S03.E08: The Cost of Chaos

[AnimeMania]

(Season Finale)

After the fateful events at Aretuza, Geralt and Yennefer struggle to pick up the pieces and reunite their family as war comes to the Continent.

Premiere Date: July 27, 2023     Netflix

[Meredith Quill]

Sigh, that ending... sucked. 

Ugh.

[Taryn74]

Well, that happened.

[thuganomics85]

I thought at first that we were in for some more time shenanigans and that the scenes with Ciri were taking place at different times.  Instead, it sounds like the Ciri we saw at the tavern that was helped out by that band of eccentric ruffians is actually Falka?  If so, why did she posses her body?  And the real Ciri is actually with Emhyr?  I have so many questions...

Fare thee well, Tissaia.  You were probably always destined to die since you were basically the mentor/mother-like figure to Yen and those type of characters are always doomed, but I'll miss MyAnna Burning because I found her to be one of the strongest performers here.  She will be missed.

I'm guessing Milva is being set up to be a regular next season, which explains why they got someone like Meng'er Zhang to play her.  Plus, the show really hasn't had their archer character I don't think, and every fantasy party needs one!  And she's already figured out the whole "Snarking on Jaskier" thing that is required.  She will fit right in!

Radovid is now king after Vizmir gets himself offed after he plots Phillippa's demise, but she was already four steps ahead.  At least Dijkstra remained loyal to her, so he will continue to limp along.  He's at least got that going for him.

Francesca discovers the truth about what both Embyr and Fringilla did to her son and... isn't very happy, to put it mildly.

Yen is forming a new brotherhood more or less, but since they're all sorceresses, they are really more of a sisterhood.

At least Henry Cavill got one final fight scene before he bounces.

Honestly questioning wherever I'm sticking around next season, because this was another dull affair, I thought.  Despite all the potential here, this show just can't seem to deliver on its promises.  I guess we'll see!

[Wicked]

I am interested enough in Ciri's story line to give season 4 a try, but I cannot imagine anyone else being The Witcher

[Meredith Quill]

I can't imagine, based on the craptastic ending they gave us (and HC), how Geralt changing actor from HC to LH will be explained in any way that isn't spectacularly terrible. Probably bc that's precisely what will happen, no explanation at all or a spectacularly terrible one. I despair of how they've wasted their opportunity with this franchise with one thing or another.

[shrewd.buddha]

Well, that wasn't very satisfying, was it?
Usually the final episode brings the story threads from the season together for some type of conclusion.
Nope, not this time..
This seemed like a beginning episode, with characters starting new journeys, forming new groups and new characters being introduced.
Phillippa, Dijkstra, Francesca, Fringilla, Vilgefortz, and Embyr are all back to their political plotting shenanigans... again.

Tissaia's suicide seemed pretty pointless -- just an excuse to put Yennifer in a position of power and give her some angsty/weepy moments: 
"You've shown me more kindness than anyone I've ever known. I fondly remember you turning young girls into electric eels when they didn't meet your standards.. You were like a mother...“

Where was Cohiar? Guess he will randomly show up again with a new personality .. maybe stab someone in the neck .. or apologize for stabbing people in the neck.

TPTB seem to be establishing Geralt, Yeniffer and Ciri as equal leads of the show, which could work, if done well. But the writing is just not up to the task.

I am tired of the main characters continually pronouncing that "we are family!!" "you are my daughter!!" "we will find each other again!!" . It has been way overdone.

I don't plan to be back for more after this season ... unless I hear some incredible reactions in the forums.
It is just not worth all the annoying elements of this show to even hate-watch it.
Things that bugged me:

• Magic cannot cure Geralt .. until it can, when the plot decides it can.
• Yennifer jumping back and forth between Aretuza and wherever Geralt was. If it was magic portals, why not use them to help others?
• Aretuza should be trashed and filled with dead bodies, but the small Sisterhood of witches are able to tidy up with no extra help -- just a few chairs to set upright. And everyone's hair and dresses are perfection.
• Everyone still looking for Ciri (!)
• Everyone still saying how powerful Ciri is -- while Ciri never manages to be powerful when needed.

Edited July 31, 2023 by shrewd.buddha
grammar / spelling

[roctavia]

I wouldn't have minded this ending if we were getting another season with the same cast... A small part of me was hoping there would be a fitting end for Geralt this season and then Liam Hemsworth would be playing a different witcher or something... but I know that was far fetched.

It would have been nice to have a little closure on some things, even if they wanted to set up a new season, this didn't seem to really finish anything aside from destroying Aretuza. 

It's almost fitting that this season they all started together, but ended up apart, compared to other seasons where they are separated until the end... but still, it's a bummer note to go out on for Henry Cavil's time as Geralt.

[Kasienka]

Goodbye Vizimir, you were the most entertaining part of Redania's plotline. Radovid is just bad, I can't with the way the actor delivers his lines and for the last time the romance with Jaskier is just sooo badly written and performed ,oh my god!

