Usually when I watch something in bed, it's on our Kindle Fire tablet. It's pretty old now, but it still has a nice screen and works well. Its' limited functionality hadn't really impacted me. Usually it's just used for Netflix, Prime, or MLB.tv. The other night I fully intended to start the Mandalorian. After getting in bed, I realized Disney+ wasn't available on that tablet. So instead of watching on my considerably smaller phone screen, I opened Netflix and played the first episode of the Witcher starring Henry Cavill, who's still huge post-Superman. I've never played the games and never read the books (which I didn't know were a thing until I looked at the show's wiki page) so I was going in blind.
Throughout the first episode, which is all I finished that night, I had absolutely no idea wtf was going on. After spending the whole next day thinking about it, I decided to keep going.
As of now I'm only four episodes in, so I'm not really worried about spoilers. Here's my attempt at a synopsis. Cavill plays Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, who hunts monsters for money, has some sort of powers (unexplained so far), and is great at fighting. We've heard that there aren't many of the 'mutant' Witchers left, so they are a special class and a dying breed. He is a loner and generally doesn't care for the quarrels of mankind, yet he is pretty philosophical when his opinions are asked. Otherwise he is a man of few words. This all takes place in a mythical medieval society, seemingly European as there are many realms within close proximity with their own kings/queens. If not already obvious, it's fantasy, as there is magic and wizards, elves (who I don't understand as of yet), as well as curses and monsters. As for the magic, most of what we see is related to a guild of wizards/mages, who train and guide their own members and have influence over various royal households. However there are certainly others who have powers (like the Witcher). It's all rather dark and violent as well.
We have three main characters, around which everything has happened so far.
Geralt: the Witcher.
Ciri: a young princess on the run after her family is killed, searching for Geralt.
Yennefer: a disabled girl who displays strong magical abilities and becomes a mage.
One thing that makes the show difficult is that there is no explanation of any kind at the beginning. No map to show you what the world looks like, no breakdown of the races of people living there, anything. Everything we learn is through what happens to the characters and what they say. So far in the show, when characters are talking about the different realms as enemies or allies or whatever, it doesn't make any sense as someone without prior knowledge. But I have to say, overall this is actually something I appreciate. After four episodes it's starting to come together, and they didn't need to lay out everything you could possibly want to know to get there. I love subtlety in storytelling (one of the reasons I so love the original Frank Herbert Dune books) and it seems like they're nailing it here. Even though there's still a ton I don't understand, and maybe never will!
Besides it being fantasy, with races besides humans, with magic and all that, there's also a lot of violence and nudity, so if any of that bothers you it's probably not for you. None of it bothers me and I have to say it's really intriguing so far. I also definitely feel like I would thoroughly enjoy the game, though I nearly always avoid playing RPGs since they're a problem with my obsessive personality.
For now I'll continue on. The main characters are all interesting, the dark humor is my cup of tea, and the world building is so far a real mystery and where the show could really be great.
Let's wrap up and leave you with this, an original song:
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