The Witcher

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Dec 20, 2019
Season #: 4, 3.5, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2682 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,028 out of 2682
  2. Mixed: 201 out of 2682
  3. Negative: 453 out of 2682

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  1. busiek
    Jul 3, 2023
    5
    I watched first season - it was... meh, but Henry Cavill was very good as Gerald. "I'll give them a chance!".
  2. IJustRoastedU
    Jun 15, 2022
    4
    Omg! The first episode was pretty good but everything else just was terrible to watch! This should have a 4/10
  3. winzentween
    Jan 25, 2022
    5
    Season 1 review: Im a huge fan of all things witcher so trust me when i say it's not terrible but sadly it's far from good. Though the cgi IS truly terrible at times, as are the shockingly cheap sets. The acting is too often confused and wooden as the script is a complete mess. All likley due to the weak direction and a total lack of quality control. Not sure who to blame but it's likelySeason 1 review: Im a huge fan of all things witcher so trust me when i say it's not terrible but sadly it's far from good. Though the cgi IS truly terrible at times, as are the shockingly cheap sets. The acting is too often confused and wooden as the script is a complete mess. All likley due to the weak direction and a total lack of quality control. Not sure who to blame but it's likely the show runner who has a track record of hit and miss projects. Sadly this is no game of thrones! It does get better as it goes along (but not by much) though it's just so much worse than the books or game or even the anime. The brand deserves so much better. The anime despite it's own problems really nails the feeling of what it is to be a witcher while this show doesn't have a clue. It's embarrassing at times how cheap and lazy the production is. I believe Henry has actually taken tips from fans for s2 because he had as much of a clue who Geralt was.. as the show runner. It's a real shame as the casting is excellent as is the source material. The show is technically based on the books but clearly the games as well even if its not officially acknowledged. The show is much like xena and hercules but not as fun. It's also inexplicably dumb at times but this might be due to the misuse of the giant budget. Also It is all filmed in a weird disconnected order to its detriment as it confuses viewers. I believe this was the show runner attempting to make the missteps in production more interesting in editing. Maybe season 2 will be better now it's so popular. I Hope so. Worth a look but keep expectations low. Like really low...as there are equal good parts as there are clunky stinking ones :.

    Also if you do love the games go watch the nightmare of the wolf anime first. It's meant to help with season 2 but it's just so much truer to the brand than much of season 1. 6/10

    Ggg    … Expand
  4. geewah
    Jan 14, 2021
    6
    Was unsure of what to expect from this, but as someone who has played the games, there is a rich and diverse world to work with.
    It's a shame we got a bit of a sprawling mess across to many timelines. Sometimes a more linear approach is the best.
  5. Bruterake
    Nov 22, 2020
    6
    É ok, os efeitos especiais minha nossa podres mano. Tem umas parte meio jogada mais o principal é carismático e arrasta a série nas costas para o 6 de 10.
  6. AngryShark92
    Jul 6, 2020
    4
    + Henry Cavill is surprisingly good
    + Subtle nods to the source material
    + Good soundtrack + CGI is passable - The diversity casting really ruins the immersion - Convoluted storyline - Pacing is all over the place - Some of the casting choices are very weak in terms of competence - The time jumping is a bit jarring, especially for newcomers - Does not follow books or games close    + Henry Cavill is surprisingly good
    + Subtle nods to the source material
    + Good soundtrack
    + CGI is passable

    - The diversity casting really ruins the immersion
    - Convoluted storyline
    - Pacing is all over the place
    - Some of the casting choices are very weak in terms of competence
    - The time jumping is a bit jarring, especially for newcomers
    - Does not follow books or games close enough
    - Fails to prioritize the adventures of Geralt and his monster encounters

    Oh boy, I have watched through this for the 3rd time with the books and the games fresh in my mind and it has drastically changed my opinion. I originally gave this an 8, and I feel like that was way too generous.

    I will commend everything that was done well first. Henry Cavill, while some others may not like him, I thought he did a pretty good job at playing Geralt. He seems to portray the game version of Geralt, more than the book version, which will only make sense to those who have consumed both. His range of emotions are not too impressive, but his tone, stature, and look, certainly resemble his in-game version well. I also enjoyed some of the soundtrack and score, as well as some of the monster CGI considering the limited budget a pilot season would have.

