To start, let me say that I have not read the books, nor have I played the video games. Therefore I come into this without preconceived notions that are to be disappointed, nor with fanboy excitement that will have me posting a 10 out of 10 just because.

First of all, this is not GoT, nor is it trying to be. It is its own world, its own magic, its own monsters. That said, it could have learned something from GoTs success.

First, let's go over the good aspects of The Witcher. One can tell that Netflix has committed to the series. The cinematography is very well done, the direction is well above average. The locales are beautiful and draw the viewer into the world. The acting is, for the most part, very good. Henry Cavill, who I've been a fan of since The Tudors, does a fine job as Geralt, as does Freya Allan as Ciri. Some of the supporting cast are excellent in their roles, MyAnna Buring in particular. The battle scenes were glorious. Cavill's swordsmanship was on full display and he was perfect as a trained killer.

The bad. For me, the writing lacked. As I stated earlier, Cavill did good work as Geralt, but that character is very two dimensional. Hopefully, in season 2, he can flesh out Geralt a bit more. Anya Chalotra, as Yennefer, just did not strike the right fit for me. The CGI here was a bit lacking, with the exception of the dragon. The dragon was embarrassingly bad. Here is my comparison with GoT. GoT showed us what good CGI dragons can look like. This dragon was.... not. Lastly, Jaskier as played by Joey Batey. I've not read the books, but I keep hearing how dark this series is supposed to be, so it really pulls me from my immersion when this character is set up as the comic relief. I do not blame Batey, he acts fine enough, but rather the writers. The humour falls flat as is very corny. I would have preferred they had either skipped it completely, or at least made it more subtle and not have the character as the comic sidekick.

All in all, I watched the 8 episodes over the course of the weekend. I enjoyed it for what it was, but it had the potential to be so much more. Those that have given it either a 1 or a 10 are being intellectually dishonest. It is definitely in the middle. Watchable, but not spectacular.