Fantasy is always an interesting concept because with this genre, you can pretty much make anything out of nothing. Creating worlds of wonder and fascination that include adventure, magic, epic battles, for glory, fighting evil, and even love. They are things that are beyond our ways of living. And that’s what I expected when I sat down and watched Netflix’s “The Witcher.”

A fantasy adventure starring a monster killer named Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill). The show is based on video games and books that I haven’t read. I didn’t expect much but I was hoping to indulge myself in a somewhat compelling fantasy world full of gore, love, glory, and adventure. That would get me some entertainment with an interesting plot and characters while I tried not to think about my ever collapsing social life. A show that would stay true to the dark and grittiness of the original. And well I guess I got a bit of everything. 

To sum it all up, there are three main characters that you will follow throughout the show. You have Geralt the main protagonist who’s a genetically enhanced monster killer who goes around killing dangerous creatures for money, drinks a heck lot, says wise one-liners, and doesn’t really do anything unless there is money for him in it. He spends most of the show going to place to place and dealing with monsters or threats to the general population. He does some investigating and finds that the monsters are less the blame than the general people. 

Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) is a poor farmer girl who lived pretty powerless all her life and who gets beaten because she is disabled. But after a visit from a witch named Tissia (MyAnna Buring), she soon is turned into a powerful and beautiful mage, who after an assassination attempt resulting in a baby being killed, becomes disgruntled and power-hungry over trying to have a baby of her own. However, she can’t because witches are infertile. 

And then you have Ciri (Freya Allan), a princess who’s lived a pretty sheltered life and has unexplained magical powers that result in devastating her environment with magical bursts. That spends most of the show trying to find Geralt and acting  as more of a goal or objective that everyone is after. The golden snitch if you will. Now it seems simple, right? 

Wrong.

The thing about this show is that the story isn’t told chronologically in order. Events and moments that are at the beginning are actually moments way ahead in the future with other disjointed events sprinkled around the story. This is probably done to make the story more complex and highlight past events that will shed more light on them. It’s a pretty standard concept. But to do this you have to have a good knowledge of your world and narrative skills that can match the pacing and grab the audience’s attention, which is something this show fairly lacks in. It feels disorinating and you’ll end up more confused.   

To really understand this show, you really have to pay attention. You’re required to retain a lot of information to understand the key factors going on, which I think is its downfall. It asks too much of the audience all together. And you end up lost and disinterested.

One of the biggest problems to me in this show is its own world-building. The world building isn’t very grounded at all. You never really have a sense of where anything is. And certain context for certain events are not really explained well. Battles of armies are waged, people jump out of windows, elves are casted out as refugees, the history and lore of the continent, and more are not really explained. Eventually, the show explains this but it takes a while. The locations that Geralt or other characters go through are bland and similar with nothing to distinguish them. And without that context, you don’t know what to think when big moments happen. You end up feeling confused. A show that does this well is “Game of Thrones.” When you watch “Game of Thrones,” you have a pretty good idea of where everything is. And you will be able to distinguish the locations faster than the average customer at McDonald’s who notices you gave them chocolate in their ice cream rather than fudge.

Every location in “Game of Thrones” is different and distinct to the lighting, to the scenery, and even to what people wear. My point is, “The Witcher” isn’t distinctive on where anything is and how the world works. I have no sense of who and where people are because they can pretty much be from anywhere. And it also doesn’t help that the show likes to shove a bunch of other ethnically diverse people in scenes that make no sense geographically.

And for a show about killing monsters, the CGI is pretty hit or miss. Some look great but then you have ones like the golden dragon, and a weird looking goat man. It’s probably because the budget was quite small for this first production. But generally this show works with its budget pretty well, having some beautiful scenery and locations that I’m assuming are real locations to save on budget.

Now, for the characters in this show. The most notable to me is Henry Cavill. He perfectly betrays Geralt physically and emotionally, as a hardened yet skilled killer, who doesn’t question the morality of what he does. He still has a sense of humanity in him under all that. He will always try to not fight when it isn’t necessary, sacrifice himself to save others, and believes in honor and promises even when it’s against him. He’s the kind of person who cares about the people around him but has a hard time showing this because of his harsh experiences and the environment of the world. He never engages in petty squabbles or selfish intentions. And it’s betrayed throughout the show. 

Yennefer is the complete opposite. Where Geralt is morally sound, she’s more of a drift between morals as she lived a pretty excessive and long life. She goes from an abused powerless abomination, to a strong and demanding mage, to a jaded and lost individual looking for redemption and purpose, turning into a gun for hire, and finally, to a hero willing to lay her life for others. She’s complex and flawed and well written and I found myself liking the character overall. However, I feel like Yennefer’s story takes up most of the runtime. When you have a show called “The Witcher,” you would expect the main focus to be on Geralt the witcher. It feels as if he’s being dragged to the next objective by another character or plot point like an obedient puppy. So he feels like his choices aren’t actually his, making me feel kind of blank with his journey.

Ciri is probably the weakest out of the three because she feels more of an objective. There’s a certain mystery around her of where her powers are coming from. That’s pretty much the only thing on her because we don’t really get a good insight of what she’s like or who she is, what her dreams are, what is she like, and what she fears. She kind of improves in the second season, but I’ll talk about that more in part two of my review, which I will go over in season 2. 

What this show does right is it stays true to the source material. You can tell the people working on this respect the source material they are given and establish those same themes and elements into the story, keeping the grim and violent world, and keeping that dark dry sense of humor and banter to relax on the story a bit. With fantasy, you have the risk of being a bit ridiculous and unbelievable. So it’s good to ease up from time to time.   

I honestly did find myself enjoying this show even for the flaws of it. I see a lot of potential in this show. There’s a good story buried beneath this all with all the good elements to so. Many shows start off rocky, but generally pick up later in season as it gets off its feet, which I hope is the case. I do implore you to watch this show on Netflix as there is good stuff in this. But this isn’t a show you briskly watch as you’re doing meditative yoga or making handcrafted ravioli. You really have to take the time to invest yourself to really enjoy it. And whether you think, treading through eight hours to get it is worth it. It’s really up to you and your commitment. I can only hope season 2 and 3 will improve and pick up the pace. 

If you want to hear more on my analysis of the show overall, then I recommend checking out my Channel “Starmenx” on youtube when it airs. Anyway, stay curious and see you later.  

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLWy3NMgcLWdAwk4TnJBe-w

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