Ep. 58 — 204 "Redanian Intelligence" from Netflix's The Witcher (Part 3)
Dallas Wheatley from the US and Emma Sherr-Ziarko from the US join Alyssa for our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 204 “Redanian Intelligence”. Very important bits include: how cinematography enhances the storytelling, furthering the plot versus furthering the story, meta dialogue in both the show and books, deciphering the Continent’s prophecies, my best Vesemir impression, and ‘saying the quiet part out loud.’
This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
In this Episode
[0:00] Cold Open
[0:40] Introduction
[3:56] Discussion
[25:26] “Tidings from Toussaint”
[28:35] “Dear Friend”, Listener Call-in Segment
[29:17] Discussion
[56:34] Outro & Credits
Relevant Links
News: The Witcher: New Behind-The-Scenes Photo May Reveal Important Fight In Season 3 (Gamerant)
News: ‘The Witcher’ Season 3 to Film in Erfoud, Morocco (Morocco World News)
News: redanianintelligence.com/2022/07/04/the-witcher-season-3-adds-6-more-to-its-cast/
Transcript
Cold Open
ALYSSA: Alright, let's get this show on the road baybee.
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
Introduction
ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across the Continent.
[Patron Announcements]
Thank you to our patrons and our producer-level patrons: Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, Jennidy Mundilovitch, Wolf, Corey from the US, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Father of Bean, Psilocybe Sorcerer, A Toussaint Knight, Jeanette of Brokilon, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
If you’d like to learn more about becoming a patron of the show, head over to patreon.com/breakfastinbeauclair.
[Episode Details]
As for this episode, Dallas Wheatley from the US and Emma Sherr-Ziarko from the US close out our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 204 “Redanian Intelligence”. Join us as we discuss how the cinematography enhances the storytelling and points of view, the difference between furthering the plot versus furthering the story, and meta dialogue in both the show and books. We decipher the Continent’s prophecies, I give my best Vesemir impression, and lament the characters who say the quiet part out loud.
In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares production updates from The Witcher Season 3 set. After the break, don’t miss our listener call in segment, Dear Friend.
Without further ado, let’s get to our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher 204 “Redanian Intelligence” (Part 3).
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Yennefer and Cahir were hiding from the Brotherhood of Sorcerers in Gors Velen and Oxenfurt as Triss and Geralt investigate Ciri’s connection to the emerging monsters on the Continent.
We are quickly brought back to Kaer Morhen where Ciri spends more time with Triss as the sorceress and witcher discovers stellacite, an element found in monoliths and the Myriapod and Leshy remains. Geralt resolves also to investigate them himself. This is when Ciri comes down for breakfast and she's all dressed up and her hair is done exactly like Triss' but it has a flower in it, and Triss asks Ciri to help her in the lab. And you know, she's inviting Ciri into her world. She's being considerate and thoughtful by bringing this girl under her wing. The camera movements and how we interact with Ciri and audience is super interesting in this scene because as she's coming in, she's pretty much hiding a smile. And we're at her eye line, we're coming in with Ciri into this great hall. And as soon as Lambert and Coën come into the picture and start to tease her, what Dallas had said earlier, we're suddenly above her and we're looking at her at a much more condescending angle. Like, she looks so small in this shot while they're belittling her as if she were a child, and then this is the point at which she runs off. So yeah, I thought that was super interesting, It was a really nice directorial choice.
DALLAS: It was great camera angles. I do want to point out, I just noticed this, the flower that she's wearing in her hair is the same flower that Triss gave her at the beginning of the episode.
EMMA: Aw, look at that. That's so cute.
ALYSSA: That's cute, that's really sweet.
EMMA: Yeah 'cause where else would she find a flower in Kaer Morhen?
DALLAS: I know right?
EMMA: Yeah. I agree from, like, a cinematography perspective. And like, a directing perspective, I really appreciate that, like, camera work and that angle. I am really sad because I feel like this moment was a reference to a moment in the books, which is one of my all-time favorite Ciri moments and it got changed. I feel like this is a reference to when she's been with Triss for a while and she, like, puts on some makeup, like, Triss teaches her how to put on makeup, and she comes into Kaer Morhen. This is in the books: and Vesemir is like, "What the hell do you have on your eyes?" And she says "greater self-esteem." It's like such a beautiful Ciri moment and I'm just sad that we lost that in this kind of show version of Ciri. I get that it makes sense to like, see her feel more vulnerable about them teasing her, but like, the gumption. I love it. I love it.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's goes back to the conversation we're having earlier about like, just the joy that's in the Kaer Morhen in the books
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: Versus, how hard these men are on her, as you know, as a teenager versus as like a small child.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Yeah. They're taking their role of big brother a little too seriously.
EMMA: Yeah. And again, as you said, like, it's different 'cause in the book, she's quite young. I think a teenager would feel a lot more sensitive about being teased by a bunch of grown men about her appearance.
ALYSSA: Oh, yeah.
EMMA: I certainly would.
ALYSSA: And I think this comes back to also Triss chewing out Lambert and Coën immediately after because the monologue that she has here on the show is pretty similar to one that she also delivers in the books in which she's like, "guys, what the hell are you doing? Why are you treating her like this?" You know, "why are you giving her a hard time?" And it's nice to have that harder side of Triss, I think. As we see, like, we talked about her politeness, how she comes at everything with, like, a very kind demeanor, typically. But we see that she's quite hardened in a way. She has certain convictions, and she's not going to stand for Ciri's mistreatment throughout the season.
DALLAS: She's kind, she's not cowardly.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: So, at this point, Ciri leaves. Geralt goes to follow her and Triss down into the laboratory. They're checking in on the centrifuge that they set up the day before. And Ciri goes to Geralt. She's like, you know, "My grandmother fought battles and wore dresses, you could do both." Which I think is like her standing up for herself in a space where she feels comfortable.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: I think. She feels comfortable voicing that opinion to Geralt, and to Triss, where she just had to walk away from Lambert and Coën.
DALLAS: I think it's because that doesn't take explanation either.
EMMA: But it's just a nice moment, I think, particularly between her and Geralt, to show that, like, he gets her on a certain level, and she trusts him. And so, I also really like his response to her saying that which is just “I know”, like Geralt gets it. And I also was gonna say, I'm going to go off on like a little mini-rant about how great I think Henry Cavill is in this role. It'll be very brief. You know? He knows when to take a step back, and when it's not about him, and some of my favorite work that he's done on the show is in this season when he's quieter, and like, in response to other people. And I thought that this was a really nice moment for him to be like, "This is not about me, this is about you and furthering your story."
