by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
After leaving viewers hanging for a month, The Witcher is back on Netflix for the final three episode of Season Three, and Henry Cavill’s run as Geralt of Rivia.
Picking up right where things left off in Part One, the scheming at Aretuza comes to a head, and we’re thrust right into the action as Geralt, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Jaskier (Joey Batey) work to keep Ciri (Freya Allan) safe from the factions seeking to control her.
There are just three episodes left, and the opening one is pretty much all gas, no brakes when it comes to action, as the warring factions for power face off almost immediately. It feels the requisite amount of epic for a climatic magic war, despite some visual hiccups. It also puts Geralt in a position we don’t see very often — on the ropes — which I found to make for an interesting encounter. It’s when the episode tries to go for the emotional moments that it falls a little flat.
It slows down for the penultimate episode to focus on Ciri. I have a hunch that it will turn out to be the most important of the bunch, though I don’t have the full picture at the moment. We get to see her capabilities on her own, and it weaves in the lessons she’s learned along the way from both Geralt and Yennefer. It’s trippy in the best way as her survival skills are put to the test. Visual effects for the series remain hit or miss, but nothing was terribly egregious — until the final 15 minutes or so of this episode. It’s a shame it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth with how much I enjoyed roughly the first 30 minutes.
The finale manages to be the best of both worlds. A pair of back-to-back action scenes inject some of the creative camera tricks in brawls that were lacking in the more epic initial battle. I enjoyed these fights more than that one, despite them being smaller scale. It also has the best character interactions of the second part of the episodes — particularly in Geralt’s storyline. He gets some fun moments with Jaskier, and the introduction of Milva (Meng’er Zhang) is one I find promising. The personal moments worked for me, and the emotional beats they try to hit work better here than they do in the first episode.
Having taken in the season in its entirety now, breaking it between two parts backfires slightly. Put all together in an all-at-once binge fest, and it probably would have felt more complete as a whole. Splitting it five and three with a month in between weakens the feel of the season as a whole, and makes it feel more disjointed. Though I love both parts of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie adaptation, the way this season is split has me feeling a bit like its detractors where Part One of the season feels largely like setup, with the final part being pure payoff. Unlike with Stranger Things’ Part Two, this Part Two has no supersized finale, as the three episodes in total amount to just about three hours. Though, admittedly, the cliffhanger they chose makes sense narratively.
Much like Part One, I find myself giving Part Two a passing grade, though it’s cemented as the weakest season. With the series at a crossroads, thanks to Cavill departing, I’m not sure where that leaves things going forward. As this series has a habit of, it left me on a high, and excited for where the story seems to be going. However, I’m one who’s been willing to sit back and let the story come to me as the showrunners choose to tell it, without the constraints of worrying about the source material. I’m not sure this season is strong enough as a whole to sate those in the fanbase that have been angered by casting change that awaits.
Though the series will be returning for Season Four with Liam Hemsworth at the helm, whether the fanbase at large will return with it remains to be seen.
Rating: Liked it
The Witcher is currently streaming on Netflix
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