look the same.  Too many white guys with stringy longish blondish hair.

As far as I can tell:

• There's some new monsters in town and they aren't exactly sure how or why.
• Ciri is under the care of Geralt.  Ciri wants to become a Witcher.  They discovered that her blood can make new Witchers.
• Yennefer has lost her magic.  She is travelling with some Elven King named Cahir to... ???
• Fringilla's kingdom has allied with some other kingdom to either support or destroy the elves, I have no idea which

I am so confused.  Can someone take pity and please give me a brief summary?

On 1/16/2022 at 8:34 AM, vteal said:

  ON 12/20/2021 AT 12:10 AM, MISSL SAID:

I really do enjoy the show but I’m completely confused by the mythology. Maybe because I don’t remember the first season that well? Who are the nilfgauard again?

I have no idea wtf is going on probably 75% of the time, but I'm still watching! I can't keep the names straight, I can't tell who is good and who is not... The finger snappy fire guy, Ciri's dad, the bearded dude running with Yennifer all look like the same guy! Still watching!

 

So much this!  Never played the game or read the books, but we're watching anyway!  I get help from this forum and on the Witcher Wiki they have recaps with links to different characters stories https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Witcher_Wiki.  I go there when I'm feeling particularly confused.  

This is exactly how I feel.  I have no idea what is going on and all of the bearded white guys look the same to me.

[Bort]

36 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Yennefer has lost her magic.  She is travelling with some Elven King named Cahir to... ???

Cahir is the guy who was chasing down Ciri last season. Yennefer is traveling with him because she had nowhere else to go.

[Kasienka]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

As far as I can tell:

• There's some new monsters in town and they aren't exactly sure how or why.
• Ciri is under the care of Geralt.  Ciri wants to become a Witcher.  They discovered that her blood can make new Witchers.
• Yennefer has lost her magic.  She is travelling with some Elven King named Cahir to... ???
• Fringilla's kingdom has allied with some other kingdom to either support or destroy the elves, I have no idea which

You've got the Ciri and Geralt part right. He's taking care of her, but it seems that she's more special that anyone thought.  That's why Rience and Nilfgaard are looking for her. She has Elder Blood that was the only missing component of the mutagen that can create new witchers. More about it and the new monsters will be revealed later in the season.

Cahir is not an elf, he is a Nilfgaardian general that has been imprisoned after the battle of Sodden. He's the guy from the first season that was trying to capture Cirilla. They are going to Cintra (Ciri's hometown) that is now occupied by Nilfgaard, so he can rejoin his people.

Fringilla (who is on Nilfgaard's side) is trying to make an alliance with elves against Northern Kingdoms.

[Ottis]

I actually am following the plots in general, they are just moving so slowly I can’t stay interested. Instead of the bard and Yen getting away in the boat, the bard is captured and off we go on a drawn out wander. Instead of moving on to Ciri being a test Witcher subject, we meander through a long dream sequence and then Geralt stops the experiment. Even Geralt’s investigation of the fallen monolith yields… a trip back to the castle after a monster flies off. Meanwhile, elves are still in the boat that Jen and bard should have been in and they manage to land. And Yen, after not having her powers for a few eps therefore being unable to do much, gets an order and… scene. Yay?

If the show isn’t interested in world building, it also isn’t interested in plot movement. So what are we watching? 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Ottis

[KeithJ]

On 12/19/2021 at 11:10 PM, MissL said:

And I have a really hard time understanding what people are saying…stop mumbling! 

I’m glad I’m not the only one having issues.  When they first started talking about Ciri’s blood I thought they were saying “Elven blood” and I was wondering why they couldn’t just go find an elf somewhere.