The Witcher Is Thoroughly Mediocre
Written by Ian Thomas Malone, Posted in Blog, Pop Culture, TV Reviews
As a genre, fantasy can be challenging to present to an audience on television. There’s a lot of world-building that needs to take place, on top of all the other obligations expected of new narratives. As with many fantasy shows, The Witcher is based off a popular long-running book series. Unfortunately, the execution of its source material largely falls flat.
The Witcher might have the least effective world-building of any fantasy show in history, a remarkably bland palette that kills any desire to pay attention. The world of “The Continent” isn’t particularly complicated to understand. There are monster hunters, sorcerers, elves, and plenty of standard fare that is easy for an audience to digest. The first few episodes throw so much at the wall that practically nothing sticks.
The season adapts the introductory stories to The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski, a series with a complicated chronology. The show dumps a lot of characters and plotlines all at once, an approach that’s quite difficult to follow along with unless you’ve read the source material. It’s not that what’s presented is particularly complex, but the delivery just lands with a thud. It is so boring that it becomes practically unwatchable.
As the titular Witcher, Henry Cavill does the show no favors. It would be a bit unfair to blame him for the show’s failures, but his lifeless performance doesn’t help. Geralt of Rivia has almost no personality and little is done to endear him to the audience. He feels more like a reactionary figure than a lead character, making it especially hard to care about his journey.
The special effects are pretty decent, though any goodwill on that front is squandered by the sets. The color palette is as bland as the writing, moody villages that reek of grey. It’s actually kind of depressing to watch, but not in a way that enhances the narrative.
The show does occasionally try for humor, mostly through the traveling bard Jaskier (Joey Batey). Jaskier crafts a song in the second episode that’s probably the most memorable aspect of the show. That sadly represents a rather poor investment in anyone’s time.
Things do pick up a bit after the first few episodes when the show starts to pump the brakes on the exposition a bit. There isn’t some drastic improvement, but likely enough to please longtime fans of either the source material or the genre itself. The cast do seem to grow more comfortable with their roles as time goes on, though it might be too little for a general audience.
The Witcher isn’t an offensively terrible show, just one that manages to do almost nothing right. Fans of fantasy may find something redeemable in a binge, especially this time of the year. Sapkowski’s excellent source material deserved much better than this underwhelming slog.
Only thing mediocre is your review
Why?
The show is very entertaining. To call it “underwhelming slog” is beyond ridiculous.
People hate the truth, the show is mediocre.
Over 17,000 fan reviews seem to disagree with Rotten Tomato fan reviews hitting 93%.
The shows is pretty good and the review indeed was a bit harsh, and its author clearly NEVER READ THE BOOKS. ANDREZJ SAPKOWSKI is terribly mediocre and frugal. He also disdained both the games made by CDProjekt Red AND the Show by Netflix. And after seeing that CDPR saved The Witcher Series with their games simply went ahead and SUED CDPR demanding more money!!!
Oh, and in the books Geralt is a low self-esteem and self-loathing cuckold (he gets cheated and forgives and still romantically pursues the abusive cheater). He also has suicidal tendencies. I’m not joking – google around and you’ll find that (or have the displeasure of wasting your time reading the Witcher Books).
The truth remains: CDProjekt Red saved The Witcher series from its own creator.
After reading all you comments i am pretty sure something stuck deep in your butt. Books writing is far above CDPR’s $hitty storytelling. 60% Copypasted from books, 40% makes no sense at all. Main story is nothing else than lazy favor for favor writing. Just go back to play Cyberscam, it seems like you love being cheated by them. Sapko sued them, because he had the right to do it, law was on his side. (Not to mention his son was dying when he filed a lawsuit, that for sure influenced his actions). The show on its own is fun to watch, 6,5/10 but a complete garbage as a witcher adaptation. Books >>> Game > Show. Deal with it
Because you don’t understand the fact that, becoming a witcher means your emotions are partially or completely shut off. Geralt is suppose to be a unsocial silent guy with loose morals. Geralt is suppose to be lifeless… and Henry Cavill did exactly as he should, one of the best performances to be honest.
While i do agree its overhyped series. But its definitely above average, what fantasy series you are putting above The Witcher other than Game Of Thrones? I would love to hear that…
Witcher training does two things.
1 – Teach you to suppress emotions. (emotions get in the way of being an effective Witcher)
2 – Make you sterile.
I guess the writer of this review did not watch the episode that specifically explained those details.
Geralt of Rivia is emotionless? In the books Geralt is a low self-esteem and self-loathing cuckold (he gets cheated and forgives and still romantically pursues the abusive cheater). He also has suicidal tendencies. You’re thinking about Geralt of Rivia from the games, which is an upstanding but very sarcastic individual. The Geralt from the books is more similar to an emo.
It’s certainly not an inspired review. It criticizes the village sets for being exactly what they’re supposed to be, joyless villages. It complains of Cavill’s performance as being lifeless, and unlikely to be endearing to the audience, when in fact, he’s garnered huge affection for his portrayal. I find it preferable for critics to speak for themselves. And Mr. Malone seems to have missed that the character is supposed to be subtle and reserved. He complains of the poor world-building, yet points out that everything is pretty clear, and needs little explanation.
What it really comes down to is that he found it all unengaging, and being a critic, must explain why. There’s a lot to complain about with the Witcher, of course. It’s not even close to a perfectly crafted show. But its problems are much more complex than this critic seems capable of examining, so he goes for low-hanging fruit. A reserved performance is called lifeless. A somber atmosphere “reeks of grey,” A complex narrative “lands with a thud.”
I’ll give him that he didn’t once complain that the show isn’t Game of Thrones, which is a moment of professionalism rarely seen in modern internet criticism. People seem so obsessed with what they expect to see, they can’t see what’s in front of them anymore.