Yen and Geralt splitting made no sense, finding Ciri is their priority, they should stick together.  Fake!Ciri being in Nilfgaard is not exactly a secret, what's stopping them from teleporting there? Geralt is going to go all this way riding a horse, while Yen and her magical friends could get him there in minutes. Even if I headcanon that Vilgefortz put some barriers around the castle I honestly doubt he's strong enough to shield entire empire.

I wish Fringilla was attached to some better plotline, because everytime I see Franceska I sleep. Don't care about the elves.

Cahir and Istredd seem to be missing in action. Maybe it's for the better.

For the good parts, I like Milva. She is going to be a good addiction to Team Witcher.

Also Rats look fun. From what I remember they were supposed to get their own spin off, so we'll se how it goes with all those strikes in the USA.

Oh and Tissaia's dead. Almost forgot. Now Filipa won't be able to throw in her face that HER man is not a backstabbing bastard.

[Tuggy]

12 hours ago, Kasienka said:

For the good parts, I like Milva. She is going to be a good addiction to Team Witcher.

Also Rats look fun. From what I remember they were supposed to get their own spin off, so we'll se how it goes with all those strikes in the USA.

I have to say that I was impressed with the actress playing Milva because in a few scenes I was more invested in her character than in most of the other secondary ones 😅 The "you would be dead now" had a very strong taste of "you know nothing, Jon Snow" but it works so I don not mind much.

Same for the Rats, who in one scene appeared as a group that will be interesting to follow.

I'm still not sure that I will be tuning in for the next season, considering I mostly hate-watched this one but these elements are sparks of hope. 

[Kasienka]

5 hours ago, Tuggy said:

I have to say that I was impressed with the actress playing Milva because in a few scenes I was more invested in her character than in most of the other secondary ones 😅 The "you would be dead now" had a very strong taste of "you know nothing, Jon Snow" but it works so I don not mind much.

 

The actress was great. She has a role in Shang Chi if you're interested in checking it out.

I'll definitely watch the next season. I am interested in Ciri's storyline and like Freya Allan in this role. And I am curious how Liam Hemsworth will play Geralt. I am willing to give him a chance.

Performances of the actors are the least of my problems with the show. It's all in the writing that tries to be like GoT, fails miserably at that and it's not what people want from The Witcher at all. 

I hope they'll learn from this season mistakes and improve for season 4. There are good things in this show, just buried under mediocre script. The actors deserves better than that.

[Mercolleen]

That was some sloppy storytelling. Yawn. Disappointing.

[iMonrey]

Wow, this season really devolved into a convoluted mess. I just cannot follow this war story, it isn't being explained or illustrated well at all. They really need to show us a map, Game of Thrones style, to show us where everyone is and where all these countries are that they keep name dropping. 

For example, a good deal of conversation was devoted to Thanedd at the beginning of this episode. That Redania failed at Thanedd. WTF is Thanedd? Last battle I saw was at Aretuza. Were they referencing some off-screen battle we never saw? Why?

Who were the people who captured Ciri, and who is this Baron they mentioned? Who were the people who bust in a rescued her? I don't know any of these characters. There are a couple of posts upthread referring to "the rats" so I assume they are known to book readers/game players but I was in the dark.

What is Philippa's plan for Redania? And how does she have time to keep changing her hair from scene to scene? If the show spent half the time they spend on hairstyles and wardrobe writing better scripts maybe I'd be able to follow this mess better.

Was that Vilgefortz standing next to Emhyr at the end? How did half his face get burned off? When did I miss that? Do they know the Ciri they have is fake? 

There is just too much going on that doesn't seem to be leading anywhere, and I think that's part of the problem when you try to turn a video game into a TV show or movie. It just feels like you're going through endless levels or chapters, another epic battle, another quest, another obstacle, it never ends.

Losing Henry Cavill as Geralt is really the least of this show's problems. But he was criminally underused this season.

[Tuggy]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Was that Vilgefortz standing next to Emhyr at the end? How did half his face get burned off? When did I miss that?

I had the exact same reaction! Like what the fuck was that?! Did they cut so much of the season that we missed a complet battle between Vilgefortz and someone? Were we supposed to see that he was hit by a debris when the tower exploded at Aretuza?

And I second you on the mention of Thanned. It kind of rang a bell but I had not clue what it was. That said, there are so many things that are incomprehensible and/or unimpactful that it did not bother me much...

As for the Rats, maybe the captions helped me get their name and I supposed that the were just being introduced for the next season. But I do agree with you that it was kind of out of the blue.

[Kasienka]

Just now, Tuggy said:

Were we supposed to see that he was hit by a debris when the tower exploded at Aretuza?

That's exactly it.

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

WTF is Thanedd?

Don't qoute me on that but I think Thanedd is the island that Aretuza is on.

[Taryn74]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

What is Philippa's plan for Redania? And how does she have time to keep changing her hair from scene to scene?

😂

[tennisgurl]

That certainly was a thing I guess. I just want this show to be so much better than it is, its a franchise that has endless potential and a solid cast, there is good stuff here, but its all buried under a lot of boring convoluted plotting and crappy writing. I know that a big reason this show even got created was to ride the Game of Thrones fantasy wave, but that doesn't mean they so desperately have to try to be Game of Thrones. This show is fun when its cool monster fights and snarky banter, not when its a bunch of boring people talking about boring political stuff. It especially sucks that Henry Cavill is done now, he was terribly underused this season. 

