Ep. 54 — 203 "What is Lost" from Netflix's The Witcher (Part 2)

Elora from the Netherlands and Kyle from the US, join Alyssa for our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 203 “What is Lost”. Very important bits include: Yennefer’s stroll through the Tall Grass of Aretuza, parallels between Vesemir and Eskel and Tissaia and Yennefer, the most famous quality of trees, Face Acting!, and my secret conspiracy theory about this very episode.

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

Transcript

Cold Open

ALYSSA: But I was so scared to see Dara this season because I assumed he was gonna get die. I assumed he was going to die in this episode. Yeah.

KYLE: He's gonna ‘get died’ for sure.

ELORA: He was gonna ‘get died’, yeah.

KYLE: Yeah, he's gonna ‘get dead-ed’.

ALYSSA: I was, I was about to say get merked and I was like maybe it should be more –

KYLE: Yeah, merked.

ALYSSA: I've been saying "merked" a lot and it feels out of my age range.

KYLE: Yeah, yeah it's something that we just don't say anymore.

ALYSSA: I don't know where I learned that.

KYLE: Oh gosh, a long time ago.

[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.

[Hanza Trip to Belfast!]

Our very first European meetup is in two weeks! The hanza will be in Belfast from Friday, May 27-Monday, May 30, 2022. Join myself and a dozen members from the US and Europe in person if you can or keep up with the inevitable slew of pictures and stories on the Breakfast in Beauclair social channels on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

[A Note on Ep. 55]

On that note, both Lars and I will be on vacation when the next episode of the podcast comes out. We are scheduled to have an episode in two weeks at 2AM EST, when I will literally be on a tarmac landing in Dublin. Because we’ll both be OOO, you guys will receive a special bonus episode on the main podcast feed! On Thursday, May 26th, you’ll get to hear a full episode of “Quiz of Surprise”, a Patreon-exclusive series in which guests of the show go head-to-head in trivia on the episode we literally just discussed. It’s such a casual and chaotic series, and I hope you have as much fun listening to the episode as we had recording it!

[Guest Appearance: The Newest Olympian]

This Monday, May 16, I’ll be on another episode of Mike Schubert’s The Newest Olympian, a podcast that seeks to answer the question, "Is Percy Jackson the book series we should've been reading all along?" If you know me—and after 50+ episodes of Breakfast in Beauclair, I think you do—you know I love the Percy Jackson series and I always come prepared with light research! I’ll be discussing parts of Chapters 12 and 13 of Rick Riordan’s Sea of Monsters while having a meltdown over HBOMax’s Our Flag Means Death and Netflix’s Heartstopper. Find The Newest Olympian wherever you get your podcasts!

[Patron Announcements]

This episode, we have a name update for Sydney of Kaedwen and a pledge update for Softie! Softie joins 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, 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, Jeanette of Brokilon, and Miriam of Temeria.

After this episode, patrons will receive Elora and Kyle’s “Quiz of Surprise”! Find out who knows “What Is Lost” best, only at patreon.com/breakfastinbeauclair.

[Episode Details]

As for this episode, Elora from the Netherlands and Kyle from the US call in to continue our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Episode 203 “What Is Lost”. Join us as we discuss Yennefer’s stroll through the Tall Grass of Aretuza, parallels between Vesemir and Eskel and Tissaia and Yennefer, the most famous quality of trees, Face Acting!, and my secret conspiracy theory about this very episode.

In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares production updates on The Witcher Season 3, The Witcher: Blood Origin, the next Witcher anime film, and the Witcher paperback books. We don’t have any listener call-ins for this episode’s “Dear Friend” segment, but you can send your thoughts on the next episode, 204 “Redanian Intelligence”, by emailing greetings@breakfastinbeauclair.com.

Without further ado, let’s get to our discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher 203 “What Is Lost” (Part 2).

Discussion

[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by MojoFilter Media]

ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): When we left off, Yennefer had returned to Aretuza, reuniting with Tissaia and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, as Ciri took on the Pendulum.

In the next scene despite Ciri making it through the pendulum, Lambert attempts to break her will to become a witcher. Do we have anything to say about this? Or should we just kind of shuffle on?

KYLE: I don't know.

ELORA: I don't know. There's much new…

ALYSSA: It's just more of them yelling at her.

KYLE: Yeah, I don't know if there was any, any, like, deeper thing that I was looking into it, you know? Or if I analyzed it at all, it was just, it was, what I think it was pretty quick. Right? Like, that was a quick scene.

ALYSSA: Yeah, cause then they do it for three more scenes.

KYLE: Yeah, they really, they've really dragged it on. I think Lauren had said, like, we didn't want this to be a season of exposition. So like, it had to be more action. It felt like this pendulum stuff was really dragged on across the episode.

ELORA: Yeah! Oh we really need some action on this episode. Why don't we just do it five times?

ALYSSA: Well I think, yeah, just the insertion every once in a while to remind you like, hey, this is still going on over the course of days or weeks that everything else is happening.

KYLE: That's like a long time.

ALYSSA: Yeah, it feels like we're again on two different timelines between what's happening in Aretuza versus what's happening in Kaer Morhen.

KYLE: We should have just seen, like, Ciri's clothes getting dirtier and dirtier or something. Maybe we did and I didn't catch it.

ALYSSA: Yeah, he definitely gets banged up quite a bit like by the end of the episode.

ELORA: Yeah, she gets muddy.

ALYSSA: And in the following scene back in Cintra. Fringilla is pressured by the Nilfgaardian commanders as her friendship with Francesca grows. As I've said, I love the exploration of the alliance between the elves and Nilfgaard, as well as Francesca and Fringilla. We learn here that Fringilla has a lot of external pressure because the commanders are stuck following her because she is, for now, the figurehead of authority here in Cintra. As they meet and they convene, Francesca just says that her goal is really for an elven future. Fringilla's goal is liberation for the continent and for the North. And they both acknowledge the fact that the Deathless Mother had a role in their partnership, and that they can meet each other's needs. Francesca needs a home for people and Fringilla needs an army that Francesca can provide.

ELORA: I love to see bad bitches work together.

ALYSSA: Yes.

ELORA: They're a great duo. I have a little bit of a sour taste of the Deathless Mother, obviously, as many people have, because I, I really would have liked for them to do it on their own merits.

ALYSSA: Yes, yeah.