    Now into the bad...

    This politically correct, diversity hiring nonsense really has to stop. It hurts this show so much for the fans who actually care deeply for the books and the games. None of these characters outside of the few Zerrikanian or Ofieri characters should be anything but caucasian. It is the same disappointment when Hollywood whitewashes Asian movies, or if we decided Bollywood films should only feature Latinos... it makes no sense, it's not racist, it's just calling out the disrespect to the source material and time period when it deserves it.

    This leads into forcing the actual fans into breaking immersion from what they already know from the books and games. Triss, Fringilla, and the Brokilon elves are the biggest culprits when it comes to this. If you played the games, this is especially jarring for Triss and Fringilla who are now black women. If you've seen Triss or Fringilla in the games, this will look incredibly silly and poorly casted. Triss, a caucasian female, with pale white skin, (book/game respectively) chestnut/fiery red hair, blue/green eyes is now a light-skinned black woman with brown hair and eyes... Fringilla, a caucasian female, with pale white skin, green eyes, and black hair is now a black woman... it is just a complete joke and betrayal to the source material.

    Yen, makes no sense at all, the actress is clearly of Indian descent, and looks way too young and submissive to play someone like Yen. I don't blame Anya for this as it is an incredibly tough role to cast and play, and she certainly looks like she is giving it her best, but none of these characters are casted well.

    There are a few other minor characters here and there like Vilgefortz and Danek who also suffer the same diversity-washing nonsense, but they are not given too much screentime anyways. The only good casting choices seemed to be Geralt, Ciri, Jaskier, and uhh Roach.

    Alongside all of the casting issues, the storyline is just a jumbled mess. There is way too much time jumping that is, even to me, a confusing, convoluted mess of a way to tell these stories. Stories that don't entirely line up with the books or games, which to me, seems like an absolute waste of resources. This alienates fans of the books and games, as well as potential newcomers to the series exclusively through Netflix.

    I also cannot stand how much of a missed opportunity there was with respect to Geralt and his Witcher contracts, I thought these were the best bits of the show, the games, and the books. There are so many interesting contracts that Geralt takes on early, and I was sad to see such little time spent on them. Perhaps the CGI cost too much. I hope we see some more in the second season, where I will try my hardest to ignore all the awful casting choices that have been made.

    Overall, there's potential, but this series needs a lot of work and a bigger CGI budget to keep me interested. I also hate to say it but, a new writing team will be desperately needed to salvage this series if they continue attempting to tell the story this way. The forced diversity cast really is the punch in the gut for this show as well, as it will turn off a lot of the loyal fans of the books and games... and I wonder why even do it? To pander and score points with these critics who gave this a 5? I do not know why the project lead would even consider this as the series should be aimed at the incredibly large and faithful fanbase over these hyper-progressive fanatics that will probably never watch this. Guess we'll see what Season 2 does. This is a failure of a season for me after re-watching a few times. 4/10    … Expand
  7. KUTC
    Jun 19, 2020
    6
    I guess it's okay. As someone who have read the books, the first season seemed not as confusing as for people who just met this series, but at the same time some moments were painful to watch - a lot of adaptation imagination.
  8. Felindie
    Jan 23, 2020
    6
    It was entertaining, but the storyline and plot were uninteresting, the characters were ok.
  9. Hills
    Jan 11, 2020
    5
    1. Henry Cavill isn't well suited for that taciturn role
    2. There wasn't a specific direction of the plot
    3. No Captivating scenes asides the action
  10. notor12
    Jan 6, 2020
    4
    Clearly this show was done on the cheap, like everything else Netflix puts out these days..... It definitely suffers from it.

    Henry Cavill is a decently believable Geralt but pretty much everything else going on here is just convoluted and terrible. I couldn't get through the first episode the story and dialogue and acting are just so bad all around. Henry Cavill is seriously the    Clearly this show was done on the cheap, like everything else Netflix puts out these days..... It definitely suffers from it.

