where to watch: Netflix
when to watch: When you’re looking for something entertaining but not mind-blowing; whenever you are in the mood for fantasy. When you’re awake enough to pay attention to details.
you should note: Women! Writers and directors! (More on that below) Already renewed for season 2 and 3. easily bingeable.
tl;dr: A magic-filled fantasy show about a monster-hunter(the titular witcher) and a couple of other characters figuring out their place in a world filled with evil and disappointment.
Despite being released just 11 days before the end of the year, The Witcher still became the 2nd most popular Netflix show of 2019. My brother binged the show in 2 days, and since then has been nagging me to watch it. Naturally, I had to see what all the hype was about.
After watching the series, I can safely say that though it is by no means a perfect show, I recommend it if you are into that sort of thing (fantasy, magic, Henry Cavill going “Hmph” about 20 times/episode).
the premise
The Witcher is set in a world of magic, monsters, and misery. Witchers are mutants with special powers that are basically contract monster killers. Our titular witcher is named Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), and despite being hardened by the evil he is surrounded by, he has a heart of gold.
In addition to Geralt, our other main characters are Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), a girl born with a hunchback and magical powers, and Ciri (Freya Allan), the young princess of Cintra.
There’s also a traveling bard character named Jaskier that is sometimes very funny and sometimes very irritating.
The show follows the protagonists as they each go on their individual journeys to discover their place in the world. There’s also plenty sword-fighting, monster-killing, curse-curing, magic-learning, traveling by horse, blood, gore, and of course, nudity. You know, typical fantasy stuff.
everyone’s burning question
You’re probably wondering how The Witcher compares to the most popular fantasy show of all time, Game of Thrones, so let me address that head-on.
GoT definitely had a much higher production budget; The Witcher is not nearly as cinematic. Thus far, the plotlines of The Witcher also do not seem nearly as complex. Where GoT has dozens of main characters and plotlines to follow, The Witcher has three. The Witcher also has a lot more magic than Thrones. But I actually don’t care about any of this, because there is one area in which The Witcher puts GoT to shame: the involvement of women.
Game of Thrones is an incredibly misogynist show (stay tuned for an essay on this) written and created by two men that can claim a total of four episodes written by women and four episodes directed by a woman out of 73. Out of 19 directors, one was female. There was not a single woman involved in the writing or directing of season 8 (no wonder it was so antifeminist—and bad).
Meanwhile, The Witcher’s showrunner is a woman, Lauren Schmidt, and of the series’ 8 writers, four of them are women. Out of 8 episodes, 5 were written by a woman. That’s right, in its first season, The Witcher already has more episodes written by a woman than ALL 8 SEASONS OF GAME OF THRONES.
To me, this alone is a reason to check out the show, especially if you watched Game of Thrones. Balance out the type of media you consume.
in conclusion
As I said at the beginning, this show is not perfect. There’re some moments of mildly cringey dialogue, so far the side characters are underdeveloped, and for a moment around episode 5 or 6 I began to lose interest because I wasn’t sure where the show was going.
Still, there is a lot the show does really well. For one, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I found myself laughing out loud throughout the season. In fact, there’s one super meta line about how Jaskier is just “there to deliver exposition” that I found hilarious. Another thing I really appreciated about the show is that it doesn’t underestimate its viewers. It throws all of the lore and mythology of the world right at you. It trusts that you will eventually understand enough. And you should too! After about two episodes, I felt overwhelmed by all the details, but by the end of episode three, everything started to fall into place.
I don’t watch or read a lot of fantasy, so I am by no means an expert on how this compares. But I found it entertaining, and I think it has potential. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments below!
#GrlPwr