The Witcher · Season 1 · Netflix
The Witcher Season 1
The Witcher Season 1 is a WORTH-IT, BollyMeter 7.2/10. 8 episodes on Netflix from 20 December 2019.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
The Witcher Season 1 is a show with a casting problem it solved completely and a structure problem it solved only partially. Henry Cavill plays Geralt with the kind of grunting, coiled physicality that suggests he had read every book in the franchise - his performance is the clearest argument for casting actors who are fans of the source material. The non-linear timeline - Geralt's present, Yennefer's decades-long origin, Ciri's flight - is a genuine gamble that critics found disorientating (68% RT) while dedicated fans were more forgiving (88% audience score). Joey Batey's Jaskier steals every scene he enters. The budget is visible in the monster work and the Posada sequence. A show that lands somewhere between 'messy but alive' and 'could have been great' - the Cavill deficit will be felt when he departs.
BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.
The Room
“Despite narrative confusion, Henry Cavill's committed performance anchors a flawed but entertaining fantasy series.”
Rotten Tomatoes (critics consensus)
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E1The End's Beginning7.1
A harsh procedural opener turns witcher training into adult control, then loses precision when its final accusation arrives.
The moment: The Blaviken marketplace fight - 90 seconds of choreography that establishes Geralt as a category-different action hero from anything else on Netflix.
Full review of E1 → - E2Four Marks7.2
A harsh training-ground hour where portals save, lessons wound, and control starts looking more dangerous than chaos.
Full review of E2 → - E3Betrayer Moon8.2
A sharp striga hour where monster lore becomes politics, and Geralt’s mercy cuts cleaner than the blade.
Full review of E3 → - E4Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials8.1
A sharp destiny episode where Geralt rejects every debt until the oldest law hands him the bill.
The moment: Geralt invoking the Law of Surprise - the moment the three timelines click into their destined alignment.
Full review of E4 → - E5Bottled Appetites7.7
It bottles the horror in human motives first, then hunts the excuse behind them, even if the reveal comes a touch too fast.
The moment: Geralt and Yennefer's djinn negotiation - their relationship's foundation established in a sequence of mutual manipulation and genuine connection.
Full review of E5 → - E6Rare Species7.6
A crowded but forceful hunt episode where destiny stops sounding magical and starts looking like a trap for Ciri.
Full review of E6 → - E7Before a Fall7.3
A tense setup hour that gives destiny a human face, even when its political machinery talks too much.
Full review of E7 → - E8Much More8.2
A bruising, purposeful hour that makes destiny feel earned through bodies, gates, injury, and one final command.
The moment: Geralt and Ciri's first meeting in the forest - the words 'Child Surprise' finally spoken between the two people who've been searching for each other all season.
Full review of E8 →