The Witcher

I didn't really know what to expect from The Witcher having never read the books or played the games but I'm a big Henry Cavill fan and saw all the high ratings so I thought I'd give it a chance and I'm glad I did because I liked it a lot, even more than I thought I would! It seems that most of the negative reviews are from people who are either comparing it to the games or books (which you shouldn't, just take it for what it is) or from bots from competing streaming services that rate everything Netflix does low. They say things like "another Netflix bomb" or something like that even though Netflix has had more Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, etc. Nominations than any other company on the planet. Henry Cavill is such a great actor and was absolutely brilliant as the lead, as was the rest of the cast!

As a fan of the books & games, I thought the first season was decent. It's an adaptation of a multi-book short story collection with an overarching narrative. Without prior knowledge of the series, I may have required multiple views to understand the timeline and events. It has a similar feel to the stories, though, and I enjoyed it.

Season 2 had a great first episode and an okay finale, but meandered in the middle episodes. The substance of many adapted stories were altered. Parts that were main story in the book felt like filler and lacked necessary plot & character development. I'll never understand why adaptations leave out parts that are important to understanding the main plot and characters, yet add meaningless fluff & soap opera drama. Some characters that don't say ten words in the books are main POV characters now.

Season 3 was awful. Before even looking at the train wreck of the content, I wonder why NF released half the season, when the second half will be aired three weeks? Why not wait and release the entire series, or release one episode each week? Anyway, regardless of the stupid release schedule, the first half of season 3 is abysmal. The main actors who brought the characters to life in season 1 don't seem to want to be there at all anymore. The script writers are no longer even trying to follow the Witcher stories, they're just off in the weeds doing their own thing. The drop in quality this season is precipitous. I'm sorry to say it, but Netflix's The Witcher is no longer worth watching.

Strangely enough, this goof describes the downfall of the series perfectly.

Season 1: 10 Stars, simply amazing, beyond expectations.

Season 2: 8 Stars. Very good with many lovely story telling.

Season 3: ... What the hell was that?

In one of the latest episodes of season 3, Yennefer says "Look at all these Gold, left here to rust".

Yennefer is a powerful sorcerer, that has lived for centuries and has extensive knowledge in alchemy. She would most definitely know that Gold does not rust. That's what makes it so special.

And that summarize the quality of the 3rd season and how once an amazing show with beautiful story, wide characters and extended knowledge has now become a total waste of time.

What can I say... Seasons 1 & 2 were excellent.

Solid writing with enough following to the source material.

Really good cast and acting.

Topped with some decent special effects and set design resulted in a very enjoyable dark fantasy adventure.

Then, along came season 3.

Oh dear... oh dear oh dear oh dear.

It feels as if they're trying to achieve the same as the first two seasons but with half the budget and deplorable writing.

Every scene feels cheapened and like a soap opera.

What on earth happened?

No wonder Henry Cavill left. This is nowhere near the caliber if the first two seasons and an epic disappointment.

The forth season will undoubtedly be doomed to failuref this is anything to go by.

Seasons 1 & 2 = 8/10 Season 3 = 5/10.

Pretty much only kept watching for Cavill and Jaskier. They both did an amazing job, especially Cavill as the Witcher, his scenes and acting were perfect. Its too bad he was surprisingly only in about third of the scenes. Found myself bored with scenes without him and just wanting to skip ahead. Many of the other characters lacked charm and interesting sub plots and felt they had too much attention paid to them and that they were overall lacklustre. Would have liked more attention paid to Cavill and monster hunting. Really disappointed that Henry will not continue with the show since he single-handedly made it worthwhile to watch. Here's hoping the new actor can do the role justice.