The Witcher S2 (Netflix)

I loved Netflix's first season of the series based on Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy franchise and this is despite the obvious flaws that The Witcher season one contained. I sometimes had a hard time keeping up with where on the timeline we were and the amount of world building that was done made several of the episodes feel a bit cramped, to be honest. But I still loved it. The dark tone, the perfect atmosphere, the gorgeous costumes, the brilliant fight-choreography and the well-written dialogue made me enjoy every second and my longing for more has been difficult over the past year.

We at Gamereator have before the season premiere on December 17 peeked through the first three episodes that hand out a promise for a fine follow-up, and it is clear here that The Witcher has found a pleasant calm in the story after pushing insignificant amounts of character and world building in season one. It all starts with an episode based on Sapkowski's "A Grain of Truth" where we get to meet a relaxed and exhausted Geralt who has shouldered the responsibility and father role over Princess Cirilla of Cintra and their dynamics are brilliant throughout the episode.

The story revolves around how the two main characters have isolated themselves in order to protect Ciri and how they find each other in a sphere of loneliness in a world crammed with ruthless dangers and threats. It should be said, however, that Henry Cavill's growling hissing in the role of Geralt of Rivia already early in season two feels a bit more monotonous than his performance in season one and I would probably still have preferred if he did not articulate his voice as much as he actually does here. This would most likely have led to Cavill being able to relax a little more and perhaps show a slightly wider register. But now I'm guessing.

In the latter half of episode one, Geralt seeks protection for himself and Cirilla from one of his old friends whos physical presence has been heavily altered by a evil curse and acts as a symbol of secrets we keep from the ones we love, in order to survive and the final sequence here is memorable, meaty, dark, violent and exciting. From what we have looked at so far from the second season of The Witcher, there are more and bigger monsters here and it is noticeable that they have chosen to focus on more short stories about Geralt as a monster hunter, and that was clearly something I missed in season one.

In the rest of these three first episodes, Geralt is reunited with his mentor Vesemir, who is played by Danish actor Kim Bodnia, who plays a strong role here, steeped in weight, experience and a calm that clearly relieves Geralt. It's great to see a slightly more cautious version of Geralt as Vesemir's father instincts rises to the surface . There are layers, nuances and exciting mythology here that make new and old characters interesting.

The domestic politics and the concentrated worldbuilding in season one was smart, because now in round two there is space and time / opportunity to really calm down the amount of dialogue and let the viewer enjoy the characters that we now know quite well. Season two of The Witcher is promising with big monsters, exciting characters and wonderfully dark, gorgeous aesthetics. Here at Gamereactor, we're really looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes on December 17.