Remember the excitement when “The Witcher” first hit our screens, promising us a riveting fantasy world filled with magic, monsters, and mystery?
And then remember how the departure of Henry Cavill and a second season that didn’t exactly light our hearts on fire, doused that flame of excitement?
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We held our breaths for the third season, hoping that it would fan the flame back to life. But alas, the third season of “The Witcher” is not the magic potion that we had all been waiting for.
Let’s rewind. When “The Witcher” was first introduced to us, the narrative was all over the place, and the production wasn’t the most impressive.
It was understandable; after all, it was just the first season, and they didn’t exactly have a dragon’s hoard of money to spend on high-end CGI and other fancy stuff. We thought they were just finding their feet and that things would improve.
Fast forward to the second season, where, instead of improving, the creators seemed to have taken a step backward. The narrative became even more confusing, and the special effects seemed to have gotten worse instead of better. We waited, still hopeful, for the third season to turn things around.
Then came the third season, the promised land, a fresh start where the creators would finally get their act together and deliver a fantasy show worthy of its name.
However, it turned out to be more of a mixed bag than a treasure trove. For every interesting scene, there was a following moment of utter ridiculousness that eroded any goodwill built up.
The season was filled with an abundance of awkward exposition, underwhelming CGI, subpar fight scenes, and jarring character changes.
Even the sets, costumes, and props looked cheap. When the most positive feedback you can muster for a season is, “Geralt’s outfit looks nicer than before,” and “It’s not as bad as the last season,” you know something’s not quite right.
The writing was equally nonsensical. Take, for example, the scene where Geralt breaks Rience’s hands but doesn’t take the opportunity to finish him off.
These moments seemed to be thrown in without any logical in-story reasoning, creating a narrative that feels more like a patched-together jigsaw puzzle than a coherent story.
Behind-the-scenes chaos is a common phenomenon in the world of TV and film, and “The Witcher” doesn’t seem to be an exception.
From complaints about showrunners to accusations of disrespect towards the source material, it feels as though we’ve stepped back in time to the ’80s when adaptations of fantasy novels and video games were often poorly executed due to a lack of respect for the original content.
Two decades ago, film and TV adaptations began to hit their stride, finding that staying true to the source material resulted in more successful products.
This formula was proven by Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Yet somehow, “The Witcher” has strayed from this successful path, and the results are all too clear.
Despite having a formula for success, it seems that Hollywood has chosen to stray from the path, treating the source material as something to be improved upon or changed according to personal taste, rather than a foundation to be built upon.
This approach, combined with a desire to cut costs, has resulted in a show that feels cheap and lacks the magic of the original stories.
As we look towards the future of “The Witcher,” we can’t help but feel a pang of disappointment. The potential was there, but unfortunately, it was squandered.
But hey, who knows? Perhaps in the future, “The Witcher” might just pull a rabbit out of the hat and surprise us all. For now, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and our expectations low.