Yet here too, I think we have the secret motive behind such a lackluster review. Mr. Malone’s seems to be a big fan of the book series, and is frustrated that the narrative didn’t live up to his expectations. Of course it did almost nothing “right,” if by right, he meant exactly as the books did it, or as he imagined it reading them. What adaptation could ever do that?
Sapkowski’s excellent source material deserved much better than this underwhelming slog.
Hahaha this bit is what got me. Because you make it sound like you read the books and were oh so terribly disappointed by the shows portrayal. When it reality, you don’t even know Geralt is a Witcher, meaning he doesn’t feel emotions, and THAT is why his character feels “robotic” to you. He is SUPPOSED to. If you read the booksplayed the games, you would think Henry’s performance was spot on.
Yeah u got that wrong buddy, witchers do feel emotions Geralt just acts like he doesnt couse its his defense mechanism. Witchers not having emotions is just a slander and sterotype made to dehumanise’em. If you read the books you would accually know that, its all explained in the first novel of the series. The show is terribly disappoing compared to the books but its also just poorly done.
The Witcher Games > The Witcher Series> Game of Throne Series> being illiterate> The Witcher Books.
But you’re right about the feelings: in the books Geralt is a low self-esteem and self-loathing cuckold (he gets cheated and forgives and still romantically pursues the abusive cheater). He also has suicidal tendencies.
The writting of The Witcher books is so bad that even Sapkowski thought that the games and the series would be a disaster. CDProjekt Red deserves all the awards for saving The Witcher from being for ever mediocre.
t’s funny because she’s actually the only one with sense. Yennefer is done horribly wrong, beautiful red head Triss is either black or Latina, Fringilla is black too. It’s like making captain America middle eastern and making black panther Korean, its trying so hard to be FORCELY diverse that it’s MORE racist and is a spit in the face of the books and games. Fuck you lot. Because she’s right. Couldn’t watch past episode three because forced diversity is actually more racist. Because “Hey you come on our show not because we care about your acting but because we need you to be culturally aware BRUH” film and television is now so far liberal that it’s unbearable to watch it
The show is already beloved from everyone in a little more than a week and one of the best that came from netflix. It’ll be funny reading your review for season two, maybe it’ll be good luck.
The books are MUCH worse than this series, believe me. This series is fine.
It was incredibly mediocre. The games are WAY better than the show and Doug Cockle’s performance as Geralt was miles ahead of Henry’s, though only because of the writing and how well CD Projekt Red understood Geralt emotionally.
As mediocre as the show might have been, it is still miles better than Sapkowski’s The Witcher books. In the books Geralt is a low self-esteem and self-loathing cuckold (he gets cheated and forgives and still romantically pursues the abusive cheater). I could barely believe how terribly written was the character of Geralt of Rivia when I was reading it. His suicidal tendencies also reminded me of the Emos I used to see around back in my teenager years.
Sapkowski is one of the worst famous fantasy writers alive today.
I’m inclined to believe you did not watch the entire season. In one of the episodes Geralt’s lack of emotion is specifically stated as a result of his Witcher training…that and sterility. So basically you don’t like that he’s acting the character exactly how Geralt is supposed to be portrayed?
Geralt in the books isn’t the reserved, somber figure Henry Cavill portrays. He’s much chattier and wittier, trading clever banter as often or moreso than swordplay. The reason Cavill’s portrayal is the way it is is because, on set, they realized a less verbose Geralt just worked better in film. That’s how filmmaking works best. You come in with a lot of ideas, but at the end of the day, the best takes and the best edits are what you use.
The books, however, are as mediocre as they can be. Sapkowski is a pretty bad writter and Geralt in the book is terribly written. Even though he is a genetically modified monster hunter in the books he has low self-esteem and is constantly self-loathing and with suicidal tendencies (at least once) and he also is part of an abusive relationship in the books and he gets cuckolded but still pursues the cheater and abusive woman that he loves (Yennefer) <= those psychological traits in Geralt in the books tells more about Sapkowski personal issues rather than about how a person in Geralt's place would actually be.
Having never played the games or read the books, I came into this without rose-tinted glasses. I just wanted to find a decent medieval fantasy show (my preferred genre) and had high hopes for this one, but although I tried, I couldn’t find anything to like about this series. Maybe you have to be a fan of the games or the books (and therefore have a built-in investment in the story) to ignore the bad acting, bad writing, bad directing, and bland, generic worldbuilding? Mediocre is about the best word to describe this series. The books it’s based on also appear to be pretty dated in terms of tired old fantasy cliches. Maybe Tolkien-by-way-of-D&D type tropes are still fresh in Poland, but I find it hard to get excited about elves and dwarves these days.
At least it’s better than that Shannara adaptation a few years back, I’ll give it that. But that’s mostly because Shannara is the poster child for lame generic fantasy and would never be more than mediocre even if you threw a billion dollars at it.
I have never done this but: DON’T READ THE BOOKS! Play the games instead! The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3 are amazing and very well written with good soundtracks and good graphics. The books, however, are as mediocre as they can be. Sapkowski is a pretty bad writter and Geralt in the book is terribly written. Even though he is a genetically modified monster hunter in the books he has low self-esteem and is constantly self-loathing and with suicidal tendencies (at least once) and he also is part of an abusive relationship in the books and he gets cuckolded but still pursues the cheater and abusive woman that he loves (Yennefer) <= those psychological traits in Geralt in the books tells more about Sapkowski personal issues rather than about how a person in Geralt's place would actually be.
This is very strange because I usually love books and prefer those to videogames. But it seems that indeed every rule has exceptions.
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