Good, bad, or indifferent - Netflix's The Witcher is finally here! Join us for a pint, trade a Nekker eye or two, and share your thoughts, suppositions, rants, and raves.
After jumping through a number of reviews, it appears 'The Witcher' has its negative critics, but the reviews are more positive than not:
rottentomatoes: 67% Average Tomatometer, 89% Average Audience Score
The Verge: "...now it’s one of the best series on Netflix."
Variety: "...it does suggest that the appeal of this series may be limited to those already under its spell."
CNET: "A fun 'Game of Thrones' chaser
Entertainment Weekly: "The Witcher is nakedly terrible."
Digital Trends: "Netflix delivers a slow burn that is worth the wait."
New York Times: "“Game of Thrones” is now available as a generic."
The Guardian: "...for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like."
Comicbook.com: "Compelling Characters Will Entrance New and Old Fans Alike."
BGR.com: "Everything you loved about ‘Game of Thrones,’ minus the terrible writing."
Collider.com: "A Relentlessly Entertaining Fantasy Series for Grown-Up Nerds."
Forbes: "The Witcher, I am quite sure, is destined to surprise and delight."
Entertainment Weekly: "The Witcher is nakedly terrible."
To be fair, I don't actually think they watched the entire season, and AV Club's review says that it struggles until the second half of the season.
Watched the first episode and thought it was great. Story might be hard to follow for some, Sword work was on point. Get it on point. I'm such a cutup.
Watched the first two episodes, I like it but was already a fan of the books/games. The first episode is honestly a bit of a mess and I think the second episode would have functioned better as the start of the series. Unfortunately any genre drama is going to be compared to GoT these days and it’s not going to compare favorably but it’s also not really trying to do the same things.
Watched the second episode and also liked it. Still the story is going to bit hard to follow mainly because so far there are multiple stories going on some of which aren't really stories just stuff happening.
Just finished episode three and really like it so far. Henry Cavill is awesome as Geralt. One thing I’m already sick to death of is all the Game of Thrones comparisons in literally every single review I’ve read. That show was good, save for the crappy last season, but it’s over and I wish people would just move on for the love of god. I guess things like that is why I’ve always thought of professional movie/TV reviewers as a complete and utter waste of my time. Everything is subjective, what one person adores another person loathes. To me it always seemed pointless to read about someone else’s opinion when I could just experience whatever it is for myself and form my own.
I've been taking intermittent breaks at work to watch it on my phone. So far I like what I see. Can't wait to get home and put it on the big screen (120" screen with HD Projector with Surround) and binge it this weekend.
Tagging for when I watch this later.
Entertainment Weekly: "The Witcher is nakedly terrible."
Reddit has been very scathing of that review. The reviewer watched the first 2 episodes, jumped to the 5th and gave up. I’ve got to be honest, it’s strikes me as pretty poor to be reviewing a show you can’t be bothered to watch properly.
Watched the second episode and also liked it. Still the story is going to bit hard to follow mainly because so far there are multiple stories going on some of which aren't really stories just stuff happening.
They are also in different time lines. It takes a while to figure that out.
Edit: Sorbicol beat me to it. 
I read a review on Polygon this morning that was mostly a convoluted and rambling essay on how The Mandalorian is a better show. This is the first time where a negative review of a show has been so poorly written that I've found myself thinking, "well, if this person doesn't like the show, it can't be all bad!"
What's next are people going to compare the show to Dark Souls?
Watched episode 3 which was very good. They had a story line I was hoping for in it. I don't recall if it is from the book or game or maybe both.
I don't care for Trish yet. She is to different from the game. The actress is fine. I just don't care for the design change.
I'm surprised they haven't highlighted the two swords and why he carries them. The bard noted the two swords but didn't say anything about them. Also the lack of potion making and drug taking is odd.
Lot less sex scenes than I thought there would be. Also one was needed to define a character's issues. Hmmm well I guess the harry potter moment did the same.
I'm surprised they haven't highlighted the two swords and why he carries them. The bard noted the two swords but didn't say anything about them. Also the lack of potion making and drug taking is odd.
The swords and potions are barely ever mentioned in the books, either. It’s mostly the games that accentuated those bits of the lore. For most of the books he only has one sword and isn’t even carrying any potions nor anything to make them.
Are they doing the WestWorld thing and tracking events in two different time periods?
Watched episode 3 which was very good. They had a story line I was hoping for in it. I don't recall if it is from the book or game or maybe both.
That the Striga? You play that contract about 20 hours in to the first game (depending on how long you spend walking around that swamp) - same characters involved and everything. I’ve got to admit if you’ve played the games or read the books you’re going to get a lot more out of it than if you are walking in blind.