ELORA: But! Still love to see them scheme.

KYLE: They're both strong characters. And like you said, to see two bad bitches doing it together, it's–

ALYSSA: Ayyyyye. I think the thing that I really love about their partnership is that it feels very, I mean, again, Deathless Mother aside, it feels very organic, that like their needs would align. And they would find alliances in this way and for these reasons. And they seem to really respect each other, which is so important, I think, as we're exploring the relationships amongst people on the continent, and as we're building out this ensemble, it's really nice that they have allies and that, and that we can see that relationship grow.

KYLE: Yeah, it is weird to see people be friends with Nilfgaard. I mean, they just seem like the evil empire, you know, and, and I like Francesca, so it's just a, like an internal struggle. Sometimes I'm like, oh, well, they're, they're the bad guys. They're this evil army. And, you know, to see Francesca be part of that in any way is strange. Adds to that emotion we were talking about before we're like, even if they're bad, it's not like they're evil.

ELORA: Yeah, I wondered as well how much of what Fringilla says is what she believes? Is she manipulating Francesca when she says, like, oh, we just want to feed and clothe people, because it does remind me of, ha the last episode I was in. When she does also say that to the mage ouncil, obviously, that's probably what Emhyr says as well to try to get everyone marching. If you're just like, “oh, I am big, strong, evil guy, and you need to follow me because otherwise you will be dead”. That works for a while, but not as long as no, we're actually helping people, this is actually better. Yeah.

KYLE: For sure.

ALYSSA: And I think we do see that later in this episode, where we discover Istredd's actual thoughts on the Nilfgaardian occupation. In the next scene, Yennefer briefly encounters Vilgefortz, Cahir, and Stregobor in the halls of Aretuza. Stregobor mentally imprisons and tortured Yennefer before being stopped and threatened by Tissaia. Yennefer is now out of the baths and she's just kind of roaming the halls of Aretuza, we don't really know where she's going. I'm assuming just, like, to bed. She can go to bed and like be relaxed.

ELORA: In her cool, cool dress.

KYLE: God forbid she does anything normal.

ELORA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: She bumps into this disaster train of people. First, it's Vilgefortz and Vilgefortz is like "Sorry about the way things went at Sodden, like, I know you understand though, right?" And she's like, "Uh huh. Yep. Cool. Got it."

ELORA: Yeah. Yeah, sucks, but thanks.

ALYSSA: If that wasn't enough, she comes across Cahir's cell, and Eamon Farren is so unhinged in this. His acting is so good, and he seems genuinely a little deranged.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: He's like, I know who you are, Yennefer of Vengerberg. And she is of course unsettled by this guy who's trying to get under her skin. She continues on and that's when she bumps into Stregobor.

ELORA: Yeah, this hallway sucks.

KYLE:  Yeah.

ALYSSA: This is a terrible place to be. Could you imagine playing a video game and every three feet you have another cutscene encounter? I feel like, it's like Pokemon. Are you just like, you can't go three feet without running into somebody. It's the worst.

ELORA: Yeah, it was exactly what I was thinking,

KYLE: Yeah, you're walking through the grass. And it's like just the littlest strip of grass. But those sons of bitches keep jumping out at you.

ALYSSA: I would be so mad. Like, I don't blame you, Yennefer, for being mentally exhausted and annoyed by the time she bumps into Stregobor. And she's like, what is it with men and like creeping in the shadows? Why are you doing this?

ELORA: Why is there more of this?

ALYSSA: Yeah.

KYLE: It just feels like Yen is part of this political game at this point. Like, I don't know if I have, like, a lot to say on that. Like, I don't even know how to articulate that. But it just feels like she's a pawn at this point.

ALYSSA: Oh, absolutely. And I think, like, it also alludes to the fact that there's no escape for her like anywhere she turns there's literally someone there to corner her, whether that's like, politically, emotionally and mentally, actually, in that order. She's just being closed in from all sides.

KYLE: I mean, that must be the most unsafe feeling. Like I'm like you're saying like, an emotionally unsafe…Imagine living in that and like, you don't know, if you go down a hallway, and you're just gonna get harassed by somebody, like, where can you go for safety? Like, you have to have your guard up all-

ALYSSA: Move to the city! That’s how you feel all the time!

KYLE: Yeah right,  that's why I live in the country.

ELORA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah. I mean, one of the other cool things we get about this scene, which kind of made me think is that Stregobor, when he touches Yen's shoulders, they find themselves in the same place where Tissaia was interrogating Cahir. It makes you kind of think about the scenes that we saw previously. Was that a physical prison that Stregobor is recreating in Yennefer's mind?

KYLE: I don't know.

ALYSSA: Or were the scenes that we previously saw where Cahir was imprisoned and Tissaia walks into a room, was that all in Cahir's head? Like, I've lost all sense of whether or not this place is real. I don't think there's any point to be made here. But it's just one of those things that, like, I wonder, like, just wonder how the magic works.

KYLE: I guess it's real to her, you know? No matter how physically real it is. It was real in a sense. Yeah. And not to be that guy, but that dress that she was wearing…

ALYSSA: So good

KYLE: What was that?!

ELORA: Every sense in my body, I was like, that's kind of, how does that, how's that stay on?

KYLE: How does that not fall?

ALYSSA: It's very, very beautiful, but it's gravity defying.

ELORA: Yes.

KYLE: For sure. The prison piece of that? Yeah, I don't know if it was just a representation like a physical- uh, visual representation of prison that he created in her mind, or if it really was how it looks in her head. I don't know. I was curious about his intention of doing this, like, right in the halls? Like, why didn't he try to coax her into a room or something? Because if we saw in the past couple scenes, he's sort of like, on the ropes of people trusting him or not. And to do this, where everybody could see it, and then getting caught? Like, wouldn't that be enough ammunition for him to just get kicked off the council? Or the Brotherhood or whatever the hell it is? Like, I don't know. It felt very dangerous.

ELORA: Yeah. Yeah. Just yeah. But also, he's either so caught up in like, oh, shit, there's Yen, I have to be a huge dick again, immediately. Like all instincts, no thoughts.

ALYSSA: It must be so opportunistic. I mean, again, Hollywood, they're bound to run into each other. But at the same time, if he was walking this path, and he happens to bump into her, he might just be like, hey, we're alone here, like, I'll take advantage of this opportunity to act upon my prejudices and my suspicions.