ALYSSA: He disappears into this role entirely. When I was rewatching the episode this morning, I was like, I can't even see Henry Cavill.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: I know.
ALYSSA: Like, I just can't see him.
EMMA: Yeah, no.
ALYSSA: At all.
EMMA: It's Geralt.
DALLAS: He's so good.
EMMA: I mean, we know how much he loves this world–
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: –and how committed he is to it and, and, like, it shows.
DALLAS: The man's a nerd.
EMMA: Oh, yeah.
DALLAS: The man's a massive nerd.
EMMA: But it really pays off, and I just wanted to make sure to mention that.
DALLAS: I love especially with the more scenes we get between them, the way he just kind of almost oozes respect for this like a 15-year-old girl standing in front of him. I feel like that's very difficult to do with all of the non-verbal communication that he does, especially.
ALYSSA: And it really feels like he's coming into his own as a father, in that regard as well. Like he's, he has a teenager and he's trying to figure out how to best support her in a way that obviously makes sense for both of them. So, as the scene moves on, there's, turns out, no evidence of mutagenic alchemy from the Myriapod. So that was a bit of a bust. However, there is stellacite which apparently is from a monolith. And it turns out that Eskel's Leshy also had the same material in it. And suddenly they're just like, "what is happening?" And so they're just like, "I don't know what this means. What does this mean? I don't know what it means. What does it mean?" And so, then they decide they have to investigate a monolith because Ciri, turns out, has toppled one, which comes as a huge surprise to Geralt and Triss. Ciri at some point touches the stellacite shavings, and then she ends up in a trance. This is one of the first times you really see, we've–I think we've seen hints of this here and there, but we get like a clip of another planet, seems like there's, like, multiple suns and a monolith. And she says, "Daughter of chaos belongs to us, turn your backs, join the procession. There is only death here." Even as a reader, I was like, what does all of that mean?
EMMA: That's a lot. Yeah.
ALYSSA: And then she wakes up in her room with Geralt and Triss. So yeah, even as a book reader, I was trying to decipher every part of this, and I was like, "Okay, I know what that means, I know what that means." The heck?
DALLAS: I didn't read the books, but I just kept getting big, like Wild Hunt vibes. Those who are familiar know that this is where it's heading, and it's absolutely not Ithlinne's Prophecy.
ALYSSA: Right.
DALLAS: Personally, just like the way I was reading, it felt like it was kind of like somebody trying to reach out to her telepathically from the Wild Hunt itself.
ALYSSA: It's, it's the worst game of Simon Says, there's so many little instructions, and they all conflict: "Turn your backs, join the procession." What? What do you want me to do?
EMMA: I just sort of like let that wash over me and didn't, like, think about it too critically.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: Dallas, I agree. Like, I think that it is a reference to the Wild Hunt, but I didn't think about it, like, beyond that. I wonder, like, where they got that text from? I don't know if it's from the books or something else? I don't know.
ALYSSA: It's nothing that I recognized.
DALLAS: It feels original.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
DALLAS: If only in terms of the cadence.
ALYSSA: Yeah, it's very clipped, which is something that we rarely get from Sapkowski who is very indulgent, I think with his prose.
DALLAS: was gonna say, 'cause Ithlinne's Prophecy is much more verbose.
EMMA: Yes! Yes.
ALYSSA: "Verily I say unto you."
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, indeed. Could it be a reference to Voleth Meir? I don't know, like, because that's sort of created for the show.
ALYSSA: It's interesting because, like, “Daughter of chaos”, that's something that we're generally familiar with as a phrase. “Turn your back” is the title of the next episode. “Join the procession”, I mean, I guess it makes sense if you're, like, got all the spectral horses and stuff, and they're on the hunt, but it's just like, it feels original.
EMMA: Yeah. And a little, a little cryptic.
ALYSSA: Absolutely. But thankfully, Ciri doesn't have to go through this alone. She's with Geralt and Triss who both say that they're going to support her, Geralt is very explicit about this. He says "you are brave, but let us help." This is when Ciri really tells them "okay, the monolith is my fault." Geralt goes completely into dad mode, and he's like, "I need to see it for myself. It's all right. I'll fix it."
EMMA: "I'll fix it." Yeah.
ALYSSA: And I'm just like, ah! That's when you know, you've earned your tool belts as a father.
EMMA: Absolutely.
DALLAS: "I'll fix it. It's okay. It's the only thing I know how to do."
ALYSSA: As earnest as ever.
EMMA: Oh, and it's totally earnest.
DALLAS: It's just another monster to him. That's what he does.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Our sweet, sweet reluctant hero, our little soft boy.
DALLAS: Our little strawberry candy.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: So gooey in the middle.
EMMA: So gooey.
ALYSSA: As we leave the three of them we go back to Oxenfurt where Yen and Jaskier reunite at the tavern, and he promises to get her and Cahir passage to Cintra. So this is the morning after, most of the patrons of the tavern are gone, save for one who promptly gets kicked out, and Yennefer then reveals herself to Jaskier. And it's obviously this, you know, awkward moment they left each other at the top of a mountain, who knows how they both got down. And Yennefer reveals that she's in hiding, and Jaskier obviously surmises that it's because she's part elf. Again, we've talked about how Yennefer's elven heritage is such a prominent part of the show to the point that Jaskier comments on it, of course. He reiterates to Yennefer that like there is a support network that there are people who are speaking out against these injustices that are happening to the elves in the northern kingdoms and in Gors Velen specifically. He says, "some people are speaking, there are anonymous benefactors behind the scenes helping me, helping us, helping us make this right." Yennefer, as distrustful as ever, is just like you know, why help? What's in it for you? Jaskier talks about this scene, which again, is a reference to Chapter One of Blood of Elves. He says "I was at the Great Oak Bleobheris when it was raided, the Seat of Friendship, the Druids called it, where every free thinker was welcomed, no matter their race, their creed. They came for the elves, Yennefer. They'll come for the dwarves, and sooner or later they will come for everyone. Anyone that they deem the other, eventually no artist is safe." This feels like a reference to that. Was it World War II poems?
DALLAS: It was World War II, yeah.
EMMA: Absolutely. And I think, you know, this is a pretty explicit way for the show to be like, we got to fight fascists, like, the politics are complicated, but like, ultimately, like, Jaskier has found himself believing in this. It's a great speech, I think. And it's a great moment for him. Even if Yennefer’s reasons for being in hiding are a little more complicated than just that she's a quarter elf, but if that's what, like, gets him to help her, great. But it is interesting that, like, he just assumes that and doesn't question that, like, there's more. And that's almost like a sweet moment for him.
