User Reviews

So the biggest issue they have is being hunted by the fire mage, but when given the chance to get rid of him, Geralt doesn't take it. He could've easily sliced his throat on his way out the portal. It baffles me how he would let one of the biggest threats to Ciri live, so the only logical explanation is that it must be a plot hole for the sake of having a villain in these first episodes.

Besides that, from my understanding Ciri is supposed to guide the elves to Dol Blathanna and yet they just start attacking her instead of maybe helping to fight the mage and in this way they would at least get the chance to talk her into it?

I can excuse small plot holes because sometimes they can be unavoidable, but the Geralt not killing the dangerous enemy pursuing Ciri must take the cake here.

(852-word review) I can understand being at least entertained by this show, especially the first season, which was decent when it premiered and shines brighter now. There was an actual story and compelling supporting characters; the characters in general, notably the central three, felt competently written - overall, the season felt efficiently put together. Even the second season (yes, an undeniable decline) had its moments; however, in the midst, those elements that felt competently done in the first season gradually became less so throughout.

And now, with this premiere alone, none of them seem present; this isn't the same, better (but still not up-to-par) show in the beginning, with the first season. It could have been better. The pacing was jarring, jumping from one scene to the next, expecting you to care for what's happening, yet seemingly not caring enough to make that possible. The "story" is cluttered - every loose piece leading back to Ciri (summed up to "Everyone wants her") while liberated of any merit of their own. This show has been declining far down enough to where you'd think it'd have hit rock bottom by now, but it's still going.

There's meant to be emotional and general weight to certain scenes - exposition about people in the past (Aelirenn), some awkward symbolism/parallels, and constant dialogue about them to try and add that clever/imaginative-intended touch to the writing for extra points, on top of an attempt at adding more character growth to Ciri through that constant dialogue regarding said awkward symbolism/parallels (spoiler alert: it doesn't feel "cogent" whatsoever - it's borderline nonsensical), a certain death that just happened, with the obligatory 'This other character cares/cared about this character' emotional-intended reaction to it, Geralt's speech at the end - but there isn't a sense of genuinity or impact; there's a sense of emptiness.

The direction of the fight choreography/fight sequences seemed more focused on being stylish and "cinematic" with the CGI blood and the slow motion, except for the fact that the former was terrible and that the latter was gratuitous - while also forgetting to make the fight sequences "good." The choreography was lukewarm and lacked a thrill and liveliness (perhaps the score was meant to pick up the slack?), and the directing was lackluster. The fight sequences weren't that terrible, but those aspects could've been done more efficiently.

Most of the outfits and hairstyles for Yennifer are horrendous - looking bland, and the hair-down look (in that particular way) is uninspired. Her best look was the scene before the festival, even though that throwback dress still isn't that good. She looked even better after it when they were packing their belongings to find a new hideout, particularly the makeup; that was a surprisingly excellent look, and I don't get why she doesn't look like that more often.

The plot convenience with the Geralt vs. Rience fight at the end to extend his life a little longer and to split the central trio up by having Geralt have enough time to break his hands, run to his sword, and then go back through the portal, yet not kill him instead, was hilarious. You wouldn't "need to find Rience to finish him off," Geralt, if your master(s), aka the writer(s), possessed slightly better skills. As it turns out, the Butcher (of Blaviken) was them all along.

And Joseph Trapanese's score, while a cue or two stood out (same with the second season), made me wish Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli were the composers instead of him more than anything. His overall score back then did the trick, and I'm sure it'll be the same here, but also the same regarding the feeling of something lacking and only a few cues standing out; Sonya and Giona's score seemed more tonally efficient, and all-around impactful/effective and memorable.

Case in point - the score cue ("The Time of Axe and Sword Is Now") during the final scene. That was their work, and it's so much better; however, while it still hits by itself, it doesn't hit the same way within the context of the show/this episode's ending as it did two seasons ago, which speaks to the avoidable but occurring depreciation of the show.

At least, entertainment-wise, we have Jaskier, amirite? What a lovely, enjoyable character, is he not? Right? Guys...? The writers seem to think so, but more importantly, the average viewer, as his comedic relief existence is continuously used, not to mention so well-written and not at all annoying. Everyone's here for him, no doubt. He's irrevocably (thank you, Bella Swan, for the word of the millennium) not insufferable Jaskier.

But in all seriousness, despite this show's apparent inability to ascend further, there is still something about it - drawing you in, even through the thick and thin of everything. That'll have to do. And this premiere, while underwhelming, wasn't that far from decent enough; yes, it could've been more entertaining, but that's not that big of a deal. Not to mention it's just that - a premiere, and maybe the following episodes, including the second half of the season, will be a significant improvement. Fingers crossed.

This episode made me quit the show.

So, in this episode's battle, Geralt kills like 20 people, but for some reason decides to only break the wrists of the super dangerous deadly enemy mage? Then, with his sword in his hand, he runs past the incapacitated bad mage guy without killing him so that the said bad guy can obviously recover and be a threat again later on?

It's like they put 0 thought into writing. That bad bad writing could have been easily fixed if they just had Geralt slit the throat of the mage as he jumps into the portal, thinking he had finished the mage. Then have the mysterious bad guy appear and heal the dying mage then and there instead of later on.

I'm not even going to bother with the rest of the season.

I had hoped the first episode of this season would be good like the first episode of the last season at least (aka the only good episode of season 2).

It's not. It's really really bad.

People, especially younger ones, are far too critical. Complaining about things they obviously haven't a clue about. (i.e.: writing, funding, dialogue, etc.) Enjoy the show rather than tear it up!

IMO, dialogue was fine. Choreography spot on. Writing made sense. The constant traveling by Geralt and company is necessary story movement. No different than other shows. Not sure where they get GOT style show. It's the same as previous seasons. Better in ways.