ELORA: Yeah, yeah. And also, yeah, if I was Yen, I wouldn't go anywhere with them.

KYLE: Yeah.

ELORA: So probably would be hard for him to get her alone somewhere.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

KYLE: And no one knows that she has lost her magic at this point, right?

ALYSSA: Only Tissaia, as we find out.

KYLE: Only Tissaia, right, so does he not think that if he's trying to do something like this, that she wouldn't fight back? I would be so afraid of doing something like that to Yen, but I'm not Stregobor, so.

ALYSSA: Right. Hopefully, we'll be able to see a more fleshed out understanding of his intentions. I think, as we see Stregobor in this season, he does feel kind of flat, just because he spends all of his time like "ah, the elves, ah Yennefer". So it'd be really nice, I think, and maybe we will get this if we get a Falka anime, but it'd be really nice to explore more of his character or to actually give him a really specific arc.

ELORA: Oh, yeah. And I bet I'd know what it’d be too, like it’s…

KYLE: Do it! say it!

ELORA: Well, it's just, I think the motivation they give him for being generally awful is losing his arms probably.

KYLE: Right.

ELORA: So they might be able to make him a bit sympathetic with that.

KYLE: It is always funny when, like, sure he lost his hands. Was it because of Falka, has, like, was that what we're gathering?

ALYSSA: I think so. Because he puts up his mitts. He's like, I WAS THERE.

KYLE: And it's like, so she's only a quarter elvish right? Like Yennefer is?

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ELORA: And so I'm hugely racist. Yes.

KYLE: So she's three quarters, what, human, like, do you hate humans? I don't understand.

ALYSSA: I don't know. He's, he's nut and a zealot when it comes to it.

KYLE: His motivations are strange. Yeah.

ALYSSA: In the next scene, Vesemir, Geralt, and the rest of the witchers watch Ciri on the course, as she fails her dismount. So this is the final scene for the pendulum that we get this episode. We start the scene and Lambert like says the line from the books. He goes "breathe, dammit, you're panting like a dying mammoth".

ELORA: Implying there's mammoths. Yeah, great

ALYSSA: There're mammoths in The Witcher.

KYLE: Yeah. Wow. That's a good point.

ALYSSA: And I also love this line. Because when I went back and like reread Blood of Elves, I think I was starting to work out again. And it was the mantra I would say in my head as I was like, going through stuff. I was like, “I'm panting! No, breathe better!” That was what would get me through my workouts. That and reading Percy Jackson and being like, “if 17 year olds can fight a fucking fjdhgfsdk then I could do this!”

KYLE: That's honestly how we felt with a child, where we're both 30 years old. And we're like, if there's 17 year olds that are out there doing this, like we could do this because there were hard days, you know, and it's like, if they can get through it, we can get through it.

ALYSSA: We get the scene with Lambert. And then this is where Geralt and Vesemir are just like, Where did everybody go? And they're all at the pendulum just watching Ciri. So she almost gets to the end. And Geralt is like, "so close". And that's it. That's all the parenting we get from Geralt. It's really interesting, considering he spent the entire episode talking to Vesemir about, like, what do I do about my kid and then we see him at this pivotal moment for her. And the only thing he says is "so close".

KYLE: It feels like a very Geralt thing to say though, like the “so close”.

ELORA: The whole episode up to this point, I was like, “oh, Papa Geralt's gonna be so pissed. Oh they're really in it now.” And then he doesn't really get mad at the witchers. I mean, he doesn't really get mad at Ciri. Even though the whole scene of him looking at Ciri, he has this tight little angry lip.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

ELORA: That he clearly is pissed. And is also, I think, a little proud, probably, that she's gotten that far. But you know?

KYLE: Yeah, I was gonna say I wonder if some of its like pride, like, do either of you watch Ozark on Netflix?

ALYSSA: No, I don't.

ELORA: Sorry!

KYLE: No? No, that's okay. But, the, if anybody out there that does watch it, there's a part where you know, this is a spoiler for season four of Ozark, so, but at a point, somebody, I will say somebody close to the main character also starts money laundering. And there's like this point of pride in him even though he knows it's like a horrible thing that they're getting into. So I wonder if it's almost like that with Geralt, where it's as much as he doesn't want her to train right now, he's kind of proud of her for doing it.

ALYSSA: I also wonder if like, just because of how many people are involved? I wonder if to an extent, he kind of has to just show a certain level of solidarity with all of these people who are raising her, regardless of whether or not he agrees with Lambert. This is still essentially their communal child.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: They have to raise her together. And I think for Geralt, to turn on Lambert, and this moment would probably be even worse for Ciri than Geralt standing with them. Or at least that's what I speculate. She does seem so broken and so disheartened, though, that that's all Geralt says to her, like, she spits blood on the ground. And like she's literally on her knees having failed this.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Um, on her best run. And that's all he says to her at her face again, like as, as she's looking at him just seems so distraught. And this is the last we see of them in this episode.

KYLE: Just reminded me when you said that, of like, if you're playing The Witcher 3, and you just chose the worst option for whatever this happened, you know, like, the dialog comes up, and one of the options is so close. And you click that and that was like, you're gonna get the bad ending if you do something like that.

ALYSSA: Yeah, it's interesting to see the difference between Geralt talking about parenting versus seeing him actually parent.

KYLE: I will say about the, the pendulum in itself. I don't know how you guys felt about the layout of it. The first obstacle felt like a much easier obstacle than the second obstacle. And that just got under my skin. I was like, Why didn't that second obstacle, like, I saw and I was like, it doesn't even make sense. I don't even know how you get through it. And then she finally did. And I was like, oh, okay, that's how you do it. It was like well, why wouldn't that be the first one since it's the most difficult one? I don't know. That clearly bothered me a lot more than you guys, but, I’m over here just analyzing that the pendulum in itself.

ELORA: It feels logical that it got harder, that's where I'm at.

KYLE: Yeah, yeah!

ALYSSA: In the next scene Tissaia uses Stregobor's actions to weaken his standing in the Brotherhood. But Stregobor believes that Yennefer could not have arrived in Aretuza unscathed if she had honest intentions. In order to prove her innocence, Yennefer will have to kill the Nilfgaardian prisoner of war, Cahir. This is kind of the fracturing of the Brotherhood that we've started to see in this episode, uh, really come to a head. Tissaia, who found Stregobor interrogating Yennefer, now brings him in front of the entire council. And is just like "dude, what the fuck?" Tissaia's horror at what Stregobor has done is not enough to: one, yank him out of the brotherhood. And he also has enough leverage and has planted enough seeds of doubt amongst members of the community that Yennefer is still a wildcard to them. And he still takes advantage of that, which unfortunately, results in Yennefer having to kill Cahir. It's dicey on all sides.

