Henry Cavill harrumphs his way to the promise of an great end to his time as The Witcher, when volume two releases. (Netflix)
I finally got down to watching season three volume one of The Witcher. It sets us up for an epic volume two. Let’s just say it’s probably the most coherent season so far.
I don’t think we’re ready for Henry Cavill not playing Geralt — Liam Hemsworth will take over the role from season four. Hemsworth just doesn’t have the same harrumph, in fact, I’m not sure anyone in Hollywood can grunt as well as Cavill can.
Back to season three volume one — warning, spoiler alert if you haven’t watched it yet.
This season is based on The Witcher book series, Time of Contempt, to be specific. It stuck closely to it. We start with a particularly gruesome fight scene with Nilfgardians looking for Ciri. It is a terrific display of violence and blood spilling, setting the mood for the season.
But let’s not kid anyone — The Witcher is somewhat tough to follow. The plethora of characters, subplots, monsters, villains and good guys, while making for a great watch, requires focus. It’s necessary to do some head-scratching every now and then to remember who said what and who did what to who. But once you’re in, you’re really in.
We catch up with the three main characters, Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer. They continue on their journey to train Ciri and harness her powers under Yennefer’s tutelage, while keeping her safe from the entire continent who want her for her powers. I’m not even sure everyone knows what Ciri’s powers are, yet all seem to be convinced it is what they need to set them on a path to rule the continent.
The chemistry between them is the glue in this show. Their dialogues, affection and love for each other, as well as the sexual tension between Geralt and Yennerfer, make the show worth it. Add Jaskier the bard to the mix and you’ll be smirking throughout. Jaskier hypes it up this time with his jokes, his womanising and bisexual ways. He is an underrated star in this show.
One of the funniest moments this season is when Jaskier and Ciri imitate Geralt and Yennefer having a conversation. Their mocking is spot-on.
Certain quips are there for eagle-eyed fans, such as in the uncomfortable tension between Yennefer and Geralt, for her previous treachery of almost selling out Ciri for powers. She writes him letters to win him over. She starts all of them by saying “dear friend” — alert fans will remember that’s how he introduced her to Ciri — really awkwardly — in a previous season when the pair were much closer than friends.
Sidebar, Yennefer’s perfectly manicured nails and Ciri’s expertly done eyelashes do not fit their “on the run” aesthetic but we can move past that swiftly.
This season treats us to the usual gnarly beasts. We start with a jackapace, a giant armadillo-looking thing. It turns out Rience the fire mage, who we were introduced to in season two and who has been hunting Ciri, had a vial of her blood which it gave to some dodgy-looking guys with a ferocious-sounding animal, looking to seek her out.
There’s also a mage-made creature with limbs of young elven girls. It seems as if someone is trying to recreate a version of Ciri, which Geralt fights off, and realises that a powerful mage is the problem.
We also have an epic battle with an aeschna, a sea creature torturing a ship owner. Ciri manages to kill it and earns a grunting, “I’m proud of you,” from Geralt.
The very many bad guys
The show has a number of characters who can be the bad ones. Rience is the first, with his vial of Ciri’s blood.
The trio work out that he is powered by a strong mage and set out to discover who it is. The mage shows up more than once in this season. Istredd and Triss are on a path looking for a mage who is abducting elven witches. Geralt picks up a mage when fighting the weird-limbed creature and saving one of the elven girls. The evil mage has a twist but we’ll get to that soon.
Nilfgaard always seems ready to march and destroy everything on the continent, so the Nilfgaardians can rule, and is always the “bad guy” in the series. In the first season, Cahir was the big, bad, scary dude who almost got Ciri. He makes a return but in a meeker form. He seems to have developed an empathy for other living things. At least until his emperor asks him to kill a friend who is an elf keen on rebellion. He obliges and then threatens the elves.
Back at Redania, King Vizimir is looking foolish as ever, while master spy Sigismund Dijkstra and sorceress Philippa Eilhart seem to be pulling his strings, also in search of Ciri. They hatch a plan and kill his wife blaming Nilfgaard after it looks like he has signed a friendly deal with them. His brother Radovid is introduced and seems to be on side with the pair but afraid of the dangers they possess.
In a total twist, Radovid and Jaskier fall for each other and make out. We also see Philippa whipping Dijkstra in some form of a kinky request.
The big twist
The series comes to an end in an episode called The Art of Illusion. Yennefer calls for a conclave of all mages to deal with the threat of war and to help Ciri. It’s a sexy episode with explicit detail and plenty of shock factor.
We’re taken to the end of the ball, where Yennefer and Geralt are finally easing the sexual tension they have for each other, and they recap the night’s events. They take us through the ball, where various important conversations and meetings take place, from different perspectives . We’re privy to many conversations from all characters, where Geralt’s neutrality is often questioned.
Stregobor is built up to be the mage behind all the evil. It looks as if he is the one who has been moving Rience around and is responsible for the deaths of the elven girls. The Book of Monoliths is placed in his chambers, making it look crystal clear, it is a really powerful book. You have to watch Blood Origin, the pre series, to understand the importance of the book.
Until after the pillow talk, Geralt and Yennefer work out that they have been played. Quiet, unassuming lover of Tissaia (Yennefer’s teacher and mentor), Vilgefortz is the one causing all the havoc. He is the one who has been quietly hatching this plan all along. With a moustache that impressive, we should have known.
So many unanswered questions. Is Tissaia working with him? From the looks of it, so is Djikstra. What about the one random scene this season where the Wild Hunt almost get their hands on Ciri. Is Vilgefortz working with Nilfgaard?
Ah, can volume two start already, even though no one is ready to say goodbye to this iteration of Geralt. Mr Hemsworth, you have huge shoes to fill!