Tom Bubb

Very PG, generally badly done, poor characters, obviously done, feels like Disney Honest review as a fan: As an actual TV show this is not that great when compared to other shows out there. Considering this has been billed as “the next Game of Thrones”, to say I’m disappointed is an understatement. This is simply not in the same league. The production value is clearly very good. Right in the first episode we have a big battle and lots going on. The problem is, there is immediately too much going on, and there has been no world building prior to any of the events, no character development and no real context for what you are about to watch. It is as if much of what has been written outright expects you already know the characters and where they are and what is going on. This is not good writing in my opinion and does not serve to immerse you in the world. You feel disconnected and you are watching over the top emotional scenes about characters who’ve had less than 10 minutes screen time. It makes no sense. The pacing is all over the place. One minute there is a load of stuff happening with multiple concurrent stories with different characters, then the next minute you get a long monologue with corny exposition often poorly acted by a sub-par supporting cast. And as for the casting itself, there are clearly some questionable casting choices which in my opinion are there to make a political statement rather than casting actual actors who make sense. The main characters luckily are the few redeeming features of the show. Henry Cavill does a good enough job as Geralt in spite of some terrible writing. Note I say, good enough. It’s not spectacular. Yennefer also, is probably the most enjoyable character to watch besides Geralt. The swordplay is fantastic and definitely the highlight of the show, although something seems odd about the CGI being used for many of the monsters. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is but everything looks ‘off’ when it comes to the CGI. There is a LOT of cringeworthy dialogue, just as you start to get invested in a character the show seems to switch to something else entirely or provides such a cliche piece of dialogue you’ll be thrown right out of your immersion. It seems to happen far too much that the show never seems to get into any kind of rhythm, it feels more like you are reading a comic book storyboard constantly trying to grab your attention, than a cohesive tv show with some actual thought behind the pacing and narrative. My biggest criticism has to be that there is a real lack of believable world building which I think for a show like this is absolutely needed. If you compare to Game of Thrones, which I know many will find cheap, GoT didn’t just start off by throwing event after event at you and expecting you to keep up with what was going on from corny exposition every other minute. It started off instead in a relatively small scope, focused on a few select characters in a single time frame and built from there over successive episodes and series. The Witcher sadly doesn’t do this at all, it expects you to already have an understanding of the world and throws way too much over the top stuff at you from the beginning. Overall, it’s at least watchable, but I certainly don’t understand the hype everyone seems to be giving it. I found it to be a big fat disappointment. Thank you for your feedback!