Sucks that Tissaia had to die, she was always a solid part of the show, I'm not even sure why she killed herself. If they were going to kill her off, why not give her a big heroic sacrifice instead of this? 

I'm kind of interested in Ciri's story, mainly because she's apparently going to be doing something besides being chased around like a living McGuffin. I have no idea why the show wants to keep the main characters apart all of the time, why would Geralt Yen not team up right now to find Ciri? Its what they most want to do and if they find her and get her to do whatever she's supposed to do to save the world, wont all of these problems end? 

I wish I cared about the elves, but I so do not. At least Francesca and her awful hair will be pissed at the right people this time, even if that means she's going to continue to be around. 

I'll watch the next season, but I really hope that things pick up.

[iMonrey]

27 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I have no idea why the show wants to keep the main characters apart all of the time, why would Geralt Yen not team up right now to find Ciri? Its what they most want to do and if they find her and get her to do whatever she's supposed to do to save the world, wont all of these problems end? 

Who knows? We still don't know what she's supposed to do to save the world or why she's so important everyone is trying to find her. The elves think she's supposed to bring about the end of the world thus restoring their own world I guess, but . . . assuming they get their hands on her what exactly is she supposed to do to accomplish this?

What good does she do Emhyr by being in Nilfgaard? It's like she's so revered or something she gives his war legitimacy but why would that be when Cintra was conquered by Nilfgaard? If she has that strong a following why can't she just take back Cintra? And what does Redania want with her? 

That's basically the problem I'm having with the show, I don't understand the basic motivations or endgames of most of these characters.

[shrewd.buddha]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

If the show spent half the time they spend on hairstyles and wardrobe writing better scripts maybe I'd be able to follow this mess better.

This bears repeating.  It seems as if so many shows these days have awful writing but the other departments are doing a pretty good job: props, cinematography, FX, wardrobe.  I wonder if they are also disappointed with the final results?  It's also weird when the wardrobe choices don't seem to match the circumstances.

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm kind of interested in Ciri's story, mainly because she's apparently going to be doing something besides being chased around like a living McGuffin.

My feeling is Ciri will continue to be a Living McGuffin for quite some time .. depending on how long this show lasts. It also seems to be a common trope that powerful characters must lose (or renounce) their powers to make them more manageable plot-wise.

[Tuggy]

12 hours ago, Kasienka said:

12 hours ago, Tuggy said:

Were we supposed to see that he was hit by a debris when the tower exploded at Aretuza?

That's exactly it.

You saw that?!

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Sucks that Tissaia had to die, she was always a solid part of the show, I'm not even sure why she killed herself. If they were going to kill her off, why not give her a big heroic sacrifice instead of this? 

Yeah, that pissed me off too. Her suicide makes absolutely no sense, even moreso after her conversation with Yen just before. And her use of the thunder spell was right there to make a big sacrifice...

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm kind of interested in Ciri's story, mainly because she's apparently going to be doing something besides being chased around like a living McGuffin.

That makes me think a lot about Arya Stark and the way she was presented as a character that was destined to become incredible only to be stuck in an incredibly boring storyline and which never really amounted to anything. So I won't hold too much hope for Ciri...

Edited August 4, 2023 by Tuggy

[Kasienka]

1 hour ago, Tuggy said:

You saw that?!

Nope🤣 that's how he got scarred in the books, so it's my knowledge of other Witcher media that fills the gaps.

Same with Tissaia, she kills herself out of the guilt of failing the Brotherhood which is in shambles and in the books you get it. But here, when she still has Yennefer by her side, when all the witches bar Fil and Fringilla are sticking together and are making plans for the future her giving up is really surprising. 

It's like writers change some things, but then suddenly they come back to the books plotline, it's just not making sense anymore. 

Like Cahir and Fringilla who got much bigger role in S1 and now the writers have no idea what to do with them or how to get them to the point they should be.

Biggest offender is of course Geralt and Yennefer staying apart, which makes sense in the books! But not here. If you change something, commit to it! Instead we got weird mish mash of book storyline and original tv show storyline and it just doesn't work.

[roctavia]

On 8/4/2023 at 3:44 AM, Kasienka said:

Nope🤣 that's how he got scarred in the books, so it's my knowledge of other Witcher media that fills the gaps.

 

I don't know anything about the books/games, but it wasn't a stretch to assume Vigelfortz was injured when Ciri blew up the monolith building thing... I was more surprised to see him alive, though not that surprised since off screen deaths don't really happen. 

Granted there are plenty of other things that don't really make sense- like the suicide that could have used more explanation... or even I was hoping Tissaia's death was to sacrifice for some other power/healing/something that would benefit the rest of the mages, not just to kill herself.

[Silver-hyren]

At least the music this season was good?

[Quark]

I thought this season was ok. Sadder to see the last of Tissaia than Henry Cavill, thought she was amazing throughout.

Would have liked to have seen more of Fringilla this season.