TV Review: The Witcher Season One (2019)

The Witcher Season One (2019) created for television by Lauren Schmidt from the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski

Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) is a Witcher, a hunter of beasts (mostly supernatural or mystical) with incredible physical prowess and some magical abilities. He's often hired to take care of weird and annoying monsters, though often enough his wanderings take him into weird and annoying situations where his talents are called foreven without a paying customer. He doesn't talk a lot, making him pithy and brooding. He appears like a hard man with no concern for others. In his actions, he strives to do the right thing in a given situation even if that isn't beneficial for himself. At one point a bard latches on to him, wanting to promote his Witcher reputation, with mostly comic results. Geralt is a man destined for a hard life.

Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) is a lowly and deformed teen who exhibits magical powers. She's taken in by a mage guild that develops her powers. The mages hire themselves out, with the best serving as court mages who do whatever magical tasks need doing for the royal families. She makes a horrifying deal to be made beautiful and discovers how unfulfilling a mage's life can be when it's all in the service of others. She spends a good deal of time in one kingdom then becomes a wanderer like Geralt. She even runs across Geralt several times. She is a woman destined for a hard life.

Cirilla of Cintra (Freya Allan) is the kingdom's young princess who has to go on the run when they are overrun by forces from the south. She becomes a wanderer and discovers her own magical ability that she can't quite control or understand. Her destiny is entwined with the Witcher's, though they travel many roads separately before they are brought together. She is a child destined for a hard life.

Destiny is a large and deliberate motif in the story. The characters' stories are intertwined though the connections are not immediately obvious. About halfway through watching, I realized that the narrative was jumping back and forth in time, making it a little confusing to piece together. Also, the many kingdoms on the Continent (it's a mythical land without a mythical name) are a little hard to keep track of. But the show is not so much interested in politics as it is in the personal stories of the three main characters. The three try to alter or ignore their destinies and yet the plot keeps pulling them toward what they'd rather not have.

The tone fluctuates a bit. At times, it's dark and graphic like Game of Thrones. At other times, it has the sense of adventure and self-aware humor of Xena: Warrior Princess. The blend works better than I thought it would. I found the show very entertaining, if slight. The story knows where it's going but the ending is abrupt and leaves viewers waiting for Season Two, which I found a little annoying, especially since it will be over a year until the next season.

Mildly recommended.

Parental Warning: The series contains quite a bit of nudity and sexuality; there's a lot of swearing (Geralt drops a lot of f-bombs, though maybe it seemed like a lot because he's so terse); the violence is also graphic though mostly against mythical beasts; one horrible surgery happens on camera with gory organs shown.

The show is currently (February 2020) streaming on Netflix. I'm sure it will come out on disc eventually.