With three female leads beholden to Voleth Meir, that hut-demon is pulling strings all over the place, and The Witcher Season 2 Episode 6 provides her with even more leverage.

I loved Nenneke and the temple school. Its calm is a welcome respite from the small-c chaos of the rest of The Continent.

I didn't love that we finally got Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri together in one place, and Rience shows up to ruin it.

For a princess, Ciri's deportment certainly didn't snap back once she was in a more civilized setting.

She's been the witchers for, what, a month or two? You'd think she'd been there for all her formative years.

Still, it's lovely to see her and Geralt interacting without weapons, armor, or monsters attacking. RIP, Roach.

You want to kill yourself trying to become a mutant so if you survive, you can kill yourself trying to get revenge.

Geralt

• Permalink: You want to kill yourself trying to become a mutant so if you survive, you can kill yourself...

The parenting dilemmas can't be easy for Geralt to navigate.

She's old enough to make choices, and they haven't had enough time together for him to have confidence in her making smart ones.

A while he's removed her from being able to access the mutagen, it's Rience that removes the mutagen from Kaer Morhen.

Much was made about how hard The Trail that leads to Kaer Morhen is on The Witcher Season 2 Episode 4, yet Rience just pops right in and sets the place on (literal) fire.

Come to think of it, how did Eskel get all the brothel staff up to the keep on The Witcher Season 2 Episode 2?

In any case, Rience's attack was swift, brutal, and -- technically -- unrewarding for him since he still failed to track down Ciri.

However, getting the mutagen is a considerable setback for Vesemir's dream of making new witchers since Ciri, the source of the Elder Blood, is also off traipsing around The Continent.

And he gets pretty badly injured, to boot. Life has not been good for Vesemir this winter.

Having Triss around to heal him up is a bit of a bonus, even if she does think his sort-of granddaughter will destroy the world.

Geralt: Now that you've had a chance to speak with her, what do you think?
Nenneke: I don't see any side upon which you are not entirely fucked.

• Permalink: I don't see any side upon which you are not entirely fucked.

If Geralt thought Nenneke would pull her punches on assessing Ciri, he was wrong.

It's a hard thing to hear your child is guaranteed to have a difficult life. Knowing that you may not be able to protect them from danger and pan is even harder.

Istredd's visit to Codringher and Fenn is the most entertaining research assignment ever.

Peddlers of information are usually the most discerning, but a long-time relationship like they have makes for a quality of snark and intuitiveness that illustrates how a partnership can be truly successful.

Fenn: It's probably pure coincidence that Emhyr wants the princess with the secret power to shatter monoliths for her claim to a throne that he already took by force.
Codringher: You know, Fenn, I've been thinking. How could we get answers faster? More sarcasm.

• Permalink: You know, Fenn, I've been thinking. How could we get answers faster? More sarcasm.

The overall production value of the series goes without saying, but they don't often have one-off settings like the Codringher and Fenn shop that I yearn to visit myself.

From the toppling hills of books and papers to the cat who knows exactly where everything goes, it's the kind of shop I'd like to find a corner and a pile of books, and I'd curl up for the whole day.

Their scenes are almost pure exposition, providing as much information on Ciri's lineage. Fenn's discovery of the mistranslation -- correcting the word "weapon" to "warrior" is a heckuva revelation.

Elsewhere in Cintra, Cahir's return is affecting Fringilla as well as her relationship with Francesca.

As Fringilla's life has been short on friends, this may be the first time she's had someone close to her observe with absolute candor that Cahir's presence diminishes her.

There's also an apprehension building in her demeanor about The White Flame's arrival at Cintra.

Meanwhile, Dara's doing his spy thing with the owl. And while I'd expect Dijkstra to be able to communicate with a bird, I'm not sure how Dara's sending messages.

The birth of Francesca and Filavandrel's child marks the fulfillment of Voleth Meir's promise to Francesca. How the bright elven future progresses from here has yet to be seen.

With all the deals being struck between demons and mortals, spymasters and informants, smugglers and refugees, I think it's reasonable that we can expect some of them to go south in a bad way.

And now that Triss has returned to Tissaia with the information about Ciri, the action will only ramp up.

Up until now, it's only been the Nilfgaardians, the Iranians, and Voleth Meir after Ciri. The Brotherhood members represent every kingdom in the North.

If Tissaia or Vilgefortz were to inform the Brotherhood of what Ciri is capable of, they would have a prey or prize to hunt as well.

On a show as mired in monsters and monstrous acts as this one is, the elven celebration of the baby and the initial sojourn at the temple school provide the moments of positivity and healing we need to reset ourselves emotionally.

With only two episodes left, I suspect we won't have many moments to enjoy Geralt's taciturn humor or Ciri's delight in lighting candles.

Now that Yennefer's effectively captured Ciri, how will Geralt track them?

Will Yennefer go through with the arrangement?

Will Geralt ever forgive her if she does?

Let us know in the comments below how you think (or hope) this will all play out!

Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.