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Geralt of Rivia is deep in his emotions in The Witcher season two, and it will take more than a little searching to distract him from his pain. The more he searches … the more he feels.
The season premiere, one of eight episodes now streamed on Netflix, begins right after this little guy in Sodden Hill where soldiers take stock of the victims and survivors do. Tissaia believes Yennefer is one of the former and passes this fake news on to Geralt, who looks devastated enough to cry. (If only he could!) Geralt gives Tissaia a short “Was it worth it?” Speech before doing what he does best – disappearing into the fog. (Well, one of the things he does best. We mustn’t forget that his skills also include fighting, bathing and begging. In that order.)
So where to put this monster-killing mutant and his lawfully acquired mutants Princess? The plan is to visit Geralt’s hidden hometown of Kaer Morhen (also known as Witcher HQ) and stop in a quaint little village along the way. But when their first target turns out to be empty and unguarded (suspicious!), They take a new course for Geralt’s « old friend » Nivellen.
Oh, Nivellen. Where do you even start with this guy? Recently cursed by a priestess for desecrating her temple while it was full of mushrooms, Geralt’s pal is basically living the full fantasy of beauty and the beast. He’s not just rocking an ugly new face (those tusks!)
and monsters! There are monsters in the ceiling too. One in particular, a seemingly lovely young lady named Vereena, who questions Ciri’s idea of what constitutes a « monster ». As she reminds the runaway royal, Ciri’s ability to see the future makes her a monster to some – not to mention the fact that with Geralt as her new guardian, she’s pretty much guaranteed that she’ll find a dark path at some point.
But when Geralt catches Vereena eating Nivellen, her true nature is revealed as a bruxa. Her beautiful facial features twist into a creepy face with gnarled teeth, and she uses her powerful wind breath to take the first step against Geralt. What follows is a phenomenal first fight kicking off season two of The Witcher. I mean, Geralt literally stabbed that beast through the damn wall once. Are you kidding me?
The fight takes a surprisingly heartbreaking turn when Vereena threatens to rip Ciri’s throat out, causing Nivellen (who definitely thinks he’s dead!) To stab her from behind. Vereena then becomes a full exorcist and turns her head 180 degrees to meet Nivellen’s eyes. « I love you, » she tells him as she pulls herself towards him through the metal in her stomach. But Geralt, who was already out of the clutches before the beginning of this episode, breaks off their reunion by wiping Vereena’s head clean from her body.
As a last, not at all haunting step, Vereena’s disembodied head looks directly at Ciri and gives it terrifying warning from: « He will come for you too. » This is never good to hear from a head, whether or not it is connected to a body.
And while we are dissecting prophecy here, we cannot forget the « omen of doom » that Nivellen mentions before it actually gets right and go. He claims to have seen “the wild hunt… riding their skeleton horses across the southern skies” just last week, which sparked further apocalyptic fears: “The North and the South at war, monsters that roam when they should be in hibernation « Sweeping the plague across the country – maybe » It’s the end of the days. «
Geralt dismisses this as horse shit, and he’s not entirely wrong. The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich recently told IGN that the show is deliberately building a hype around the wild hunt – she is fully aware of what it means to longtime Witcher fans – but that we’re not expecting that anytime soon should. « We’re not ready yet, » says Hissrich.
* Yennefer wakes up in the forest, now in the care of Fringilla and a handful of surviving Nilfgaard soldiers. They assume their leaders will accept Yennefer as an offer of peace that made them lose the battle, but she rightly theorizes that they’ll likely be killed anyway. Yennefer instead asks Fringilla to rejoin the brotherhood she believes will welcome her back with her robes open, but that too gets a tough pass. Of course, their entire argument becomes contentious in the final moments of the premiere when an invisible enemy encircles the group and quickly kills Fringilla’s travel companions. At this point, I think maybe she should consider loosening Yennefer’s chains because they’re back on the same team whether they like it or not.
* The Brotherhood is currently operating on the assumption that Yennefer is dead and that Fringilla is as good as dead because he has given up all the rules of chaos. Speaking of chaos: Tissaia scores with her Nilfgaard prisoner and gives him the absolute deal. When he refuses to tell her what Nilfgaard wants, she doesn’t just magically pull the information out of his brain. No, that would be way too cool. This lady immediately takes his knowledge, memories and “essential being” with the aim of capturing him in the “eternal darkness” of his own mind. It is obvious that it only has two modes: Fully Off and FULLY ON. No dimmer.
Your opinion on The Witcher’s wonderful, bestial season premiere? Rate episode 1 below, then leave a comment with your thoughts on the long-awaited return of the Netflix series.
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