Here’s my The Witcher S1E4 review entitled “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials”. The episode was directed by Alex Garcia Lopez and stars Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chaltora.

There will be a lot of spoilers for this review so be warned.

We finally get something substantial for Ciri in this episode with her learning more about what her grandmother had done to the elves.

Years before, Geralt appears proving once again his status as a the legendary White Wolf. He also stubbornly agrees to chaperone Jaskier to a betrothal ceremony where his fame earns him a seat in the Queen’s table. And that ends up becoming an important party for this history of Cintra and Nilfgaard, even impacting the games.

Freya Allan gets to flex her acting here and it’s nice to see her character get thrust into one dangerous situation after another. Still not warming up to her though.

Going back to Cavill, he continues to show us why hes perfect choice to play Netflix’s Geralt of Rivia. In this episode we get to see another side of, one that’s more mellow yet serious. Even in the face of utter destruction, he’s still calm and composed.

Yennefer’s arc is one that continues to show her maturity as a sorceress. We see how she’s cracking under pressure. And when faced with a truly deadly opponent, shes not yet prepared. It’s a sad moment towards the end that the people she’s been tasked to protect fall one by one. And that speech at the last part helps to give viewers a look at how she changed her world view. Also it still sucks that she’s stated as a talented mage/ sorceress but it seems like she’s not. I understand that its part of the writing and story but it feels lacking.

This episode is where it really starts to connect the story. It’s a long play and slow burn but as a casual viewer with zero knowledge, you start to really see how the three main characters connect but it could be a stretch too. Either you read up after the episode or stay tuned for more episode.

Gotta love the segment with Jaskier once again, including him nonchalantly saying that he’s still alive in the opening scene.

Good job also for giving viewers a bare bones understanding of what “Law of Surprise” means. It will help that we learn this early on in the story to help us as we go through the story and the series.

The Witcher S1E4 Review – Verdict

8/10

Overall, I think this episode belongs to the really good ones. It once again gives us more lore in the past, present and future and even gives us great action scenes. This was I think one of those fight scenes that Lauren Schmidt Hissrich was talking about when she visited Manila a few weeks ago. About sword fighting telling a story as opposed to just slashing and stabbing because that bloody hall scene was good.