DALLAS: I think also because he just doesn't need it to be anymore.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: At this moment in his life, somebody who's, who's trying to hide from this, has their reasons, whatever they may be, like, I'm reading into it, obviously, for my own personal reasons, whenever he calls something "the other", you know? He's making a choice to not describe what the other is, probably for personal reasons. That in itself would put you in danger, and especially a situation like this.
EMMA: Absolutely. I know, it's not ever made explicit, and it's not canon that Jaskier is queer, but I think he is very queer-coded in a lot of ways. And so that feels like a moment for him as well, in that way.
DALLAS: In all the ways that I've encountered Dandelion and Jaskier, it's always been that strong feeling I get where it's somebody who is capable and happy in passing, but that doesn't mean that they are what they pass as.
EMMA: Yeah, there's more going on.
DALLAS: There's a lot more depth and complexity to his relationships than I think he is willing to ever talk about.
ALYSSA: Oh, absolutely. And I think that we've, we haven't even scratched the surface of that yet on the show.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: And we go deeper with it in the books, but I feel like there's certainly more to explore with his character.
DALLAS: You can't give us a Taylor Swift breakup song and then not explore it, like?
ALYSSA: We need to go deeper.
DALLAS: We gotta go deeper!
ALYSSA: I would love to see, like, how much further we can go with Jaskier especially like, Joey Batey is so great, If you watch him in interviews he is so opposite–
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: –to what Jaskier is as a character. He's so collected and poised, and reserved, in his, in his interviews, at least. Maybe that's interview fatigue, but I do think that, that's a lot of his personality is much more considered than the character that he plays. I'm just so curious to see how far they'll, they'll push Jaskier.
DALLAS: Even just the smallest of mannerisms he puts into Jaskier's movements.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Like if I saw that man walking down the street, I'd be like, "That's a gay, that's one of us. He's one of us." Like, it's very potent for how subtle it is.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: It makes a beautiful cocktail.
ALYSSA: Yeah, it's such a detailed and nuanced performance.
EMMA: It really is.
DALLAS: It's so beautiful.
ALYSSA: Like, it's incredible. Yeah. Jaskier is just like, "Okay, you guys need to take a bath, but we're gonna leave at nightfall. I'll see you then."
DALLAS: And I love, I don't know if either of you have caught it? But after he tells him that, Cahir just, like, slowly turns and sniffs Yen firsthand.
ALYSSA: Oh, I don't even know.
EMMA: Like really subtly.
DALLAS: Because he's like, "Wait, do we, do we really smell?" That's the funniest thing to me, and not in a creepy way. It's not! it's more like, it's just like, she's the closest thing to his nose at the moment. And he's like "huh."
EMMA: "Do we smell?" Like.
DALLAS: Yeah "I guess we do smell, I didn't think about that."
EMMA: No, It's very funny. It's very funny.
DALLAS: I only caught it on like my third watch-through as well. Like, it's so, so, so small.
EMMA: Me too, yeah.
ALYSSA: And you know, at this point, we're brought back to Kaer Morhen, where, with Triss' help, Geralt portals to Istredd's study in Cintra to investigate Ciri's connection to the monoliths. This is when we get this short exchange between Geralt and Triss in which Geralt tells her like, "I can't be what you want Triss. What you deserve, if things were different…", and Triss cuts them off and says "They're not. I'm grown enough to understand that. Last night you were what I was looking for. Your pain. It excited me because I finally felt something again." I…I understand, I suppose?
DALLAS: I'm just looking for my red flag to wave.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ALYSSA: I know. I'm like, I guess on a human level, I understand the desire to, like, want to like not necessarily grieve but just to be with someone as you're processing and as you're struggling.
DALLAS: Trauma bonding.
ALYSSA: Yeah, at the same time, as soon as she said it, every hair on my body just, like, "No. No, no, no."
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: It was phrased truly terribly, honestly.
EMMA: Yeah. To me, it felt like a moment of like the writers making the subtext text, and maybe it would have been better to not state it so explicitly, I think they could have left the line at "if things were different" and she could say, "But they're not. And I'm grown enough to understand that", like, I think you could have left it at that. Part of the job of acting is, you know, conveying some other things that are maybe going on beneath the surface, and I think that actress is capable of doing that. And I agree, like just the phrasing feels like, a little icky and like, not something you would actually say to someone.
DALLAS: I think it highlights one of the weaknesses with the show's writing is, in some of the more–not necessarily stressful moments, but like the more touchy moments they have a tendency to want to explain, instead of just letting a moment exist and speak for itself.
EMMA: Yeah, I think that's a valid criticism.
ALYSSA: From a character perspective, I wonder if it does make sense for, for, Triss to be so forthcoming?
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: I need to tell you everything that I'm feeling right at this moment, like, we've talked about how polite she is, and it feels like a break with that for her to just like, no, I need to unload this onto you.
DALLAS: It felt more like something she would actually say to another sorceress, like, I felt his pain and that excite–like it felt more like a confessional among comrades.
ALYSSA: Alas, it's here. She says it to Geralt's face.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: And have to, we have to reap the consequences of that. They do have the conversation about, like, these invisible scars that they carry and she obviously has her visible ones on her chest as well. So they do talk about the pain that they feel which, you know, is appropriate for the conversation, albeit without all the icky stuff. At this point, Vesemir comes in and he's just like, "You're going to Cintra? After you said we weren't gonna go back there!" And Geralt is like.
EMMA: I love your Vesemir.
ALYSSA: He's a little bit country.
EMMA: Vesemir is a little bit country, let's be real.
DALLAS: Geralt's a little bit rock and roll.
EMMA: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
ALYSSA: And you, know, Geralt says this line from it's definitely in the games, and I can't off the top of my head think of any instances in which is explicitly said in the books, maybe Blood of Elves, but I could be wrong or early in The Last Wish. But Geralt is just like, "No witcher has ever died of old age. I could go to Cintra, it'll be fun."
DALLAS: It's something that they talk about in the games a lot, whenever Vesemir objects to one of these boys going to do something dangerous. They're like "Didn't you always say, Vesemir, that a witcher never dies in his bed?" It's like–
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Which is something I kind of miss in this show is something that appeared in the games a lot, where always constantly making Vesemir or eat his own words. Just constantly
ALYSSA: They're so reckless in every other iteration.
EMMA: Yeah! Yeah.
DALLAS: They're so reckless.
