After much fanfare, The Witcher has finally arrived and while many of you have surely already sought it out for yourself, it's still fair to wonder what critics, who were embargoed until this morning, thought of the freshman season of Netflix's über-ambitious fantasy series.
While Henry Cavill (Mission: Impossible - Fallout) receives high marks for his strong performance as Geralt of Rivia, it appears the season as a whole may be considerably more middling with a complicated non-linear plot that doesn't seem to really take off until episode five.
However, while the series may get off to a rocky start, the action and monster fights seem to deliever, which could be just enough to tide fans over until the story really gets going. Also, it sounds like Cavill's co-star Anya Chalotra, who plays Yennefer, may be the show's breakout star.
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When The Witcher is taking itself seriously, it's fairly bad. It aspires to be lofty high fantasy and instead becomes almost endless exposition and silly names. It's the kind of far-flung mystical reach that the characters in The Magicians might find themselves accidentally transported to, only to spend an episode or two standing around making fun of everything. Any attempt to invest on a human or emotional level with the characters or their circumstances is completely pointless and that becomes rather frustrating when episodes stretch well past an hour apiece.
I've probably said this a dozen times this year and I won't hesitate to say it again in the future: Netflix, you've got to make your creators edit. If episodes of The Sopranos and The Wire rarely reached an hour, episodes of your pulp fantasy pastiche can surely come in at 50 minutes apiece. Anyway, though…
When The Witcher isn't taking itself seriously? It's reasonably fun. Fortunately, it's not taking itself seriously a lot of the time. Jaskier is a major source of cheeky, meta commentary, plus he introduces an epic ballad title "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" that I'd like to submit for Emmy consideration, because it has been stuck in my head non-stop for the better part of a week. Jaskier complains about the excessive exposition, chides Geralt for his monosyllabic emoting and expresses confusion at every incident likely to confuse the uninitiated viewer. I'm not the least bit sure if he's a good or well-performed character. He's just thoroughly necessary.
“The End’s Beginning” makes a smart choice by keeping the focus largely on Geralt and establishing who he is, rather than plunging viewers into the deep end of a complex new fantasy universe. Ciri’s story informs us that this world is much larger than one mutant sellsword alone, but The Witcher’s first episode is content to make the White Wolf of Rivia its key concern. The show is definitely starting in the right place, but an underwhelming monster battle and a script that bluntly delivers its message prevents episode 1 from being a fully fantastic introduction.
Because life’s too short for Netflix drama running times, I skipped ahead to the fifth episode, which brings the Yennefer and Geralt plotlines together. Episode 5 also features Magic Viagra and a masked orgy set to some truly ridiculous retro-softcore music. I do think there’s room for a mature-content fantasy romp in our post-Game of Thrones universe, but eternal exposition runs alongside a tin ear for dialogue.
This is the first TV show I’ve ever seen that would actually be better with commercial breaks. The goofy syndicated fantasy of yesteryear had to have a brisk pace, building every 12 minutes to an act-breaking cliffhanger. The Witcher fully embraces the endless-movie layout of the worst Blank Check streaming TV. At the end of the series premiere, someone tells Allen’s Princess Ciri that Geralt is her destiny. In episode 5, people are still telling her that Geralt is her destiny. I assume they will meet in the season finale. Alas, my destiny is to never watch this borefest ever again. Grade: F
The only thing that this show appears capable of is retreating into tired fantasy tropes complete with dark warlords, gratuitous nudity (predominantly female), and chaotic evil women that could, in a moment of heated anger, obliterate the world. It’s as if D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, clearly out of steam after showrunning that final season of Game of Thrones, found a way to sell off their unused, undercooked ideas under the table to the powers that produce The Witcher.
Digital Spy
Like young Yennefer, The Witcher brims with potential. This is a fully realised fantasy world which could even match the soaring heights reached by Game of Thrones one day — but sadly, today is not that day.
In fact, this first season feels more like an extended prologue, and once all the major players are in place, season two could end up being the success that The Witcher so desperately wants to be.