I like the bond development between Geralt/Ciri & Ciri/Yennifer. It's cool to see the softer side of Geralt.

I'm just sad Cavill is leaving. Will be interesting to see how things move from Cavill to Hensworth.

This episode focus in the main cast, showing they training and acting like a family, I loved it, cause in the games and books we almost dind't see it, but of course, they don't focus on it a lot.

There's a lot of Magic training here, Geralt and Yen trying to trust in each other again, specialy him, they are so cute together.

And I just loved to see Geralt and Ciri acting like a father and daugther.

The actions scenes are amazing, and Geralt fights using sinals, just like in the games, which can make books fans somewhat angry.

And, if we think about the books, this episode it's almost a filler, but a good one.

In general, I liked it, it's a good episode to start the season.

Overall, my opinion of Season 3 has been mediocre, I do love our heroic trio, and when they're together, they're strong and impressive, when they're separated, they're weakened by the loss of one another, which is normal, but individually, they are still capable of fantastic things.

But what amazes me are the number of negative comments I read. What does anyone expect? This is a long tale of a princess who has lost her home and her family, a man searching for the princess to protect her, a woman also lost and who has found a purpose in protecting that princess. And they go through turmoil. Season one was them finding one another. Season two was them coming together cohesively. Season three the continent has become chaos, and they're trying to navigate it, together, apart, they keep returning to one another for love and support.

There are weaknesses to be sure, but it's only episode one, I didn't expect it to flesh out everything from the start. I loved seeing Yarpin again! I did like the tragic tale of Shaerrawedd. I loved the Beltyne (how do you spell it?) festival overall. The monster fight was pretty much standard for monster fights in the ongoing legend. Jaskier is typical entertaining comic relief, as a bard should be. HE, actually, was the problem I had in general with the whole eight episode arc, his change in proclivity felt forced, changing him just to "add depth" at a later point. But I loved his ongoing girlfriend, what a riot she is! And Jaskier refusing to feel guilty about misbehaving was at least on point.

The elves felt more lost than anything throughout all eight episodes. Dara saddens me, he felt wasted, a "stunning" figure throughout, but he had little to do or say of any substance, even his last appearance in episode 8 felt like a throwaway cameo.

But seriously, people - war is coming, and people die. Suddenly, and without warning, that IS what war is. So - stop being shocked. And stop getting angry, it comes with the territory.

I find myself wondering what changes are coming down the pike. Geralt does not disappear, Yen does not abandon him, Ciri - she is transformed, no longer a child, she is becoming magnificent.

Let me start by saying that I am huge fan of the first season. I saw every episode many times, but this is far far far away from the first season, even worse than the second season. Some scenes, such a the shaerrawedd fight look like low-budget movies. Famost elven mage Francesca Findabair with Filavandrel is looking for Dol Blathana, but Filavandrel in the second episode lived in Dol Blathana - the valley of plenty. Gerald, Ciri, and Yennefer are running away from "fancy" worms. The mighty Yennefer has lost her face and now looks like a weeping witch... I believe the storytellers must be cursed with powerful spell.

The Witcher season 3, unfortunately, didn't convince me. The dialogues were often dull and uninteresting. Episode 5 was a disaster, they danced for 50 minutes, and nothing happened. Moreover, the special effects were uneven, which worsened the viewing experience. Another flaw was the excessive focus on violence and nudity, overshadowing more crucial plot elements. The production failed to capture the unique atmosphere known from the books and games. All in all, the third season turned out to be a disappointment and didn't meet my expectations. I waited so long for the third season, but unfortunately... it was just rubbish.

So many unnecessary changes to make things worse.

To start, there's no baited ambush in the book. The problem of making such ambush out of the thin air is that such inserted event can't have consequences that moves the story. See... Rience cannot die because he still have large role to play in the story. So what happens? Geralt & Yen plan out the whole "bait" thing to get Rience and then Geralt only breaking his wrists when given opportunity to kill him because again, he can't die yet. That's like GoT season 8 level of plot armor which completely shutters suspension of disbelief.

Speaking of no point existing, what's the point of Francesca in the show? In the source material, she's one of the most powerful sorceress and play politics at the highest level. In the show, she's completely new characters leading Scoia'tael which I thought that it could be fine back then as long as writers have plans for her but alas nope. She's so far contributed nothing to the larger story by being an entirely different character. If anything, Francesca lost a critical role in the upcoming major event in Thanedd and overall became a much shallower character compared to the book.

Even larger character changes like Francesca aside, lots of minor details are changed for far worse results. For example, the show made it sounds like the reason elves are doomed is because Aelirenn fought against humans... like what? No, after The Conjunction, humans started to take previously elven land and it's natural for elves to fight back. In the source materials, there's been numerous conflicts between humans and elves already (of course) but after such conflicts, elf elders correctly predicted that the only way to win is to live among and outlive humans. Aelirenn, on the other had, was naive, hot headed, and wanted honorable "last stand" which end up dooming elven race not because she fought, but the way she ignored elders' words and rallying young elves who are needed to breed new generations of elves, resulting in a dramatic reduction in elven population for the next 200 years while human multiplied exponentially.

The point the source material wanted to make was that even justified, brave actions have unintended consequences. That's the moral of Aelirenn's story and it not only matches the overall dark theme, but the theme will be later repeated in Ciri's decisions. Whereas in the show, uhh... what is the moral of the story? You should never fight back? Like huh?

See the difference? The show replaces all the world building characters and fine details in the book with childish writing but they still have to follow overall story arc. The result? A fractured world and story that perplex both existing fans knowing the source materials and new audience alike.