ALYSSA: It's interesting to see them all confined here where they can only be so chaotic, but yeah, they're, they're a reckless, reckless bunch.
EMMA: Yes.
ALYSSA: Triss offers to portal Geralt to Istredd in Cintra who, conveniently, is our big monolith boy. And he studies, he studies the heck out of those.
EMMA: Big monolith boy I love it.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Infamously. And so yeah, we get like a little portal jump, which we will revisit later.
EMMA: Yes, and Geralt says portals are no fun, which, uh–
DALLAS: –Is the no fun way of saying "I hate portals”.
ALYSSA: So close.
EMMA: So close. Yeah, just he could say I hate portals. Like we all want him to say it.
DALLAS: You can see him holding back in the scene too.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: He's like about to say portals. He's just like the little tiny little shake of his head. And you're like, I know he wants to say it.
EMMA: Oh he wants to say it.
DALLAS: Let Henry Cavill say "I hate portals."
EMMA: Yeah, yeah.
ALYSSA: Yeah, it's such an uncanny valley of a line of just like, that's, that's–
DALLAS: That's not quite right.
ALYSSA: –that's not right just a little bit. Yeah.
EMMA: I do love bringing Geralt and Istredd together. I know that we don't see a lot of that in this episode, but it's one of my favorite things.
ALYSSA: They share one brain cell at the bottom of a canyon. It's the most ridiculous thing I've seen this season, and I'm just like, I lost half a brain watching that scene.
EMMA: I love it though.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: Because it's like a nice little homage to when they meet in the short stories in the books.
ALYSSA: A Shard of Ice?
EMMA: Yes, A Shard of Ice. And I enjoyed it, I enjoyed their one brain cell.
ALYSSA: They're so dumb.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: I say this was, like, the biggest affection about almost every Witcher character.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: There are so many characters that are so dumb all of the time, and these two together are just like the biggest example of complete buffoonery that I have seen in this series.
DALLAS: All of the men in this show all have exactly one brain cell that they share, but somehow Istredd always has the brain cell.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: That's the best way I can put it.
EMMA: But he rarely uses it the right way.
DALLAS: He just keeps it in a box in his head, he doesn't actually use it.
ALYSSA: These poor men, yeah.
EMMA: I know.
ALYSSA: And, uh, you know? That's that with Geralt and Istredd.
EMMA: I also do just love the moment though when Geralt, like, comes through the portal and Istredd is like, "What the fuck?" And Geralt's just like "Give me a second." And then he sits down.
DALLAS: And he sits down and, like, "Don't kill me until I can catch my breath essentially."
EMMA: Yeah, exactly. It's like in Princess Bride.
DALLAS: Yeah.
EMMA: "We'll wait until you're ready." Yeah.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Before we continue our discussion, we’re going to hand it over to Lars from WitcherFlix for recent news on the Netflix show. When we come back, Dallas, Emma, and I will continue our discussion of “Redanian Intelligence”.
“Tidings from Toussaint”
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from WitcherFlix and this is "Tidings from Toussaint". Welcome back everybody! The filming for season 3 of The Witcher is in full swing at the moment. So, let us see what's new on the Witcher set.
In the last two weeks the production crew started to film on location again. Director Gandja Monteiro, in charge of episodes 3 and 4, filmed various scenes in Trefil Quarry in South Wales. Beside an appearance of Henry Cavill, Redanian Intelligence could confirm that the horse named Hector was also present. Of course, it plays Geralt's trusted horse Roach. A few days later the crew moved to Three Cliffs Bay, also in Wales. On a beautiful, vast beach photographers managed to take the first clear pictures of Henry Cavill filming a scene for season 3. In this scene Geralt fights against the mage Vilgefortz who uses a stick for the first time on the show. During the filming of this scene Vilgefortz was not played by Mahesh Jadu, but by his stuntman.
Last weekend, the Daily Mail posted almost thirty photos from the Witcher set at Brecon Beacons, also in South Wales. These include our first pictures of Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra together. Moreover these photos include Geralt fighting Rience (played by Chris Fulton), Yennefer who wears one of Geralt's swords on her back or various instances of fire (for example in the form of scorched grass around Ciri as well as some fiery practical effects). Last but not least we see Henry Cavill talking with stunt choreographer Wolfang Stegemann who was in charge of the fan favorite Blaviken fight scene from the series' pilot episode).
After filming in Wales, the Witcher production crew has left Europe and traveled to the town of Erfoud in Morocco. This small city and the surrounding deserts have already appeared in franchises such as Star Wars, James Bond or Game of Thrones. Book readers definitely know what scenes are filmed here in the Moroccan desert. Only one word: Korath.
Last but not least thanks to a Redanian Intelligence report we know about six more casting for season 3 of The Witcher. Actor Ryan Hayes (known for appearances in Carnival Row or Emerald City) will play the mage Artaud Terranova. Polish actress Michalina Olszanska (who appeared in the Polish Netflix show 1983 before) will play a yet unknown sorceress. The other castings include Kate Winter as a character named Putney and Martyn Ellis in a role named Barker. Moreover Harvey Quinn and Poppy Almond will play unknown characters that are involved with other mages. The great number of mages in these new castings hint at a very central event in the book "Time of Contempt" that is being adapted for season 3.
Anyway guys, that's it for me for today. I hope you all stay safe and well. We'll talk again in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by MojoFilter Media]
“DEAR FRIEND…”: LISTENER CALL-IN SEGMENT
[Music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hi everyone! Welcome to our listener call-in segment, “Dear Friend…”. Keep on listening as members of our international hanza share their thoughts on what we’re discussing in this episode:
MICHELLE: Transcript to come.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Thanks to Michelle for sending in their thoughts on Episode 204 “Redanian Intelligence”! Hear your voice in a future “Dear Friend…” segment by emailing greetings@breakfastinbeauclair.com or DMing the podcast on social for more information.
[Music by MojoFilter Media]
Discussion
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Geralt resolved to investigate the Cintran monolith further and Jaskier promised Yennefer and Cahir safe passage to Cintra.
And in the next scene Jaskier and Ba'lian help the elves sneak on board a ship bound for Cintra. Out of the two elves, one gets a complete arc. Jaskier distracts a guard so that the elves can sneak on board the ship. This is like that meta moment between Jaskier and the guard. You know, they have a conversation about one of Jaskier's ballads, which we then hear on the credits, but really, it's about season one of The Witcher.
EMMA: Right, right.
ALYSSA: The guard is like, "It's not your strongest it's but it's complicated. Took me to the fourth verse to understand that there were different timelines. That magic kiss, that was a bit cheap. I spotted the dragon reveal a mile away."
