Harry Situation Reviews: Netflix’s The Witcher

“People like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”

Geralt of Rivia makes his appearance to the small screen in Netflix’s The Witcher, starring Henry Cavill as the titular Witcher himself. Many are already familiar with this character and series through the video games, which I’ve played myself. But the books by author Andrzej Sapkowski (good luck to anyone trying to pronounce that) is where the world of The Witcher truly breathes in. For those unfamiliar, a Geralt of Rivia is a witcher, a man very skilled in combat and endowed by magic and mutations to make him the perfect fighter against the most dangerous beasts across the world. If there is a monster problem, he’s usually called upon to take care of it. And on his travels he’s come across an assortment of memorable characters such as his on/off again love interest the sorceress Yennefer (played by Anya Chalotra), a charismatic bard named Dandelion (played by Joey Batey), and the child destined to him to become a witcher herself Princess Ciri (played by Freya Allan).

When it was first streamed on Netflix it immediately became the number one trending series on Netflix. People have been loving this series from the start, calling it the new Game of Thrones. Do I believe that to be the case too?

That's a bit of a stretch and let me explain why.

Having the most of the books (I just finished Book 5 recently), I can tell you that the series is pretty faithful. Each episode I immediately recognized which story they were based off of. The first episode is based off "The Lesser Evil". The third episode is based off "The Witcher", the very first story of the series. The fourth episode is based off one of the stories from the second book. I will say having these classic stories recreated to the screen, and done pretty accurately, is pretty awesome. But the fact that it that it follows each of the stories pretty close it leaves little room for any surprises for those that read the stories. I knew how A was going to go because I read A, that sort of thing. The only parts that weren't part of the books were the stories featuring Ciri and Yennifer. The last two episodes of the first season I'd say are probably the only episodes that are different from the books.

The major positive for this show is the casting of Henry Cavill as Geralt. Man, did he nail the role. The guy is actually a big fan of The Witcher series, having played all the games and read all the books. He nails Geralt's mannerisms, his attitude, his voice, his look, his sarcasm. He is practically becomes the Butcher of Blaviken.

Yennefer and Ciri were good took. Too bad I didn't care too much about their own stories since they really aren't part of the main series of books, only mentioned in some backstories. Although Ciri's story greatly differs compared to what happens in the books. Still, the actresses that play these two characters, they do a pretty good job. I also like the guy they cast as Dandelion—and yes, to those who've watched the show, I know he's technically called Jaskier. And for those that don't know, Jaskier is Dandelion's name in the original Polish language. However, since I've known the character to be Dandelion, I'm gonna keep calling him that. The point is, he's great. He's funny. And I like him. Plus he sings that really catchy song.

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However the greatest take away, and it's the sole reason why I don't think it's as good as Game of Thrones for the moment, is its story structure. Throughout the whole season all the stories are told out of order in different points in time. To help break things down: Geralt’s story spans about 20 years, Yennefer’s story spans about 70 years, and Ciri’s story spans about two weeks. Bare in mind that Geralt and Yennefer are endowed by magic that prevents them from aging. It's a thing in the books. The problem is that all the stories are Frankenstein stitched together that it's hard to tell, from an outside view, when are all these stories taking place in time because how they transition into each other makes it look like that each event, each story, of our three lead characters are happening at the same time. That makes for bad story telling and it utterly confuses the audience.

Overall, I don't think The Witcher is a bad series. I actually enjoy it. But this is a pretty ruff first season and I'm hoping they'll improve it in the second season.

Positives:

-Very faithful to the books

-Henry Cavill as Geralt

-Badass fights

-Yennifer & Ciri

-Dandelion and that song

Negatives:

-Storytelling structure

-Perhaps too faithful

-Certain changes from books

Final Grade: C+

So those are my thoughts on Netflix’s The Witcher. Have you seen it? What are your thoughts? Ever read the books or played the games? Toss a coin to your reviewer, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews here on Prose!

Best Quote:

Geralt of Rivia: “Evil is evil, Stregobor. Lesser, greater, middling, it’s all the same. I’m not judging you. I haven’t done only good in my life. But now if I’m to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”

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