Conner’s Critique: The Witcher – First Episode Sneak Peak

On December 3rd, Netflix had an exclusive, one day only, pop up event at The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California (you can see our post about it Here), showcasing a fully immersive look into the world of The Witcher. The event concluded with a private screening of the first episode of the highly anticipated action fantasy series based on the popular books and games.

As one of the first people allowed to see the episode, I was asked politely not to spoil anything. I’ll do my best not to ruin it for you!

STORY: 9/10
With full honesty, it’s very difficult to explain the story without spoiling the episode’s plot. I can’t tell you exactly what happened, and I’m wary to offer clues because it’s based on a story that’s already out there. Let me give it a try.

This is one of the fan favorites, as far as tales of Geralt’s exploits are concerned, and it involves how the White Wolf got the moniker The Butcher of Blaviken. I’m sure some hardcore Witcher fans will already know what I’m talking about, and will have also had some serious suspicions about what would be featured in the Netflix series thanks to the casting on IMDB naming Renfri and Stregobor among mentioned characters. The story is reminiscent of Snow White, with a more brutal and bloody twist. Geralt is placed directly in the middle of this mess, and in his typical salty manner is none too pleased. The story holds up to the book well, and I was pretty excited that this was what they chose for the first episode.

Much like every experience Geralt has had in every version of his life, he learns that choosing sides sucks no matter what you do, that you always end up the scapegoat or putting something truly terrible into motion, that regardless of who is actually committing the atrocity people witness, you’re the one who gets stoned by the townsfolk, that humans are the real monsters, and last but not least: that there’s no such thing as a lesser evil.

ACTING: 9/10
The character of Geralt is supposed to be emotionless, but Henry Cavill’s approach can sometimes come off as wooden. Other than that, I think everyone involved did a wonderful job, here. I’m excited to see so many relatively new faces joining this giant of a show, and while Freya Alan‘s contacts were very distracting, her acting was on point. She portrayed a confused and young, extremely sheltered Ciri phenomenally. Considering that she was originally cast for a much smaller part, I’m thrilled to see her take on the larger role and absolutely nail it.

As far as Henry Cavill is concerned, like many other women, I have a very serious thing for emotionally distant, grizzled and salty bad boys. I was concerned that Cavill would not be able to portray this well, and was surprised to see him commit to the Geralt voice. He channeled Doug Cockle with great accuracy, and I’m absolutely certain he’s eventually going to pull a Misha Collins and admit that the smoker voice was a bad decision for his throat!

Regarding the whole racial nonsense floating around the internet (Triss isn’t black, you guys!), I’m going to actively say shut it. The showrunner stated several times that casting is a meritocracy, and not based on one’s look. I heard someone say that, in The Witcher books, “…differences are mentioned and held against people, that skin color isn’t mentioned because it’s not different. That things like scars, build, height, eye color, ear shape, etc, are all mentioned many many times because they’re different and worth mentioning, and because skin color isn’t mentioned, they must all be white.” Then in the same sentence state that the showrunner was wrong for choosing an American accent for inclusion because the book doesn’t say what accent it is and therefore they can make the creative choice to do British accents. Okay, but what about the skin color thing? If skin color isn’t mentioned either, then why can’t that also be a creative choice? Anyways, this is a huge and deep conversation that I’m not willing to have. Y’all racist. Moving on.

OVERALL: 9/10
With the first episode being a well-known story in the books, The Witcher delivers mystery, and nuance along with brutal fight scenes balanced neatly with casual sex that’s more about plot progression than pornography. Geralt really needs to stop having sexual encounters with random ladies, because he’s always ending up unconscious, flat on his back, and realizing he’s been had. The cinematography is stunning, the costumes are pretty great, I’m slightly annoyed with the lack of cat eyes, the CGI is pretty impressive, and from what I saw, the world is pretty accurate to the lore.

At this point, though, the world feels a bit small. With Game of Thrones, you can feel the vastness of everything. So far, in The Witcher, it feels like many stages that are loosely nearby each other. It’s difficult to get a sense of distance traversed or time spent going from location to location, because the scenes just jump forward. Geralt is laying in the woods, and then he realizes he has to be in the town and he rushes off screen, then saunters into the square where he meets some thugs. It’s almost jarring, but I hope that it’s one of those episode one issues that resolves itself with time.

Monica’s Final Thought(s):
The lead up to this release has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. When it was first announced, I was reticent. It’s not often that you see a successful transition from book to game and even less often that you see a successful show come of it later. Showrunners aren’t known for creating things that are true to the books, for many reasons, and it’s rare that the show holds up. With Game of Thrones, they deviated from the books, but held true to the spirit of the characters (except Season 8. We don’t talk about Season 8). That was the exception to this rule. Some of the reasons that things end up changing are time, budget, ease of implementation, or sometimes it just doesn’t translate properly to a screen. These are all reasons I was wary of The Witcher coming into my life in a live action production.

Shortly after, Henry Cavill was announced as being cast as Geralt, and my first thoughts were not exactly positive ones. Seeing the concept mock ups made me even less excited for the choice. I was convinced that Cavill was too soft to be a hard, jaded, monster-hunting vagrant. As more concepts were released, the look got better and better, but I was still sure that he wasn’t right for it. It’s how we all felt about Heath Ledger‘s Joker.

The trailer was what really changed my mind, here. Hearing the Geralt voice, specifically. Knowing that Cavill is a big “The Witcher” nerd, he fully committed to the role and got the voice and mannerisms down cold. After seeing the first episode, that feeling was solidified. I believe he can do it right, and I believe that everyone involved was chosen with care and love for the story.

People are saying that this will fill the void of Game of Thrones. I don’t get that feeling from it, personally, but I do feel that it will be successful and entertaining. There’s a lot of potential here!

Are you excited for The Witcher? Why or why not? Comment below!

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