DALLAS: I don't believe that you slept with a bunch of sexy women.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: Okay, there he was right.
ALYSSA: Yeah. And then it you know goes further because, of course, Jaskier has to say something or else there would be no scene, and this is one of those things where I don't know how to feel about the meta of the moment now, because Jaskier's response is: "You know if you could write yourself a little song, you could sing yourself whatever you please, but you can't, can you? because you are a–'' Sorry, I have to read this, like, word for word because he improvised it I think a lot of this. "Dockside scapegrace, a qualling feculent, a beef-witted, hell-hated, addlepated goon. And maybe, just maybe you were grateful to be entertained."
DALLAS: It's so fun.
EMMA: It's good.
ALYSSA: Yeah. So in terms of, like, Shakespeare insults, this is pretty freakin’ good, and this is a delight to watch. In terms of meta moments, I was like, "ahhhh, how do I feel about this? I'm not sure still."
EMMA: In the sense of like, if this is the meta moment of the show, responding to those who were critical of the first season.
ALYSSA: Yes, and of the fandom, I assume, at large. Yeah.
EMMA: Sure. And then one would take it to be, like, so basically, if Jaskier is the writers of the show, the writers of the show are basically saying "Fuck you." Is that your issue with it? Or?
ALYSSA: Yeah? Maybe? Like it obviously feels tongue-in-cheek, and it's meant to be, like a funny-haha.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: And like a wink and a nod to everybody. At the same time, I was like, huh, it feels like you said the quiet part out loud.
EMMA: Sure. Sure.
ALYSSA: Yeah, I don't know. What do you guys think? Because you guys are both working writers-actors, right?
DALLAS: Yeah, it's interesting, to, um, because I didn't actually make the association that it was about season one until you, you brought that up, I watched it and like, I definitely had my own secondhand enjoyment, just because of the number of like shitty Apple Podcast reviews I read almost weekly–
EMMA: Right. Right.
DALLAS: –about various shows, complaining about this and that and like, definitely had my own sort of self-satisfaction in that moment, as a creator.
ALYSSA: Oh, yeah, 100%.
EMMA: I definitely got the meta joke, like, right away. And honestly, I loved it, and I think part of it is because like, as artists, as creators, you're constantly being criticized. This is sort of wish fulfillment for everybody to respond to these kind of inane critiques, and be like, "You know what? If you want to do it a different way, then do it a different way."
DALLAS: It didn't feel out of character, I will say, because just knowing Jaskier from season one, when he's like, "Geralt, how's my singing", and it's like, “kind of finding a pie and finding it has no filling”. And it's like he's improved, you know, he can now think of comebacks. Like–
ALYSSA: Yeah.
DALLAS: –we're seeing growth!
EMMA: But also he is constantly seeking validation.
DALLAS: Of course.
EMMA: And he's very much a fragile artist on the inside. I found that very relatable, and funny, and I got that it was a reference to, to season one and the criticisms of season one. And as someone who really liked that in season one, I enjoyed the joke, but it is heavy handed.
DALLAS: It 's very heavy handed.
EMMA: And that's a definite choice in, like, a scripted epic fantasy show like this, which is kind of why I like it, honestly, because I think most shows wouldn't do it.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: But Jaskier provides you with a way that you can.
DALLAS: If there's something I admire about the show, it's that, like, if it makes a decision, you know, it's kind of committed to it.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: And you can't say that about a lot of shows.
ALYSSA: Right. And there is something about, like, meta humor that really is prevalent in Sapkowski's work. So, I'm not surprised to see it here in the way that it appeared. Emma, as you said, like as a creator, like I get it. Of course, there are times where you kind of just, like, throw your hands up, and it's like, this is the way I'm making it. I like it.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah.
DALLAS: Even just making a joke on Twitter and some guy thinks that he has to explain it to you, and you're like, "I know what I was saying, because I'm the one who wrote the joke." Like.
ALYSSA: Yeah, maybe that's just the issue with that is that it just feels so heavy handed, like, you were grateful to be entertained.
DALLAS: I think they went a little too far.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: I feel like again, that's one line too far. Like, with that Triss conversation.
EMMA: Sure.
ALYSSA: It's just like one line too far.
DALLAS: Sometimes, sometimes, you need an editor.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: And sometimes your editor needs an editor.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: And that's okay.
EMMA: I can imagine, like, them having so much fun on set making this.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: That, like, you know, sometimes you gotta kill your darlings, but I can imagine that this would be a darling that they didn't want to kill, because I imagine it was such a fun moment to film.
ALYSSA: They actually did a behind the scenes of this as well, this specific scene and apparently, the guy who played the dockhand and Joey Batey, they did not rehearse this at all.
EMMA: Oh, wow.
ALYSSA: They both independently practiced and ran their lines and then just kind of exploded together. To the point where the director was like, "Did you guys rehearse this?" And they were like, "Ah, no, we met today."
DALLAS: That's incredible.
ALYSSA: There was something delightful about their exchange, I think. I think regardless of the content, I did really enjoy, like, their dynamic throughout the scene.
DALLAS: It felt very, very raw and like properly antagonistic, which might actually be due to the fact that they didn't rehearse together.
EMMA: Yeah, sometimes that can be great, and as we've been talking about throughout this whole episode, like, the chemistry between these actors is so good, whether it's, you know, Anya Chalotra and Eamon Farren, or Joey Batey and the guy who plays this dockhand, like, that's great. That's movie magic right there, when you can find that kind of chemistry.
DALLAS: Committing to the bit.
ALYSSA: Yaaaas, we love a good commitment.
DALLAS: Unlike Geralt and Yennefer.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: Right. As Yennefer and Cahir are kind of arguing about who will cause a distraction, because Jaskier seems wholly consumed, and the dockhand is on very high alert, Ba'lian then sacrifices himself, so the rest of the elves and Yennefer and Cahir can sneak onto the boat. And he stands in the center of the street, and he just sai–whispers, like, "Fuck the north", and it draws everyone's attention. And then he shouts it a little louder, "Fuck the north! Fuck the north!" and, consequently, is pummeled. And we can probably assume that he dies in this scene. Ba'lian gets a complete arc throughout the course of this episode.
DALLAS: And it's a quite brutal ending.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Which I do appreciate them sort of zooming back in on the face.
ALYSSA: Yes.
DALLAS: On his face at the end, because it's, it's that reminder that like, okay, yeah, maybe he did a dickey thing and he left his friend to die, but like, this is not the way that that should end for anybody.