The one place the show does succeed is in its fights, which combine swords and sorcery in thrilling battles against both men and horrifying monsters, testing its protagonists’ might and wits. Some of the scenarios are clichés, like the point where Geralt is effectively locked in a haunted crypt until dawn, or the large-scale brutal battles between noble heroes and nameless villainous invaders who dress in all-black. But at times, the writers show they’ve really thought about how powerful magic would shape everything, from sieges that are really a battle to break the strength of a mage fortifying a castle with his will, to assassination attempts that turn into chase scenes through a series of portals. Those dynamics at least produce some creative, thrilling setpieces.
“The Witcher” isn’t for everyone, and it’s not trying to be. The soapy scheming that drove people to choose sides in “Game of Thrones” isn’t here. Neither is the tender romance of “Outlander,” the big-minded ambition of “The OA,” or the coherence of, I don’t know, “Vikings.” But that’s OK. “The Witcher” is “The Witcher,” and nothing else matters. Just go with it. Grade: B
Time
It takes a while for viewers to learn how these characters are connected, via an exasperating Westworld-esque narrative knot that takes much of the season to unfurl. Meanwhile, creator, head writer and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Daredevil, The Defenders) has to fill in three detailed backstories, as well as sketch out several discrete races, locations and societies. Then there’s the history of the Continent, a landmass that was once the peaceful home of elves and other “elder races” but has been overrun with every conceivable type of monster—including humans—ever since a mysterious cataclysm dumped the contents of several different dimensions there 1500 years before the events of the show. All of this exposition would make for a tough to-do list under the best circumstances, but The Witcher heightens our confusion by fumbling details that would have helped it set a cohesive tone. Dialogue vacillates, from line to line, between theatrical fantasy-speak and modern colloquialisms (“Dragons are, in fact, a thing!”). At one point I realized the soundtrack had just leapt from wordless, moaning female vocals to jaunty medieval-style recorder to pounding, action-movie percussion in the space of a minute or two.
Collider
For all its massive scale, The Witcher is a surprisingly small story centered around three appealing main characters. It’s a classic fantasy tale about war and magic and prophecy, with grotesque monsters, supernatural detective work, and political intrigue thrown into the mix. It’s all a bit silly, but no more so than Game of Thrones ever was. Netflix has already greenlit a second season, and if it is as relentlessly entertaining as this one has been, I hope they make seven more. Think of all the tubs Geralt could soak in with that many episodes. Rating: 4 stars
BBC
It’s no coincidence that the point where The Witcher finally starts to pick up pace is in its fifth hour, with the first meeting between Geralt and Anya Chalotra’s Yennifer: an episode which not only merges two storylines, but which gives Cavill the chance to bounce off someone his character actually has chemistry with, to do more with Geralt than just grunt. Yennifer is one of the most engaging parts of The Witcher; a fact that is largely down to young British breakout star Chalotra.
But in the end, Netflix's The Witcher is simply broken. Like the original stories, it begins in media res for Geralt of Rivia, so game fans hoping to learn more about the witcher himself won't find an origin story here. And by trying and utterly failing to cram new and remixed backstories for Yennefer and Ciri in without making any attempts to place each plotline within the larger story, The Witcher completely falls apart. Game fans who haven't read the books will be totally befuddled, and book readers will be scratching their heads just as frequently. If you're utterly devoted to the world of The Witcher, you'll certainly enjoy the familiar aesthetic and characters, but beyond that, this series is hard to recommend. Score: 4/10
After establishing the multiple storylines and various central characters (with moderate success) in episode one, The Witcher in subsequent chapters becomes so incoherent that I actively had to read up about the lore to understand the rudiments of the plot. This isn’t an ideal way to watch a show, especially if one isn’t already familiar with the world. This impenetrability makes the show seem exclusive, and not necessarily open to the idea of having new fans. This is certainly not the approach that Game of Thrones, or even the recent (and extremely nerdy) Warcraft film took. There’s discussion about the army of Nilfgaard and talk of gnomes and elves and dwarves. After a point, without adequate context, it all becomes overwhelming.
