Ep. 50 — 201 "A Grain of Truth" from Netflix's The Witcher (Part 2)

Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye and Elsa from France join Alyssa for Part 2 of our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 201 “A Grain of Truth”. Very important bits include: the connections Ciri makes to the “monsters” of the manor and monster as metaphor, Yennefer’s characterization in Season 2, foreshadowing with literal shadows and the mechanics of the Chinese Trotting Horse Lamp, echos from the Witcher games, “Tears of Fear”, and Heebie-Jeebies!

This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

Transcript

Cold Open

ALYSSA: I actually did that to Kyle and James, who were two members of Hanza when they came and visited New York, but if I pass, like, food on the street and I'm with somebody, I'll always make the gesture of bending over and being like, ooh, a snack! So, there was, like, a really nasty, like, avocado in the middle of the road.

ELSA: Did you eat them?

ALYSSA: I just bend over in front of them. I was like, "A snack!" I'm making a joke and Geralt is not. He ate the thing.

ELSA: So you get it.

[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.

[Episode 50!]

Lordt. It’s Episode 50!

[Welcome Back, Lars]

We’re also celebrating the return of Witcherflix on Instagram after a 3-month break—welcome back, Lars! If you’re new to the podcast this season, be sure to give his account a follow at @witcherflix on Instagram and Twitter for daily news about The Witcher on Netflix.

[Boston 2022]

The hanza is going to Boston, Massachusetts from Friday, August 19 through Monday, August 22, 2022! We already have a dozen members of our community attending from around the US, UK, Netherlands, and Austria! If you’re local to the Boston area or interested in flying out, learn more about the trip on the Hanza Discord.

[“Dear Friend”]

Global perspectives on The Witcher Universe are the thesis of Breakfast in Beauclair. Over the last 49 episodes, we’ve been treated to varied points of view from 37 guests from 12 different countries, and I’d love to hear from you too. I’m continually looking for submissions for our “Dear Friend” listener call-in segment for Season 4 and this segment relies on you. The process is super easy and takes less than two minutes: record your name, country, and a 20-second thought about each Witcher episode to share your thoughts with our community on an upcoming segment. Email your clips to greetings@breakfastinbeauclair.com or DM the podcast on Instagram or Twitter for additional information.

[Patron Announcements]

This episode, we thank our patrons and 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, Clare Odell, 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, Roxas, and Jeanette of Brokilon.

After this episode, patrons will receive Charlotte and Elsa’s “Quiz of Surprise” episode! See who comes out on top in “A Grain of Truth” trivia only on the podcast’s Patreon. If you’d like to hear more about becoming a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/breakfastinbeauclair.

[Episode Details]

As for this episode, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye and Elsa from France call in to conclude our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 201 “A Grain of Truth”. Join us as we discuss the connections Ciri makes to the “monsters” of the manor and monster as metaphor, Yennefer’s characterization in Season 2, foreshadowing with literal shadows and the mechanics of the Chinese Trotting Horse Lamp, echos from the Witcher games, “Tears of Fear”, and Heebie-Jeebies!

In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares information about the Season 3 writer’s room and recent awards that the Netflix show has won. 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 201 “A Grain of Truth” (Part 2).

Discussion

[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]

ALYSSA: Hey everyone, welcome back from the break. When we left off, Geralt and Ciri had arrived at an old friends manor as Yennefer remains a prisoner of war for the Nilfgaardian forces. In the next scene, Nivellen tells Ciri how he and Geralt first met. Geralt was hired by Nivellen's father to clear the woods of a Wyvern infestation. Nivellen fell into the pit and Gearlt killed first but told them Nivellen's father that Nivellen had killed it. Nivellen then tells them a little about his curse. He fell in with a bad group and trashed the temple of the lion-headed spider causing a priestess to curse him to live alone like this. He admits that he's tried to end it but cannot due to the curse. Ciri eventually joins Nivellen and Geralt for dinner, and she's in a dress and Nivellen looks kind of surprised to see her in this dress, so I do wonder if it's something that Vereena had had or if he's just like, "Ah, I didn't summoned that. Who summoned that?" So, it's not really sure, but he has, like, a little bit of a timid look.

ELSA: I think she thanks him for the dress. And he's like, "Yeah, sure?" And we can kind of tell that, like, Vereena was a good hostess and she gave clean clothes to Ciri and Nivellen didn't think about it.

ALYSSA: No.

ELSA: I mean, yeah, clearly she knows what she's doing.

ALYSSA: Which is a really nice way to, you know, humanize her as well. But yeah, we get more of that practical effect, which I was, again, super delighted by. Nivellen just kind of calls for food and food rains down and just, like, clatters onto the table. Nivellen just says like Witcher's Quail and just a ham hock fall. Oh, no, that was a joke. I think it was weird. I think this is a really interesting scene, again, for the dynamic that we see in it. With Nivellen's story, we kind of see Ciri's perception of Geralt change a little bit. And I think Nivellen says as much. He's like, yeah, he puts on a front, but he's really a big softie at heart. And Ciri, I think gives Geralt this knowing look where she's starting to build a relationship with him and builds her own independent perception of who Geralt is, in contrast to the stories that she's been told.

ELSA: Yeah, you can definitely tell that it's kind of easier for them to talk about each other when there's, like, a third person in the room. You know, she's like, oh, he's not very talkative and is like, oh, she's tougher than she looks. And you can tell that it's easier for them to talk about each other when there's someone else in the room. This whole scene is just really lovely, and really fun. But also, it's a good way of showing, like, an idea that we will see quite a lot for the episode and I think for the series, which is that the way you sort of tell a story, and we frame a narrative can really affect the meaning of the story and the outcome of the story, so you know, Nivellen is like, oh, yeah, Geralt is a big softy, because he helped me, like, look good in front of my dad. And Geralt was like, oh, no, I didn't do it for that. I did it because I was going to get paid either way, so there's this funny version of that of, like, depending how you tell the story, depending where you live in or live out, you're going to have a different interpretation of the situation. But obviously, it's also relevant to what Nivellen is doing at the moment, which is telling the story of how he got cursed, but he keeps leaving out very key information of what really happened. And that's something that we find quite often for the episode and for the show where Geralt has to force people to tell stories fully, because when you're missing an element, you're always missing the whole picture.