ALYSSA: And there are human consequences for the efforts that the North is making against the elves.
DALLAS: Slamming us back down to earth.
EMMA: Exactly, after that very comical, fun moment.
ALYSSA: At this point we're kind of in the end game of the episode, we get these last few scenes between Kaer Morhen and Oxenfurt. And at Kaer Morhen, Vesemir discovers Ciri's a bearer of Elder Blood, which may allow them to make witchers for the first time since the sacking of Kaer Morhen. We come to Vesemir and he's visited Eskel's body where it's been stripped down to its bones completely by the wolves. And on the way back, he discovers Feainnewedd on the path in the snow, where Ciri's blood had spilt earlier in the episode where she first met Triss. And he brings this to Triss and she's an expert in botany, as we learn. She says that Elder Blood was wiped from the continent ages ago, and Vesemir reveals that there are legends that Elder Blood was one of the main components used in the creation of the first witcher mutagens, which were destroyed in the sacking of Kaer Morhen, which we reference to Nightmare of the Wolf. This scene ends with Vesemir saying “destiny has given us a gift, the key to creating more witchers: Ciri”. And at this point, as a book reader, I was like, oh, what's going on?
EMMA: Yeah, yeah.
ALYSSA: What's going on right now?
DALLAS: I know.
ALYSSA: Yeah. It's a very ominous way to, um, to end.
DALLAS: It felt very out of character. Like, I know, Vesemir to be complex, and perhaps I am looking at it from too far ahead in the timeline from the games perspective, but the idea that Vesemir would be this eager to recreate the things that he's been, like, regretting felt very weird to me.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Like maybe it's just a way to set up season three, and sort of like highlighting how valuable Ciri is, essentially.
EMMA: I think it's an attempt to give us the first instance of someone wanting Ciri's blood or Ciri's body for a purpose. Spoilers, we may get more of that from various different angles. I agree. It feels a little bit out of character for both book and game Vesemir. Show Vesemir is a little different, they've made him a little bit less like grandpa Witcher and a little bit more, I'm, I, I’m trying to think of the right word, like.
ALYSSA: They've made him much more desperate. I think.
EMMA: Yeah, but also as if he's got this other agenda. That isn't, to me, at least isn't in the books or the games as much.
ALYSSA: Right. Well, we only get two chapters of Vesemir and the other witchers.
EMMA: Yeah, we really don't get much Vesemir.
DALLAS: Yeah. And in the games, it's all, like, after Ciri's grown up and it's all at Kaer Morhen like preparing for battle.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: It's like at the point where he's so aged, like, it's a blessing that he's still alive.
ALYSSA: Until we get to the end of The Witcher 3.
DALLAS: Yeah, well.
EMMA: RIP.
ALYSSA: Yeah, It's an interesting characterization that I know that I personally wasn't expecting for the show based on the books just because yeah, as we've said, he's so gentle and so grandfatherly. And as I continually say, Kaer Morhen is a refuge for Ciri. It's interesting to deviate so far from that, I think, in the show. Now there are people inside Kaer Morhen, who want to use her for their own means. So that was something that I think surprised me as a viewer, and yeah, I…mmm, I don't know how I feel about it.
EMMA: The way I feel about how they characterize Vesemir and Ciri's relationship doesn't feel authentic to me, both the Eskel choice and this choice of like his relationship to Ciri feels like they're being set up so that they can have this parallel, and that Geralt and Vesemir could have this moment in the last episode. Which to me doesn't actually serve a greater purpose.
DALLAS: Going off that, like it feels a lot like they're doing a rewrite, essentially, but more from the framework of, because I think a lot when I think about the Witcher, I think a lot as a, is a critique of classic gender roles. And specifically, like the impact of responsibility on masculinity, knowing that when this was written, knowing the period of time when this was written in, like, the 70s?
ALYSSA: 90s.
EMMA: 90s, yeah.
DALLAS: 90s? I don't know why I keep thinking it's the 70s. Well, even in the 90s, the breaking of the cycle of being raised by abusive parents and having that be your model of masculinity and then having to break the cycle with through your own model of masculinity, and it almost feels like they're rewriting it. So that there's a specific clear, breaking of the cycle unlike in the original works, where Vesemir kind of ages into a kindly old man after being what is essentially an abusive father.
ALYSSA: Yeah, I don't think they've ever explored the idea of, like, abuse in, in Kaer Morhen. Not outside of, like, what is quote unquote "the norm” for The Trial of the Grasses.
DALLAS: Yeah, that's, that's kind of what I refer to as the abusive cycle.
ALYSSA: Yeah, it's dramaticized, I think between Nightmare of the Wolf and the series. Like, for example, letting these small children loose in the red swamp and watching as all of them are killed, except for three, that happens in Nightmare of the Wolf. So, when Lauren Hissrich has talked about the characterization of Vesemir in the Netflix show, one of the questions that she's talked about was the fact of, like, this is a man who is willing to put children through The Trial of the Grasses in the first place. He's committed to keeping their caste alive, and suddenly he's given the gift as it's put in the script to do that again. So why wouldn't he take advantage of that? If I'm paraphrasing Lauren Hissrich correctly.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: So like, with that explained to me, I suppose I understand?
EMMA: Right.
DALLAS: It feels like it's almost erasing the complexity, rather than adding to it.
ALYSSA: Ooh, could you expand on that?
DALLAS: Yeah. So it feels as if, rather than allowing Vesemir the chance to grow, and to watch what he described as his own children undergo these trials as full grown adults and to see Eskel killed before his very eyes. They have to force themselves to be so emotionally detached in order to essentially weather putting children through deathly trials and coming out the other side, still being okay with it. And to see that happen to somebody in his own keep, under his own watch, hoping that they're not going to die and to see them die, instead of giving him an opportunity to say “Maybe witchers were a bad idea, maybe I don't want to watch more people die in front of me.” He's doubling down.
EMMA: I think I agree that, like, that would be the more interesting…well, it'd be interesting to at least interrogate that option more.
DALLAS: Especially because Vesemir is such an older specimen of a Witcher, like, he is older than a Witcher should be.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: And they, they make a point of telling us that, and so you think somebody in his position would be a little bit more committed to helping others reach that age as well.
EMMA: The only other thought I had about why they maybe made this decision, not necessarily for Vesemir, but for Ciri and setting up the idea of choice, because in the, in the following episode, they make a big deal of like, if she's going to do this, it's her choice. And I know that choice, you know, and bodily autonomy is a big theme in The Witcher books. However, we’re bringing in this element just to bring in that theme, doesn't feel, like there's going to be other opportunities to explore that.