KYLE: I'm just confused as to how killing him would prove anything.

ALYSSA: Right.

KYLE: The whole reason she was gone for so long is, I think, is she used that like fire magic to kill a bunch of Nilfgaardians, like the whole spy thing still, like, I’m struggling with.

ELORA: Yeah, my first thought was that they'd be afraid that her time with the Nilfgaardians when she was a prisoner of war was a problem.

KYLE: Yeah.

ELORA: But then we discovered that they don't know that because Stregobor is surprised when she says “oh you know little about being a prisoner for something something”.

KYLE: Oh, okay.

ELORA: I understand it more if that is yeah, she was like, well, but you killed these Nilfgaardians, but then afterwards, you were corrupted by them?

KYLE: Yeah.

ELORA: But no, but that's not what's happening because they don't know that she was with the Nilfgaardians. So no, that's fair.

ALYSSA: Yeah. And I think Yennefer shares the exact same sentiment that you do, Kyle, she's just like, what is this going to prove? Like, why would I even do this? Why would I agree to this?

KYLE: I was just gonna say do you think it would like vilify her? It would like almost, they're almost like tricking her. If you do kill Cahir, then it adds to more of the reason why we can't trust her.

ALYSSA: That's what Yennefer says. As her and Tissaia are going back and forth, she says like I would be gift wrapping yet another reason for Stregobor to vilify me.

KYLE: Oh, yeah.

ALYSSA: No matter what she does, she's in a catch 22 where either way Stregobor is so hellbent on making her out to be something that she's not. There's nothing for her to do, really, which is really challenging both for Yennefer as obviously the the character to whom this is happening, as well as Tissaia because Tissaia has to: one, grapple with the woman that she basically says is her own daughter, but also how does she balance that with her aspirations within the Brotherhood?

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: And ultimately, what they come down to is terrible. They just want Yennefer to kill Cahir in cold blood.

ELORA: Well, it's very, very well acted scene though. Both of them are doing an incredible job. And there's that little sob that catches as Yen says “well, because it's all I have left”. And that's, that really got me

ALYSSA: Yeah, and I love the way MyAnna Buring says, like, that "you are not a spy". Like it's, it's so good. They're so excellent and even more so together. It's just phenomenal. All the pairings this season are just so excellently acted.

KYLE: I feel like Yen's been going through it in this episode. And it's almost like how she shows up, they should have just started playing like the Curb Your Enthusiasm music because it was like just not not going her way the rest of the episode.

ALYSSA: And one of the things that really stood out to be on a rewatch of this episode was really the parallels between Vesemir and Tissaia as parents. I really noticed it here when Tissaia says, like "I wanted to pierce Cahir's mind, punish him, push him toward madness, all to find out what had happened to you, I would have done anything. But what is lost, is lost." That same kind of urgency and desperation that we've seen from Vesemir toward Eskel and what happened to Eskel, we’re also seeing very explicitly here because Tissaia just says "I wanted to find out what happened to you and I would have done anything". So I think that that's a really nice parallel between these parental figures for our main characters

ELORA: Which is interesting, then, that that our all their parental, well, ostensibly parental figure, Geralt is really just not doing that. It’s like, here are the good parents, Tissaia and Vesemir, and here is like, hm…he's, he's doing his best but boy, he's, he's not doing great Geralt.

ALYSSA: I feel like Geralt is like I'm protecting her, she's here. I'm doing fine. Like–

ELORA: Yeah.

ALYSSA: And he, he's learning

KYLE:  Like the standard is a lot.

ELORA: Yeah, yeah, she is alive.

KYLE: Okay, she's alive.

ELORA: I have succeeded as a parent.

KYLE: It's funny because I do that with Lily with our cats sometimes, we’re like if we're out for a long time, we missed their, their dinner time. I'm like, well, they're alive. Like they're gonna be fine. And she's like, fine is not the standard, like, I want them to be comfortable.

ALYSSA: Yeah, we love Lily here at the Hanza.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: We love Lily a lot.

KYLE: Yeah, it's true.

ALYSSA: Yeah, it's just something that I thought was interesting and I thought was a very nice parallel as we explore this episode, because it really does feel like obviously Ciri and Yen are main characters, they're part of our main trio, but this episode on a secondary level really does feel like Vesemir and Tissaia's episode.

KYLE: That's the deep cut. It's Tissaia and Vesemir's episode. Yeah.

ALYSSA: And I guess you know, as we're talking about this, we could have cut back to Geralt's parenting. And in the next scene, Geralt cares for Ciri's wounds and reminds her of her morality. Geralt then finds Calanthe's scarf beneath roots of the wall.. Calanthe's scarf and the roots in the wall thing is just kind of like buried almost immediately as soon as it happens and we have no idea what the heck happens to that in the course of this episode. So I'll just kind of equally bury it in our discussion here. Geralt and Ciri had this kind of moment where she's again, I think, trying to put on a tough face and just saying, like, I could do it, I could do it, I could do it. And Geralt's like, you know, you don't have to do everything, like you can do anything. But it doesn't mean you have to, which I think is a really excellent line, again, as, as both a parent and as her mentor. Yeah. And we get this bit that's actually pulled almost directly from the books, in a conversation between Ciri and Coen in the books, but between Ciri and Geralt in the series. Ciri says, you know, I want to be a great fighter, and not just against sacks of straw, Geralt responds: "I've known many who've wanted to be great fighters in my time. Do you know where they are now?" And she goes "where?" And he says "in cemeteries", and understandably, this upsets her like she wants to be a good fighter, and she doesn't want to be dead.

ELORA: Yeah, like, yeah, good point, Geralt. But could have brought up maybe a little bit more gently.

ALYSSA: Yeah, I feel like in the books, this dialogue, or the similar dialogue is almost played as like, for laughs because her and Coen always have a good time when they're together in the books. Whereas obviously, in the context that we see this dialogue here, it's much more somber, and a different kind of teaching moment.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: I think.