CHARLOTTE: I liked how throughout the entire dinner, Geralt is just not having it. He's not amused. Looking at his face, he's just like, still highly sus. He's still really stiff. Just sort of, like, staring at Nivellen and just being like, Okay, you're hiding something. I know you're hiding something. Yeah, I enjoyed the new storyline about how Geralt and Nivellen met and I thought that was kind of cute. And when they got to the section about the Nivellen's curse, I, for a moment, was like, "Are they really not going to talk about the fact that he raped the priestess?" And for a minute, like, I was concerned that it was just going to be left out of the story altogether. And I also thought it was funny that they threw in that Nivellen was high on Godflesh Mushrooms.

ALYSSA: I googled that. Apparently, they're not a real thing, but I had to, like, triple check. I was like, these are definitely-- Are these? Are these? Are they?

CHARLOTTE: I did find that, you know, in his retelling of this story, it also implies that he never told girl about raping the priestess either. Like, Geralt has heard the story, but I don't think he's heard all of it.

ALYSSA: This really allows Ciri to, like, have a new lens on Geralt, which is so important for building trust in their relationship throughout this episode. This story, the reminder of his humanity, is kind of giving her a reason to do so. I think that lends itself nicely to the following scene as well, where Geralt asks Nivellen about the abandoned village and Nivellen claims that the countryside is dangerous after the war, but Geralt has doubts about this. Ciri asks if Nivellen has a cat, and he says he does. But again, Ciri and Geralt doubt him. After this, Geralt leaves to scout out the property. This is, like, that kind of weird thing about them having a history and them being friends. Geralt has a healthy skepticism of, like, what isn't Nivellen telling me? I'm in his home. It's very different from the last time I was here. He says he's by himself. Why is he lying to me? I don't want to terrify Ciri. This is probably what's on his mind. At the same time, he's not sure what the hell is going on with this old friend.

ELSA: Yeah. And you know, he's like oh, we should scout the property and Ciri's like, Oh, don't fret dad. It's just already a very parent child relationship. You know, where the parent is, like, worried and the child is like, Mom, it's fine. Like, just don't embarrass yourself. Stop worrying. So yeah, I thought it was a fun interaction they had.

CHARLOTTE: This is the second time that the name of the Wild Hunt is being brought up within the show. I thought that was a nice little way for them to, like, insert that in there so that the audience is aware that this is also something you need to be paying attention to.

ELSA: Yeah, it's a nice scene because Nivellen is like, oh, there's all those weird things going on. And you know, as an audience, you can be like, okay, it's just a bit of texture, a little bit of atmosphere. But also obviously, it's all relevant to the story, because we know that yeah, weird things are going on. And we're going to find out why. So yeah, it's also like a nice exposition moment.

ALYSSA: So, as we kind of close out this scene between Geralt, Nivellen, and Ciri, we move back to Tissaia and to Aretuza. So, in this next scene, Tissaia tortures their prisoner of war who we find out is Cahir for information. Tissaia tortures Cahir for information and this is such an intense scene, because Tissaia is furious. And I think we're, like, just discovering what she's capable of. Even just the little power that she exhibits in this scene, it's terrifying. She walks into the room and Cahir kind of has this slightly saucy moment of saying, "Are you my inquisitor or executioner?" And Tissaia just says, "We'll see where the night takes us." And it's just like, ahhh God, it's so good. The fun thing about this scene is that we do get a quote that's directly lifted from the books and there's a couple of them here in this episode, but there is a quote that's actually from Philippa from Blood of Elves, that Tissaia says here. As she's torturing him, she says, "I know, I know you want to scream, but it's too soon. It's too soon, because I haven't even started yet. If evolution has traced any groove at all in your brain, I will plow it somewhat deeper. And then you will know what a scream can really be." And this is taken almost verbatim from the English translation of Blood of Elves, but as I said, it's Philipa Eilhart who says it to Rience's contact Myhrman in chapter six. What did you guys think of the scene?

ALYSSA: I definitely recognize Philipa's lines coming out of Tissaia's mouth here, which was interesting. It's nice to see the references being made for sure because Phillipa is definitely one of my favorite characters. And she's such a badass in the books.

ELSA: Yeah, she's one of my favorites, too. I did not recognize right from the book because I don't know them as well as you guys. But yeah, it makes sense that they moved it because obviously, in the show, we care a lot more about Tissaia and Cahir than we do about Philippa who we don't really know yet. And this random guy she kills in the book. Yeah, it's just a really nice touch. It's such a good scene as well. Like, they both really coordinate.

ALYSSA: Oh, yeah.

ELSA: Yeah. And you can really tell again, how far Tissaia is ready to go to find Yennefer. And yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I was so impressed with Eamon Farren's acting in this scene. Like, I got so lost in it. It was so believable. MyAnna is just incredible.

ELSA: Yeah, she's so good.

ALYSSA: This scene with the two of them, I think was a real treat. And it does feel like it added more to both of their stories by having this be part of the narrative.

ELSA: Yeah, absolutely.

ALYSSA: After that brief scene between Tissaia and Cahir, we move back to Yennefer and Fringilla. And Yennefer is taunting Fringilla about the battle of Sodden and the weakened Nilfgaardian forces. Yennefer deduces that Fringilla is on the run and that Emyhr is on the hunt for something and she'll be offered as Fringilla's sacrifice to the White Flame. This is another, you know, small dialogue driven scene between the two of them. Not necessarily much happens in it in terms of action, but we're starting to see Yennefer get into Fringilla's head. Like we said earlier, like, Yennefer is not really scared or if she is she doesn't show it at all. And yeah, she's starting to figure out what purpose she's serving here as the Nilfgaardian prisoner of war. As we move forward in the episode, we're brought back to Nivellen's estate where Nivellen shows Ciri a spinning lamp, which tells the story of the fall of the elders in which an elven warrior and human mage fall in love and had a child but were killed. Geralt talks to Roach about his concerns with raising Ciri and Ciri tells Nivellen that he reminds her of Mousesack. Nivellen has a candid conversation with her about his feelings of loneliness, and he escorts Ciri to her room. So, the lamp and the story of the fall of the elders is something that will be familiar to book readers, so I won't kind of harp on it too much here because I think that story in and of itself, we'll get to see more of certainly throughout the books and the television shows and spin offs. I was actually looking up the lamp itself just because it reminded me of, like, early animation tools, and I wanted to see if I could find what it was and where the production team got the inspiration for it because I thought it was beautiful. What I was able to find online from, like, rough searches was that there's an artifact which is colloquially known as the Chinese Trotting Horse Lamp. It was a kind of lamp that had, like, silhouettes of figures on the outside and as the lamp would heat, the figurines on the silhouettes on the outside of the lamp would turn as the heat rose within the lamp. I'm probably paraphrasing really badly. And there's probably someone out there who can give, like, a more specific explanation of what this is and its cultural significance, but I love the fact that something like this was brought into the show.

