I miss when The Witcher was Netflix’s monster-of-the-week show

that of Netflix The witcher approaches yet another turning point. The show has gone through a lot of changes over the years, but it’s hitting its biggest yet: life after Henry Cavill, with Liam Hemsworth coming to play Geralt for its fourth season. And it’s a chance to get back to what made the show successful in the first place.

The witcher got off to a flying start as a series that used monster encounters and fantasy devices to create immersive episodic television that supported the larger world it was building. Sure, there was a bigger story, but Geralt’s (and Yen’s and Ciri’s) early stories were defined by the dangerous encounters and gnarled creatures they had to overcome in each episode.

Then the second season of the show came closer Game of Thrones imitation, sacrificing some of the episodic monster hijinx in favor of the wider story it was trying to tell. And the third season unfortunately fully embraced that direction and went heavy on Witcher lore and opaque political plots instead of the simple pleasures of Geralt growling at some creepy foes and then slaughtering them.

There are moments of monster mash in the third season, of course: the meat monster is a highlight, as is the attack on the ship later in the season. But these feel like sparse punctuation moments in the less compelling larger story of The witcher season 3, instead of climactic moments in an episode devoted to the suspense and mystery surrounding the monster’s existence and threat.

While I’m generally in the camp of We have too many long movies masquerading as TV shows and we need to return to more episodic TVI don’t think that’s the only reason The witcher should embrace the impending reset as an opportunity to change gears. The show itself is much more fun and enjoyable if so: revisit the awesome second season premiere or the dragon hunting episode “Rare Species” from the first season. You will be reminded that as episodic monster hunting television, The witcher better immerse yourself in his world by letting Geralt communicate with people in it who needed his help.

It also allowed Cavill, one of the show’s greatest strengths, to just do his thing, moaning, grunting (whether exerting himself or being sarcastic), and using the considerable work he puts into his swordsmanship to assert himself with determination ( and usually a way through conflict). touch of annoyance). It also had the skilled production team design creepy, exciting ghosts (which would then be sliced ​​up).

Photo: Jay Maidment/Netflix

The main thing is that the episodic structure is allowed The witcher to avoid what has become his greatest weakness: impenetrable lore. I haven’t read the books (something I bet I have in common with much of the Netflix audience), and the show has given me no reason to worry about the larger political conflicts taking place in the world of The witcher. The scheming characters and shifting alliances are drawn as thinly as possible – seemingly in an effort to limit the exposition, but instead give viewers nothing to cling to in the stakes of the larger conflict beyond their connections to Geralt and Ciri .

That’s not enough to carry the weight of a global political conflict, but it’s more than enough to make us cheer through monster bashing. So let’s do more of that, okay? Less Vilgefortz, more rogue-filled fortresses. Less Cahir, more fear. Less Dijkstra, more fear…to…hunt. You get the picture.

The fourth season of The witcher will already be a reset for the show. Why not make it a total reset and take Netflix’s escape fantasy back to its roots as episodic TV?