I was going to write about The Witcher, and I still am, but first I need to write for a moment about Charli xcx. (Nobody’s more surprised about this than I am.)

Charli xcx is a singer and songwriter, and she never really made much of an impression on me until I read about her unplanned collaboration with Lorde (who has made a big impression on me over the years) on the song “Girl, So Confusing.”

So, that was something, but the song didn’t grab me as much as the backstory.

But then there was this: “Charli xcx – House featuring John Cale“!

I’ve been trying to think about a collaboration that would have seemed as surprising to me, but nothing comes to me. But the great thing is how good the end result is. Wow.

 
And now for our regularly scheduled blog post.

The Witcher is a series of fantasy books written by Andrzej Sapkowski. I haven’t read them. There is also a series of video games, based on the books, and I haven’t played them. But I have watched, and I continue to watch, the TV show which is based on the novels. I am very attached to it, and to the characters, and a lot of the actors, perhaps even beyond what the whole thing deserves.

Liking the Witcher show is, online, a controversial opinion to express, for a variety of reasons. Some devoted readers of the books never liked the show because it doesn’t Follow the Books. The star, Henry Cavill, was known to be a fan of the books and of the games, so the narrative developed that he was struggling, heroically, to get the show to Follow the Books.

(Some people also minded that the show doesn’t follow the games, but that argument is silly on the face of it because both the TV show and the games are adaptations of the original text: the books. That’s like complaining that the TV show Sherlock doesn’t follow the movies with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.)

Anyway, I have also heard (I haven’t seen this myself) that some people complained that there was no indication in the books that any characters were any race other than white, and a fair number of the (very large cast) are actually (!) Not White. But this is just hearsay.

But then, after the third season, Henry Cavill quit the show. As far as I have heard, he has not given a reason, but the narrative in some corners inevitably turned into: “Our Hero Henry has given up on his sacred quest to make this darn show Follow the Books.” So, he has been replaced by Liam Hemsworth, who I have never seen in anything before. He’s completely… adequate.

But Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Freya Allan (Cirilla) and Joey Batey (Jaskier) and all the rest of the actors are still terrific (other than the actor who played Vesemir — who was also recast, unfortunately). Plus they added Laurence Fishburne, who pretty much takes over ever scene he’s in (there’s a reason his voice is the first one you hear in the trailer).

I’m very happy. I’ve enjoyed other shows in the last few years, but (other than Doom Patrol, which ended a while ago) there’s nothing else quite like this (for me).

Maybe someday after the show is over, I’ll start to read the books. Or maybe not — I like the Movie Let the Right One In so much that I’m never going to read the book. The movie sits perfectly in my brain, and that’s the way I like it.