The Witcher - Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
Season Four
Liam Hemsworth (The Dressmaker & Workaholics) is a bit jarring as the new Geralt after Henry Cavill’s (Mission Impossible: Fallout & Zack Snyder’s Justice League) departure. The a bigger shock than it would have been otherwise because Geralt is nursing an injury.
If Liam had been able to enter with all the cool tricks and excellent combat that Henry did, I do not think it would have been such a shock.
The monsters remained excellent. They were fantastic this season. Really scary and varied. The dramatic irony of the fake princess Cerillia was getting old. I am glad they finished that off.
The mages were really disappointing this season. They just felt a bit meh, which is really surprising because this was their chance to shine. Now that they are down they have to fight.
Cerilia’s, Freya Allan (Into the Badlands & Kingdom of Planet of the Apes), side quest with the rats was underwhelming as well.
It was good to see normal people in this world because that is something that is generally missing from the series.
The fight where Geralt saves the girl from being raped in the barn is one of the best choreographed fight scenes in the entire series—a joy to behold.
Cahir, Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks & The Pacific), felt really strange in this season. He moves from and excellent proxy of the big bad to joining the good guys. The transition is too quick.
Another section that felt very off for me was Milva’s pregnancy and planned abortion. Unsure where this came from, but it was very poorly handled.
Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix & John Wick: Chapter 2) is great as the vampire. He brings nuance to a role that could very easily have been two-dimensional.
The interplay between him and Geralt is brilliant.
So there are lots of issues with the series and things that were not handled well. Having said that, I still think it is an 8/10, so the rest of it is rip-roaring fun.
