The Witcher season 3 finale overview: a wasted alternative

Within the finale of The Witcher’s third season — which additionally occurs to be the ultimate episode the place Henry Cavill will play the lead position — our hero, Geralt of Rivia, spends most of his time in mattress. This isn’t an exaggeration: after getting his ass completely kicked in a earlier episode, he’s caught recuperating in a forest, attempting his finest to get wholesome so he can proceed his quest. It’s a weird alternative that sidelines Geralt in what ought to, in idea, be an necessary second for the collection, the character, and the actor. As a substitute of sending Cavill out on a excessive be aware, the season simply type of… ends.

It didn’t must be this fashion. When it debuted method again in 2019, Netflix’s adaption of The Witcher proved to be a surprisingly trustworthy model of the story, one which was darkish and humorous on the similar time. Issues bought off observe in season 2 when the present moved away from each the supply materials and its fundamental solid of characters, placing far more give attention to political squabbling and worldbuilding than the principle trio of Geralt (Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan), and Yenn (Anya Chalotra).

Season 3, which was break up into two volumes, was an opportunity to make things better. The primary 5 episodes gave the impression to be a great setup for what promised to be an thrilling finale. Geralt was prepping for an enormous showdown with the brand new large dangerous, Ciri was lastly turning into unbiased, and Yenn had largely stopped making selections that made completely no sense. Quantity 2, which consists of solely three episodes, squanders virtually all of that potential.

The remainder of this put up contains main spoilers for the primary three seasons of The Witcher.

Now, to be honest, there’s an epic showdown as promised. The primary new episode contains a large battle at Aretuza, the house base of the mages, the place the dominion of Redania and a bunch of the final surviving elves seem to battle in opposition to the magic customers for numerous causes: Redania’s spymaster needs to purge disloyal mages from their ranks, whereas the elves are combating on behalf of the rival nation of Nilfgaard. The politics are advanced, however you don’t actually need to grasp them to comply with this large battle by which many individuals die, together with one poor soul who actually explodes in bloody chunks.

Extra importantly, the battle units up the most effective a part of the ultimate episodes: the long-awaited battle between Geralt and a traitorous mage, Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), who’s revealed to have been pulling the strings all alongside. He’s additionally a badass fighter, with a magical employees that may warp between his palms at will. Their battle just isn’t solely a strong piece of motion but in addition a uncommon likelihood to see Geralt really lose to a a lot stronger foe. Like Wolverine, Geralt all the time appears to claw his solution to victory irrespective of the percentages, however not this time.

And that’s the place all the things goes downhill in a short time.

The aftermath of the battle leaves all of our fundamental solid members adrift. Attributable to some magical teleportation attributable to her uncontrollable powers, Ciri finds herself in a desert the place she wanders alone along with her ideas earlier than ultimately being captured for the bounty on her head. This takes a complete episode. Geralt, in the meantime, was crushed so badly that he needed to retreat to the forest house of the dryads for some magical therapeutic. This takes virtually a complete episode — the ultimate one, I’d add — by which he’s both mendacity in mattress or struggling to face up and maintain a sword. Yenn is flittering away within the background, tying up unfastened ends with the few surviving mages from Aretuza. None of them are doing something remotely attention-grabbing, which is an issue after they’re the narrative and emotional core of all the present.

Alongside the way in which, there are a surprisingly massive variety of deaths, lots of which really feel sudden, as if the writers are pruning the solid for a considerably recent begin in season 4. The 2 precise constructive issues the ultimate quantity does contain setting Ciri up for a way more energetic position sooner or later and introducing a brand new companion for Geralt named Milva (Meng’er Zhang), an archer who helps nurse him again to well being and refuses to take any of his shit. Whereas Geralt tries to push ahead in his quest regardless that he can barely get up, Milva always bests him, reminding him that if she had been the enemy, “You’d be lifeless by now.”

And thus, like Geralt, the season simply type of limps to a conclusion. There are just a few small revelations that can impression the long run, but it surely’s startling how a lot these episodes get away from the strengths of the present. It’s not humorous, the motion is sparse, there are only a few monsters, and the core solid is given little to do. That is significantly surprising for Geralt; even because the present continued its downward spiral, Cavill’s flip because the witcher remained a spotlight. It appears that evidently the present gained’t be acknowledging the ceremonial passing of the white wig from Cavill to Liam Hemsworth, so we’d find yourself with a Contemporary Prince scenario.

Perhaps a recent face will breathe some life into the present because it plods on for no less than just a few extra seasons. However Cavill’s exit wasn’t solely anticlimactic — it made me much less than ever in following Geralt’s unending quest.

The complete third season of The Witcher is streaming now on Netflix.