The Witcher (TV Review)

PLOT: Over the course of several adventures, a mutant monster hunter finds that his destiny is tied to a powerful witch and a young princess.

REVIEW: The Netflix series The Witcher is based on a series of novels that author Andrzej Sapkowski has been working on since the 1980s, stories that have previously served as inspiration for comic books, a feature film and television series made in Poland, and some popular video games. So before we dive into my reaction to the first season of this show, I must admit that I have no familiarity with any previous iteration of The Witcher. I haven't read the books, haven't watched the Polish film or series, haven't played the video games or even seen gameplay footage. Everything in this show was completely new to me, so I can't say how it holds up to anything that came before. I can only say what I thought of the events and characters depicted in the eight episodes Netflix has made available.

Developed for Netflix by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, The Witcher is set in a medeival world referred to as the Continent and stars Henry Cavill, sporting armor and a long grey wig, as the title character, also known as Geralt of Rivia. We're told that witchers are men who have been given mutant abilities, and that there aren't many of them left. They make their living wandering around the Continent, hunting monsters, and they're shunned by regular citizens – except when those citizens need to offer them some coin to deal with a monster problem. While I'm not a big fan of the films Cavill is most well known for, the DC Comics adaptations in which he plays Superman, I am a fan of the actor himself – I've always felt like he had the potential to play a better Superman than he was ever given the opportunity to, and I enjoyed his presence in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT. His Geralt is a sword-wielding badass, a capable monster slayer and a man of few words who delivers the few words he does speak in a grumble that lets you know he's cool. People say witchers traded their emotions for their mutant abilities, but while Geralt does have a stony facade there is indication that he really does have some feelings going on in there.

My favorite aspect of the show were the "Geralt hunting monsters" stories, in which episodes simply follow him from place to place, taking monster hunting jobs. When episodes would focus on Geralt carrying out his latest jobs, The Witcher felt to me like a medeival version of Supernatural… which I hope doesn't sound like a put-down to fans of this franchise, because I love Supernatural. Over the course of the first season, we see Geralt hunting down such creatures as a kikimora, a djinn, a dragon, and (this was my favorite monster hunting adventure) a striga. On some of these jobs he's joined by a bard named Jaskier (Joey Batey), an entertaining comic relief character who composes songs about the things he experiences alongside Geralt.

Geralt also crosses swords with a whole lot of human beings. It was great fun watching him take on adversaries and deal with outlandish scenarios, while frequently saying "Hmm" and finding the right moment to deliver his catchphrase, the most simple catchphrase in history: "F*ck." It seemed like Geralt dropped an F-bomb in each episode, and it was great every time.

This isn't just a series about Geralt hunting monsters and cutting down enemies, though. He may be the title character, but there are times when he gets overshadowed on his own show by characters who pull him through an epic story while he's just trying to mind his own business. The other major characters the show follows are Princess Cirilla of Cintra (Freya Allan) and a witch named Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and it's these two who keep this show from being a "monster of the week" deal.

We get to know quite a bit about Ciri, who has superhuman abilities of her own, and her family; her grandmother Queen Calanthe (Jodhi May) and step-grandfather King Eist (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), her mother and her father, who was a cursed knight. When Cintra is invaded by an army from the land of Nilfgaard, Ciri is forced to flee into the wilderness alone – but before she goes, Calanthe tells her to find Geralt of Rivia, "He is your destiny." When we meet Yennefer, she's a poor peasant girl who is shunned by strangers and family alike because she has some deformies; a twisted spine, a hunchback, a protruding jaw. She is sold off to a witch, and soon learns to become a powerful witch herself. She also goes through a procedure that turns her into a flawless beauty who will become a love interest to Geralt, but she loses her uterus in the process.

It's Yennefer who nearly steals the show out from under the Witcher himself. In fact, the last couple episodes might as well have been called Yennefer. Yennefer is an interesting character, and there were times when I wasn't sure what to think of her. I started off feeling sympathy for her, then I didn't like her very much, then I came around to caring for her again. Still, it was odd that Geralt was given so little to do in the season finale in favor of her. I spent most of that episode's running time desperately hoping he would show up and do something heroic as Yennefer and her fellow witches went up against the Nilfgaard military (which has some witches of its own).

The lack of Geralt in that last episode was frustrating, but I did appreciate that the Nilfgaard mess brought some large scale battles to the show.

If you like monster hunting and sword and sorcery action, The Witcher has a whole lot to enjoy packed into the eight episodes of its first season. It has an awesome title character, good supporting characters, and a satisfying amount of action. There's bloodshed, gratuitious nudity, amusing profanity, and some intriguing storytelling. Viewers who aren't paying enough attention may get lost, because episodes start off telling separate stories that take place in different time periods – the Yennefer story begins roughly 30 years before the Geralt stories begin, and the Geralt stories begin roughly 30 years before Ciri's story starts. Their timelines will eventually converge, but there were points when I wasn't sure when scenes were taking place, especially since Geralt and Yennefer don't age.

The Witcher worked very well for me, and I'm sure Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and her collaborators would be glad to know that this first season left me anxious to see more. I would dive into season 2 right now if it existed – and thankfully, Netflix has already ordered a second season of the show.

The Witcher is available to watch on the Netflix streaming service right now.