ELSA: Yeah, I think it's a really nice start. And again, I mean, visually, it's probably one of my favorite scenes in the episode because it just works really well with all the shadows and projecting on the sort of, like, golden wall or something. It just works really well. It also brought back the sort of Gothic horror elements to me, because I feel like it's something we see a lot in, like, horror movies and gothic movies. It reminded me of there's one in Sleepy Hollow, which is similar, because it just looks visually great, obviously. Yeah, and it's just really good foreshadowing as well because obviously, each character can connect to the story in a different way. And obviously, if you read the book, you know that it's going to be relevant to Ciri's story and Ciri's past as well.

CHARLOTTE: I think it's cute that they did foreshadowing with literal shadows.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: When you say it like that, it makes it sound very heavy handed.

CHARLOTTE: Well, you know, exposition weeeee.

ELSA: But if you can do it in a beautiful way, you're going to do it that way.

ALYSSA: I mean, like I said, I think we see a lot of exposition happen throughout this short story in this episode, so it's nice to again have another representation that even though it is a little heavy handed, at least it's packaged pretty, especially if you're a non-book reader.

ELSA: And also in the book, you have this ongoing theme of characters becoming story characters. Obviously, there's Dandelion singing songs about Geralt and Yennefer, and Ciri, and all the legends about the witchers and the sorceresses. And about Ciri herself, so it's kind of a nice nod to that and how, like, all those characters end up becoming stories. So yeah, I think it's a nice nod to that and how they're all surrounded by the stories people tell about them, about their past, about their families, about their people as well. So yeah, I think it's a nice nod to that.

ALYSSA: And I think as we're telling stories, one of the cool things that comes up is that Ciri tells Nivellen that Mousesack once told her the story of a hedgehog man who was cured by love. And based on the sparse details that Geralt gave her in the beginning of the episode about like, yeah, your dad, like, invoked the law of surprise, because I saved him. There's no way that she's putting those two stories together based on what we hear here.

ELSA: Yeah, I almost hoped that, that she wants to be the daughter of the hedgehog, man. I don't know.

ALYSSA: Again, I think it's interesting for, like, the audience to learn what Ciri does and doesn't know, which I think can yield a better payoff, I think later in the season. It's nice to see some of that groundwork being laid.

ELSA: Yeah. Yeah.

ALYSSA: While this is all going on, Geralt has left and Nivellen and Ciri to, you know, go do some recon around the estate. In this next scene, Geralt finds curious footprints in the snow and follows them outside. Afterwards, he and Nivellen sit for a drinking game, but Nivellen cheats using magical daggers. Nivellen avoids Geralt's questions about what he may be hiding. And eventually, he retires for the night. We see a little bit of Geralt's detective work. Geralt spends some time just shooting the shit with Nivellen and they're both trying to get under each other's skin. And it doesn't really work, I think for either of them very well.

CHARLOTTE: When Geralt goes out to scout the grounds, he also goes and talks to Roach. That's Geralt's therapist; is Roach.

ELSA: Roach is not paid enough for his shit.

CHARLOTTE: And he goes at scout the grounds and he has little heart to heart with his horse about his, you know, daddy daughter problems. He's just like, oh, she's verbose when I need her to be quiet.

ELSA: I do feel like he's overreacting a little bit to this one because it's like, she's not that bad. I don't know. Maybe I'm just siding with Ciri here.

CHARLOTTE: Yeah. And we've got, you know, more examples of Roach paying more attention than Geralt because Roach is the one who pushes him to go find the footprints. Roach is like, look, it's over there. It's right over there. Just go over there and find when he, like, stands up. It's like, oh, these are some weird footprints. That reminded me of the, of the game as well, because you have the ability called Witcher sense to find footprints on the ground and track things and stuff.

ELSA: Yeah, Roach is, like, okay, that's all very nice, but how about you do your job instead of complaining?

CHARLOTTE: Right. And I enjoyed the knife throwing scene because the portrait of Nivellen's father is definitely a point of interest in the original story, so I was glad to see it included.

ELSA: Yeah, this was a really nice touch. Yeah.

ALYSSA: Did it look like Charles Dance? It didn't not look like Charles Dance. I don't know.

ELSA: A little bit. I did think about that.

ALYSSA: It seems really interesting, because I know why Nivellen is hiding what he's hiding. I don't understand why Geralt is not being so forthcoming. I don't know, the dynamic is really interesting to watch, because of the secrets that they both have.

ELSA: I really liked the whole truth or their side of that scene. It's just really fun. And I don't know maybe, maybe Geralt is just kind of torn between wanting to spend a nice time with his friend but also we can tell that he's hiding something. And also, Geralt is sometimes a little smarter and more sensitive than we give him credit for, so you can tell that maybe forcing Nivellen to tell the truth isn't going to work and he needs to, you know, use a more subtle way and charm his way through this conversation instead of trying to be too, you know, what's going on?

ALYSSA: Yeah, and I think after they play this game of well, it really is a drinking game. And after they play it and Geralt still tries to ask Nivellen, Nivellen's, like, "Lol, nope. Bye." He just, like, leaves.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Just leaves Geralt sitting there alone and we already know from the beginning of the episode that Geralt doesn't sleep so much. So, now that Ciri's gone to sleep and Nivellen's gone to sleep, what is this man going to preoccupy his time with? And we certainly find out. In the next scene, Fringilla leads the remaining Nilfgaardians on horseback as she and Yennefer discuss their shared past with the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. This is another very brief scene between Fringilla and Yennefer which kind of breaks up the rest of the story. Yennefer still has a lot of her cynicism from season one, and we see more clearly how Fringilla's time with Nilfgaard has defined her. Yennefer has a quote that stood out to me that just said “horses, whores and mages, all useful until we're not”, whereas Fringilla who has stayed on a lame horse replies to Yennefer about Nilfgaard's purpose. She says, "You think we came to conquer? We came to liberate.” The thing that I find interesting about this conversation is that Fringilla keeps bringing up like, "What was I supposed to do in Nilfgaard? Was I supposed to just leave my post the way that you left yours in Aedirn?" Like, we can't all just run off and leave our responsibilities and our duties, so I think there is that little bit of, like, indignation and resentment there from Fringilla. And then Yennefer is just generally disenfranchised with the whole scheme.

