SERIES REVIEW – The Witcher finds its true strength in a more confident, more polished second season. Geralt is now a “dad” in The Witcher season 2, and his portrayal of Henry Cavill has perhaps never been more effective in the titular role.

“Your song’s a bit complicated,” tells Jaskier (Joey Batey), a guard at the docks, about one of his new songs. “It took me until the fourth verse to understand that there were different time signatures. “

With this subtle and wry self-deprecation, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has presented the new season of The Witcher, as the previous one received a lot of criticism for taking the story through several timelines. For season two, Hissrich has abandoned this experimentation in favour of a more linear – albeit still sufficiently complicated – storyline, in which Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) and his guardian Ciri (Freya Allen) experience various – often quite superhuman – vicissitudes as they battle a creepy, sneaky and dangerous, otherworldly being.

The linear timeline was a good idea

The first thing to note is that Season 2 significantly improves the chaotic first season, albeit enjoyable. The story is at once twisty, exciting and shifts deftly between the trials and tribulations of different characters. At the same time, the episodes of the series fit together much better.

The story picks up from there as Geralt sets off with Ciri – the Child of Surprise, whose abilities and new information about his origins are becoming more and more surprising – to mourn the death of Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and go to their fortress in Kaer Morhen to meet several sheds, including Geralt’s mentor Vesemir (Kim Bodnia).

Since the previous season had already laid the groundwork, the new season could be more daring with its characters and more daring in presenting the exciting and exciting details, the backstabbing and life-threatening intrigues of the universe Sapkowski had laid out. In addition to Geralt’s witcher brothers, we get to learn about elven culture, the politics of Redania and Nilfgaard, the never-ending backstabbing of the various factions of mages, and a host of fascinating supporting characters who breathe new life into the world and story of the series – not to mention some terrifying monsters.

Familiar faces such as Yennefer’s mentor Tissaia (MyAnna Burning), the Nilfgaardian commander Cahir (Eamon Farren), or video game favourites Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer), the lovely magical lady, Istredd (Royce Pierreson), the historian. The outwardly pious but actually dangerous Fringilla (Mimi M. Khayisa) also deliver memorable performances, which makes us fall even more in love with this captivating universe. And we can’t forget Joey Batey as Jaskier, who is as funny, colourful, fun and woman-eating as he was as “Dandelion” in The Witcher 3.

Henry Cavill is at the top of his game…

Of course, the central character of the series remains Geralt, more or less resigned to his fate and focused on protecting Ciri. Once again, Cavill is excellent as this mutant warrior, seemingly constantly repressing his emotions. Still, despite his lethargy to the outside world, he is, in fact, a very passionate mutant warrior. Both the makers of the series and Henry Cavill, who adores The Witcher 3, are giving us such fan service that no fan of the game will not shed a nostalgic tear as the actor intones the same lines as Geralt in the game or wears the same cape as Geralt in that memorable E3 trailer. Cavill brings 100% to the character of Geralt, that’s for sure.

…and yet Freya Allan takes the cake

Cavill is, of course, an established actor, so it’s surprising that Freya Allan, who was chosen at the last minute to play Ciri, might even play him off-screen. The young British actress perfectly captures the volatility of a young girl trying to understand who she is, her place in the world, the incredible power she cannot quite control and the dangerous forces that lie in wait for her. Allan can portray the girl’s different qualities, part character, part sweet, fallible young girl who wants to learn, part headstrong and stubborn, part dangerous missionary, and in the last parts of the series, downright terrifying. It’s worth keeping an eye out for Freya Allan’s future in films and series. She could have a big future ahead of her.

“Silver for Monsters”

A few minor negatives mar the overall picture – but mainly for those who stick to the “set in stone” storylines of the original novels. Since I still don’t consider Sapkowski a master of fantasy novels, I think these changes are in order. However, it has to be admitted that one or two events or episodes fit together a little poorly – fortunately, there are not many of them.

On the other hand, some of the actors and characters were a bit over the top. Kim Bodnia looks ideally like the Witcher 3 Vesemir, but the actor’s performance is somehow weak and often not consistent enough. I didn’t get the character of the old witcher master from him. Similarly, Anya Chalotra was a notch weaker Yennefer this time than in the previous season, compared to how much adversity she had to deal with. This is surprising because there, she was flawless in the role.

Overall, the Witcher season 2 is characterised by a lot of action, a twisty, rich story, lots of monsters, lots of beautiful and numerous locations. Geralt shows in several episodes that he is an absolute monster hunter: the clashes with the genuinely gruesome monsters will make any fan of the Witcher snap with satisfaction. All that is missing is Percifal’s memorable music (“lelelelele”)  to make us feel like we are in Witcher heaven. But then again, there’s The Witcher 3, right, which I think I’ll inevitably pick up again for a few days (?) – but I don’t think I’ll be alone in that…

-BadSector-