KYLE: To me it feels like something you would say in a desperate attempt to change their mind because I see myself doing something similar if I'm like, this is the last ditch hope. Yeah, do you know where all those people are that you want it to be? They're all dead. You know, like, because that's what they cared about. That's what they focused on. It makes sense for maybe how he's feeling why he said it that way.

ALYSSA: As we move on through the episode, Istredd intercepts Yennefer's escape and reveals he'll be leaving for Cintra to help the elves in Nilfgaard. After this happens, the deathless mother taunts Yennefer.

KYLE: There are literally no notes here.

ELORA: We clearly all have very little thoughts.

ALYSSA: Yeah, we had nothing to really say. We discover here that, like, Istredd actually has opinions about, like, what Nilfgaard is doing. And it seems to be quite positive, or at least, like, neutral to positive. He acknowledges the fact that the people who are living under Nilfgaard's rule feel that they're being protected by this emperor. There's a dissonance between, you know, his relationship with the Brotherhood versus what he's witnessed in Nilfgaard himself.

KYLE: Is it almost like that sense of a country's made up of individuals, but the view on the country as a whole is sort of negative? Does that make sense? Like where, he, they're living it? And sure, there's good pieces to it, but from the outside Nilfgaard looks like this evil empire?

ALYSSA: Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's certainly a part of it. You know, the Brotherhood as well as the North, they have reason to vilify Nilfgaard. They're conquering their, their kingdoms and their land and their people. So it certainly makes sense with why they feel infringed and why they're being attacked. At the same time, I think when you put someone in that situation, in this case Istredd, amongst the people of Nilfgaard, it humanizes their aspirations, I think, to an extent, and we see this from Fringilla as well, like they're supposedly here to feed not to conquer, they're here to liberate. It's really interesting, I think, to see the dissonance between what Istredd has told the council versus what his personal beliefs are about the situation. And then obviously, the fact that he's fleeing as well, um, is a big deal.

ELORA: I really hope next season or just like in the coming episodes, they show it to us as well, because we've only heard Fringilla and Istredd say it, but I think we would feel more conflicted if we actually saw the people living under Nilfgaard and saw that they were treated well, well, now. Well, you, you don't trust it when Fringilla says it, you trust a little bit more when Istredd says it. It'd be nice to see it.

KYLE: Yeah. Maybe there is a little side series, breakout series. Let's have a Nilfgaard series get some more sympathy!

ELORA: Some positive Nilfgaard spin.

ALYSSA: I mean, I'm sure if we ever get the opportunity to go to Beauclair and Toussaint in the series. That's certainly a lot of wealth that is under Nilfgaard.

KYLE: Oh, man.

ALYSSA: Fingers crossed!

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, Elora, Kyle, and I will continue our discussion of “What is Lost”.

“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 has become a little bit more quiet. We know that the Witcher filming crew is hard at work, but not a lot is leaking at the moment from the set. Here is what we know:

At the end of April, The Witcher filmed some scenes at Jolly Farm in Sevenoaks in Kent. It is an old-fashioned farm with old stables, farmhouses, a cottage and a picturesque farmyard near ancient woodlands. Unfortunately we do not know anything more about the filming at Jolly Farm. According to Redanian Intelligence it is very likely that Jolly Farm will stand in for a place where Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer will have a break on their journey. After the filming in Kent, the crew moved back to Surrey. To be precise, they had night shoots at Windsor Great Parks. There they filmed near the Virginia Water Lake with its cascade waterfall and a place with Roman ruins that were brought here from the ancient Roman city of Leptis Magna in Libya. Redanian Intelligence writes that the filming here involved a large crew and several horses. After the on-location filming the Witcher crew moved back to Longcross Studios near London. The three main actors Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra have been present for a lot of the time. Moreover Tom Canton (who plays the elf Filavandrel) and Mahesh Jadu (who portrays the mage Vilgefortz) have also been at the studios.

In other news, there is something new to report about the Witcher spinoff miniseries "Blood Origin". Redanian Intelligence write that their sources have told them that the show could see a release date in October 2022. In addition they report that "Blood Origin" could only consist of four episodes, instead of six as was previously announced. The reasons for these changes are unknown. At least Redanian Intelligence is able to shed some lights on the recent reshoots. It is possible that the filming crew has filmed scenes with Joey Batey to tie Blood Origin more to the main show, maybe in the form of interludes between episodes or individual scenes. This would give Jaskier a bigger role in "Blood Origin" than we thought.

But Blood Origin isn't the only Witcher spinoff that is currently being worked on at Netflix. We know that a second anime movie is already in its early development. Like the first movie "Nightmare of the Wolf" the second one will also be made by Studio Mir. Thanks to The Cosmic Circus we could possibly have the tile of this new animated movie. It may be called "The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep", which sounds very exciting. Sirens, of course, are monsters from Greek mythology - and they play a very prominent role in The Witcher 3, as Geralt is constantly attacked by these flying creatures when he wanders the islands of Skellige. The title could hint at the fact that the movie will be set at the Continent's shoreline or even on Skellige.

Last but not least, the Witcher's publisher, Orbit Books, will release new paperback editions for the whole Witcher saga in the US. The minimalistic design was inpspired by the symbols appearing in the season 1 credits of the Netflix show. These symbols that are depicted on a plain white background are always related to the contents of its books. "Blood of Elves" for example has a rose on its cover, which is definitely the one mentioned to grow in Shaerrawedd, "The Sword of Destiny" has a dragon wing on its cover, "The Tower of Swallows" the Great Sun from Nilfgaard. This edition will be available on July 5th.

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]

Discussion

ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Yennefer had been told she must kill the Nilfgaardian prisoner of war, Cahir, in order to prove her innocence as Geralt begins to investigate the occurrences of monsters at Kaer Morhen.

In the next scene, Geralt interrupts Ciri's training with Coen to ask about the pulling sensation from the woods, Geralt take Ciri to the woods to search for the source, where they encounter Eskel's Leshy and a Myriapod. You know the reason for Geralt to do this is because he found Calanthe's scarf being scarfed up by roots in the wall, which in and of itself, the whole thing's weird.

KYLE: I think it was trying to tell us that like it's being drawn to her, like maybe it knows her scent somehow or something?

ALYSSA: Ah yes, trees, famous for their olfactory senses.

KYLE: Yeah, you know. You know how it be.

ELORA: Just trees!

ALYSSA: You know, trees.

