The Witcher

The Witcher is most engaging when exploring the alliances and allegiances between Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri and when using those three to consider Nivellen’s insistence that “Monsters are born of deeds alone. Unforgivable ones.” But in its attempt to build a bigger world, the series falls prey to more fantasy tropes than it masters.

For all that the acting and writing is frequently ropey – “You’d be married off to the nearest Lord of Bad Breath” and “They lick the boots of humans, the same boots that will eventually crush their necks” are two of the main offenders – it has the pleasantly self-effacing air of a show that knows its first season wasn’t a home run.

Overall, yes, The Witcher season two has a few missteps along the way with some questionable decisions and meandering storylines. But if you’re looking for more horrific monsters, riveting fights, and magical mysteries, then there’s plenty to love.

Two years after its debut The Witcher returns to Netflix, looking every bit as brawny as its maiden flight and less messy structurally. Although the series developed a solid following (unlike some of the streamer's other recent fantasy efforts that met the executioner's ax), the show remains uneven and somewhat impenetrable to anyone not truly invested in it, which isn't helped by the long layoff.

“The Witcher” constantly struggles to balance its dialogue-driven scenes with pushing the plot forward. It can be an exhausting show in terms of pace—every single episode feels longer than it actually is.

Cavill remains fine as Geralt, with his absurd physique and long white hair. He has mastered the art of the humorous grunt and it’s still fun to watch him handily slaughter dozens of men at a time or take on some comic-book looking creature. But there was an audacity to this show’s first season that now seems buried beneath plot complications.

A lot of what made the series charming has been set aside. ... Overall, you probably know whether you’re the kind of viewer who’s willing to add another complicated Brothers Grimm-meets-Middle Earth saga to your schedule. And if you like your costumed fantasies mythology-forward and you find the mechanics of world building to be an end in themselves, then this new, more mysterious and portentous season of “The Witcher” may be for you.