    Henry Cavill is a decently believable Geralt but pretty much everything else going on here is just convoluted and terrible. I couldn't get through the first episode the story and dialogue and acting are just so bad all around. Henry Cavill is seriously the only tolerable actor in the whole thing everyone else is just so bad you'll want them to stop talking. Nobody is remotely likeable aside from Geralt and there is very little character development.

    What a shame. The Witcher universe has a lot of potential for a television series but this definitely isn't it. I know people say it gets better further in to the season than i got but sorry if you cant make your first episode at least tolerable you are doing this all wrong and im not wasting hours hoping youll figure it out later on. First impressions matter and the first episode is the most important one if you wont invest in it your audience wont either.    … Expand
  11. BillyBobSusanMa
    Jan 2, 2020
    6
    Henry Cavill does a great job as the Witcher, pretty good show generally, would of given it a 8 if it wasn't for the seemingly obligatory Wokey forced Diversity crap that permeates everything these days,

    seems Medieval Fantasy Europe was far more "Progressive" than 100% Black Wakanda?
  12. MNEMENT
    Jan 2, 2020
    6
    It's ok. But it's NOT the real witcher. I like a people with money finally see goods in this GREAT witcher story. But they step away and loose sense of the original. In books there is much more moral, good jokes, hard actions, better fights and more real characters. In this TV show characters are good or bad. It's too simple. In books all characters have good and bad sides. This make toIt's ok. But it's NOT the real witcher. I like a people with money finally see goods in this GREAT witcher story. But they step away and loose sense of the original. In books there is much more moral, good jokes, hard actions, better fights and more real characters. In this TV show characters are good or bad. It's too simple. In books all characters have good and bad sides. This make to read so interesting, because it's not so predictable as TV show. If TV show auditory should be kids, then why are so many **** on the screen. If auditory should be 16+ (18+), then why characters and problems so simple and where is a real Witcher? I hope it will come some time, but not too late! Like "Lord of the rings" in it's time.… Expand
  13. julius98
    Jan 2, 2020
    6
    Fun enough, but dragged down by some really horrendous writing and poor characterisation of Geralt.
  14. Turbodowg
    Jan 2, 2020
    5
    The Witcher is okay... it never gets close to brilliance, but it isn't terrible either. It's somewhere in between passable and average.
    It lacks the magic that made both the books and the game so brilliant, but it does have some strong points; mainly Henry Cavill. He play's Geralt to almost perfection and looks exactly like the character in the game. The series would have worked much    The Witcher is okay... it never gets close to brilliance, but it isn't terrible either. It's somewhere in between passable and average.
    It lacks the magic that made both the books and the game so brilliant, but it does have some strong points; mainly Henry Cavill. He play's Geralt to almost perfection and looks exactly like the character in the game. The series would have worked much better if the focus was on Geralt, taking on a new Witcher contracts and fighting a different monster of the week each episode.
    Instead the series attempts to introduce the viewer to a ridiculously large cast of characters over a long period of time within the eight episodes, which ultimately leaves each character feeling flat. The story feels messy and without any on screen dates, or a map it is very hard to follow when and where the story is taking place.

    The other major issue is that they made some strange choices with the casting of characters, forced diversity is squeezed into every shot to fill Netflix's bizarre and over the top diversity quotas. It just looks out of place having POC I a show based on Polish folklore. The show also focuses way to much on the female characters and side-lines Geralt.
    Triss was completely miss-cast and badly written and many of the other characters you will not care about.
    Visually The Witcher looks good, but lacks any grand vistas or scenes that made the game so spectacular. The CGI monsters are ropey and would have looked a lot better if they had been physically created.
    Apart from all the poor stuff mentioned above, I did really enjoy a number of the episodes, Betrayer Moon been amongst my favourites as it feels the most suited to a Witcher TV show.