Pfffffffffffft, I'm going into this colder than a tub of ice cream in Antarctica.
2 episodes in and loving it so far! Dandelion is great. Really like that they started with Yennifer's story right out of the gate because that was the most interesting thing in the book I read.
All the best characters probably won’t appear until next season, assuming we get more.
Finished it. I hope we get more.
Oh man! Getting to see TW1 opening cinematic in Cinematic TV form is so cooooool!
Roach has to end up on someone's roof at some point, right?
Edit: Also, Dandelion's song at the end of "Four Marks" did sound like a Bond intro to everyone else, right?
Oh man, starting episode 4. This is so silly and so perfect. This should not exist. I'm so happy it does. God bless you, Dandelion.
I'm only one episode in, so take with a grain of salt, but I'm surprised at how well Henry Cavill portrays Geralt. Geralt is a character who is so well defined in my mind that it was always going to be difficult to view Cavill's as anything other than cosplay. I mean, for me, it's on par with monumental task that Alden Ehrenreich had with portraying Han Solo. And yet, he's not too bad.
I'm also a little surprised they started with the Renfri story. It's one of the more interesting of the short stories, and perhaps the most complex, but it doesn't do too much for general backstory/world-building. It really emphasises the 'lesser evil' theme at least. I don't think they did it quite the way it ought to have been done, but that could just be a personal preference thing.
I also can't help but feel that it's mostly wasted on anyone that doesn't already know some of the world already, which almost makes the series pointless. But whatever, I enjoyed it. Eager to watch the rest.
Two episodes in. It's not good, but it is fun. It's nice to revisit these characters again and Cavill is doing well with his role. Ciri and Yennifer seem pretty good.
Episode 1 was pretty bad though. Lots of confusing exposition about made up places. Lots of anachronistic dialog. The director is using long, tedious pauses to highlight emotional scenes without earning the viewer investment necessary to build proper tension.
It's a little too glib to feel meaningfully consequential.
Pretty solid swordfight though. And it is nowhere near as ridiculous as Carnival Row.
Two episodes in. It's not good, but it is fun. It's nice to revisit these characters again and Cavill is doing well with his role. Ciri and Yennifer seem pretty good.
Episode 1 was pretty bad though. Lots of confusing exposition about made up places. Lots of anachronistic dialog. The director is using long, tedious pauses to highlight emotional scenes without earning the viewer investment necessary to build proper tension.
It's a little too glib to feel meaningfully consequential.
Pretty solid swordfight though. And it is nowhere near as ridiculous as Carnival Row.
Yeah this is how I feel too. The big battle scenes are ok, but the smaller fights are excellent - better than Game of Thrones IMHO. And I love Cavill as Geralt - he brings a perfect vulnerability and gravitas to the role.
I’m going to give it a few more episodes before my final judgement. What’s hard is I’m behind on so many shows including the Mandalorian that I may put this on the shelf if it doesn’t get amazingly better.
Having not ever read a book or played a Witcher game I binged this today. I was a little lost on events until I figured out the Geralt and Yenn stuff in the first 2/3 of the season were from the past and the Ciri stuff was present. I did enjoy the watch and look forward to a season 2 cause there just has to be..
Glad I skimmed this thread in advance to know that not all the story arcs take place in the same time period otherwise episode 3 would have really confused the hell out of me.
Glad I skimmed this thread in advance to know that not all the story arcs take place in the same time period otherwise episode 3 would have really confused the hell out of me.
Same.
Episodes 3 and 4 are way better than the first two. Ep 3 is legit good. Ep 4 is bonkers silly, but fun.
Still, I've got some concerns about how accessible this show is to people who aren't already familiar with the sources. Also, it sounds like they should have figured out a way to sign post the different time periods of the different arcs.
Sure, I get the criticism regarding the accessibility, as there are a couple of things that would have confused the hell out of me if I hadn't played the games or read a couple of the stories (e.g. the VERY slow aging of witchers and witches makes identifying the connections between the three different time periods hard to understand), but all in all this is one of the better TV adaptions of a fantasy book series, as the general tone of the stories is preserved, although they change some details for better or for worse, and that is not a small feat. I especially like how they take some visual cues from the games, for example, Gerald's armor and scenery (I swear I raided houses like the one in the last scenes of episode 8 hundreds of times in the games) and blend it with details from the books (e.g. Gerald not wearing both swords on his back).
Plus, Henry Cavill does a very good impression of Doug Cockle's voice. I really did not expect how much I would feel at home watching this and how much I still crave anything having to do with the Witcher.
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