A promising start, despite all its rough edges

I have a lot of things to say about this one, but I will try to be brief, as this series has already been out for 2 years. My overall impressions is that this is a very successful adaptation, but with some particularly annoying caveats that prevent me from loving it, rather than just liking it.

The show’s story adapts the first two books, which are comprised of short stories. This, of course, lends itself well to a TV series, as we may have one short story per episode. The show is split across three characters - Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri - with their own relatively isolated plotlines going on. It’s based on what I would rank as the three most important characters in the books, both in terms of POV word count, significance to the plot and character development. The show also introduces a bunch of new content, only allured to in the books, and to my surprise it’s pehraps the best part of the show. All in all, there is good character development, adequate accuracy towards the books, and sufficient setup for the whole series. Characters that may seem small now but will be big in the future are already leaving an impression (for better and for worse).

As good as the overall package is, I can’t help but point out three glaring flaws:

• Firstly, all three plotlines happen during very different time periods. One spans a century, another 15 or so years, and the last spans just a few days. The issue is that they’re all told at the same time, which makes a complete mess of things. There are plenty of hints, but some are more confusing than elucidating. It’s also hard to keep track of this, as both witchers and sorceresses age extremely slowly. As a book reader, this kind of structure is very relatable, and I actually salute the show for having the balls to pull it off. But I think that, in the end, it was not the right decision.

• Also, the show is a complete failure in art direction. It’s sad, really - they care a lot about their worldbuilding, namedropping things that make us book readers chuckle, but are betrayed by their visuals. The color palette is drab and uninspiring; establishing shots of cities and villages are frankly pathetic, as if this was a Star Trek episode from the 90s; the Nilfgaardians wear armor that looks like a ballsack; and the geography is confusing, with regions that should be in the north looking like southern Europe.

• Finally, Henry Cavill is not a good Geralt. There, I said it. He’s too handsome and too buff to be Geralt. It seemed like a meme hire when it was first announced, and it still feels like a meme hire now. Don’t get me wrong, he does play the part well… but he doesn’t look the part. On the other hand, the remaining cast is very well realized - Jaskier, in particular, has no business being as good as he is in this show.

Both of these issues are fixable, and I hope to see them improved in season 2. The first two books of short stories have already served this season, and the actions should now move to the Witcher saga itself - a sequence of 5 books. This will hopefully help keep the story focused and without more weird chronological nonsense going on (although the season 2 trailer suggests that they’ll still be adapting one of the remaining short stories in the upcoming season). Overall, it’s a very good adaptation, but one marred by unnecessary risks and scatterbrained art direction. At this pace, I predict 4 or 5 seasons total to wrap this up. I can’t wait to see where it goes.