Slawomir-Gwiazda Reviews (3)

The Witcher (2019– )

Imperfect, but promising 1st season, disappointing 2nd season

[6/10 · 11 January 2022]

Watched both seasons when they came out.

Liked the first season, unlike lots of people also liked the added Yennefer content. Didnt mind the chronological jumps but I understand that it might be somewhat confusing for some people. However in my opinion the solution to this was not to switch to a linear story, but to make the chronology and the flashbacks more accesible.

Sadly I have to agree, with the backlash to the second season, especially the backlash from the book fans. The writing team abandoned its source material, and replaced it with a very shallow, very generic fantasy plot already seen in dozen of fantasy series. Some characters are way off, also in regard to the way they were established in season 1. There is no promised "grey morality" or moral questions, its very bluntly communicated, who and what is to be considered "good and evil". Its also quite boring.

It seems at this point, netflix bought the brand name "The witcher", but decided to make its own thing to fit the casual audience, with flashy visuals.

Marvel light.

Its sad. The dark, harsh, cruel and unforgiving fantasy world of the witcher, with its rich characters with different motivations, interesting moral questions and plot inspired by eastern european folklore and actual eastern european history had the potential to be special, even as a sandpapered hollywood version.

A lost oppurtinity.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021)

Harmless entertaining Cartoon

[7/10 · 30 July 2021]

First of all: The culture war in regard to this harmless piece of entertainment and nostalgia is startling and actually the most important revelation. Most reactions are pretty embarassing.

Objectively this cartoon is no way a 10 and no way a 1 star work, the most frequent ratings, but a pretty average netflix cartoon.

From a technical point of view (animation) its good work, slightly less good than most japanese anime but still a big upgrade to the eighties.

The story is for this kind of fantasy setting Ok. I like the spin of skeletor's lackeys starting a pseudo e religious techology cult. A hit at apple followers maybe? The secondary characters, which were very one-dimensional in the series are much more nuanced in this, which is a big plus.

The main focus in the first episodes is on Teela, Andra (her female sidekick) and Evil Lyn. I can to an extent understand, that some take this as a bait and switch and want mor He-Man, but we are just 5 episodes into the series, so much can happen, and once again, some flesh to other characters is actually a good thing. This focus on a "strong angry woman" however has precipitated an extremely over the top hate reaction of basement dwelling nerds. Its embarassing folks.

Its nice to hear something from Sarah Michelle Gellar again. Loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mark Hamil and Lena Headey have a well deserved cult following. The original Skeletor voice actor is also on board (as Moss Man if I remember correctly). For the nostalgia.

To sum it up. It's not "The wandering castle of howl", but a solid cartoon, which you can watch once and be entertained.

Who Killed Sara? (2021–2022)

Surprisingly entertainable

[7/10 · 30 March 2021]

I watched this series on netflix recently.

Its too much soap opera and too litle crime drama, to be something great, but its surprisingly entertainable nevertheless.

Yes , the story/writing is too often very heavy handed and sometimes plainly ridiculous, but at least you get a slow revelation of the crime in constant bits which keeps you in. The acting and the production are solid and in some instances actually pretty good.

The cliffhanger and setup for the next season at the end is however way over the top in my humble opinion.

Its still worth a look if you are bored and cant find anything else on netflix.