CHARLOTTE: Yes, different quotes stood out to me. Yennefer refers to Nilfgaard as Shitgaard. And I'm just like, okay, who was in charge of writing this? I'm just like who are you? What did you do to Yennefer? She would never say that.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ELSA: I mean, she does swear a lot in the books to be fair, but that may be pushing a bit too far.

CHARLOTTE: I was like Shitgaard? All right. Let's roll with it.

ALYSSA: Yeah, again, I was reading some of the end of Lady of the Lake this morning. And there was a sentence that I came across that basically said, like, Yennefer was shouting terrible, terrible profanities at these people.

CHARLOTTE: It's true. This is true.

ELSA: Yeah. She doesn't have the most refined way of expressing herself, but just maybe pushing it a bit far.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I do think the Yennefer that we see in the books has a stronger facade.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: The facade that she has on most people is quite refined, even if she can be quite crass or crude or blunt. I think there is a slight distinction between the character that we would see throughout the books, as well as the characterization that we see with Yennfer here. I do know that something that Lauren Hissrich had said because I think this was a criticism that did come up about Yennfer's character in dialogue. Lauren had said, this is a woman who has sex on a unicorn, she has kind of a limit to her refinement, if I'm paraphrasing Lauren, as she intended.

ELSA: That's true. That's why we love her.

ALYSSA: So yeah, I feel like there's a balance to be struck. And I feel like we've leaned quite far in one way. And I'm not sure if that's her overall characterization, or the circumstances that we find her character in.

ELSA: Yeah, I feel like also in the book, we often see her from somebody else's point of view. Like, we often see her from Ciri's point of view, or from Geralt's point of view, they have a bit more of a respectful image of her. I feel like she doesn't swear as much when she's in front of them, as she does in the chapters where she's on her own. So obviously, in the show, we don't have this point of view thing, so she's probably comes off as a bit more rude overall. Yeah, obviously, it's a difficult balance to manage.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I feel like it's definitely a mixed bag here and there throughout the entire season. I can see why they did it with Yennfer's character. I could see justifications for it in the books. I could also see that it went too far at times.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: I think it's definitely one of those questions of, like, is it character or is it circumstance?

ELSA: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

ALYSSA: We come back to Nivellen's estate. Ciri is woken from a nightmare by Vereena who crawls out of the ceiling to check on the girl. Contrary to what Nivellen said, she is not a cat, but a woman. Vereena reveals that she left the new white dress for Ciri. While Vereena doesn't tell Ciri exactly what she is. She's wary of Geralt because he's a Witcher. And at the end of the scene, Vewreena put Ciri back to sleep. This is again, like, another scene that just gave me the heebie jeebies while I was watching in surround sound. This is the only episode that I saw quite that big. The rest of the season was watched underneath my covers with an iPhone, like, four inches from my face. Oh my god, this scene of Vereena crawling out of the ceiling upside down. I just [heaves]. I completely turned around on the sofa and just did not look at the screen for, like, a good couple seconds. I was like, I can't. I can't handle it. This is too much for me. And they did such a good job with the effects of Vereena and how they brought that supernatural element to her character and her performance.

ELSA: Absolutely. I think she's just probably the best monster design in the entire show. She's just so cool. The whole sound design, the way she sort of almost had this mechanical sound or insect sound where she moves. So yeah, she's just such a great character. And also, it's just really nice to see a bit more of her because we kind of have this idea throughout the whole episode that Ciri herself is feeling a little bit like a monster herself since she discovered that she has powers. She's scared of what she can do with them, she doesn't really understand them. And so, we can see throughout the entire episode that she's starting to feel a bit of kinship with other monsters, whether it's Nivellen, or Geralt in some degrees, or Vereena here. We can see that she's reached a point where she's identifying with monsters a little bit because of her powers, so it's just really interesting to see them interact and see them have this nice scene together.

CHARLOTTE: I completely agree with Elsa as far as the monster design in the show. I think that Vereena is the best monster that I've seen in the entire show so far. I love how Vereena  was portrayed, Agnes Born was excellent as her character. I think the casting was perfect. And I love how they executed her movements, the noises she made, how her voice had this creepy ethereal quality to it, and how they visually displayed her illusory magic through shimmering effects and psychic communication. They really humanized her much more in the show than she ever was in the original story. And I think that that was a really good decision actually. Seeing a bruxa interact with Ciri, as I said before is really fun. And I especially liked that it's implied when Vereena, you know, creeps up on Ciri and takes a little, takes a little snacky snack of Ciri's tears I guess, you know, a lot of tasting of things going on.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Like, guys stop putting things in your mouth. Come on.

CHARLOTTE: Yeah, she's, you know, just gonna taste those tears of fear.

ELSA: Oh my god.

CHARLOTTE: So, it's implied I think very heavily that she can taste what Ciri is through tasting her tears as if she can taste the monstrosity inside of her. It's like Vereena knows, alright? Vereena knows and she's not wrong about humans being evil. This is a Bruxa. This is a vampire that's probably been around longer than Yennefer. You know what I'm saying? Like, this is an ancient creature of the abyss. The fact that she doesn't harm Ciri and treats her with reverence as one might treat a queen. Like, she kisses Ciri's hand and, like, sends her off to sleep. You know, gifts her a beautiful gown. I think that the audience should totally read into that.

ELSA: Oh, yeah.

CHARLOTTE: You know what I'm saying? Like, I think that the whole scene was really well executed and really sweet. And it's my favorite scene in this episode. Definitely.

ELSA: That's such a good point. Yeah, it's just really good. And also the fact that she's afraid of Geralt and sort of treating Ciri like an equal. In Ciri's mind, you can be like, Okay, if Geralt could hurt this sweet little Bruxa who respects me, maybe could hurt me too. You get this sort of creepy moment, you know, you're a bit lost. And you're like, whoa, who are the good guys and the bad guys in this situation now.

ALYSSA: Certainly. As you said, that's definitely something that we don't get to see in the books. As Charlotte said, we just don't see Vereena the entire story. I think at the very end of the story, she's just, like, in the woods and then just comes running down the hill. And then it's the battle. We and Geralt don't have any time with her. All of our time is spent with Nivellen. Getting the opportunity to do so here with Ciri, I think is what really made Ciri's inclusion in the story stand out. Like, it gives her the opportunity to humanize Vereena in a way that just was impossible with a single character in the short story. It's interesting that you bring up the idea of Vereena tasting Ciri's tears, and that she knows what Ciri is. When I was watching it, at least the way that I interpreted it was almost as, like, a curiosity. What is this thing? What is crying? Like, what does this mean for this girl to be scared in my home? So, that's at least the way that I had interpreted it. It was more of a curiosity and a concern for her safety. And something that she might not recognize. I don't know, are Bruxas capable of crying? Was Nivellen in the time that she had known him?