ALYSSA: Right.
EMMA: So, yeah, I felt like some of the decisions in this season were made to kind of further a plot that doesn't actually further the story.
ALYSSA: Yeah.
EMMA: Like, it furthers the plot that they decided to make for this season, but that doesn't actually further the story that we're telling.
ALYSSA: So it doesn't necessarily feel earned in a way.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah. That's what I would say.
DALLAS: Bringing up Mean Girls: The Musical, for some reason, now.
EMMA: Of course.
DALLAS: Like, where they're making alterations in the attempt of creating a moral standing that don't necessarily advance the actual story.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: So that they can say, well, we know this was problematic in the original so we tried to make an alteration so that it's a little bit less problematic now, but it kind of removes the teeth from the fact that it existed in the first place.
ALYSSA: We could spend so much time–
EMMA: Yes.
ALYSSA: –unpacking the situation here.
DALLAS: Yeah.
ALYSSA: And we will, you know, in other episodes Breakfast in Beauclair, as we dive deeper into the storyline that we are now setting up for Vesemir and Ciri and Triss. So in the last scene we get in this episode after Yennefer and Jaskier say goodbye, he's captured and the episode ends before Yennefer must decide if she'll stay on the boat to Cintra, or save the bard herself. Dara is revealed to be on the same ship as Yennefer and Cahir, which is really nice because he's a small exchange with Jaskier, and Jaskier's like, "Do great things, make the most out of this trip."
EMMA: "You're gonna make me proud kid."
ALYSSA: It's very sweet. And like, I love Dara like he's, he's very nice, and Jaskier now learna that Yennefer has lost her magic. Emma, you had picked out a line from this as well.
EMMA: Yes. One of my favorites. When Jaskier asks Yennefer, what happened to you? And she says, “I've lived a long life, you'll have to be more specific”. That's such a Yennefer. That's such a Yennefer line. I love it.
ALYSSA: She's so old. They're all so old.
EMMA: They're all so old, yeah. And like you wouldn't know it. Well. I mean, Jaskier is not that old.
DALLAS: I am personally obsessed with the fact that Yennefer's older than Geralt.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: No, not in the show, which is upsetting.
EMMA: Is that true?
ALYSSA: Not according to their Netflix published timeline.
DALLAS: Oh.
ALYSSA: Geralt is older in the show. Yeah, I was. I was very sad.
EMMA: Yeah, that's lame.
ALYSSA: She's 94 on the books and he's I think in his 70s or something.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: They published, like, if you go to I think, like, the Witcher website for the Netflix series, they have a timeline that you can actually browse and Geralt is before Yennefer in that timeline.
DALLAS: Boo. Worst retcon ever.
ALYSSA: Yeah, I don't disagree.
EMMA: Yeah. I mean, like, why?
DALLAS: Pointless.
EMMA: Like, what is it? Yeah, what is it? What does it add for Geralt to be older than Yennefer? Nothing.
ALYSSA: Nothing.
EMMA: Yeah. But yeah, I love that line and I love this exchange between Jaskier and Yennefer for, I mean, we were talking about it a little bit earlier. I liked the juxtaposition of, no, chaos is not done with you.
DALLAS: It's that earnestness.
EMMA: Yeah, and you like you believe that he means that because he does not like her. So, he wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it, and it's a nice juxtaposition to what Cahir said earlier. Not necessarily one is better advice than the other. There's something to be said about, like, "Listen, you don't have control over this anymore. Let it go." But there's also something nice about the hope that Jaskier gives her. I just love. I just love that they're secretly becoming besties, like.
DALLAS: Frenemies.
EMMA: Yeah, frenemies, for sure.
ALYSSA: Yeah. What I love about Jaskier's comment to Yennefer specifically is that as he said, he says, "Chaos could never be done with you, Yennefer of Vengerberg, of that I am certain." We spent so much time in the last episode What is Lost basically mourning with Yennefer, the loss of her magic. As she spoke to Tissaia and Tissaia was like "What's lost is lost”. Triss, “What's lost is lost." Same thing with Cahir he's like, maybe there's better things for you out there now that your magic's gone, which is a bit of a downer. And Jaskier is the first person to give her that shred of hope.
EMMA: Yeah, it's just a nice moment and then for him to end it with, like, "So bye!" you know, like, good riddance.
ALYSSA: Good tiddance.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: You homewrecker.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think it's a really nice, nice moment and then we hear like his loot smashed.
DALLAS: Oh God, what a way to end the episode. My lord.
EMMA: I know right!
ALYSSA: Just her little eyeballs peeking out over the ship.
DALLAS: She just looks so genuinely concerned. She's like–
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: –what? I turned my back for two seconds.
ALYSSA: Oh, Turn Your Back, there it is.
EMMA: Oh, there it is!
DALLAS: Yay! We figured it out! It wasn't talking about Ciri at all.
EMMA: Yeah, no, no.
ALYSSA: And then you hear Cahir, like, "Come back to the ship, come back to the ship."
EMMA: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
DALLAS: I was so afraid she was about to hop off the ship. I was like, "Don't you fucking dare. I love you Jaskier but no."
ALYSSA: So, in the next episode. Yeah, and I mean, that's yeah, that's just the end of the episode.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: Like, that just ends.
DALLAS: They certainly know how to, like, bookend their episodes.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Like, they start strong, they end strong, there's like clear plot moments on each end. It's not like, there has been a lot of shows I've been listening to and watching recently, where they just an episode just kind of ends. And you're like, I feel like this wasn't written to be an episode, I feel like it was written to be something longer and then they just kind of chose a middle point.
ALYSSA: Like what I often do in my episodes. I'm familiar. This seems like a good end.
DALLAS: Sometimes you just gotta, I've done it.
EMMA: Sometimes you just have to end somewhere.
ALYSSA: Unashamed. I'm unashamed about my decisions for my health. So that brings us to the end of the episode of The Witcher and you know, toward the end of our episode. So, what did you guys think about this episode as a whole and how it fits into the season.
EMMA: Like I said, sort of at the top this is, this is the episode where I felt like the season really fell into place for me. I really enjoyed the first episode, but it's kind of a continuation of the format of the first season where it's kind of like a one-off story even though Geralt and Ciri are together. But this, this episode to me, but like, you know, so much happened in the second episode that was not expected that I was like, "Whoa, what's going on here?" And the third episode, as you said, is like a lot of sitting with Yennefer, which is a whole storyline that isn't in the books at all, and like, we get some of Ciri training, and that's really fun. But this moment is where it, like, as soon as you see Triss, at the beginning of this episode, I'm like, "Aha, I know where the story is going now." And like bringing in Dijkstra, having these really fun, beautiful acting moments between Yennefer and various other characters. It felt like the first episode to me that I was like, I'm on board.
