I knew we were in trouble.

I knew nothing about the books or the game and I can say this show is terrible. I knew nothing of Game of Thrones when it came out and it was brilliant... for a while at least. I had no trouble following the story, getting to know characters etc. In Witcher, I literally have no idea what is going on... This is a complete failure of the writers. I don't care about a single character. The fact that i have to be a fan of the books and/or games to know what is going on is bad bad work and I highly doubt this show will appeal to the mass numbers of Normies like myself as GOT did. Witcher feels like a cosplay fanfiction of itself. The writing is atrocious which by extension makes the acting hard to watch.

Witcher is more like the crash and burn series Legend of the Seeker which coincidentally ruined a favorite book series of mine(so i empathize with fans of this). I apologize for even mentioning Witcher in the same sentences as GOT. Just a reference point.

The casting with the exception of Cavill, the overall look, even the wardrobe, and medieval dance numbers are cringey and hard to watch. As for casting... ill reference GOT again bc despite that shows crash and burn for years it redefined the standard of a fantasy series... even in season 1 and a very modest initial budget... the storytelling was top notch. we didn't need special effects and magic. it was all about the characters and world-building and EVERYTHING FELT AUTHENTIC. Yennefer's whole introduction felt like a spoof of herself like something out of Scary Movie or Not Another Teen Movie.

The makeup, the hunchback was all laughable. If this is Netflix's answer to HBO... its pathetic. I heard someone compare this show to Xena Warrior Princess... which is insulting as hell for someone who grew up watching and Loving Xena. Xena knew what kind of show it was and though it had cheap CGI and plenty of camp(late 90's, early 00's) it still had great acting and storytelling. My one positive comes in the form of The Bard... which coincidentally did remind me of Xena(xena fans will understand)... specifically Geralt and the Bard's chemistry. It almost made me hopeful but it's still not enough.

This show is a rushed, low rent mess and something tells me Lauren Schmidt got the job based on more Hollywood PC Identity just look at her resume... her writing credits include The Defenders and other marvel Netflix series... even Punisher which started off brilliantly. Witcher is a complete mess and will not have any real mass appeal unless the writing does a 180 which due to Hollywood politics I highly doubt will happen. Just look at social media... this show was everywhere before it came out and since it debuted I haven't heard a peep on any platforms...