ELSA: Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, because she clearly feels a bit protective of her. She like gives her dresses and she's like, why are you traveling with this man? He's a killer. Yeah, I think that's a nice way to look at it too. Yeah. And as you were saying, like, humanizing her makes the complexity of the morality of Geralt's job a lot clearer because obviously in the book when she's just it's like Screaming Banshee, you'll be like, okay, whatever. You know, it's like in the game is where you're like, okay, you don't seem very sympathetic. I think I can kill you.

ALYSSA: Right.

ELSA: But here suddenly you, you feel for this creature and you're like, oh, is she that evil that she really deserve to die? She seems really sweet and really caring.

ALYSSA: This is such an incredible scene between the two of them. And it really exemplifies, like, one of the heights of production that we're able to see, because it's the dialogue heavy scene, it allows the production of Vereena to shine. It really does. The added complexity of putting the viewer into Ciri's shoes where we're beginning to understand the morality around Vereena and the complexities of her relationship to the rest of the world, Nivellen's relationship to her. Ciri already understands that Nivellen and Vereena have a romantic relationship. And that's something that Geralt at this point is entirely unaware of. Yeah, it's cool throughout the episode to let Ciri embody and adopt the audience.

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, Charlotte, Elsa, and I will continue our discussion of “A Grain of Truth”.

“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! We are still eagerly anticipating the start of filming for Season 3 of the Witcher. While we are waiting, here are some news from the Witcher world.

While we have already learned about two of the possible four directors of season 3 of The Witcher, according to Redanian Intelligence, we already know the Writer's Room for Season 3. Sure, the scripts for Season 3 are already written, but it is quite interesting to see the backgrounds of the various Witcher writers. In Season 3, we have three returning writers who have already written an episode in the first two seasons. These writers include show runner Lauren Hissrich, Michael Ostrowski and Matthew D'Ambrosio. While Lauren Hissrich has written the Season 1 pilot and finale as well as Season 2's final episode "Family", Mike Ostrowski wrote the two seasons' penultimate episodes, and Matthew D'Ambrosio wrote the Season 2 episode "Dear Friend".

Let us move on to the new writers. These include the following: First, there is Javier Grillo-Marxuach, known for his work on "Lost", "The 100" or "Cowboy Bebop". Then, there is Troy Dangerfield who worked as writer's assistant on the TV show "Castle" as well as on the Witcher spin-off miniseries "Blood Origin". Tania Lotia was also a writer on "Blood Origin", but she also worked on "Carnival Row" and "Swamp Thing". Clare Higgins, on the other hand, is no stranger to the Witcher main show. She has been a co-writer for the episode "What is Lost" on The Witcher Season 2 and a writer's assistant on Season 1. Finally, Rae Benjamin has also written for the Witcher Season 3. In Season 2 he has been a script coordinator, on the Netflix hit-show "Bridgerton" he has worked as writer's assistant as well. So, as you see, this is quite an interesting band of writers.

In other news, we already know the first new cast member of the Witcher's third season. According to Redanian Intelligence, Safiyya Ingar has been cast for the new season. Ingar has appeared in the TV series "Doctor" before and with her voice in the video game "Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space". Safiyya Ingar's role in Season 3 is unfortunately still unknown.

Last but not least, Season 2 of The Witcher earned itself some awards in the last week, which should not stay unmentioned. To be more specific, this concerns fan favorite episode "A Grain of Truth", the first episode of Season 2, written by Declan de Barra and directed by Stephen Surjik. "A Grain of Truth" won the "Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing". But this episode also stood out because of a very special character named "Nivellen", played Kristofer Hivju. For creating this man-turned-monster the visual effect specialists of the Witcher won the Visual Effects Society Award for "Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project". This is great, so congrats to all people involved!

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:

BRENDAN: Transcript to come.

MATT: Transcript to come.

ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Thanks to Brendan and Matt for sending in their thoughts on Episode 201 “A Grain of Truth”! 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, unknown to Geralt, Ciri had bonded with Nivellen and Nivellen’s secret lover, the mysterious Vereena.

So, after this, we get to the battle itself. Geralt investigates the property after confirming Nivellen is asleep. He comes across the bodies of the merchant from the opening scene and realizes from the disappearing footprints that the creature flies. Geralt wakes Ciri up to leave and hunts the Bruxa on his own. He finds Vereena feeding on Nivellen and they battle throughout the house and courtyard. Vereena heals herself throughout the battle and eventually transforms into her bat-like form flying around the estate. Geralt slashes Vereena causing her to transform and fall into the snow. Ciri covers her with her cloak, which allows Vereena to take her hostage. Nivellen stabs Vereena through the chest with a pike and she pulls the shaft through her body, declaring her love for him. As she's about to kill Nivellen, Geralt beheads her. Vereena gives the last telepathic warning to Ciri and her body burns into flames. When the fire subsides, Nivellen's curse is broken and he reveals that his curse wasn't just for destroying the temple, but for raping the priestess. Geralt and Ciri leave Nivellen alone in the darkening courtyard as the magic fades from the house. This feels like the pinnacle of The Witcher and, like, what it is. The complex moralities of what this job requires. And then epic fight scenes. It felt like such a good episode. And to have this climax and this fight felt very rewarding as a viewer. There's so much that happens throughout it but what did you guys think?

ELSA: Yeah, I think that the battle scene is just really nice. Also, I feel like it got a bit more precise and a bit more technical compared to the first episode. It's like there are different signs, they're used for different things that makes it really entertaining and really exciting. I also really love the shot of Geralt coming to wake Ciri up and he takes a potion, turns around and she sees him with his, like, drugged up face for the first time. I think she, like, gasps and go backwards a little bit. I think it's the first time where Ciri kind of understands the whole witchers are not entirely human thing, where suddenly she realizes that Oh, no, it's not just this, like, big, not very talkative guy. He's kind of a monster in a way too. He's dangerous. And yeah, I think it's the first time she kind of sees this side of him and she kind of realizes that, you know, she's a bit out of her depth and she doesn't really know what she got herself into.