KYLE: They be growing towards the scent.

ALYSSA: Oh man, I'm like, how do I recover from this? That has now triggered, like, little detective Geralt. This has now given him enough reason to then pursue or investigate what's happening to Ciri. I do like the short scene that we get with Cohen training Ciri because she moves really well, like it feels like Freya really did train hard for this to feel authentic, which I really love. Once we actually get to the woods and Geralt takes her out there, we encounter, as we said, Eskel's leshy, because it's missing an arm, as well as a Myriapod as we find out. And Elora, you had another visual analysis of this as well.

ELORA: Yeah. Elora's visual analysis corner.

KYLE: Yeah, back to Elora's analysis.

ELORA: Yeah, there's this, uh, Geralt and Ciri are circling each other, kind of back to back, and then you get the shots of them from the top, it reminded me of the episode before this, Vesemir and Geralt are doing this same thing and there's also this shot of them from above, which is a nice parallel visually, but also, Geralt going from the sun, becoming a father, and having a new companion.

KYLE: Do you have any thoughts on why? You know, because you're looking at it from a visual point, any idea why it would be like a top down shot, instead of like, looking at them back to back?

ELORA: Well, maybe I can get there like through another line.

KYLE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ELORA: It'st uhhh, they're both in a circle, actually.

KYLE: Right, cause the twigs will almost make a circle.

ELORA: We're making nice movements again.

KYLE: Our hands are going-

ELORA: The twigs go in a circle. But there's also a little bit of dirt that they're standing on that's a little bit darker. And then Geralt and Vesemir are in a circle of lights, and also, the tiles on the floor form a circle, we could say something, but…

KYLE: I just wanna say I wonder if that circle, sort of just, again, we're all making this up, but if it means like, like some kind of connection? I don't know, you know, that they're in it together.

ELORA: Yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah.

ALYSSA: I think showing them like facing a threat together is a huge thing. As you said Elora, it comes full circle, right? Between Geralt and Vesemir being back to back and then Geralt and Ciri now have that same connection as well, that they've literally and figuratively have each other's backs, which is really nice for Geralt to share that with both his father figure as well as his daughter figure. And I think from a visual perspective, like you get this nice close up shot of, like, almost the walls or the Leshy, I think in both cases, is closing in on them. You have this threat that's zeroing in on them as a target. It's a really beautiful thing to pick out though, Elora.

ELORA: That's the thing. I really do think that the cinematography in The Witcher is very good. There's really nice visuals and it's nice that they have that kind of level of detail. It's not just making it look nice. It's also simple as like, someone's clearly thought about it a lot.

KYLE: Right, that kind of adds to the depth of the show. And I think like what you just said, like, when you put that kind of thought into it, it means so much more, like people put the care and effort into it.

ELORA: Yeah, you don't probably consciously notice it, but you can feel it.

KYLE: Yeah, there's an energy to it for sure. And Alyssa, you said something about a Myriapod. This is a new monster right? Like was that confirmed?

ALYSSA: As far as I know, this is a new monster. As we see, the Leshy kind of like puts out all its roots and is starting to attack Geralt and Ciri, but as soon as Geralt gets close enough, and it's about to kill it, the Leshy is immediately cut down by this other monster that looks like a many breasted centipede.

KYLE: My favorite kind, many breasted centipede.

ALYSSA: As if the legs weren't enough. Yeah, so the Myriapod as far as I know, it's new. And actually, the Myriapod was the center of installations that were, I think, brought up around the UK, here in New York, as well as a few other places around the world. So I did when I, when I saw the show early in December, I did get to see this Myriapod inside of a snowglobe which was super cool. It was very, very big. But we had no idea what it was at the time. I don't remember how I learned the name of it. I think they might have done like early features on some of the monsters we would see but yeah, I was able to like at the time before the series came out definitively say like, yeah, that's a Myriapod, and keep talking but yeah, it's a new monster.

KYLE: I would love to have the beastiary from this show.

ALYSSA: They do put those out on YouTube.

KYLE: Do they? Oh, okay.

ALYSSA: So I think the one for the season is like a 20 to 25 minute video of like all the monsters that were featured in The Witcher season two and I do believe that they also have one on YouTube as well for season one.

KYLE: Love that.

ALYSSA: This starts to set up something more interesting here, uh, Ciri talks about that pull to the woods, we discover that it was the Leshy but with the Myriapod, even though it chases her down, it doesn't seem like it's out there to attack her, because it corners her quite effectively. And then it almost seems to hesitate before Geralt kills it.

KYLE: Yeah, the way I would liken it to is it almost looks at her the way like a puppy would before you throw a ball for it to go fetch like it's almost looking at her for something I guess we'll never know because Geralt up and murders it, just cut it's head off, but–

ALYSSA: Or we'll have to wait till at least episode seven.

KYLE: Or a side series on the Myriapod.

ELORA: Myriapod-centering, just like main character, great!

ALYSSA: The origin story. A lot of Geralt and Ciri's storyline this season really does feel like a mystery that extends through all eight episodes, or at least through episode two through seven as the story is more condensed considering episode one is pretty much a standalone. So this kind of adds additions to that mystery in the same way that almost like Nightmare of The Wolf was constructed that it almost feels like a continual side quest. Like, I know that we're busy training but like, let's take a side quest to like see what's in the woods. It almost feels like a bit of the same kind of structure. Yeah, we just kind of get a small piece of that mystery here in episode three that will then continue to unravel into the main plot as we move forward through the rest of the season.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Oh my god, we're almost done! Yay!  Okay, so, in the final scene, the rulers and the mages of the northern kingdoms convene for memorial to honor those lost at Sodden. Instead of executing Cahir, Yennefer releases him and they escape the Brotherhood together. This is the scene that was shot at Fountains Abbey in the UK, which there was a lot of I think, like, buzz about. We finally get to see what that was here. It was the memorial to Sodden. As they're walking toward the memorial, Cahir and Yennefer have a brief moment together that parallels their moment down in the cells. And Cahir says "Can you tell me what purpose my death serves now" and Yennefer says "Absolution". Cahir replies "Mine?" and Yennefer says "Mine". Cahir gets into all this like, you know, zealot stuff: "If the white flame asks for my sacrifice, I am ready for the darkness. It is in blackness that we find our true strength". And it's like, dude!

ELORA: Dude, even now.