    As a fan of the games and books I’m pleased they made the show, and hopefully if it gets a season 2 it will be improved. I’d certainly recommend it to fans to watch (for curiosity) but I can’t see any non-Witcher fans getting much enjoinment from it.    … Expand
  15. AWESOM-0
    Jan 1, 2020
    6
    Promising, but kinda stalled and fell apart in the middle. There are some good parts but the flow didn’t seem natural and it definitely tried too hard. I went in wanting to like it, thus the 6, but honestly, maybe more of a 5.
  16. The_Tron
    Jan 1, 2020
    4
    I went into it expecting the worst after seeing some of the garbage from the "writers" on twitter as well as the horrible Nilfgardian armor design (dickheads and shriveled scrotum's because "lol patriarchy" according to the rumor). After watching it there was some good with the bad. Henry was a much better Geralt than I was expecting, some action sequences were pretty good. There areI went into it expecting the worst after seeing some of the garbage from the "writers" on twitter as well as the horrible Nilfgardian armor design (dickheads and shriveled scrotum's because "lol patriarchy" according to the rumor). After watching it there was some good with the bad. Henry was a much better Geralt than I was expecting, some action sequences were pretty good. There are definitely pacing issues, and it's easy to get lost if you're not paying attention. Yennefer's story is full of cringey moments and in general I just couldn't stand the character. A lot of the casting choices screams of identity politics more than being faithful to the books. And yes that horrible Nilfgardian armor design. Every time it's on screen I can't stop rolling my eyes and cringing like I just ate a lemon. And this is supposed to be a menacing force? It just seems so out of place and doesn't even align with other factions armor which all are more historically representative.

    Overall it's got it's moments but I felt it was painful to slog through.    … Expand
  17. Cesium06
    Jan 1, 2020
    5
    I'm a huge fan of the Witcher. I play Gwent regularly. I've read the some of the books. I've played all of the games. However, this show is still pretty mediocre. Odd pacing. Most parts fairly unenjoyable and unnecessarily drawn out. Anytime Geralt is on the screen it's an enjoyable adventure. I found myself skipping ahead to get back to the parts with him in it.
  18. TwiTu
    Jan 1, 2020
    5
    Its watchable. But not that great.
    The virtue signalling undertone is very present and destroys this fantasy with politics from the real world. Thats that. But even if you ignore that, the casting and actors arent that great either, mostly very bad actually. The actors playing Yennefer and Geralt are the best, yet they cant really save this series from mediocrity, and even if they are    Its watchable. But not that great.
    The virtue signalling undertone is very present and destroys this fantasy with politics from the real world. Thats that. But even if you ignore that, the casting and actors arent that great either, mostly very bad actually. The actors playing Yennefer and Geralt are the best, yet they cant really save this series from mediocrity, and even if they are good actors, they were still badly cast. Geralt simply doesnt look like He-Man, like this actor does.

    The writing is bad, too. You feel as if youre dropped into a hot pot of stuff you have to know but dont know. Especially if youre not great with names this will confuse you a lot at the start.

    You never get a feeling of epicness like in the games or books. It feels childish and cheap, best comparable to Hercules or Xena. Even though it uses a lot of nudity and gore. They think (judging from the sad music) that you feel for this or that character, that this or that character dies, yet you dont feel anything for them, because the series never establishes their character well and makes the dialogues very weird and awkward, unnatural. Its worse than on The Walking Dead. The story feels extremely rushed, as if they try to explain the whole Witcher universe in just a few hours. Maybe it should have had 24 episodes instead of just 8. But I guess thats just signs of the time. Characters and their personalities arent important anymore, because we live in a very anti-social time because people are mostly sitting at home, not having much social interaction anymore - and thats me saying, who isnt really the biggest social interactive person either.

    The jokes are unfunny, mostly because you cant really build up a relationship to the characters because of the reasons I already mentioned.

    People comparing this to Game of Thrones have obviously never watched Game of Thrones. I cried like a baby many times when people died in GoT or something bad happened to them. Here I dont even flinch.
    Its like comparing a Lada to a Maybach.
    I get that some people are starved for a fantasy series after the end of GoT, but this is in no way a substitute.

