TV Review: The Witcher

Plot: Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.

Review: Do you remember the destruction of King's Landing in the final season of Game of Thrones? That violence and destruction that tore a city to the ground was one of the crowning moments that signalled the end of an era in Westeros. For The Witcher, that same level of cataclysmic war begins Netflix's new fantasy series. Based on the popular series of novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski which inspired the award-winning video game franchise, The Witcher is a dark, adult fantasy full of monsters, bloodshed, sex, and shirtless Henry Cavill. In short, it is perfect destination viewing for the Christmas season. By releasing the full season right at the end of the year, Netflix provides perfect counter-programming for those who didn't get tickets to STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER but want to satiate their cinematic appetites.

Alas, The Witcher is not quite what the trailers promise it to be. Yes, it has a good deal of action, blood, monsters, and nudity, but it ends up feeling a bit disjointed, narratively. Where the games put the focus primarily on Geralt of Rivia, this series gives us a lot of time spent with Princess Ciri as well as Yennefer of Vengenberg and takes half the season to finally bring the characters together. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich based The Witcher on the Polish novels rather than the popular video games, but that doesn't stop the series from feeling very much like a series of side-quests rather than the epic fantasy adventure it appeared to be. That doesn't make this a bad series, but it is not as propulsive as I was expecting. Instead, The Witcher struggles to figure out what tone it is going for with some episodes peppered with darker horror elements, some funnier or acton-oriented, with others mixing multiple narratives and timelines which border on confusing.

Witcher fans will be happy to see so many familiar characters here including Mousesack, Jaskier (aka Dandelion), and so many more but the big supporting characters are Princess Ciri and Yennefer. Ciri is played by newcomer Freya Allan who doesn't have much to do in these first episodes aside from wander the countryside and fall into various groups on her way to try and find Geralt. She clearly has magical abilities that are teased through these episodes and we get glimpses of what she may be capable of, but after the first episode, Ciri's scenes are not very engrossing. The same cannot be said for Yennefer. Played by Anya Chalotra, the first half of this season serves as an origin story for the mage and future companion to Geralt. In fact, she is really the only character whom we get to see from her inception whereas we meet Geralt long after he began his career as a monster hunter. Chalotra is absolutely beautiful and plays her earlier form very convincingly and these scenes help develop her as a strong foil for Geralt in the second half of the season.

Geralt himself is quite the character and Henry Cavill is very well suited for the role. Physically imposing and not the most talkative, when Geralt is pressed into action, he isn't shy about dropping some witty banter and kicking all sorts of ass. Cavill stated at San Diego Comic Con that he performed all of his own stunts and I can honestly say that I could not find any sequences where it appeared to be a stunt double. Cavill manages to give Geralt a modicum of personality and a decent sense of humor but the problem lies in the lack of focus in the first half of the season. After the first episode sets up a potential quest for Geralt involving Ciri, the next four hours are spent on standalone adventures fighting monsters. Yes, the creature designs are pretty cool and the stories pull right from the novels and short stories, but the lack of a clear arc for Geralt leaves the series feeling like it is treading water.

What is instantly noticeable about The Witcher is how similar it is to Disney+ series The Mandalorian. Both follow gruff warriors who venture on their own before getting pulled in to save an innocent life which alters their perception and the course of their lives. Where the STAR WARS series is clearly aimed at mass audiences including families, The Witcher is very clearly meant for adults only. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a bit of fun, something I wasn't expecting based on the trailers. There is definitely an undercurrent of humor to these episodes, especially from scenes involving Geralt and Jaskier. The jokes are sometimes spot on for the moment and others they feel a bit forced and this lends to the series sometimes feeling tonally uneven. Still, the action and characters are interesting enough that you will be entertained.

While I have not seen the final three episodes of the season, the first five have so much potential that is a bit squandered due to a lack of a driving story. There is also a reveal a few episodes in involving the timeline of the story that will throw viewers unfamiliar with the story for a bit of a loop. Overall, I can see why The Witcher was renewed for a second season since the momentum does start to pick up around the mid-season point, but that may be a bit long for some to wait for a series to find it's footing. All in all, the production values are high and the action is solid. The first season of The Witcher had the big task of laying out a new fantasy universe for audiences and it does a decent job even if some elements may remain confusing to rookie viewers. But, if what you need this holiday season is some bloodshed, nudity, and monsters, you could do a lot worse than The Witcher.

All eight episodes of the first season of The Witcher premiere today on Netflix.