The Witcher: Season 2 Premiere

  

Based on: The Witcher book series by Andrzej Sapkowski

Created & Written by: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

Producer by: Mike Ostrowski

Starring: Henry Cavill (Geralt, The Witcher), Anya Chalotra (Yennefer), Freya Allan (Ciri), Joey Batey (Jaskier), MyAnna Buring (Tissaia de Vries)

It's super cool when the premiere of any season is basically a self-contained mini-movie! 

I'll start with the fact that I remember very little from the first season. Also, I'm watching this show largely on bias... I saw enough hints of strong magic in the trailers and previews that I thought I might enjoy it for that reason. Strangely enough, through the first season I never felt very strongly attached to any character, and I never gained a great understanding of the overall plot. It was mostly a lot of visual effects eye-candy for me. But is that wrong? 👀

Still, I'm obviously rooting for Geralt (whose name I keep pronouncing "Jeralt," no matter how many times I hear it spoken) and Yennefer. The first season left me largely confused as to what Ciri's role is, but she seems to be very important and very good. 

So with all that said, I'm pleased to say I completed this premiere with a pretty full understanding of everything that happened! With Geralt, at least. 

I don't know what Geralt and Ciri were doing at the beginning, but they're soon beckoned (summoned? Led? Chanced upon?) to a stately mansion where they seek shelter from a harsh winter storm. It's very obviously enchanted and they're welcomed by a mysterious display of all doors and windows swinging open and shut chaotically. Not ominous at all. But then, a certain beast emerges from the mansion. 

Kristofer Hivju as Nivellen 

This beast claims to be Nivellen, Geralt's longtime friend, and welcomes the two of them into his house for warmth and rest. Over the episode, Nivellen treats them to a plethora of magical food, beverages, baths, and games, but our heroes can sense something is wrong. Additionally, Ciri notices a certain creature that seems to be hiding and stalking within the ceiling and walls of the building. 

The mystery was entrancing for me, including the fact that Nivellen seemed to be consistently hiding some part of his story from Geralt. Things became infinitely more interesting when the creature stalking Ciri finally revealed itself in the night, appearing as a young woman, but emerging from the ceiling and crawling down the wall like a classic exorcism villain. Her movement style was also brilliantly produced and portrayed: it felt like stop-motion, as if I was tapping 'play' and 'pause' every other second on her advance. It made for an incredibly chilling and ominous effect. 

When Geralt finally becomes aware of this creature, he immediately identifies it as a bruxa (vampire), and the resulting battle is electrifying. I was clinging to every moment as the bruxa unleashed banshee-like screams at him and he dodged and retaliated, gaining advantage every moment as he learned her magic and tactics. 

In the end, the bruxa is defeated and Nivellen reveals the full sad truth of his situation. Geralt and Ciri leave his mansion, having freed this friend of the curse he was under. 

I don't have any criticisms of the episode's story. However, I don't feel like it tied into anything very well, either past or present. I wasn't reminded of anything that came before and I don't feel like I got any sense of foreshadowing, either. However, the showrunner may be less concerned with this considering it's season 2: they probably figure the viewer is committed at this point! Still, I would have liked a clearer (or any) sense of where things are going. Instead, the episode felt entirely self-contained. I will fully admit, though, that I can be very dense to these things. It's entirely possible that on a second watch through, I'll think "Wow, Ben, that scene was obvious foreshadowing! How did I miss that the first time??"