The Witcher

Before the end of the year, Netflix awarded us another series of the year event (and there were a hell of a lot of them this year!) and while I have minor reservations, it's definitely a spectacular fantasy extravaganza and the new successor to Game of Thrones. I'm not a connoisseur of the books and I've never played the game so, I'm unfamiliar with the sources and I agree that the plot is convoluted and at times confusing (especially the flashbacks, which don't feel like flashbacks and detracted from the experience a bit), but the rest of it is without reservation. Henry Cavill as Geralt is excellent, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer is almost perfect, and I enjoyed Marigold, who puts a smile on my face with her singing. The action is very captivating (the duel with the Striga is nicely horrific), although there could have been definitely more monsters. The fights with humans have fine cinematography and the brutality is spot on. The atmosphere is properly fantasy historical, and I like that Mages, Elves, Dryads and similar groups are featured. I really enjoyed the series and it's probably because I have a soft spot for such unknown worlds. I hope that with more seasons the story will become more coherent and make more sense. 8/10. (26/12/2019)

Well, I can pretend to be a man who is detached and sees that if I drank a shot at every mention of the word fate, I would die of alcohol poisoning after one episode. It could have been even better thought out in terms of working with time storylines, so that even the average viewer could understand before the third part that they were not parallel. It was certainly possible to have a better tempo and escalation of some parts, as well as the tonal consistency. But this is all "flaw by design". Sapkowski wrote a fantasy soap opera where horror, romance, a fairy tale and cruel parables about the world on the brink of destruction all eclectically meet. And to my great surprise, Netflix made a completely faithful (albeit deviating in detail and narrative storyline) adaptation, which is excellently cast, funny, exciting and romantic, appropriately crazy and engaging to me. You say that it doesn't have as much coherence and clarity as GoT and others? This is an Eastern and Central European tradition of melting pots of cultures, folklore and deep traditions. I've been missing this for years. A series that I will stay with and that I will dream about at night. This hasn’t happened to you? Well, you probably haven't read all the books ten times over and given yourself a nickname based on one of the characters. But thanks to the series, you also have a chance to get into it completely. Great job. I suppose the next series could raise the bar a bit higher, because it will no longer focus on various short stories, but rather on a novel pentalogy. (22/12/2019)

Mixed feelings. At times a dark romp, an atmospheric chivalric epic, a visually captivating show. At times a confusing mess of characters, cardboard sets and boring side-quests in the script. A viewer unfamiliar with the source material will sometimes be terribly confused, or even completely unable to grasp the new characters and locations. Praise for the imaginative concept of separate mini-episodes, which in many ways are not very related and yet in individual details systematically bring each character to the point where their fates intersect at expected moments, even in unpredictable situations. The first bold episode, which, by the way, is the only one that offers absolutely every reason the viewer should give Witcher a chance, is followed by others where those unfamiliar with the source material already feel a certain decline in the way the story is presented and conceived. The action in Blaviken in the opening episode remains by far the best moment of the entire season. (09/02/2020)

In the world of South Park, they'd probably say: “They killed Witcher, you bastards!” More specifically, Lauren Schimdt ground Sapkowski into disposable paper and wiped her ass with it. I found the first season excellent, event though it’s been criticized as confusing. Its interweaving of storylines was easy to navigate, and although it visibly suffered from a small budget, it did a good job of promoting the fantasy genre. The budget obviously swelled in season 2 – Kaer Morhen looked beautiful, all honour – but the writers from season 1 must have been eaten by some brux during the filming and they messed it up as much as they could. When Lauren's pros were outdone in terms of the script's engagingness and narrative richness by the CD Projekt enthusiasts in the excellent third The Witcher game, I don't think the girl could put it past her. And a little side note: sorry, but proud elven warriors can't be played by black boys with boyz-n-the-hood haircuts, just not really. This forcefully pushed political correctness is turning the world upside down. (18/01/2022)

Well... I also liked the Polish series, which we stayed up late for week after week back in high school so we could discuss what we'd seen in the morning and how (un)different it was from the books. Even then we scoffed at some of the changes, the gimmicks, Marigold, but we didn't mind because the show was just fun, had a great atmosphere, and Geralt was our hero. This is actually pretty much the same case, except that the new Witcher with the excellent Henry "Mhmmmm!" Cavill is even more entertaining. It has a better Marigold, better tricks, and is much better told – the clever interweaving of the three timelines felt original and fresh, and I enjoyed it whenever the series subtly reminded me which timeline I was in. The last time I read Sapkowski's books was fifteen years ago, give or take, but they were so excellent that I still remember quite a bit of them, especially their atmosphere, which in spite of its departure from Slavicism Netflix has managed to revive nicely. I probably liked the Striga and Hedgehog episodes the best, but each had something to it. Plus the beautiful music! (10/11/2021)