The Witcher

It got better a couple episodes in. A lot felt forced, stiff, and didn't have enough suspension of disbelief (that magic touch). But it was good enough to keep me watching and liking it more as it went on. I didn't like the puzzle of events though. Can't wait for a fan edit putting events in sequential order. Just that thing that is hard to put into words. You feel it is all fake whether it is acting, timing, camera work, wire work, choreography or what not. Closer to Shannara chronicles than Game of Thrones in suspension of disbelief. Or World of Warcraft (the movie) rather than Lord of the Rings.

I finished watching The Wicher at one go straight, so it is evident that it kept me hooked until the very end. Let me be clear about something: I am not much of a fan of these medieval sagas. But something about The Witcher struck me as different. Yes, there are many flaws. The acting of the supporting cast is not very strong, the storyline is a bit obvious, and sometimes things happen too conveniently for the story to progress. But the good things certainly dominate the bad things. The "Dunkirk approach" to the editing mostly worked well, even though ambiguity remained at certain places. I guess those will be cleared in the second season. Henry Cavill was magnificent as the titular character. The dialogues were very strong too, thanks to its source material. The pace of the series was strong, and it picked up interest as the episodes rolled by. I, personally, preferred this over the Game of Thrones (I know I am going to get a lot of flak for this), but hey, choices, right?

Solid series. One flaw, that kept it from getting 5 stars, is how the show deals with the multiple timelines in Season 1. It could have definetly been handled better. I am looking forward to future seasons.