{"id":8859,"date":"2021-12-17T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1535553"},"modified":"2021-12-17T14:16:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T13:16:09","slug":"the-witcher-season-2-pokes-fun-at-critics-of-the-first-season","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-witcher-season-2-pokes-fun-at-critics-of-the-first-season\/","title":{"rendered":"The Witcher season 2 pokes fun at critics of the first season"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 17 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

By:<\/strong> Eammon Jacobs, Huw Fullerton<\/p>\n

The Witcher season one was a little divisive \u2013 while millions tuned in and it became one of Netflix<\/a>\u2018s biggest ever hits, there was some criticism levelled at its confusing timeline structure, as well as a few unlikely plot turns over the course of the adventure.<\/p>\n

Now, in season two things are more straightforward, with everything taking place on the same timeline \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean The Witcher<\/a> has forgotten the backlash, poking some gentle fun at its critics in one episode of the new season.<\/p>

First, some background. With The Witcher season two now available on Netflix, audiences have finally been able to see how Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Jaskier and the rest of The Witcher cast<\/a> all cope with the continuously dangerous landscape of the Continent after the dramatic ending to season one. One of the many changes in the second batch of episodes is the fact that the Northern Kingdoms have started treating Elves with vicious cruelty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although not all is lost, as a mysterious individual called the Sandpiper is helping smuggle Elves to safety on ships out of Oxenfurt\u2026 Spoilers, it\u2019s Jaskier. Jaskier is the Sandpiper. It\u2019s a surprising step up from the self-professed \u201clovable lutanist.\u201d Anyway, when the bard also helps Yennefer and Cahir out of the city, he ends up crossing paths with a jobsworth seaman who tries to get the bard to show his transit papers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully, the bard makes the seaman realise who he is with a quick song to get out of the paper situation, how cunning. Unfortunately, the sailor has a few ideas about Jaskier\u2019s songs which are actually many of the criticisms levelled at The Witcher season one. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit complicated\u2026 Took me to the fourth verse to understand there were different timelines\u201d and \u201cThat magic kiss? That was a bit cheap. I spotted the dragon reveal a mile away!\u201d Ouch. And here we thought the dragon reveal in season one, episode six was cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

\""MM_04_02_2021CS114SSUSIEALLNUTT-143.dng"\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

Jaskier actor Joey Batey told RadioTimes.com<\/a> that this was a deliberate move \u2013 \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s meta!\u201d \u2013 before confirming the criticisms were a long-planned gag for the series from showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s very much Lauren going, \u2018You know what? F**k you.’\u201d he laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of that is in the scripts, but then myself and Lauren, on the day, we were shooting that at like four in the morning,\u201d he added \u201cI would start to ad-lib \u2013 particularly the insults, I very much started to go off-piste, and sort of almost Shakespearean with my insults.\u201d\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those aforementioned insults are playfully Shakespearean to say the least, as Jaskier yells, \u201cIf you could write yourself a little song, if you could sing yourself whatever you please, but you can\u2019t ,can you? Because you are a dockside scapegrace, a qualling feculanta, a beef-witted, hell-hated, addlepated goon\u2026\u201d And it just goes on from there, until one of the Elves decides to sacrifice himself so the others can escape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Batey explained that he worked with showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich on his venomous responses, saying \u201cI would constantly be yelling to Lauren, \u2018Too much?\u2019 And she\u2019d be like, \u2018Yes\u2019 or \u2018No\u2019 or \u2018Keep going\u2019 or \u2018Do this, do that\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n