ELSA: Drugged up Witcher potion Geralt is my favorite. I live for the scenes when Henry Cavill becomes a black eyed monster. I was a little bit sad that they didn't include the guessing game with Vereena. I mean, it wasn't really a game. It was just Geralt sort of being like, What the hell are you?

ALYSSA: Oh my god.

CHARLOTTE: I found it interesting that, like, he just immediately knew what it was. Like, in the show it was like, it's a Bruxa. And I was like, Well, you know, all right, but like I remember, like, originally he had no fucking clue. He did not know what he was dealing with because Bruxa are, like, they're rare. They're like, you don't, you don't see him very much, so I was like, Oh, we don't get the taunting. The weird flattery of being like, oh, are you? Are you a Rusalka? Are you, are you a High Vampire? Like, what on earth are you? Like, I was looking forward to that. They're super rare and dangerous, so it was a fun fight to watch. I enjoyed the fact that they included the sonic screams that were really reminiscent of the fights with Bruxa in the game. And he uses Aard, which is used in the game as well, so it was really fun. Like, I remembered fighting those things, like, viscerally in the game. I just like dodge dodge.

ELSA: Yeah.

CHARLOTTE: Aard. Aard. This statement that Vereena makes to Ciri of, like, don't run, I can't help myself if you run.

ALYSSA: She says it in such, like, a submissive way as well.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: And it's unnerving. She's just like, don't run. I can't help myself if you run. And it's just like, gasp, oh, no, don't say it like that.

ELSA: I know.

CHARLOTTE: Yeah, it's like you're dealing with an apex predator that, like, would like to not hurt you, but she's also lying through her, like, three rows of teeth. She's lying, because she killed three people earlier just to satiate herself. And one of those girls was just fucking standing there screaming. Like, she wasn't even running. So like, yeah, that's not even true. But yeah, she may not want to hurt Ciri, but ultimately, she ends up threatening to rip her throat out.

ALYSSA: Right. That.

CHARLOTTE: I especially like this fight scene because of the sound design. They used this echolocation click that bats use while they're flying. And I thought that that was really cool. I really enjoyed the use of that.

ALYSSA: The choreography of the fight, I found really interesting just because I think it played off of their strengths particularly well. You know, when Geralt first encounters Vereena feasting on Nivellen, for lack of a better word. He goes in and she uses that sonic attack on him and then immediately disappears up into the attic. And Geralt has to use his sensitive hearing to figure out where she is in the ceiling. And then that's kind of where they start to brawl. I think the choreography of this scene, the way that it was shot, really highlights both of their strengths, which is incredibly fascinating to watch because it feels real and it feels immersive. And it feels true to what these characters could and would do in this situation. So, I really liked that aspect of the fight. It was of course interesting to see her eventually transform into a bat. That's something that, you know, recording the pilot of this short story going through, like, the "Are you this? No. Are you this? Then you must be a bat." Like, I remember the guest saying that specifically, because it was just so silly. I think the interrogation would have been fun. I do wonder, like, if that would have affected the pace of the, of the fight at all.

ELSA: Yeah, I'm not sure it would have worked quite as well if Geralt, is, like going through the beastiary at the same time. It's like, "Okay, which one are you again?"

ALYSSA: I do think that it's interesting that we do have Ciri there to kind of question the whole thing. The moments where it's Geralt and Vereena, you know, are super action heavy, it's very fast-paced. And then as soon as Ciri comes into the fray, everything slows down. So it kind of gives that moment of breath before the stakes are ramped up again, with, you know, Ciri, getting held hostage and the ending of that fight as well. After Vereena takes Ciri hostage, Geralt is about to make a move, but it's actually Nivellen who has come out of the house and impaled Vereena on a pike. And this is exactly what happens in the books, besides Ciri of course, albeit with the disturbing visual effect of Vereena's entire body turning around on the pike as well as her head. This also just, like, freaked me out. I was like, nope. If I wasn't sitting here, I would, I would have fast forwarded.

CHARLOTTE: I love it. It was awesome. I was like yeeeeees!

ALYSSA: Oh my god.

CHARLOTTE: You know, that's exactly what happened though. Like, that's, that's how it happened.

ALYSSA: It gave me the heebiest of jeebies.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Like, I could go most of my life without heebie jeebies and I'd be good. Yeah, so she turns all of her limbs around and her head does a complete 180. She just says, "Mine are nobodies. I love you. Love you." Geralt beheads her like I said all that is taken from the books. The thing that isn't, however, is Ciri looks at Vereena's head. There's like an awful chord and the eyes look towards Ciri and Vereena's last words are said telepathically to Ciri and she just says, "He'll come for you top." And her entire body bursts into flames. And it's just like, Oh, God, what? In the dying flames, we see Nivellen transform, which I think was done beautifully.

ELSA: Yeah. Also one of the best transformations in Beauty and the Beast.

ALYSSA: It was really spectacular. And even seeing it frame by frame, you see him go through a number of changes within the flames, so I even wonder how they did that. And how many prosthetics or, you know, what kind of CGI they did in order to get that effect because that was genuinely cool to watch.

CHARLOTTE: Everybody knows at this point, at least if you've been listening for a while. I mean, my entire business is based around lore accuracy, so whenever I see, you know, things literally being, like, as accurate to the original story as possible, it makes me very happy. Vereena's like horrendous death is perfect. I loved it. It reminded me, do you remember when we were recording episode two, we were talking about how Geralt just, like, comes into the scene and just, like, lops off her head. And it's just like, whoop. Oh my god, your head’s gone. Alright, but the addition of Vereena communicating with Ciri and saying he'll come for you too for me is just another indicator that Vereena totally knows what Ciri is. Vereena knows everything. And I'm just like, man, like, y'all could have just walked away. You didn't have to kill this, like, 3000-year-old omniscient being but I guess, you know, no more dead travelers I suppose. But like this is a very smart being that just died. After Vereena dies and the curse is lifted, that's when Nivellen decides to reveal that he raped this priestess. I was glad that they didn't just leave that out. I was like, oh, good. You know? Like, thank you. Yes, he's a rapist. Yes, he did that. But yeah, Geralt's whole, like, he was basically just, like, end it. Kill me now. I have nothing to live for now. You know, what kind of life is this? And Geralt is just, like, you’re mortal now. Do it yourself. And that was like, oof!

