Schmidt set the show before the events of Sapkowski’s first novel, Blood of Elves, removing most of the dramatic tension for anyone familiar with the source material or games. But The Witcher’s protagonists still feel thinly sketched, with too much time devoted to clunky exposition, or to building up even thinner minor characters who are meant to be important later.Ī romance for the ages. While Game of Thrones’ large cast and sprawling setting meant that many main characters didn’t interact for long periods of time, sharp writing and acting and a strong supporting cast ensured that their individual scenes felt weighty.
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As a result, it seems both strange and yet inconsequential when one of the triad disappears for a full episode. These three storylines are almost entirely disconnected through the first half of the show’s eight-episode first season, though Geralt is repeatedly told that Ciri is linked to him through the powerful force of destiny. The Witcher’s episodes are an hour long at minimum, and they also follow the stories of two other protagonists: the ambitious sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri (Freya Allan), a fierce young princess on the run from the Nilfgaardians who is seeking Geralt’s protection. That dynamic works well with The Mandalorian’s short, laser-focused episodes, which keep the spotlight on the title character, with occasional scenes dedicated to Baby Yoda’s adorable antics. Like The Mandalorian, The Witcher mostly consists of episodic adventures, as Geralt gets embroiled in the schemes of powerful men and women who want to use his significant skills for their own purposes. The worst of mankind is represented by the Nilfgaardian Empire, whose forces brutally torture and slaughter everyone in their wake in battles that resemble Game of Thrones’ gory grimdark excesses.
The human kind.” (The line feels like it’s pulled right out of Futurama’s Twilight Zone parody.) Other storylines show that seeming monsters can be far nobler than apparent humans, particularly episode 4, “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials,” which is basically a Beauty and the Beast retelling. When the Witcher asks what kind, Stregobor responds, “The worst kind. In The Witcher’s first episode, “The End’s Beginning,” scheming sorcerer Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen of Sherlock and House of Cards) asks Geralt to kill a monster for him. That cliché is aggressively hammered home by showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who previously wrote several scripts for Daredevil and The Umbrella Academy. Many of the small-minded people Geralt is trying to protect think that makes him a monster himself.Įveryone really needs that bath, huh? Photo: Katalin Vermes / Netflix Witchers owe their combat prowess to magical mutations, which manifest in Geralt as piercing yellow eyes. While he occasionally shows a bit of charm while making a barbed joke or reacting to a particularly dramatic revelation with a curt expletive, he mostly spends his time moping over his tragic lot in life, as a monster hunter who’s constantly getting swindled or chased out of generic medieval towns. Henry Cavill (the DCEU’s Superman) plays the title character, Geralt of Rivia, with a square-jawed terseness so inscrutable that he might as well be wearing the Mandalorian’s signature helmet.
But while The Mandalorian is an immensely entertaining exploration of the Star Wars universe and its roots in Westerns and samurai films, The Witcher is a dull, dour mess with no stakes that embodies the worst impulses of post- Game of Thrones television.
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That description fits both the Disney Plus Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Witcher, Netflix’s adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels, which also inspired CD Projekt Red’s video game series of the same name. He doesn’t want to connect with anyone, but his world is turned upside down when destiny makes him responsible for a very special child.
That means he’s often so desperate for money that he’s forced to take terrible risks.
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Violence is his livelihood, and yet his code makes him choosy about his jobs.
A brooding hero, one of the last members of a race of legendary warriors, wanders through a wild, dangerous world, finding nothing but trouble.
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