    Oh yeah, and the excessive use of colored contact lenses (sometimes they wear them, sometimes they dont, sometimes they are not centered, sometimes they are) also add to the childishness of this series. It looks completely unbelievable. Directors should know that in the age of 4K resolution.    … Expand
  19. PlacidDragon
    Dec 31, 2019
    6
    Its a season with a lot of promise of what might be at some future point, but Netflix is not there yet. At this stage, its mostly a jumbled mess. Acting is a.. ,mixed bag, CGI is also a very mixed bag. Some of what they did looks very good, other things looks like it came from a computer game in 1995 (that the very first moments of the series, the Kikimora fight has terrible CGI doesn'tIts a season with a lot of promise of what might be at some future point, but Netflix is not there yet. At this stage, its mostly a jumbled mess. Acting is a.. ,mixed bag, CGI is also a very mixed bag. Some of what they did looks very good, other things looks like it came from a computer game in 1995 (that the very first moments of the series, the Kikimora fight has terrible CGI doesn't exactly sell the series to the random watcher)..

    The fight choreography is very good, and i'll omit the story entirely to avoid spoilers :)    … Expand
  20. LordCrash
    Dec 28, 2019
    5
    People tend to compare the Witcher to Game of Thrones but that's probably the wrong take. The show never wants to be any serious and it never actually tries to achieve any depth or nuanced meaning that would elevate it above the usual cheesy sword and sorcery pulp fantasy. The Witcher is more like a 2019 version of Xena or Hercules. It's an anachronism that acts like Game of Thrones andPeople tend to compare the Witcher to Game of Thrones but that's probably the wrong take. The show never wants to be any serious and it never actually tries to achieve any depth or nuanced meaning that would elevate it above the usual cheesy sword and sorcery pulp fantasy. The Witcher is more like a 2019 version of Xena or Hercules. It's an anachronism that acts like Game of Thrones and other groundbreaking TV shows in the past 10 or 20 years never happened and that shows like Xena or Stargate were still the pinnacle of great TV entertainment. The show can only be seen as naive fun but not as anything with a serious message or story. It's only fitting that its budget seems to be severly limited, resulting in poor costumes, ridiculously poor attle scenes, completely unbelievable medieval weaponry and fighting and bad CGI and special effects.

    The Netflix adaption also shows no respect and has no understanding of its own source material. It lacks all the core strings of the novels, like the Slavic melancholia, its nuanced but very down to earth dialogues, its lifelike and nuanced characters, its complex political and societal elements, and most important, everything about Geralt's and Ciri's relationship and the true meaning of destiny. It only adds to the the show's mediocrity that it has a terrible "telling instead of showing" habit that results in bad dialogues and many repetitions. The show also only rarely cares to show its characters motivations. They just act because they plot needs them to act in a certain way.

