The Witcher (season 1)

So for the sake of being upfront, I haven't played through any of The Witcher games, nor have I read any of the books. I started The Witcher 3 on PS4, but I didn't feel like I had enough time to really delve in the way I wanted to. This is its own whole fantasy universe that needs an attention span that I only have from time to time. Unfortunately, that attention span is really needed in this show, otherwise its just going to come off as a mess.

The Witcher follows the story of a mutant monster hunter named Geralt of Rivias (played by Henry Cavill). Geralt is a solitary guy wishing to hunt monsters for payment, hang out with his horse Roach, and be left alone.

But all around him, there are happenings going on in this high fantasy world. The politics of kings, queens, princesses, wizards, mages, and other high fantasy elements you can think of.

The season is split among three story lines. The first is obviously The Witcher, Geralt, crossing the continent, looking for work and dealing with people's prejudice of Witchers as mutated freaks. I didn't realize until I started getting caught up on The Mandalorian yesterday that Geralt's story is not too different from The Mandalorian, as a stoic merc for hire, who begrudgingly takes on the help of others and his soft side is revealed.

The other story lines include that of Ciri, Princess of Cintra (played by Freya Allen). A series of events in the first episode sends her on a journey of her own that honestly is the more boring parts of the show.

And then there's the mage Yennefer (played by Anya Chalotra) who potentially has the most interesting story arc throughout the show. She starts in really humble and throughout the show finds her way through this fantasy world, creating her own destiny and finding her own challenges.

The main problem with this show is that it doesn't have a concise handle on the passage of time. Because almost all of these characters have magical abilities, they don't age the same way normal people do, therefore there's no way to tell how much time has passed between episodes and even when they say, "Boy its been decades hasn't it?" It doesn't feel like that much time has passed because each story almost seems like its on its own timeline that travels at a different pace.

This is also paired with the fact that the show doesn't take much time to really explain the rules or background of this world. Now there is an element of that that I like with this show, and I'll talk about that in a little bit. But the downside first is that unless you've played the games or read the books, you have to be paying really close attention to the explanations of whats going on in this world and why certain things are important. Also, especially in the first few episodes, the timeline is not totally clear, so you're trying to figure out the history of this world while some characters are at a point where something has happened and others are not. There's a part of me that wants to go back and watch the first few episodes to see if they make more sense, but I shouldn't have to do that.

I also started watching this about the same time I was watching The Mandalorian and I saw a lot of similarities between the two shows.

The difference is that The Mandalorian has 9+ movies that shape the world around the show so its cool that we can go off on some random dude doing his own thing.

The Witcher doesn't have that foundation.

Now, I do think the Witcher sets itself apart in going for the same type of show as The Mandalorian rather than just trying to be Game of Thrones. The Witcher is part of a push from Netflix to capitalize on the gap Game of Thrones left of having a high fantasy show. Instead of just copying Game of Thrones, The Witcher almost does the opposite, leaving the political factions very vague and having the main characters play tertiary roles and definitely not the kings and queens of the political game of thrones. I think in the long run that will be really helpful to this show whereas other Fantasy shows will try to recreate that political environment. I just think the show would do itself a favor by taking a beat, explaining the world a little bit more, and letting audience understand the world we're living in a little bit more.

But while we're talking about the good things. The three main actors do a pretty good job keeping us engaged and in the story. I feel like if Henry Cavill wasn't good at what he does, I would have said "thanks but no thanks" after the first episode. Instead he takes the character of Geralt, who I've found in the past to be kind of bland, and make him interesting and complex.

As mentioned before, Anya Chalotra stands out as Yennefer, but probably because she has the most unique and complicated role.

The show has already been renewed for a second season (which is not surprising to anybody, I think Netflix is banking on this show being a cornerstone of their programming in the future), and I imagine I will re-watch the season once season two comes out. Luckily the episodes are pretty easily digestible. Maybe it was just the Christmas break, but I wiped through those episodes pretty quickly. They're pretty fast paced, even when they're just explaining things.

Also, the fight sequences are really well done.

When you look at Henry Cavill, you don't think he's a guy that can move all that fast, but he does the fight choreography almost seamlessly and its a lot of fun. And it's not just Cavill that does a great job keeping the action fast paced and bad ass.

On a side note, I'm just gonna put another word out there for my guy Henry Cavill. He's already been done dirty by DC for not having him come back as Superman, it's good to see he's being properly utilized.

When I first saw Cavill as Geralt, with no real conception of who Geralt was, I thought he looked kind of silly with the white haired wig. And while I still have moments where I know that's clearly a wig, it still works because he creates a good character that was really cool to watch.

Overall, I think there is a lot to like about The Witcher Season 1. It's not perfect by any means and it's a little rough, especially in the first three episodes as you are bum rushed through character and world introductions. But it is definitely a show I want to have a second season. I want it to have the time to flesh out the world a little more, help me understand it the way I'm sure people who played the games do, and it feels different enough for it to not be a total Game of Thrones rip off, even though that's its business purpose on the Netflix docket.

To be clear, it's not even close to the first season of Game of Thrones, but I think the thing that will benefit it in the future is that it isn't trying to recreate Game of Thrones. It is its own thing, and us fantasy nerds are probably gonna end up eating it up.

Again, there's enough here to make a second season interesting and I don't think Netflix is going to let this show be bad. There's a lot of change that is happening in the streaming worlds and Netflix needs a hit like The Witcher.

Is it going to be that hit? It remains to be seen. I like it so far, even though its a little rough getting off the ground. I hope they correct the mistakes of the first season in the second and we have a good fantasy show on all the big streaming services because I don't see that as competition, I see that wins all around.

But those are my thoughts on The Witcher. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for future films or tv shows I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

But those are my thoughts on The Witcher.