ALYSSA: Just, just turn it off like a little bit, like, it's just you guys talking, you can chill a lil bit.

KYLE: Maybe, maybe she's just like that.

ALYSSA: Can't turn it off!

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: There was something that I considered was like, I wonder if, like, the reference to blindness and defining yourself in the darkness like if that is a reference to universe blindness in the books following the Battle of Sodden. Or if it really is just simply a zealous statement about Nilfgaard's continual flame analogies from Cahir.

ELORA: Or it is, maybe, a reference to Yen losing her magic and now having to find out who she is without it.

ALYSSA: There's a couple of things that we see in this episode. Some of them are more things that we see in passing, one of the things that will be familiar to book readers is the obelisk, the monument that's constructed, which we hear about in Sword of Destiny, when Geralt goes to visit it on the top of Sodden Hill, but that's about you know, a year after the Battle of Sodden. Oh, and you also had a note about the obelisk as well, Elora?

ELORA: Yeah, it's also, visually, a very interesting element, because the entire scene is very dark. And then you have this really striking, perfectly white column that just like cuts the entire screen in half, which is very useful for guiding the viewer's eye because your eye will be drawn towards that contrasts, because perspective gets wider at the base, leading you towards the speaker, because they keep placing the speaking characters in front of the obelisk, like Tissaia and Vilgefortz.

KYLE: It's almost like a spotlight.

ELORA: Yeah!

KYLE: This whole scene is interesting to me. I didn't take any notes on it. And I don't know why, it's a big scene. I don't know, there's nothing about the scene that like really jumped out to me to like talk about, I don't know why.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

KYLE: Because it is big. There are, you know, there are big moments in here.

ALYSSA: There's certainly like a lot of players. So for example, King Foltest of Temeria, who we saw in season one, as well as Vizimir of Redania are in the audience, and they talk about, you know, Yennefer's contributions to Sodden. So it's a little surprising that they've spent the whole episode being like, Vilgefortz will take the mantle for Sodden, but the kings already know that Yennefer of Vengerberg was the hero at Sodden. There was a note that there's a magical barrier on the event, which means that the mages just can't do magic there, which is, of course, interesting. And the other thing that's important, politically, is we find out that Foltest and Vesemir are already doubting the trustworthiness of their mages, which again sets up new political conflict that we'll hopefully see in later seasons. But for the moment it's kind of important just to see that dissonance between the monarchs and the mages as well as the mages within each other, as well.

KYLE: Why isn't Dijkstra here? I feel like he's a huge political player.

ALYSSA: Yeah, well, I mean, Vizimir even says like “my, my advisor Dijkstra”, but I guess we just haven't gotten there yet.

KYLE: I'm also curious as to why when Cahir is cut free that no one does anything?

ALYSSA: Well, I think a lot of that is there's a magical barrier, or else I'm sure they would have just lit him up, yeah.

KYLE: Right, like fireballed him or something, D&D style, just–

ALYSSA: 8d6 fireball!

KYLE: 6d8, 8d6, 68!

ALYSSA: So it's, it's one of those things where like, they obviously have the kings say, "Oops, we can't do magic here" so that it makes what happens three minutes later make a little more sense.

KYLE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like a word for that right? Where-

ELORA: Chekhov's gun?

KYLE: What is Chekhov's gun?

ELORA: Oh, well, you see the weapon before the murder is being committed.

KYLE: Okay. Yeah, they kinda, yeah, exactly. They kind of like, tell you that nothing's really gonna happen because there's this magical barrier and it's like, oh, okay.

ALYSSA: Yeah, again, some of the little things that are littered throughout the scene, we discover that Triss has disappeared or that she was summoned off somewhere. We'll of course, you know, see in the next episode, as we know from the books, that she then ends up at Kaer Morhen. As Yennefer is wrestling with this idea of beheading Cahir and Cahir has accepted his fate, we get like little whispers of the Deathless Mother who's still in her head, and she says, like, "free yourself,  reclaim your powers, simply say the words". Yennefer chooses to ignore this, and she doesn't give into the Deathless Mother yet, but she instead, you know, chooses to drive her own fate by releasing Cahir. And when she does, there's this very brief shot of Tissaia, and again, MyAnna Buring's face acting just, mwah, so good. I can't even decipher the face that she makes in this scene because it's almost like that Mona Lisa kind of smile where she seems very serious and you get almost a hint of a smile, but you don't really know if that's what it is or not. So you can't really tell if she's horrified at what's happening, if she's slightly proud of Yennefer for escaping and choosing her own fate and herself. The face acting is so good.

KYLE: My face, I think, it'd be so bad because I'd be smiling the whole time.

ELORA: Get ‘em girl!

KYLE: I'll be giving it up, giving it away, just like you know? Cust, cuts Cahir free and I'm just like big ol’ smile.

ALYSSA: Ya did it!

KYLE: Yeah, good job.

ALYSSA: So I mean, that's the note on which we end the episode. And as we close down our discussion, what did you guys think of the scene and of the episode as a whole?

KYLE: Well, I liked the episode. I don't know if I had any strong feelings toward it in any way. I think it was just a good episode to set up things that happen in the next few episodes. Yeah.

ELORA: Yeah. I, especially with what you've mentioned, I do really like that each storyline is about parenting in its own way. And all of them getting a slightly different take on that. Yeah, it was a fine episode.

KYLE: Exactly. Exactly. It was a fine episode.

ELORA: That was really weak! It's like, it was a good episode. I enjoyed it.

ALYSSA: I think for me, it was definitely just like because I binged the entire series in like a morning, episodes two through seven just really felt like one seven hour movie. This specific episode when I watched it in the context of the rest of the season didn't necessarily stick out because episodes two through seven just flowed into each other. Whereas I think watching it in isolation, it's easier to pick up more on the themes that are actually happening in this episode, like the parenting. But yeah, I mean, on that note of just, like, how the season has played out how it could play out. I feel like this is a good time to tell you all about my conspiracy theory for episode 3.

ELORA: Yes!

KYLE: Yes. For just this episode, you said? For episode 3?