ALYSSA: Bret was beside me on the couch as we were, you know, watching this in the Netflix offices. And he kept leaning over at me and he's like, "Are they gonna mention the rape? Do you think they're gonna mention the rape? I don't think they're gonna mention the rape." The whole episode. And at the end of it, he, like, leaned over he's like, oh, shoot, they mentioned it. I just had to listen to him muttering through the entire, the entire episode.

ELSA: Just wait. I know.

ALYSSA: He’s like, they're not gonna do it. They're not gonna do it. And then they did it! They did it, so I think yeah, big payoff from the books as well.

ELSA: Yeah. I think it's good that they kept the reveal of what Nivellen actually did for the very ending because it's getting to the point where Ciri realizes that, you know, her survival instinct is not that great. She was like, oh, this guy is fine. He seems nice. Geralt is worried about nothing, you know, they're both a bit monstrous, but they're both lovely people. And that's kind of the point where she realizes that both Nivellen and Vereena are monsters in their own ways. And you also will be like, okay, Geralt, dad of the year, left Ciri alone in the house with a monster and a rapist. Good job. But yeah, I think that it was a good idea to keep that for the very last. For the very, very last reveal because obviously as a young woman, it's a very real fear. And I think that, you know, you identify with Ciri when you're like, what the fuck, this guy seemed pretty nice and really welcoming, but actually he's got this horrible thing that he did. And so, I think it's a nice way of wrapping things up and of showing that, you know, Ciri knows nothing. She needs to be a bit more careful. And she needs Geralt to look after her because he's, yeah. She still needs help.

CHARLOTTE: Yeah, the episode really encapsulates, you know, the spirit of the original stories as well. And as Elsa like had pointed out, it represents more complex characters and fears, and monsters that as she said, they're not just action pieces. And most of the monsters in the books are very complex like this, for the most part, which leave you questioning what morality is and what its purpose is at all. Then there's nothing that's black and white, everything sort of has a gray area, because, you know, Vereena was just like, "Please just leave us alone." I definitely felt sympathy. And that's the whole point, like, in my mind, that's a lot of the point of the books is you end up feeling sympathy, you know, for the devil and to quote Mick Jagger, you know what I'm saying? Like, this is, it's this sympathy for the monsters.

ELSA: Yeah. And it shows the complexity of the morality of Geralt's job. He always tries to make it simple and clean cut, but it's not. It really isn't. As we were saying at the beginning, like, Nivellen and Vereena's story is almost like a cautionary tale and, like, a sort of deformed version of Geralt's relationship with other people he loves in his life, you know, those two monsters who sort of turned a blind eye to the bad things he also did. You know, Vereena didn't care that Nivellen was cursed. She didn't care about what he used to do. And Nivellen doesn't care that Vereena has to kill random travelers. And so, they each turned a blind eye to the bad things that the other did. And well, it didn't end really well. And so, once again, I think it's a nice foreshadowing of the dilemma that Geralt is going to have throughout the entire story. And obviously, since it's a story about, like, love and monstrous love, obviously, it's hard not to think about his relationship with Yennefer, which is obviously very complicated, and they do use each other and hurt each other as much as they help each other. So, I think it's a nice echo here between Nivellen and Vereena's relationship and Geralt and Yennefer's relationship.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I love the fact that you have been able to tie this theme throughout the whole season and the fact that it really starts here. And the parallels that are built between Nivellen, and Geralt, and Vereena, and Ciri especially. With that parallel after we leave Nivellen in this darkening manor with Geralt's ominous command. Geralt meditates off his witcher potions, and he lays down these ground rules for Ciri and she confides in to him about her fears and her anger that she's harboring inside. So, it's a very intimate moment that I think is born of all of the experiences that they had had throughout the rest of the episode. Ciri is trying to learn how to trust her instincts or how to build her instincts, I should say. She's been living as a princess completely surrounded by people who are there to protect her, had spent the second half of season one alone and then is now kind of learning how to build those instincts again, or for the first time. We had seen previously in the episode, when Ciri was alone with Nivellen, Nivellen had told her monsters are more than just horrid looks and claws and teeth. Monsters are born of deeds done, unforgivable ones. The reveal of him having raped the priestess at the end of the episode changes her perspective on who she can trust and when. At the same time, Geralt is still trying to teach her things as her newfound guardian. It's interesting to see where they were at the beginning of the episode. And when they were in that previous woods scene and how scared she was and how afraid she was and to see her here at the end, the world has gotten a little bit darker. There is like a nice call back to the books as well, at least one that I could find. In their conversation, Geralt says, "Fear is an illness, if you catch it and you leave it untreated it can consume you." And Ciri asks, “How do you treat it?” And Geralt tells her, "You face it. Facing your fear is not easy, but I'm here for you. I won't let anything happen to you." This very much reminded me of a passage in the books where Ciri is talking to Triss during her time in Kaer Morhen in Blood of Elves. And Ciri just says, "Didn't you know? Even when something bad happens to you, you have to go straight back to that piece of equipment or you get frightened. And if you're frightened, you'll be hopeless at the exercise. You mustn't give up. Geralt said so." And it's just, like, a very nice callback, I think to Geralt instilling that lesson in her.

CHARLOTTE: Yeah, I definitely agree. I had a similar callback to the books about catching fear. You know, Ciri is starting to believe that she's a monster that might hurt people without meaning to just like Vereena. That's what I sort of took from this. She sees, you know, someone who, in a lot of ways, is not unlike her, become a monster who's saying, I don't want to hurt you, but she can't help it.

ELSA: Also, we mentioned that in the book, and in the game, the monsters are never just, like, action pieces. They always represent something deeper. They always represent, like, a fear or desire or something repressed. And I think it's a nice conclusion to the episode because it's, like, Nivellen and Vereena, this is what happens if you repress fear, if you don't face it, it catches up with you. That's kind of the point where, like, this whole monster metaphor sort of helps Ciri realize that, you know, she can't keep repressing her fear, a fear of a borrower's, or fear of like the trauma of what happened to her in Cintra. It's getting to the point where she realized, like, Geralt is literally telling her, you need to face those fears, you need to talk to me about it, we need to work through them together, because otherwise, it's just going to come back to haunt you. Basically, you need therapy Ciri.

ALYSSA: Everyone in the series needs therapy.

CHARLOTTE: Ciri clearly needs to spend some more time with Roach alone.

ELSA: They really do.

