6.0
Score

Pros

  • Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra
  • The opening music
  • The Witcher story by Andrzej Sapkowski

Cons

  • Weak fight scenes
  • Lack of character building through the episodes
  • Too many directors
  • Confusing storyline
Directing
6
Camera
4
Special Effects
4
Characters
6
Soundtrack
7

Final Verdict

Netflix gave us a TV series that is not superb but not disappointing either. It is simply a medium TV entertainment worth watching.

If you would ask me why I watched The Witcher, my answer would be simple. Curiosity.

I live in Poland for a few years and have to say that I have heard about it many times before from my friends. The Witcher called Wiedźmin in Poland is more than just a book, game or TV series. It is a national treasure.

The fantasy masterpiece was written by Andrzej Sapkowski back in 1992. In the next few years, the story of The Witcher got extremely popular worldwide and it was translated into more than 20 languages. Later on, it was turned into one of the most popular computer games with more than 40 million copies sold globally.

Last but not least, the TV series produced by Netflix was viewed more than 76 million times in the first 4 weeks after the release. And I can guarantee you, that this success is thanks to the huge Polish fanbase.


The Witcher, the storyline.

The season 1 is based on the books The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny that are short stories happening before the main saga.

The story is mainly following the journey of Geralt of Rivia and princess Cirilla (Ciri). Geralt is a beast hunter with supernatural powers that he got during his young age. Ciri is the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe from who she inherited magical powers.

And they are both linked to each other by destiny.

Other characters that you can see are mage Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), Jaskier (Joey Batey) a loyal companion of Geralt, or Fringilla Vigo (Mimi Ndiweni) a powerful mage that is leading the Nilfgaardians to the war.

Season 1 consists of 8 episodes that are directed by several directors. Netflix was so sure about its success that they announced the second season before the first season was even launched. Btw, the first season of The Witcher was released on the 20th of December 2019.


Directors of The Witcher season 1.

  1. “The End’s Beginning” – Alik Sakharov
  2. “Four Marks” – Alik Sakharov
  3. “Betrayer Moon” – Alex Garcia Lopez
  4. “Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials” – Alex Garcia Lopez
  5. “Bottled Appetites” – Charlotte Brändström
  6. “Rare Species” – Charlotte Brändström
  7. “Before a Fall” – Alik Sakharov & Marc Jobst
  8. “Much More” – Marc Jobst

The Witcher – Netflix Originals (TV series) review, no spoilers.

The cast of The Witcher season 1.

  • Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia
  • Freya Allan as Cirilla “Ciri”
  • Eamon Farren as Ceallach
  • Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg
  • Joey Batey as Jaskier
  • MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries
  • Royce Pierreson as Istredd
  • Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla Vigo

The Witcher – Netflix Originals (TV series) review, no spoilers.

The Witcher – Netflix Originals (TV series) review, no spoilers.

As I said at the begging I’ve watched The Witcher out of curiosity. I simply wanted to see how Netflix will handle the pressure put on of one of the most successful fantasy sagas. And I have watched it as a complete newbie without reading anything about it nor reading the books nor playing the games.

And what’s my verdict? Netflix gave us a TV series that is not superb but not disappointing either. It is simply a medium TV entertainment.

In my opinion, the fact that there are several directors harmed the series more than helped. The timeline is very hard to follow making the show in some moments very confusing. I understood what is actually going on only in the 5th episode. If that was the aim of the creators then well done, but to me, it was hard to digest.

Another thing that was hard to even look at or to listen to where the slow talks. Sometimes I just had a feeling that the main purpose of them is just to prolong the run time of the episodes and fill in the blank spots.

The biggest showstopper though was definitely the fight scenes. Sometimes it looked that the only trained actor in any martial arts is Hanry Cavill. And the rest of the actors had never been in a fight before. Be it a real fight or a fight on the big screen.

If that was due to money, Netflix could rather cut Micheal Bay’s 6 Underground and pump the millions into The Witcher. Good action training and also CGI effects would definitely help the show to get some monumental looking scenes.

This is leading me to the more positive sides of the show. Henry Cavill is a superstar and he takes the majority of the show for himself. In this case, this is a very good thing. His acting is very natural and I enjoyed watching every scene with him. According to the rumors, he read all The Witcher books several times prior to the shootings so he could be well prepared.

Even though Henry will stay forever my Man Of Steel, Geralt of Rivia just become my second most favorite role.

Another big surprise is the Anya Chalotra (Yennefer of Vengerberg). I guess that this show will open a lot of doors to her in the future.

As I say, the first season is not the best but also not the worst. I just really hope that Netflix will learn from the feedback and improve the weak spots in season two. Which is btw, announced to come in 2021.


The Witcher – the music from season 1.


The Witcher - Netflix Originals (TV series) review, no spoilers. 1

Image credit: Netflix

Related articles:

Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker review

6 Underground review

Joker review

The Crown review

1917 – review (spoiler-free)

Messiah – Original Netflix series review