Henry Cavill, you bastard! You leave “The Witcher” when the whole thing starts to unravel [RECENZJA]

The third season is much better than the previous two. Of course, I’ve only seen the first five episodes, so I don’t know if the last three won’t spoil the good impression. But I watched the first installment of the latest series in one evening, and then again. If I was being mean, I’d say that the writers finally stopped trying to make a “original” and “cool” teen series, and really thought hard about why people liked “Grê of Thrones” so much (aside from the sex and violence) and drew conclusions from it. Now you can actually see that someone has read the original books and that serves the whole purpose. By the way, I’m not saying that now “The Witcher” imitates “GoT” ineptly, but it has something of this jam in the film narrative. Of course, I can’t be a hypocrite either, I finally wrote that I enjoyed the first two seasons quite well. But mainly because I didn’t treat them as an adaptation of Sapkowski, but a loose spinoff.

Henry Cavill, you bastard! The third season of “The Witcher” is too good for you to abandon us

In the third season, you can see that each episode has a theme and structure subordinated to it, and at the same time, these separate episodes intertwine quite smoothly. For example, we start the new season by playing with the epistolary narrative and a nice use of the motif taken from Robin Hood, and we close this tranche with a dynamic and quite well-arranged episode showing the same event from the perspective of different characters. I also like the fact that Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer finally get a chance to spend time together and really get to know each other. I’m saying, Henry Cavill really does have a fatherly aura in the scenes with Freya Allan, and it’s adorable. Finally, Anya Chalotra stopped bothering me so much in the role of Yennefer. I have the impression that her eyes look more mature, which makes her more believable.

For the first time, I also felt that between her and Cavill there was chemistry on the screen and any tension – let’s say erotic. I can believe that their characters feel something for each other and are rather afraid that the other side will be the hurtful one. Well, it’s all in vain anyway. But Henry Cavill in his last series is the most Geralt Geralt possible.

I have a feeling he doesn’t even play it anymore, he just is. He has relaxed a bit, he is also beautifully overgrown with bristles, thanks to which he vividly reminds me of the hero from the illustrations on the carats of the first edition of the Witcher saga. Even from my childhood, I remember the description of the sorcerers’ ball the witcher went to with Yennefer and how he felt like an idiot in a silver jacket and was very happy that he couldn’t blush when he heard lecherous comments from the sorceresses – here you can see by the movements how Cavill feels uncomfortable in a gala costume and how female attention discourages him.

The third season of The Witcher. Change for better

Costumes and make-up are a separate category – here too it seems that something has changed. Often for the better, sometimes not. I was very pleased to see, for example, how more disheveled and unshaven the main character is, but this time I paid a lot of attention to Yennefer’s costumes, who doesn’t look like she’s in a funny disguise here, but actually has her own style. And this emphasizes, for example, that the heroine has a strong personality and, although she is an esthete, she also appreciates the fact that her clothes are practical and elegant at the same time. The changes are theoretically subtle, but they help the story.

This season, the creators visually distinguish the character of individual locations by using the textile element of the scenography. For example, the royal court in Redania is generally red and it plays well in the storyline. Philippa Elihart, who in one of the episodes looks like a fugitive from a school play in which she plays an eccentric owl in overalls, sometimes wears strange costumes. It may sound absurd, but in the third season, almost all the heroes are also more shaggy. Longer hair has: Jaskier, Cahir, Fringilla, Istredd (Royce Pierreson has beautiful curls) and Dara. I also have the impression that Triss, Ciri and Yennefer have more volume and weight on their heads. It definitely looks nicer in the camera, but it’s conspicuous enough that I paid attention to it. The hairdresser clearly had a phase for doing cute curls on blondes, which makes Freya Allan’s hair too smooth and “clean”. Another thing is that, just like before, everyone was wondering what happened to her eyebrows, which turned from light to dark between the seasons, so now they will probably wonder why she has such an orange face. Something didn’t “poke” with the foundation, but only with her.

“The Witcher”. Potential flashpoints

I am also aware of the controversy caused by the new image of Jaskier, who now has a pot parted in the middle on his head. In fact, Joey Batey looks much more serious and aged here than in the previous two series. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still fantastic in his role, and he develops the character nicely. This time Dandelion is not just a funny and amorous fox – he shows much more care, maturity and makes tactical attempts to help his friends. Batey also connects beautifully with Ciri in the series and really is my absolute favorite here.

As for the romantic thread with Radovid: ladies and gentlemen, it connects with the script and emphasizes what the writers wanted to emphasize in the characteristics of both characters. Did I feel uncomfortable looking at them? Absolutely, but in this way, when you observe two infatuated teenagers who do not want to admit to each other that they have feelings for each other.

Certainly a bit of controversy will cause a scene in the spirit of a gentle sado-maso with Graham McTavish. Don’t worry, there’s nothing particularly naughty going on and there’s nothing HBO-like here, but the sequence shows a special relationship between Dijkstra and Phillipa. The script of the third series generally puts more emphasis on the espionage threads and the storytelling around the mystery, which is characteristic of detective stories, which turned out not too bad. I will say more, it is precisely in this context that Dandelion’s new romance appears, which is a bit accidental in its sincerity. In terms of plot, it is mainly used to show that Radovid is not a dull prince, but someone with political or spy potential, and Dandelion is a person capable of higher feelings and non-stereotypical behavior.

Of course, there are also various skirmishes in this season, e.g. in the form of strange and not very successful special effects, but I can’t write in which scene, because it would be a spoiler. When you see it, you’ll know what I mean. Someone’s been watching Pan’s Labyrinth and David Cronenberg’s movies. Only with the execution of the vision, something definitely did not work out. I definitely don’t buy the elves and Fringilla Vigo plot all the time – it’s insincere and artificial. I have a strong impression that the screenwriters also do not like this part of the plot and write it in such a way that these characters simply cannot be liked. What I would like to say is that I fell a little in love with Bart Edwards, who plays Duny, and Ed Birch as King Vizimir is wonderfully comedic.

The more my heart hurts now that the main actor resigned from further participation in the production. It was mainly thanks to Cavill that I was able to turn a blind eye to various inaccuracies for the first two seasons. It was the core of the book, which helped to swallow the fictional trips inspired by Sapkowski’s work. Of course, this also required letting go of my fixation on my vision of the perfect film adaptation – it saved me a lot of stress (by the way, I will add that the “Blood Origin” series should be forgotten, because it shamefully wasted the potential of even the very idea for this spin-off) . And I really don’t know if I still have enough openness and love to deal with Liam Hemsworth, who now seems simply too young and too “sitcom” in character to deliver what I expect from Geralt. I feel sorry for the boy.