    If the prospect of a shallow pulp fantasy show with the flair of the old cheesy sword&sorcery series of the 1990s and early 2000s the Witcher might be exactly your kind of thing. Or maybe you only want the characters from the games be part in a series? Have fun watching it, it won't do you any harm. Anybody looking for a deep and nuanced show that builds upon everything that happend in the genre in the past 10 years or a show that transports the core elements of its source material should maybe skip and watch something else - or just (re-)read Andrzej Sapkowski's fantastic novels.    … Expand
  21. McCorius
    Dec 26, 2019
    5
    I was very excited for this show. I love the Witcher Video Games but haven’t read the books. It would be so easy to turn this into a great show and it may still become one. However, the strange way they lay out the plot jumping in time and place is confusing. Whenever Gerald is on screen it works but other times I found myself struggling to care about what’s happening. Now that allI was very excited for this show. I love the Witcher Video Games but haven’t read the books. It would be so easy to turn this into a great show and it may still become one. However, the strange way they lay out the plot jumping in time and place is confusing. Whenever Gerald is on screen it works but other times I found myself struggling to care about what’s happening. Now that all the characters are laid out it could still settle into a decent show. For now it’s just kinda meh.… Expand
  22. EFRAM
    Dec 25, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When will any streamer, or for that matter any network at all create a show that has fantasy in reality structure and not based on a series of books which cannot ever be plowed into a reasonably watchable scripted series. Such is the case with The Witcher, an uneven oft times annoying treatment of the video game and subsequent books that came before it. A usually loquacious and amiable Henry Cavill is relegated to grunting monosyllabic answers and surly undertones. The storyline is a wandering mishmash of "you're supposed to already know the language and dialogue and dialects of the inhabitants of The Witcher milieu" tropes. I wanted to like the series, but again I was both annoyed and disturbed by the lack of great storytelling this kind of material needs. And lets not forget the Bard who makes his appearance in episode 2, to the dismay of both and Gerald of Rivia and everyone else I have canvassed. Come on Netflix, lets dispense with this adaptation of novels and video games and give some real show runner creators a chance to create something totally original and geared towards an audience that is hip, smart, and waiting for you and Amazon and Apple TV and Hulu and Peacock and everyone see to step up to the plate.(At least Amazon tried to do this with Carnival row, which I am sad to say was also a miss the mark presentation) the Wticher, for all its video game and novel appeal is a distinct disappointment.… Expand
  23. Igor_Pleshkov
    Dec 25, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Сериал заслуживает 10, но -1 за Трисс Меригольд, -1 за излишнюю толерантность, -1 за броню нильфгарда и Карыга лучника, -1 за музыку я бы мог перечислить ещё много минусов, но не буду. Некоторые моменты получились очень хорошо: Тиссая Де Врие прекрасна именно так я представлял её, Геральт хоть это и сепермэн-геральт неплох, Лютик тоже получился хорошо(кроме песен).Я читал все 7 книг прошел ведьмак 2 и 3 и я не против отступления от канонов. Автор имеет право добавлять что-то от себя немного переделывать сюжет для себя и своего видения, но авторы уж очень перестарались. фильм прекрасен, но его некоторые детали не дают восхищаться им. Жду 2 сезон и надеюсь они исправят многие недочёты хоть героев уже не поменять. Советую прочитать книги они намного интереснее… Expand
  24. Amleida
    Dec 24, 2019
    6
    The Witcher TV show is actually quite entertaining, but as someone who’s read all but one of the books, I find it really hard to ignore the politically driven changes that’s been made by the creator of the show. It’s not even the actual political agenda that annoys me the most, it’s how immersion breaking some of the changes or book interpretations are. Off the top of my head, one of theThe Witcher TV show is actually quite entertaining, but as someone who’s read all but one of the books, I find it really hard to ignore the politically driven changes that’s been made by the creator of the show. It’s not even the actual political agenda that annoys me the most, it’s how immersion breaking some of the changes or book interpretations are. Off the top of my head, one of the most powerful characters in the books is reduced to some weakling who can do a cool party trick, but ultimately goes tumbling down a hill and gets knocked unconscious. Oh, and for that role, they casted an average height, indian guy - although, he’s specifically described as «a fair skinned, particularly tall and handsome guy» in the books. Why? The books are based on Slavic and Northern European mythology, not some modern day, racial inclusion nonsense! Henry Cavill’s interpretation of Geralt is, in my opinion, as close to perfect as you can expect, and there are other, very good acting performances by the other characters in this first season of the show - but despite it’s fairly high entertainment value, I personally think it’s flaws and odd decisions on the part of the creator, prevents this TV series from being so much more.… Expand
  25. nbassano82
    Dec 24, 2019
    6
    The pacing and editing of the show are pretty bad. The multiple timelines are unforgivably confusing. Having read the books and played the games I knew what was going on but struggled to figure out why it was put together as such. A lot of it seemed really illogical. Overall the cast is fabulous and without them the show would not be watchable. I’m hoping as with the novels that after theThe pacing and editing of the show are pretty bad. The multiple timelines are unforgivably confusing. Having read the books and played the games I knew what was going on but struggled to figure out why it was put together as such. A lot of it seemed really illogical. Overall the cast is fabulous and without them the show would not be watchable. I’m hoping as with the novels that after the (fist two) things pick up and follow a more traditional narrative that makes for a much more compelling story. I’m hopeful.… Expand
