The Witcher - Season 2: Episodes 1-6 - Review

When the first season of The Witcher hit Netflix back in 2019, no one could have predicted just how it would be received, the constant swapping of timelines helped play with that impact, but once the season wrapped and there was going to be a big wait for season two, discussions, rumours and wild speculation about where it might go, were all thrown out there, having seen the first six episodes of the second season, I can say nothing.

My saying nothing isn’t because it is a complicated show now that demands constant rewatching, or anything else as bizarre as that, but is more down to the fact that I don’t want to spoil anything for viewers, ahead of the shows release next week, but I do want to talk about the season, at least what I have seen of it. In season one Geralt was a character more known for grunting through a scene, than he was for speaking, a character may deliver a heartfelt plea to him and the return was a singular grunt or word. Season two sees Geralt talk, a lot and it isn’t just because they felt the need to redesign how the character plays out on screen, but instead is where a lot of the story takes him. One of the big things is that Geralt and Ciri are now sequestered into Kaer Morhen, the home of the Witchers and that gives him a chance to let his hair down, metaphorically speaking of course and it is within these times that we get to see who he is, when he doesn’t have to be on guard all the time.

Ciri was in my opinion, one of the weakest characters of the first season and that takes into account random dwarves, hedgehog people and insulting goat-men and while her growth in the second season is large, it doesn’t feel forced. Her change is more gradual and less whiny than the first season, but she is still plagued with doubts of her destiny, the actions that lead her to Geralt and whatever events lay ahead of her in life. Over the course of the episodes, more and more is revealed about Ciri, from her life growing up in Cintra, to her ability to scream folks into submission, but while she does everything to push herself forward, it isn’t until Geralt pulls her aside and says “You are already enough, Cirilla. You are extraordinary.” That I started to connect with her.

The other characters that we get to meet within the walls of Kaer Morhen are an eclectic bunch to say the least and while they are Witchers, they are not as solemn as Geralt is, and even he loosens up when within the walls. Of course, the biggest addition to the show this season was that of Vesemir, leader of the Witchers and wearer of epic disappointing rest face, even when celebrations abound, he is usually watching from the sidelines, a hovering parent, if you will and while he may seem like a harsh one, there is a lot of love in the actions we see him take. Even when he is talking with Ciri in the later episodes, he doesn’t talk down to her, for fear of scaring her, instead he talks at her, in the hopes he does scare her and it is that level of depth that Kim Bodina brings to the role and the reason why he is such a great actor. Lambert and other members of the Witcher family are silly enough in their day-to-day antics, because while the Winter sets in, this is their chance to rest, and you can feel a sense of comradery between them, but when threats begin to arise, they quickly drop the joking manner and become the trained Witcher’s we know them to be.

While Geralt and Ciri are mostly relegated to the halls of Kaer Morhen, the show does a good job of picking up the tale of Yennifer, who after unleashing a massive wall of fire, whilst in the midst of a massive battle, has found herself captive to Nilfgaard, or at least a smaller group of its soldiers. While she attempts to talk her way out of captivity, her captors are taken down and she and one other are now captors of Elves, some of whom are the ones we met within the first season, as Geralt kicked their butts all across a mountainside. While the threat of war that loomed over the land in season one was merely background, here the battle between Redania, Nilfgaard, the Elves and a smattering of new players, is brought full center and while it can get a dry at times, especially as most of the scenes don’t make use of the shows main cast, there is plenty of reason to keep watching them. Yennifer herself goes on a new journey of growth, one that deserves to be watched without context and while her changes are not as big as they were in season one, it is clear that there is more instore for the witch than you might have thought possible.

The fourth and final main player from season one was that of Jaskier, and while he does belt out a new song, it doesn’t have the same burrowing-into-your-ear capacity that ‘Toss a coin to your Witcher’ did. While it may not have that, ‘Want you gone’ does provide some more context to the relationship between Jaskier and Geralt, something that season one left to be very one sided. For all that Jaskier did in the first season, here it comes across more as a bit role, to help an actor send off their character, rather than flesh them out further and while the final two episodes could change that fully, there isn’t a lot that points to that happening.

At this point in a tv show review, I would talk about where I want things to go, in order to start moving things on, but there is so much that I haven’t said, in order to avoid spoilers for things as yet unknown, I can’t do that. It has been a few weeks since I saw the episodes and waiting for the final two has been a slow kind of torture that I was not truly expecting, because while all the story beats from the six episodes were separated, they finally started to come together and I wanted to see what was going to happen. There are characters that may seem like they are unimportant at first, or maybe they were a bit player in season one and their impact to season two can be vast, even if they don’t seem that way at a glance. Where season two, or what I have seen of it shines, is that while the story is still that of Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer, other players get a chance to have their moments and I liked that. The fact that the show plays out in a straight timeline now, also helps keep things moving forward and while there are some issues in a few episodes, with scenes that are utterly drawn out, it mostly has a decent pace.

Season two of The Witcher starts off strong, mere moments after the events of Sodden Hill and while the pacing is much slower here, than it was in the first season, it is thankfully in an order that makes it much easier to make sense of. Henry Cavill’s Geralt feels more like a person now and not a slab of rock, given that his character can relax somewhat, even if he now has been thrust into the role of father and while Ciri goes from spoiled princess to warrior in training, somewhat effortlessly there are still times when her nativity and spoiled self, pop up. Season two is a stronger and more straight forward show, with more rounded performances, great additions to the cast and a tale that goes places you might not think it will and I can’t wait to find out how it ends.

The Score

8.0

Review access provided by Netflix

The Pros

+Geralt is easier to connect with, making it a more enjoyable time for all

+Ciri loses her running scared manner and starts to become a character worth investing in

The Cons

Nothing will be added here, until the season is out, to keep any spoilers in check