DALLAS: It felt like a proper crossroads episode–
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: –is what I would call it, especially when you're dealing with the adaptation, but also just knowing that it's the mid-season episode. And those are so hard to hit right.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: This one felt like it really hit right. Like you're getting the right amount of action, you're getting the right amount of energy, and like, conflict that you're still feeling, like, there's room to grow. And there's places that this can move forward into for the rest of the season, without feeling like you just got slapped in the face, like in episode three.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: Still mad about Eskel, I'll never let that go.
EMMA: Yeah. Yeah.
DALLAS: But it is what it is. It's, It's, its own story now and I respect that.
ALYSSA: I feel like crossroad episodes is a perfect way to phrase it, just because obviously, at the end of this episode, every single character either has a decision to make or has made a decision that was crucial to the rest of the season. We have Vesemir, who's like, "Look what I found, like, what are we going to do next?" You've got Yennefer, who's deciding whether or not she's going to continue on her journey with Cahir, or if she's going to, you know, break from that and go find Jaskier.
DALLAS: Or, and even with Yennefer's internal decision about the witch, which is not something we touched on a lot, but the way that the conversations of chaos might be in, might be doing something for her internal conflict that she hasn't told anyone about yet.
ALYSSA: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And then of course, there's also, like, Geralt and Ciri, who like now that she's contending with something bigger than herself, what the heck are they going to do in order to fix this, as Geralt so kindly put it. It just feels like oh, we have all the pieces lined up, and what's next?
DALLAS: I just realized where else "Turn Your Back" is from, "Turn your back to the woods, hut hut."
EMMA: Well, "Turn your front to me", yeah.
DALLAS: "Turn your front to me, hut hut."
ALYSSA: We turned that into a terrible Valentine's Day card.
EMMA: Yeah.
ALYSSA: "I want to come back to my hut hut and turn your front to me. XOXO, Voleth Meir."
EMMA: I love it. I love the Valentine’s Day card. I love them so much.
ALYSSA: They were raunchy, some of them.
EMMA: I know.
DALLAS: Oh, I'm sure.
ALYSSA: "Why don't we exchange genetic material and call it mutagenic alchemy. XOXOXO, Triss". I wrote that one, I'm ashamed.
EMMA: It's amazing. Oh, don't be ashamed, you should be proud, you should be so proud.
DALLAS: That's, that's poetry, you could be a bard.
ALYSSA: Thank you.
EMMA: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, I can't wait for Tavern wench number six.
ALYSSA: "She's there."
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DALLAS: She's the talk of the town, life of the party, tavern wench number six.
ALYSSA: “Always on call!”
DALLAS: Andrzej Sapkowski call me.
EMMA: Yeah.
DALLAS: I'm ready.
ALYSSA: I'm here for you. Oh, my this feels like a very classic episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. Just like a four-hour recording and so many tangents but oh, so, fun. So, so fun.
DALLAS: So sorry, I took this long.
ALYSSA: No, I love, I loved it. It's, yeah, it's very fun.
EMMA: I love that we were talking for four hours about one episode and we probably could have talked like at least another two.
DALLAS: I didn't even talk about hormone treatments.
EMMA: Oh, man.
DALLAS: I could spend days, just a whole episode on its own.
EMMA: Yeah, that's a whole, that's a whole nother episode. Yeah, but this has been so fun.
DALLAS: It has.
EMMA: I wish I could just do this all the time.
ALYSSA: Oh, I would love it. This. Yeah. It's so much fun, I want to talk spoilers with you so bad.
EMMA: I know, we're gonna talk spoilers. We're gonna talk, we're gonna set up, set up a wine and spoilers’ night.
ALYSSA: Perfect.
DALLAS: I'm gonna finally finish reading the books, as well.
EMMA: Yes.
ALYSSA: Yeah. Listen to them on audiobook, it's delightful, but as we wrap up our show, that will be our show for today. Emma, Dallas, thank you so much for joining us for this episode, and thank you to our Hanza for listening. So where can people find both of you and is there anything that our community can help you with or anything that you would like to share with them?
DALLAS: I'm on Twitter @dallas_hawthorn. Like the plant, not with an E at the end. And I make soap, I make audio fiction. You can find my soap at ShireSuds.com, spelled exactly the way it sounds Shire Suds, I spend most of my time on Twitter honestly. So, if there's anything you want to know about me, you just follow my Twitter, you'll find some information somewhere along the way.
EMMA: Me too.
DALLAS: And that's, that's pretty much it. I was really happy to be invited on the show and I'm so glad I got a chance to be here. Thank you.
EMMA: Yeah. And I similarly spend way too much time on Twitter so you can follow me @TheGreatDilemma. I'm also on Instagram with the same handle, and you can also check out my website, emmasherrziarko.com. I have a few upcoming projects, but I can't plug them yet. So yeah, so if you follow me on social media, you will find out about some of those. If you are an actor, voice actor, or you are looking for some feedback and you want to check out Skills Hub, check out Acting.SkillsHub.Life, and I'm a coach on there. And there's a lot of other amazing coaches on there as well. Some of whom were voice actors in Nightmare of the Wolf.
ALYSSA: Ooh.
EMMA: I know so, so yeah, I think that's I think that's it. I think that's what I've got right now.
DALLAS: It's just the cherry on top of the Emma sundae.
ALYSSA: Well, it was such a pleasure to have you both on I am so glad that we got to talk to both of you about The Witcher, about audio dramas, about everything under the sun, and next episode join us as we discuss The Witcher Season 2 Episode 5, Turn Your Back.
EMMA: Which now we know why it's called that.
DALLAS: Aye!
ALYSSA: Obviously.
EMMA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DALLAS: Hut! Hut!
ALYSSA: Hut! Hut!
Outro & Credits
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by MojoFilter Media]
ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.
Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with music by MojoFilter Media.
Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Luis of Kovir, The Owner of The Churlish Porpoise, Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Ayvo of Gulet, Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, RedKite, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, Jennidy Mundilovitch, Wolf, Corey from the US, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Father of Bean, Psilocybe Sorcerer, A Toussaint Knight, Jeanette of Brokilon, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
Special thanks to Dallas and Emma for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.
Transcriptionist: AJ Sarong
Editor: JM Sarong