Thursday, 13 November 2025

The Witcher Series Four Critique 3/3

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Questions


A storyteller and Nimue are reading about Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer’s journeys from a book, events that the storyteller says happened one hundred years ago.

Then Nimue points to a picture that she thinks is her, speaking of it as if it’s the future. Yet as these events are in the past, surely she’d remember them happening? How can a future event be in the path?
However, we must remember the monoliths, the stone towers that allow portals to exist. People talk about monoliths in terms of space and time. So if portals can teleport people in space, perhaps they can teleport people through time, too?
That means Nimue’s future could indeed lie in the world’s past.
 

Intriguing queries.

            After we find out Milva’s pregnant, Regis gives her silphium. A plant known to cause abortions. Later, Milva miscarries. It could be due to the stress of the journey. Or it could be caused by the silphium. At the moment, there’s no way to know.
            At the very end, Emyhr gives an unknown creature the scent of Geralt. We only see a shadow of its head and neck. It suggests a dragon or a wyvern.
 

These two things were problematic, but only if my recollection of the events is accurate. (I was hardly going to rewatch seven hours of programme to answer two questions that aren’t all that important to the greater scheme of things.)

At the start of the second episode, Jaskier wears what looks like to be a leopard-print waistcoat. Yet in future and previous scenes, this doesn’t seem to be the case. He isn’t carrying enough luggage to suggest he has a change of clothes, so if he wore the leopard-print at one time, he’d also have to be wearing it at all other times, too.
The leader of the Rats is called ‘Giz’. It’s usually said how it’s spelt. Yet I’m pretty sure it was said as ‘jizz’ at some point. This would be funny, if inconsistent.
 
 

Problems

 

A few things didn’t make sense.

Geralt and co always slept on bedrolls. But this convenient tent appears in the forest for when Yennifer gets there? That isn’t sensible. Besides, the couple clearly teleport to a different location to spend the night. They had a tub and candles, things that the group didn’t carry with them; they also had a bed bigger than the tent they’d originally entered. Not to mention we could see the street outside with buildings (which the forest lacked). So the forest tent was completely unnecessary! All they had to do was show Yen taking Geralt through a portal.
Rusalka are water creatures. Yet these rusalka are not only made out of vines but can control them, too. Sure, rusalka haunt the waterways where they die, and these waterways are covered in vines, but that doesn’t translate into plant-controlling water monsters.
 

There were a few instances where the behaviour of the characters didn’t make sense.

We see a memory of Yennifer and Geralt. She accuses him of only thinking of himself because he left her at the inn for two days. But Geralt was explaining that he couldn’t get there because he was busy fighting monsters. You know, so that people don’t die. Yen is smart enough to put two and two together. Thus Yennifer’s criticism didn’t make sense.
Mistle stops Kayleigh (for some reason, a guy has this name) from forcing himself on Ciri. Yet Mistle thinks it’s an appropriate time to make a pass at Ciri. Come on! Repeating a situation that’s just been negative isn’t on.
In Episode Two, Geralt said, “Hmm” too many times. It was excessive to the extreme.
Milva leaves the company. Yet within a few minutes of the group being under attack, she saves the day. For her absence to be this short made little sense. The only explanation was that the show makers removed her in order to give the situation some jeopardy. But that’s an explanation of why the writers made that decision, not why the character made that decision. Without justification for the latter, Milva’s behaviour simply wasn’t believable.
 

Other things were problematic.

All the sorceresses that Yen recruited fit perfectly around the table. How convenient that they just had the exact perfect table available! The desire for a perfect shot shouldn’t interfere with a realistic, probable portrayal.
Regis speaks with an English accent. But for some reason, he says ‘herbs’ like an American. That isn’t consistent.
The storyline of the Rats was so bloody boring. It just felt like they were filler scenes because they lacked substance.
Ximer, a female dwarf, had a beard. However, it wasn’t applied convincingly: it was obviously fake. If men can have fake beards added that look convincing, those same techniques can be applied to women, too.
 

Finally, the way Ciri rode a horse was ridiculous.

She was all shoulders and elbows, the movements way too accentuated. She looks like she’s never ridden a horse before and, for the heir of a royal house, there’s no way Ciri wouldn’t be able to ride.
Yes, Ciri’s actor might not be comfortable on the horse, but that’s literally what stunt doubles are for. Besides, most shots of Ciri on a horse are from behind or from the air: this means there’d be zero chance of people realising it’s a stunt double.
 
 

Conclusion

 

Like I said before, this is my second favourite series of the Witcher.

None of the mistakes affected the plot. Ciri’s actor really blossomed in this series: she’s always been a good actor but her confidence really shone through. The humour was delivered well and clever details were peppered throughout.
What a roaring success!

 

 

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