There’s almost a “monster of the week” quality to some of the episodes, and I think it’s fantastic.Īfter all, the short stories were much like this. Well, Geralt is a monster hunter so we see him hunt monsters. It reminds me, in this sense, a little bit of The Mandalorian, which has Mando off doing odd jobs as a bounty hunter. Instead of a clear, overarching plot that ties everything together (think Game of Thrones with its power vacuum in the wake of Robert’s death and the subsequent war and strife that follows) we get Geralt off on several adventures that have seemingly little to do with one another. Suffice to say, I think they do a great job on narrative structure but you may be left scratching your head for a while.
I won’t reveal more about that for fear of spoilers. Even if you have read the books, you might not be entirely clear on the setup here because, as I’ve noted, the order of events is strung together just so. There is conflict, absolutely, but in many ways you won’t really understand what’s going on or why until much later on (accepting those who’ve read the books-and the games don’t count). This is also because the show does not offer up a clear and definitive conflict right from the get-go.
The point is, if you’re curious about this show and want to know if it’s for you, I very much think you should watch it, but you might need to do a little extra legwork to make sure you’re following the plot and all its myriad characters.
Some names are a little easier to decipher, like Renfri (Emma Appleton) or even the main characters, Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer. Likewise, Game of Thrones has characters with names like Ned Stark, while The Witcher has characters with names like Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) and Vanielle of Brugge (Judit Fekete) and Vilgefortz of Roggeveen (Mahesh Jadu). In that show (and the books) we have clear good guys, House Stark, and clear bad guys, House Lannister, and while that all breaks down a bit over time, it’s pretty easy to get into. Its politics become complex over time, but things are fairly clear early on at least. Game of Thrones is, quite simply, easier to get into. Indeed, the one thing that I worry viewers might dislike about The Witcher is that without a strong knowledge of the books, or at least a good grasp on fantasy fiction in general, this show might require some hard work. There are other characters like the bard Jaskier (aka Dandelion, played by Joey Batey) and the wizard Mousesack (Adam Levy) and many, many others whose names are all difficult to catch and recall, and whose roles in the very complex politics of The Continent-broken down roughly into the Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire in the south-are often difficult to grasp. The Witcher follows the stories of Geralt of Rivia, a monster-hunting Witcher who lives much longer than a normal human Yennefer (Anya Colatra) a sorceress of the Lodge who comes from humble and somewhat horrible beginnings to find both beauty, power and long life and Ciri (Freya Allan) the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe of Cintra (Jodhi May) and a princess of that realm.
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