By Ben Wright (@iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
Featuring a majority cast of new and original characters, The Witcher: Blood Origin is very much Netflix’s take on what came before The Witcher, and does little to pull from the plethora of content from the books or even the game series. While I am perfectly fine with this, and some established characters do appear in the series, I think there were some key story elements that this series mishandles and believe hinder the show, and looking at the initial reaction from fans, this seems to be a common theme. With that said, there were some new takes that I did enjoy, so it wasn’t all bad.
While the story is a little chaotic, the characters, for the most part, are a pretty stable ensemble, with some performers doing more of the heavy lifting. Michelle Yeoh (Scian) is almost like a cheat code at this point, and she is phenomenal as you would expect. Francesca Mills (Meldof), and her trusty hammer Gwen, was another character that really was layered and engaging – not to mention a lot of fun! In comparison, the two leads Sophia Brown (Eile) and Laurence O’Fuarain (Fjall) were a little wooden in their performance, and only really came to life during the action scenes. Main series star Joey Batey (Jaskier) has a small role in the series and he makes a stronger and lasting impression than those who had four episodes of screentime.
When you compare Blood Origin to the likes of The Witcher and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, there is a noticeable drop in quality at every level. It’s not awful, it just feels like a missed opportunity, and when there are great performances and some positive story elements, these are more the exception rather than the rule. I would also say, that the villains are weakly written and forgettable, so there is never any real threat from that side of things.
The four-episode run is probably about right, as I think over eight or more episodes then the show would struggle further, as one of the key positives was the pacing – it’s a very quick show. While I appreciate that I haven’t been over complimentary about the show, I still enjoyed it overall – it was ok! There were characters that I really loved and I was in awe of the songs and music in the show – a true highlight. The costumes and locations were yet again more feather in Blood Origin‘s cap – so there is plenty to enjoy. If you are not snobbish or purist about your Witcher media, then I think you can still enjoy this series! I really enjoyed parts and overall thought it was ok, and while there were things I thought could have been handled better, I never found myself hating anything during my watch-through.
The Witcher: Blood Origin feels the equivalent of rushed DLC that comes close, but never truly replicates what you loved about the main series. While there are some positives – mainly Michelle Yeoh and Francesca Mills – Blood Origin is a little too fractured and while it was ‘ok’, it fell short of what we come to expect from The Witcher franchise on Netflix.
What did you think of the latest episode of The Witcher: Blood Origin? Let us know in the comments or find us on social media.
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