![]() ![]() No one likes politics – as someone of Geralt’s neutral disposition might say.ĭespite the pressure cooker of a mid-season finale ending in dramatic fashion, it’s worth pointing out that Henry Cavill’s exit won’t be addressed in the show. Again, the solutions to turn a good show into a great one appear achingly obvious: more playfulness, more monsters, more time spent with the family unit together, and less politics. There’s even a memorable dance scene that may not rival Wednesday’s viral sensation, but at least highlights the series’ growing sense of fun in putting Geralt in witcher-out-of-water situations. The experimentation with structure, too, certainly makes the mid-season finale stand out as this batch’s most striking episode, if nothing else. An intricately-poised, clockwork-like sequence leaves rivalries and warring agendas to bubble up in the background as simmering emotions come to the fore. The Witcher season 3’s first volume does at least end with a bang – and one of the show’s finest hours. It’s silly, joyous – and a welcome reprieve from the stodgy pacing that punctuates parts of the third season. ![]() The fourth episode, in particular, feels like classic Witcher: a return to the monster-of-the-week adventures (a format that better suits the series, in truth) that sees Geralt and Ciri hunt down a particularly fearsome beast on a boat surrounded by Jaskier’s even-more-obnoxious rivals. Instead, it’s when the Netflix series heads off on a diversion away from the main narrative where it really plays to its strengths. Worse still, it calls to mind the first season’s needlessly convoluted timeline debacle with how scattered (and scatterbrained) everything feels. The show often struggles under the weight of juggling these plots, with the continual back-and-forth between Geralt’s protection of Ciri and the attention given to the world around them gifting the season an uneven shape. The Witcher quickly becomes bogged down in warring kingdoms and a battle that never dares make its way on-screen. If it’s wrong to want an entire season of Geralt, Yen, and Ciri roaming around the Continent, I don’t want to be right. Similarly, Francesca (Mecia Simson) and Filandravel’s (Tom Canton) aim to unite the elven clans – including newcomer Gallatin (a gravelly-voiced Robbie Amell, seemingly doing his best Batman impression) – leaves the show mired in the sort of turgid politics that grinds a significant portion of the first volume to a halt. Perhaps the greatest victim of what is an abrupt-feeling mini-season, the Nilfgaardian Emperor should be grasping these episodes by the throat, but never once threatens to do so. Emhyr (Bart Edwards) – Ciri’s father, re-introduced during the closing moments of the second season – is the biggest offender. The Witcher’s increased time with the wider cast does little to set the pulses racing, however. ![]()
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