ALYSSA: Just this episode, just this episode, I've, okay. Prior to Season Two coming out when I think there was still an assumption that it would remain strongly to Blood of Elves in terms of the plot and storylines.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: Given the structure of Blood of Elves and mapping that to the episode titles when they were released, my theory for episode three specifically was, okay, we knew A Grain of Truth, Kaer Morhen, What Is Lost. Like, that's what we knew about the series before it came out. So mapping that to Blood of Elves, we have A Grain of Truth. That’s a standalone, cool. We have Kaer Morhen, which I assumed would encompass Kaer Morhen in the books, right, like maybe we'd have a two year time jump and Ciri would spend the episode learning from Cohen, Lambert, Eskel, Vesemir, and Geralt. Which brings us to chapter four of Blood of Elves, which is the convoy. So the artwork for What Is Lost is, what I assume is, kind of like a crushed, or sad swallow with the title What Is Lost. So my conspiracy theory for this episode, if it did follow the structure of the books, was that this would have been the convoy caravan episode, in which – I had so many theories going into this – in which, as they're leaving Kaer Morhen to go to the Temple of Melitele, Ciri encounters the convoy, Shaerrawedd, and What Is Lost is really the loss of her innocence. The other thing that we had learned prior to the season was that Dara would be coming back and they had pictures of him getting his molding for prosthetics and things. And I was like, oh my God, if Daraa comes back as part of the Scoia'tael in the convoy –

ELORA: Yes, that's what I thought as well, yeah.

ALYSSA: What is lost is the loss of her innocence with loss of her friend, because I assumed that Dara would get killed in the Scoia'tael convoy.

KYLE: Yeah.

ELORA: Yes!

ALYSSA: Because he would hesitate killing Ciri.

ELORA: Yes, me too!

KYLE: Oh, man.

ALYSSA: This was yeah, this is my big conspiracy theory around What Is Lost specifically, I had zero thoughts in my brain about every other episode, but I was so convinced that this was going to be the plot of What Is Lost

KYLE: And no offense to the writers this season, but that is strong, right? That's some good stuff. I wish that happened.

ALYSSA: I do like what they did with Dara and Wilson is great, but I was so scared to see Dara this season because I assumed he was going to die in this episode, yeah.

ELORA: I didn't have it for this specific episode, but I really was also convinced that Dara would be joining the Scoia'tael and dying in that caravan attack.

ALYSSA: I mean, there's still time.

ELORA: Could still happen.

KYLE: There is. I can't remember, did we really even see the Scoia’tael this season?

ALYSSA: No, not yet. So I think they're building up to that.

ELORA: And then you know, maybe the caravan is Yen and Ciri, and they do it just a little bit later, and then the Scoia'tael develops more.

KYLE: Yeah.

ALYSSA: I could definitely see that being a possibility.

KYLE: Alyssa, that means you just have to write fanfiction.

ALYSSA: Uh, let me just find time on my calendar to publish fanfiction.

KYLE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Work in some time.

ALYSSA: Uh, maybe we can just, like, bequeath it unto Sarah A, or Alycia, or somebody.

KYLE: Exactly, Sarah, start a new series.

ALYSSA: But yeah, I mean, that's, that's pretty much that. Obviously it didn't happen. And we do get a different storyline in this episode as well through the rest of the season. But there's certainly still an opportunity in the future, as we said, to see the caravan, to see Dara. Oh, no, something happen to him.

ELORA: Something's gonna happen to him, you know?

KYLE: It has to, it has to.

ALYSSA: I know. I know it is. I just, I'm just not looking forward to something happening to Dara. He's a very sweet boy and also deserves the world, but yeah, I mean, so as we as we finish the episode, though. Actually, no, I think that's it, we're done.

ELORA: As we finished the episode, we finish episode, yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah.

KYLE: As we finish, we say thank you.

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

KYLE: you can find me on Instagram @_kyleholden_, that's K-Y-L-E H-O-L-D-E-N. My wife and I are starting a podcast soon, a parenting podcast and we're actually looking for new parents, new mothers, new fathers who may want to be on that. So it's gonna be like an interview style, talking about the trials and tribulations of being a parent and how you can help others in your community. So if you're interested in being part of that, please reach out to me. We would love to have you on, we're currently building out what the first season might look like, what the second season might look like. So, always interested to hear from others and really build out that network. So just reach out to me.

ELORA: That's so nice.

ALYSSA: I'm so excited for that.

ELORA: Well, you can find my art mostly on Instagram and more recently Twitter, although still completely, completely confused. Yes, both of them you it is just @elorasperber which is E-L-O-R-A S-P-E-R-B-E-R or it's spelled out somewhere probably for sure.

KYLE: It's really great art, you should follow it. If you’re not following it, you should go follow it. It's my favorite.

ALYSSA: Elora has done so much beautiful art for the podcast. If you're listening to the show, when you see the cover art for Breakfast in Beauclair, she did the spread of flowers that's behind the main shield in the new episode artwork.

KYLE: Oh I had no idea.

ALYSSA: And she also did our collaboration with Peter Kenny, and was also kind enough to allow me to bully her onto Twitter. Yeah, it's such a joy seeing both of you, of course again, and actually getting you guys to be a part of the episode.

KYLE: Yeah.

ELORA: Yeah, yeah, it was great.

KYLE: It was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for having me, yeah.

ALYSSA: Yeah, and you can meet both Kyle and Elora in the Hanza discord if you'd like to join that as well and make other friends in our community too.

KYLE: Oh, my God. I mean, like, just to shout that out really quick. Like, please, if you're even just hesitating or thinking about coming on, like it's so much fun to just come chat with people even if you're like a lurker, you know, it really is a good time. There's so many times we just jump on the lounge, people will jump on and not even talk and just kind of experience be part of it. And I would say that's, that's half the fun, like just come hang out. You know, we are a community. It's kind of lonely sometimes in these times that we live in. So you know, hopefully this can bring you some cheer.

ELORA: Yeah, it really works. Everyone's so kind and supportive. It's incredible how there's no real discussion or arguments. It's just support, it's very nice.

ALYSSA: Well, I'm so glad that both of you are part of that.

KYLE: Yeah, no, but it's so cool to see like newer people joining the Hanza and just really integrating themselves, it's, it's a wonderful thing.

ALYSSA: Well, thank you both again, so much for being a part of the show. And next episode, join us as we discuss The Witcher Season Two, Episode Four: Redanian Intelligence.

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, Jeanette of Brokilon, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.

Special thanks to Elora and Kyle for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.

Transcriptionist: AJ and JM Sarong

 

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Podcast EpisodeAlyssa EstebanNetflix's The Witcher S2