It is hard to find a series that would evoke more extreme emotions among the audience than those produced by “. Although the premiere of the first series still holds the highest viewership record on the platform, viewers who are in love with Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and the games created by CD Projekt RED are at this stage, they are already extremely embittered that the film adaptation does not meet their expectations.At least that’s what one might think, looking at the extremely low ratings of the third series given by them on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Meanwhile, foreign critics do not have such problems as a group of dissatisfied people.
What do foreign reviewers write about the third season of “The Witcher”?
“With the different threads finally starting to come together, this is the neatest and most action-packed season of The Witcher yet,” said Amon Warman of Empire Magazine, who has seen the entire season. He also believes that the third series is possibly the best release of the series. He also emphasizes: “Cavill here shows everything that made him perfect for playing the title role.” “Following an uneven second season and the awful spin-off ‘Blood Origin’, this series goes less towards quivering political intrigue and delivers a decidedly more cohesive narrative,” adds Beau North of The Spool.
“The third series is the best we’ve ever made. The balance of action, drama, humor, sex and monsters is well-balanced this time around. Everything viewers love about this series is here to take them on an exciting new journey.” – says Alex Maidy from “JoBlo’s Movie Network”. “It starts strong and offers, as expected, bloody, brutal sword fights, a catchy soundtrack, erotic tension, just the right amount of humor and well-rendered monsters. I hope the last three episodes give Henry Cavill a farewell, which deserves,” says Sara Clements of Pahiba. Joel Keller from “Decider” believes that this time we get a good enough plot and a dose of action that will satisfy fans of the series. He only regrets that “heroes don’t have more to say.” Hugo Rifkind of the British “Times” admits that this season’s fantasy tropes may be generic, but they are conducted with verve and humor.
Ratings for the third season of ‘The Witcher’ rottentomatoes.com / Printscreen from 07/07/23
Why viewers hate “The Witcher”?
Viewers criticized the first two series, among others. for too much deviation from the literary original, overly complicated and overcomplicated threads, ignoring Sapkowski’s character descriptions and unsuccessful casting for individual roles. Great emotions were aroused by the fact that, for example, black elves appear in the production, as well as other decisions leading to the fact that many actors with ethnically diverse roots appeared in the cast. The worst crime, of course, was that the writers seemed to have absolutely no regard for what the author of the books described, and especially in the second series they did what looks like a loosely inspired spin-off from The Witcher saga.
However, there was an overwhelming feeling that the whole thing was saved by the main character, who in interviews did not hide that he liked Polish games and books so much that when he heard about the adaptation, he approached the creators himself and offered to star in the series. The British actor was considered a guardian and a person who cared especially about compliance with the original, so when it was announced long before the premiere of the third series that he was resigning from participation in the production, many people felt hurt, some even betrayed.
Ratings for the second season of ‘The Witcher’ rottentomatoes.com / screen from 7/7/23
This may partly explain why viewer ratings on Rotten Tomates are so low. Although objectively the third series is certainly not worse than the previous ones, and according to many even much better, the fact that Henry Cavill appears there for the last time may lead to a retaliatory reaction. Another thing is that the Witcher games from CD Projekt RED were so good that many fans expected the filmmakers to bring the same atmosphere and the same scenario solutions to the screen as, for example, in “Wild Hunt”.
Ratings for the first season of ‘The Witcher’ rottentomatoes.com/printscreen 07/07/23
And if not the same, then at least as similar as possible. Meanwhile, Lauren Schmidt’s team fell into a trap set by their desire to create an original production. I suppose, in order to avoid comparisons to games and the extremely popular “Game of Thrones”, the writers insisted that they would implement the series in their own way. And it didn’t work, because people expected the filming of what they liked about Sapkowski’s world, and not a loose fantasy about him from American filmmakers who seem to completely fail to understand what captivated the audience.
What are angry viewers writing on Rotten Tomatoes? Users who gave the new season one or even half a star point out: “They ruined the whole franchise”, “This season made me sad”, “Stick to the source material”, “The actors try to do what they can, but the script is terrible, the pacing is broken and the character development sucks. After these five episodes, I won’t be back”, “Why do you even call it ‘The Witcher’? Make your own series if you want to be so original”, “Don’t waste your time on this”, “Horribly disappointing”, “Read the books, for God’s sake”, “It’s so sad because there was so much potential here” – say the more polite ones.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