However enthralling it is to watch him in action, Geralt is central to relatively few fight sequences throughout the season. He generally refrains from involving himself in the conflicts of others, less out of a commitment to neutrality than out of what appears to be an overwhelming indifference. And by avoiding excessive bloodshed early on, The Witcher demarcates the stakes necessary for Geralt to unsheathe his blade—gradually revealing his motivations and making the scattered moments of butchery all the more alluring.
If nothing else, 'The Witcher' will scratch that itch for anyone who loves fantasy and wants another 'Game of Thrones'-esque show to sink their teeth into. It might just be that 'The Witcher' is finding its feet in its first season, but it has some distance to go before it reaches its full potential. Like all fantasy, a long journey has to be undertaken before it can reach its destiny. 'The Witcher' has a long way to go.
What it lacks, though, is tonal consistency. This is a show with moments of drama and of gruesome violence cut through with a glancing humor that too often feels tossed-off and out-of-place in the world the show has created. The show’s dramatic sensibility is intense and indulgent, crafting action sequences whose length bulks out episodes past hourlong running times. Its comic sensibility is puerile and a bit sarcastic. Indeed, Henry Cavill’s “Witcher,” a hunter of supernatural beings, and his frequent scene partner, Joey Batey’s jester and bard Jaskier, can feel like a TV pairing less serendipitously unlikely than discordant — a regular Jon Snow and Butt-Head.
PC Gamer
The Witcher TV series is not Game of Thrones. There are too many oversaturated scenes and folk tale monsters. It's not Lord of the Rings. There's too much pointless death with zero lessons learned. It's not quite the books or the games it pulls from, either, but somewhere suspended in between. The first season of The Witcher show is an original interpretation of Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy epic with a massive Netflix-sized budget, and it's not just a great adaptation, it's one of the best shows I've seen this year.
The Witcher isn't perfect, as the story can drag a bit, but that's not nearly enough to outweigh everything the show does right. Witcher brings the world's rich characters, sharp wit, and stylish action to life in a truly delightful way, and whether you're a fan of the novels or the games, you're going to find something to love. The show has some big hype to live up to, but we think it's off to a magnificent start. Rating: 4 out of 5
The Witcher could’ve very easily turned out wrong. It’s not hard to misinterpret what it is that actually makes the series interesting, but the TV adaptation gets it. The Witcher is funny, intense, and uncomfortable, and it balances out those disparate emotions almost perfectly. Yes, it stars Henry Cavill in a bad white wig, but you’ll forget about all of that as soon as he starts talking.
Overall, Netflix's The Witcher is sure to be a hit among audiences searching for a dark fantasy series to challenge everything they are used to seeing. It makes no attempts to be larger than it is, and while it isn't perfect, its world is rich and thoroughly enjoyable.
The Playlist
It’s really a struggle to wrap your head around who this show was made for. It’s certainly not for anyone who values putting skill points into constitution or intellect when they play role-playing games, it’s all strength and endurance, and a whole lot of tropey groveling. Worse, the wink, wink nature of the oddly misplaced humor makes clear that the writers are clearly trying to have their cake and eat it too, which comes off like an eleven-year-old who’s satisfied enough by dipping a finger into the frosting before licking it off instead of making an actual meal. Maybe it was simply designed for the hordes of gamer drones who will click play no matter what, not unlike Duncan Jones’ “Warcraft,” but at least that was an epic failure of grotesque mysticism, “The Witcher” is simply redundant and repetitive discount fantasy with a budget that creates the illusion of quality. [D+]
The Witcher is a dark, slickly produced and oftentimes somewhat hard to follow fantasy production that Netflix and showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich have adapted from the books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Henry Cavill stars as Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher—a monster hunter and a magically created mutant riding across The Continent on his horse Roach, looking for work and bedding beautiful women.
The more salient point for fantasy fans is that the eight episodes of the first season of “The Witcher” (available on Friday) are at a level of production value and writing somewhere south of “Thrones” and somewhere north, but not too far north, of a Syfy channel supernatural series. It’s more of a Saturday-morning adventure than a Sunday-night prestige project.
