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After two years of waiting, The Witcher season 4 has finally returned to our screens – and boy does it feel like we’ve been waiting that long in the worst possible way.
The hit Netflix show is a complex one to keep up with at the best of times, and that’s even more exaggerated when so much has happened in the interim. Liam Hemsworth has taken over from Henry Cavill in the role of Geralt of Rivia, we’ve got a whole host of brand-new roles who make up his rag-tag crew, and Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) is far from finished wreaking havoc with his unhinged chaos magic.
The Witcher season 4 starts off as a slog, and that’s a storytelling problem
For at least the first two episodes of The Witcher season 4, I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the books and games or have rewatched the previous three seasons in preparation, you’re going to be as lost as a kid on their first day of high school.
As someone who doesn’t fit into either of those categories, I think episode 1 has done a particularly poor job of bringing us up to speed. We’re reminded that Geralt, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allen) have been separated after the fallout of the Battle of Aretuza, but the details are woolly.
Instead of a traditional ‘previously on…’ recap that would have worked a lot better – or a standalone recap on the platform like Netflix has done with The Witcher before – we’re reminded of how things stand through a young girl reading a book about the legend of The Witcher. It’s clear she’s going to be important in season 5, but the creative risk isn’t helpful to getting the simple understanding that we need.
By the halfway point of season 4, you’re back in the swing of things. Geralt has become a side plot in his own story, and the action we are seeing often feels like the CGI budget has obviously been spent on Stranger Things season 5 instead.
While there’s a distinct cutback on nudity and intimate scenes this season (which was a conscious decision from showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich), those that do still appear feel somewhat gratuitous. I hate to sound like my Nan, but it’s the swearing that rubs me up the wrong way the most in season 4. There’s often no linguistic blueprint from the show, swinging from Ye Olde English to “I’m gonna f**cking kill you” in seconds.
The second half of The Witcher season 4 is where it truly shines
Get through these issues in the first four episodes, and you’re onto a winner in the second four. Where I’ve been harsh on the first half of season four, I couldn’t sing the praises of episodes 5-8 loud enough. They’re some of the strongest in the franchise, upping their visuals, storytelling, and worldbuilding to deliver something we genuinely don’t want to stop watching.
Rather than our final episode being the pinnacle of the season, I think it’s actually episode 6. Here, we see Vilgefortz and Yennefer come face-to-face in the Battle of Montecalvo, something that’s been hugely expanded on from the original books. The action sequences are dynamic and push creative boundaries, while there are plenty of genuine surprises in store (that may or may not change the game for season 5).
I’ve also got to take a moment for the new cast member who’s the actual star of season 4: Laurence Fishburne. Though fans were quick to criticize his casting as thoughtful vampire Regis, Fishburne brings the perfect balance of wisdom and curiosity. It’s honestly a wonder that he’s not been cast in an old-world fantasy series before this, but now he’s truly part of the furniture.
Now viewers are more settled back into The Witcher‘s lore and overarching narrative, these later episodes in the season also take more creative risks. Without giving too much away, we’ve got full-out musical numbers, animated sequences and unlikely alliances waiting for us, and I think each has spinoff potential (but more on that another time).
Is The Witcher season 4 the best outing Netflix has had so far? No – and that’s largely because it’s a placeholder for season 5. In order to give us the jaw-dropping ending we’re all waiting for, the show has to give us a lot of context and build-up ready for that moment, and we have to ride out the underwhelming bits as a result.
If anything, think of this as season 4 part 1. Just like the Deathly Hallows or Mockingjay movies in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, the calm comes before the storm… and what a storm The Witcher season 5 is going to be.
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