Stanko's Stance

We get to see Kaer Morhen!!! Let’s goo!! Episode two of season two brings Geralt an Ciri to the home of the House of the wolf. The audience gets to meet a bunch of witchers, but none more so important the Vesemir. That man was, and still is, the mentor to Geralt and every witcher that is still alive enough to return to their home for the harsh winter.

Geralt is welcomed back with open arms, but Ciri has to win over some people. At the start of the episode she shows some gusto telling Eskel who she really is, and that growing confidence is shown later in the episode when she doesn’t run away from the danger that Kaer Morhen is under threat from. That growing inner strength from Ciri is transformed to a tangible desire to grow stronger when at the en of the episode she beings training with a sword. We are going to get badass Ciri this season and I can not wait.

Sticking with the castle of the House Of Wolf, all things really turn to shit this episode when a Leshy is let loose in the castle. Eskel, who was battling one before returning back to Kaer Morhen, was seemingly stabbed by one and thus infected. A mutation occurs and the once witcher is now a monster. It raises the classic question though from the books and this show; are all monsters created equal. Geralt knows that Eskel was once good, but now he has turned into something dangerous and unable to resist its bad urges.

Geralt ultimately must kill Eskel because in his evil Leshy state he was killing Vesemir. Anyone who is a fan of The Witcher franchise must have been ecstatic when Geralt and Vesemir raised swords together to fight a monster. Just badass and wonderfully fan servicy.

In terms of the action in Kaer Morhen, it was not as easy to follow as in the first episode. It was nice to see Geralt have his struggles with a monster; you know, proof that he is not invincible. However the battle itself was not as exhilarating. Maybe it was because it was less of a one-on-one battle with Eskel than the Bruxa in episode one?

The aura around this episode didn’t end with this battle. It is proof that the world is not safe, even home, which is something that Geralt has been preaching to anyone he knows. However, I come out of this episode asking one thing in particular with Geralt’s story; how the hell did the Leshy reproduce? They make a major point earlier on that they could not anymore. Eskel turning into one maybe is not reproducing, but it is infecting. What is happening in the world that makes that happen?

Alright now let’s get to the more important plot for the big picture. The idea of shared dreams and shifting aspirations.

At the end of episode one both Yennefer and Fringilla were captured by some armed force. Turns out it was elves (I was right, good job by me) under the leadership of Francesca. The elves are following Francesca because she is having visions of a women in white who is leading her to a famous landmark that is symbolic of elven supremacy before the conjunction of the spheres. Turns out, she isn’t the only one seeing visions. Yennefer is seeing a women in red who has been tantalizing her the with idea of life with child with Geralt and Fringilla has visions of survival and acceptance within Nilfgaard following her defeat at the Battle of Sodden Hill.

The three magically entities go on a venture under the earth and their shared dreams result in a shared hypnotic experience where they are conversing with this mystical woman who is in a cabin with no doors. Will this mystical woman in the cabin come back into the story? I doubt it. Will the ramifications of the mages meeting with her have ever lasting ramifications? Oh, you betcha.

After awakening, Francesca and Fringilla agree to ally the elves with Nilfgaard in a massive political maneuver. Francesca needs a backbone for her people to survive and this is a step in that direction and Fringilla needs a reason for her kingdom to no kill her. Seems like a win-win scenario. It is perplexing to me how Francesca, who was so set on independence for her people, shifted her ideals to form a treaty. One has to think that some of her leadership won’t love that a lot.

Yennefer wakes up from the dream in the worst mental state. Her vision illuminated that fact that she has not been able to use any magic or control any chaos since her explosion at Sodden Hill. Yennefer, who has already struggled with identity and purpose, now finds her most reliable sense of power and self stripped away. The end of the episode is her screaming into the void in the rain. It is the opposite of the end of Geralt’s and Ciri’s stories which ended in the quiet serene calm of snow. One is lost in the woods and one is home. It is a dichotomy of stories running in two different directions, but the beauty is we know it is going come together eventually.

I can not wait for Yennefer to get her mojo back and wreck some shit.

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