  26. papamishka
    Dec 23, 2019
    6
    It's just ordinary.
    Basically a 1990s fantasy show with better production values, boobs and less fun.
    The books deserve better.
  27. kingzardoz
    Dec 23, 2019
    4
    I am reviewing this from the perspective of somebody who has only played the games and never read the books. I just ordered the books in the hopes that I can wipe this show from my memory. My expectations were very low for Netflix's The Witcher. The trailers looked cheap and I can't think of the last time I saw a good netflix produced show. All the woke culture aside, this show fails atI am reviewing this from the perspective of somebody who has only played the games and never read the books. I just ordered the books in the hopes that I can wipe this show from my memory. My expectations were very low for Netflix's The Witcher. The trailers looked cheap and I can't think of the last time I saw a good netflix produced show. All the woke culture aside, this show fails at the basics. There is maybe only one good human vs human fight scene in the whole show. Any fight scene with a monster is poorly executed and lazy. The writing jumps all over the place with way too much time spent revisiting the fall of Cintra. The depiction of magic ranges from ok to terrible. I can overlook many problems but they eventually become too numerous to enjoy the show. If you read the books I can imagine this series becomes unwatchable. The only way you might get a watchable Witcher series is if it got Lord of the Rings money behind it. Unfortunately I think Hollywood would still find a way to mess it all up.… Expand
  28. Everything
    Dec 23, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It could be so good but the stories are rushed, some of the best part have been cut or changed to be worse.
    The sorceresses have been misused as not one of them exudes the confidence and class ascribed to their respective characters in the books. They act more like 19 year olds in their first convincing cosplay than 100 year old mages and Yen bothers me the most. The facial expressions she makes and the manner in which she delivers insults feels bitter and immature, not powerful, confident, and snobbish. This could just be bad writing but one way or another it needs fixed. This is after her transformation, the acting before is good. Some other parts from Yens story will either leave gaping holes in the plot or require extensive revision of it.
    Some characters have been done well though, Geralt and Jaskir are great, Ciri is good as well though there is room for improvement in all 3.
    For the smaller fights the choreography is great but the larger battles are not good and in Sodden Hill's case really is a massive let down compared to what it should be.
    The ending along with the stories have been changed in ways that have lost a lot of the emotional impact that the books had.
    The writing needs a lot of work, sometimes its good and sometimes its bad, sometimes i felt like the writers didn't know what they were making and a few times you can tell what was from the books and what was made up by the writers as it became a lot watered down.
    With Nilfgaard and Fringilla there are a lot of changes and i dont think anyone of them is for the best. There are more points but this is quite long now so overall whilst enjoyable for some parts there are a lot of things that need changing and made better. 5/10    … Expand
  29. Kheliko
    Dec 23, 2019
    4
    Henry and Anya are great and the action is solid. That said the terrible time skips ruin any type of build up. Very little world building or lore is given. I guess they assume you should know? Ciri's story should of been put thru out the final 3 episodes instead of the entire season. 2 episodes could of easily been combined since they are almost exactly the same footage with Geralt beingHenry and Anya are great and the action is solid. That said the terrible time skips ruin any type of build up. Very little world building or lore is given. I guess they assume you should know? Ciri's story should of been put thru out the final 3 episodes instead of the entire season. 2 episodes could of easily been combined since they are almost exactly the same footage with Geralt being in one of them to show he was there. Just poor decisions when editing this togather. I do hope it manages a season 2 to give it the respect it needs.… Expand
  30. RHIT
    Dec 23, 2019
    5
    Requires a second season to make sense but Henry Cavil was born to play Geralt.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Most Discussed TV Season of 2019
77
#77 Most Shared TV Season of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 17
  3. Negative: 3 out of 17
  1. The Independent
    Reviewed by: Nick Hilton
    Jan 3, 2020
    40
    The Witcher is a messy tangle of plotlines in a world underdeveloped to the point of obscurity.
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  2. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Ed Power
    Jan 3, 2020
    60
    As a mindless fantasy rollercoaster, Geralt’s journey is five stars all the way to tea-time. Sadly, for those who like brains with their brawn, it may be more of a slog.
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  3. Time
    Reviewed by: Judy Berman
    Dec 20, 2019
    30
    It takes a while for viewers to learn how these characters are connected, via an exasperating Westworld-esque narrative knot that takes much of the season to unfurl. ... The Witcher heightens our confusion by fumbling details that would have helped it set a cohesive tone. Dialogue vacillates, from line to line, between theatrical fantasy-speak and modern colloquialisms (“Dragons are, in fact, a thing!”).
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