If you can circumnavigate or weather the quick and unforgiving narrative beginnings—like if you have a background with fantasy, a knack for rolling with crazy shit, or a general love for Witchery things—and buy into the tone, The Witcher has lots to love. It can be campy, with life-or-death conversations taking place at a magically-induced Eyes Wide Shut orgy. It can be badass, with a powerful mage blending gender politics, fantasy lore, and deep characterization when telling Geralt to “[frick] off” in the middle of a magical battle. These two can mix like werewolves and silver, but when they work together, The Witcher is a wildly entertaining treat for newcomers and long-time fans alike.
In lieu of greater overall themes and ideas, The Witcher leaves you clinging desperately to the odd good moment or interesting turn that leads you to believe that something good may come of all of this. For instance, you may have heard some of those early reactions that stated The Witcher’s action sequences leave Game of Thrones in the dust. That’s true so far as the choreography of some of the one-on-one fight scenes go, but the strength of Game of Thrones best fight scenes (and most great fight scenes) has less to do with the choreography and more to do with the emotions we invest in the participating characters and the strength of the situation. Here, you’re left with fights that carry no real weight and rely on choreography that is nowhere close to being good enough to carry the load based solely on the virtue of its execution and technical merit.
Even if the series was otherwise garbage, it would be difficult to not respect such a hardcore approach. Henry Cavill might, historically speaking, one day be considered the best sword-fighter in a white wig (faux hair that’s actually not that terrible when viewed in context). It’s also worth noting that the leading man is an honest-to-god nerd who adores The Witcher games and read the books. He’s a fan of the source material, rather than simply being a hired gun, and it shows. He embodies the soul of Geralt, who fully realizes that he’s loathed by most of humanity due to a mutant-reputation thing, and he’s almost comically annoyed by it all. It’s one of the more amusing parts of the show, but there are also tragic moments. It’s a well-rounded series, really.
Cnet
Despite the fact The Witcher himself initially feels like a bit of a spare part, the supporting cast makes this new Netflix fantasy show worth a watch as it comes together over the course of a few episodes. The complicated royal intrigue and extreme violence make it a decent addition to the wave of lurid fantasy shows following the demise of Game of Thrones, with the added bonus that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Throw in some schlocky monster action and Henry Cavill's hulking hero and The Witcher has the ingredients to cast a fun spell. Because when people are capable of such terrible actions, who are the real monsters?
The moral distinction here, which I suspect will be woven throughout the series, is what exactly separates a “monster” — which Geralt is trained and paid to hunt — from a person, whom Geralt earnestly tries to spare from violence (even when it seems like they deserve it). Geralt himself is judged by many others to be a monster, and his subsequent conversation reveals the horrifying humanity of the “curse” Stregobor described from Renfri’s perspective: She’s a former princess who was robbed and raped by a man Stregobor sent to kill her, and she killed him in self-defense. Renfri also wants revenge on Stregobor, and she wants Geralt to help her get it.
"The Witcher" seemingly comes well equipped to do battle for viewers, but there's no getting around its dull edges. Geralt is told more than once that, in this brutal world, he must "choose the lesser evil." Happily, those looking for something to watch -- whether on Netflix or one of its rivals -- possess a wider range of options.
All that said, if you are willing to sit through those trudging opening episodes, punctuated by a cool fight here or an intriguing character scene there, The Witcher slowly but surely finds itself a fantastical slice of bloody, schlocky fun. The fine line between its humor and its darker fantasy elements is served well by solid performances from Cavill and Chalotra, and the turning cogs of its larger storylines eventually create enough intrigue to give those performances and relationships some meat to chew on. Whether that intrigue pays off remains to be seen—the final three episodes of the season were only provided by Netflix shortly before the review embargo lifted, and are therefore not part of this review—but there’s still enough sword-and-sorcery excitement in The Witcher to while away at least some of your time heading into the holiday season...maybe just not so much of it.
Keep going to check out photos from season one!
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.
The Witcher features:
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia
Freya Allan as Princess Ciri
Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg
Jodhi May as Queen Calanthe
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as King Eist Tuirseach
Adam Levy as Mousesack
MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries
Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla Vigo
Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevissig
Emma Appleton as Princess Renfri
The Witcher begins streaming December 20
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