ALYSSA: So, in the final scene, after we leave Geralt and Ciri, the remaining Nilfgaardian survivors are slaughtered without warning, leaving Yennefer and Fringilla facing an unknown threat at their now empty camp. So, this happens very quickly. Yen is giving Fringilla a hard time about, you know, the whole, the whole thing. And then all of a sudden, people are, I don't even know what happens. They basically get a cross bolt to the back that must have, like, a hook on the front of it or something because everyone gets yanked through the woods. And we just end with Yennefer and Fringilla looking terrified for their lives in the middle of this clearing. And that's how we end Episode 201, A Grain of Truth.

CHARLOTTE: This is a proper cliffhanger.

ALYSSA: Yeah. I do think it was a good way to end the episode. Like, given what we had seen throughout it.

ELSA: Yeah. And I think as always, people who've read the book and play the game can sort of guess who killed all the Nilfgaardians but yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah. You should have seen me on the sofa just arggh! Scoia’tael!

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: I was very, very much in it. We are now at the end of Netflix's The Witcher season two episode one, a grain of truth. What are your final thoughts on the episode?

CHARLOTTE: Out of the, the Season Two that I watched, this is my favorite episode out of all of them.

ALYSSA: That's good that I assigned it to you before any of us have seen it then.

CHARLOTTE: I feel very privileged to be able to talk about this particular episode. Also, you know, having discussed the chapter with you earlier, I think it's a really fun, fun opportunity, so thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to come back and express my feelings about it

ALYSSA: This is a therapy that you need. They should invite not even the Witcher cast, the Witcher characters to come onto Breakfast in Beauclair and talk about their feelings.

ELSA: That's what we all need.

ALYSSA: Elsa, what did you think of this episode?

ELSA: I mean, same. I was just really happy to get this one because I think it was also my favorite one of the entire season.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ELSA: Or maybe series. I don't know. Like, the tone is just so perfect. And so exactly what The Witcher show should be. It's just perfect. And it encompasses really well everything that I love about the Witcher World, even from the books and from the game. It's this whole mix of, like, folklore and fairy tales and horror, but also there's a lot of heart and all those complicated relationships between the characters. So yeah, it just worked really well. And such a great adaptation as well. They did a really good job of following very closely the short stories, but also inserting it into the overarching arc of the seasons, so yeah, it just, it's just such a good episode. I really loved it.

ALYSSA: I think for me, like, seeing this episode as, like, a standalone before seeing the rest of the season, you know, like, four or five days later, it felt like it held a lot of promise. The jump in production quality from season one to season two was incredible as an adaptation as you both said. I wasn't sure about Nivellen's age going up, I wasn't sure about Ciri being part of the story, because I just didn't know how it could be executed. Seeing that play out on screen, I felt incredibly rewarded by having the knowledge of the books, seeing how Ciri's presence added to that story, it felt like a really strong, you know, standalone episode of television. It excelled in all of the ways that The Witcher could and should. As you said, also like, bringing that humanity, bringing the monsters, bringing like a strong production value, bringing a good story. So I think for me, this is one of the strongest standalone episodes because I think for me, you know, you get A Grain of Truth and then you have, like, a seven-hour movie that comes after it. So I feel like it was a really strong start to the season and I definitely appreciate that about this episode. And it also makes me very excited for the writer who worked on this episode. Declan de Barra, who's helming Blood Origin. So, I'm very curious to see how his work as a writer and in building the first two seasons of The Witcher, how that translates to being the showrunner on Blood Origin. But yeah, it's funny that you bring up being chosen for this episode Elsa, just because I picked Charlotte and Elsa for this episode before any of us had seen it like weeks before. And I picked Charlotte obviously, because I’d get to bring her back. And it felt like a very nice full circle on having you do the short story, as we've said, but when I was thinking about guests and who I could bring on to, you know, compliment Charlotte, it was actually someone from the Hanza. And I can't remember who exactly it was, who was just like, I think A Grain of Truth was Elsa's favorite short story. Maybe she'd be a good idea.

ELSA: Oh, really? Oh that’s really sweet!

ALYSSA: Yeah. So it's actually really cool to, like, have a community where, like, people are advocating for you or, like, putting people forward or remembering details like that because as soon as somebody said that, I was like, yeah, she'd probably be great.

ELSA: Oh, so sweet.

ALYSSA: So, I'm really excited that knowing that you'd have to discuss it, both of you happen to love the episode.

ELSA: Oh, thanks. I'm really moved. Every time someone remembers something about me on the discord. I'm like oh, wow.

ALYSSA: A lot of people are very attentive

ELSA: You guys are real people.

CHARLOTTE: And I'm extremely grateful to be, you know, involved and welcomed into this community that you built --

ELSA: Same, same.

CHARLOTTE: -- so hard to create. Just again, hats off to Alyssa really.

ALYSSA: Aw, thanks. Well, yeah. And I mean, if anyone is listening, you too, can become a strange part of this community. People will know creepy things about you as well.

ELSA: Exactly.

CHARLOTTE: We're all really weird. Come on down.

ALYSSA: And yeah, you could, you could find us at the Hanza Discord.

ELSA: You can share your very long and annoying opinions like I do and people will remember stuff about you. Isn't that great?

ALYSSA: Yeah, you'll certainly find life barnacles in, in the Hanza Discord, not necessarily partners, but people who will stick with you and that's it. You're stuck with them now.

ELSA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: So that is it for our show today. Charlotte, Elsa, thank you so much for joining us for this episode. And thank you to our Hanza for listening. So, where can people find you? And is there anything that our community can help you with or anything that you would like to share with them?

CHARLOTTE: Oh, well, you can find me at glamarye.com. There's no payment portal on my website at the moment but you'll get a nice sort of rundown of all the different products that I have that are inspired by the Witcher. You can also find me on Etsy which is essentially just my payment portal at Vengerberg Glamarye. And I'm also on Instagram and Facebook under the same names. And you can find me in the, in the discord sometimes. Sometimes I pop up in the discord server.

ELSA: Yeah, so I'm always happy to have people reach out to me about either working in film and TV or just talking about The Witcher so yeah, you can just find me on Discord if you want to.

ALYSSA: Perfect. And yeah you can see Charlotte and Elsa in the discord as well as me, a number of other members of our community there as well. Thank you both so much for joining and next episode join us as we discuss the Witcher Season 2 Episode 2: Kaer Morhen.

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, Clare Odell, 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, Roxas, and Jeanette of Brokilon.

Special thanks to Charlotte and Elsa for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.

Transcriptionist: John Matthew Sarong

 

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Podcast EpisodeAlyssa EstebanNetflix's The Witcher S2