TV Review: The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022)

The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski

This tale purports to be the origin of the Witchers, going back a thousand years to the time when only elves lived on the Continent. They were separated into several kingdoms and many clans of warriors and mages. At one point, seven warriors come together to change the land because of oppressive rulers. The lead warrior is The Lark (Sophia Brown), a Raven Clan warrior who has turned away from sword art to be a bard. She meets Fjall (Laurence O'Fuarain), a Dog Clan warrior who was a favorite of Princess Merwyn (Mirren Mack). He is low-born and a clan member, so unfit to be with a princess (though that did not stop them from having an affair). When they are caught, she kicks him out with hopes of advancing her own political position. He wants to return to the capital and slay her. Lark wants to end the oppression of elves. Conveniently, Merwyn uses her kingdom's head mage, Balor (Lenny Henry), to wipe out all the other royalty from all the other kingdoms (and from her own kingdom too!) so that she can become empress, so there's only the one oppressor to slay. Balor uses his magic and an ancient monolith to summon a beast from another dimension, though he has much higher ambitions than being a lackey to the royals. As Fjall and Lark head south, they pick up a bunch of other warriors, including the last Ghost Clan warrior Scian (Michelle Yeoh) and a dwarf named Meldof (Francesca Mills) with a hammer named after her girlfriend. Being a dwarf, she has no clan (and I guess there's more than just elves around). 

The show runs for four episodes following the standard Witcher formula of being very graphic and a bit ridiculous. A lot of minor political plots are introduced that seem intended to create short-term intrigue or to justify a burst of sex and/or violence. The entertainment is in the action scenes, which are plentiful, and the characters interacting, which is less enjoyable than in the main show. The musical numbers with the bard are okay and more for plot resonance than for the comic value, as songs were in the main series. The plot twists are predictable and not terribly exciting. Parts of the writing felt like I was watching an RPG video game, going through pre-fabbed dialogue. The actors do a good job with no outstanding performances. They don't really explain the origin or Witchers but do explain some of the mythology (like where all the weird creatures come from).

Mildly recommend if you are already a Witcher fan. You don't need to see the original series to enjoy this, but I am not sure why you would want to. 

The show has a lot of graphic violence and some graphic sex, along with lots of swearing. So definitely teen and above, based on your family's discretion.

Currently (January 2023) only available streaming on Netflix.