...Is what I desperately wish I could've said about this show. Unfortunately, it's the opposite. Everything about this show is miles beneath the greatness of The Witcher.
The story... it's so bad. This series was originally supposed to be about 6 episodes long but for some reason it was cut to 4 and you can really feel the impact that has. Everything feels so choppy, so fast paced even though hardly anything is actually happening. They cut out entire storylines that are pivotal to the show and then later on in the series they mention these cut storylines that leave you clueless.
For example, Fjall apparently has a sister, who is killed by Merwyn, but all of her scenes get cut. However, they mention several times in the series his sister and show Fjall's reaction to hearing of her death, but the audience has no clue that she even exists!
Another character, who is a mage, is shown in episode 1 locked in a prison cell that prevents him from using his magic, but in episode 2 he is suddenly far far away from Xin'trea, out of his cell. He explains that he escaped, but regardless they should've shown this but didn't. How did he even escape in the first place? This only scratches the surface of the issue of plot holes
The plot is so predictable. Merwyn is revealed as the main villian through what is supposed to be a big twist, yet I knew it was coming long before it actually happened. Characters actions are predictable at every point so theres no unpredictability.
The whole premise of the show is "showing the Conjuction of the Spheres and the arrival of the first humans on the Continent." You want to know how long they actually spend showing the Conjunction and the arrival of humans? ONE MINUTE. The show's entire point is only shown for 1 minute at the very end of the show. And it's barely even shown, we see the main character's reactions more than the event itself and its shown under a voice over that distracts from the scene. What an anticlimactic disappointment.
Speaking of anticlimactic, there are some massive reveals at the end of this show impacting The Witcher, including an origin for presumably one of the show's main villains, whenever they get around to showing him at least. However, everything before the reveal has been so lackluster that it has no impact. I literally felt nothing watching the scene and I love The Witcher series, yet the twist had no affect on me because theres no build up to it and the character involved in the scene really isn't even a huge character in the show.
The acting isn't the worst I've seen, but it is not good. To be fair, I thought Fjall and Merwyn's actors did decent jobs but everyone else came across as weak. Part of this is due to the writing, which was also very flawed. One thing that really annoyed me in this was how often they mention, "putting him to clay" throughout the 4 episodes. Like the amount of times they say something along the lines of this is insane for only 4 episodes.
The writing also harms the characters. They are so dull it's insane. The main two characters hate each other in the first episode, are okay with each other in the second episode, and then having sex in the third. Huh? There was nothing even alluding to them having feelings for each other until the third episode. Plus they ruin this part of the story by showing them kissing in the trailer so good job to Netflix's marketing team on that.
There's also a mid credits scene that made no sense to me, in fact it almost felt like a retcon in a way.
The visuals are a big letdown compared to The Witcher. Nothing looks visually pleasing and the CGI is noticeable in every scene it's used in.
When you read reviews for this show, you should know many reviews aren't even from people who have watched the show, but from Witcher fans complaining about the diversity in it or just boycotting the show because it isn't what they want it to be.
With that being said, this show isn't worth it.
I'm a big fan of The Witcher series and even I regret watching this. It had no impact on me and has no redeeming qualities to it. When I finished watching the show I was thinking maybe a 3 but after writing my review I'm lowering it to a 2. The only reason it's not at a 1 is because I was slightly entertained in some spots.
The story... it's so bad. This series was originally supposed to be about 6 episodes long but for some reason it was cut to 4 and you can really feel the impact that has. Everything feels so choppy, so fast paced even though hardly anything is actually happening. They cut out entire storylines that are pivotal to the show and then later on in the series they mention these cut storylines that leave you clueless.
For example, Fjall apparently has a sister, who is killed by Merwyn, but all of her scenes get cut. However, they mention several times in the series his sister and show Fjall's reaction to hearing of her death, but the audience has no clue that she even exists!
Another character, who is a mage, is shown in episode 1 locked in a prison cell that prevents him from using his magic, but in episode 2 he is suddenly far far away from Xin'trea, out of his cell. He explains that he escaped, but regardless they should've shown this but didn't. How did he even escape in the first place? This only scratches the surface of the issue of plot holes
The plot is so predictable. Merwyn is revealed as the main villian through what is supposed to be a big twist, yet I knew it was coming long before it actually happened. Characters actions are predictable at every point so theres no unpredictability.
The whole premise of the show is "showing the Conjuction of the Spheres and the arrival of the first humans on the Continent." You want to know how long they actually spend showing the Conjunction and the arrival of humans? ONE MINUTE. The show's entire point is only shown for 1 minute at the very end of the show. And it's barely even shown, we see the main character's reactions more than the event itself and its shown under a voice over that distracts from the scene. What an anticlimactic disappointment.
Speaking of anticlimactic, there are some massive reveals at the end of this show impacting The Witcher, including an origin for presumably one of the show's main villains, whenever they get around to showing him at least. However, everything before the reveal has been so lackluster that it has no impact. I literally felt nothing watching the scene and I love The Witcher series, yet the twist had no affect on me because theres no build up to it and the character involved in the scene really isn't even a huge character in the show.
The acting isn't the worst I've seen, but it is not good. To be fair, I thought Fjall and Merwyn's actors did decent jobs but everyone else came across as weak. Part of this is due to the writing, which was also very flawed. One thing that really annoyed me in this was how often they mention, "putting him to clay" throughout the 4 episodes. Like the amount of times they say something along the lines of this is insane for only 4 episodes.
The writing also harms the characters. They are so dull it's insane. The main two characters hate each other in the first episode, are okay with each other in the second episode, and then having sex in the third. Huh? There was nothing even alluding to them having feelings for each other until the third episode. Plus they ruin this part of the story by showing them kissing in the trailer so good job to Netflix's marketing team on that.
There's also a mid credits scene that made no sense to me, in fact it almost felt like a retcon in a way.
The visuals are a big letdown compared to The Witcher. Nothing looks visually pleasing and the CGI is noticeable in every scene it's used in.
When you read reviews for this show, you should know many reviews aren't even from people who have watched the show, but from Witcher fans complaining about the diversity in it or just boycotting the show because it isn't what they want it to be.
With that being said, this show isn't worth it.
I'm a big fan of The Witcher series and even I regret watching this. It had no impact on me and has no redeeming qualities to it. When I finished watching the show I was thinking maybe a 3 but after writing my review I'm lowering it to a 2. The only reason it's not at a 1 is because I was slightly entertained in some spots.