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I just finished watching seasons 1-4 of the Witcher. It is a fun entertaining show, but season 4 was quite a drop for me. Replacing Henry Cavill was part of it, but the writing took a step down too.
For me the writing took a step down in the 3rd season. They did a poor job of introducing Vilgefortz as the big bad and representing his true power, and they completely neutered Geralt in his own show, which is why Cavill left the show. He is a huge fan of the source material and they strayed too far from it in making it all about the women and making Geralt a background character. Yes, in the books each of the women have important roles to play and in part essentially their own novel and stories within the broader framework but they fell into the common trap nowadays of pushing agenda head of story. Not quite as bad as Disney has done, but bad enough to push the best actor for Geralt out of the show. Hemsworth did fine, but he was little more than just "there" in season 4, and I thought season 4 really got bogged down in narrative "telling" the story instead of showing through the action, and completely disregarded Geralt as the main character again. I think the writers do not understand the source material, some of them famously said so much outright before even season 2 came out, where they said they didn't read the original novels and the ones who tried said they "hated it" and went instead from notes from the author as a consultant, or something along those lines. Too bad, as it could have been epic with Cavill in that role and the first season was really pretty good as an adaptation, with drops by level in each subsequent season. Too bad.

 
For me the writing took a step down in the 3rd season. They did a poor job of introducing Vilgefortz as the big bad and representing his true power, and they completely neutered Geralt in his own show, which is why Cavill left the show. He is a huge fan of the source material and they strayed too far from it in making it all about the women and making Geralt a background character. Yes, in the books each of the women have important roles to play and in part essentially their own novel and stories within the broader framework but they fell into the common trap nowadays of pushing agenda head of story. Not quite as bad as Disney has done, but bad enough to push the best actor for Geralt out of the show. Hemsworth did fine, but he was little more than just "there" in season 4, and I thought season 4 really got bogged down in narrative "telling" the story instead of showing through the action, and completely disregarded Geralt as the main character again. I think the writers do not understand the source material, some of them famously said so much outright before even season 2 came out, where they said they didn't read the original novels and the ones who tried said they "hated it" and went instead from notes from the author as a consultant, or something along those lines. Too bad, as it could have been epic with Cavill in that role and the first season was really pretty good as an adaptation, with drops by level in each subsequent season. Too bad.

The whole Rats and Ciri storyline went off the rails too, although I liked Leo.
 
We've been watching "Dying for Sex" and it's crazy good. In lots of ways it's been very hard to watch. The story is about a woman who is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, incurable, who then goes on a journey of self-discovery and finding out what she really wants in a sexual relationship that she never had with her husband of 10 years. Some laugh out loud moments, and some so heartfelt and real it's heart breaking. Based on a true story, at least partially. Not one for the kids though, very adult content. But there are some fantastic characters and the main character actress hits everything nearly perfectly. High recommended. An emotional rollercoaster especially considering where my wife and I are in her treatment cycle right now.
 
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