The Witcher Netflix Episode 2 Review: Four Marks | Game Rant

Please note that this article will have spoilers for The Witcher up to Season 1 Episode 2: Four Marks.

The first episode of The Witcher Netflix series did a decent enough job of introducing viewers to the fantastical world of the "Continent," particularly when it came to developing the character of Geralt of Rivia and making clear his motivations. The other running story thread throughout The Witcher Episode 1 was all about Princess Cirilla and the fall of Cintra, and that stuff didn't land quite as well. Unfortunately, the second episode of The Witcher throws a third plot line into the mix, meaning we spend even less time with Geralt when compared to the first episode.

The new plot line is centers around Yennefer, a girl with a hunchback who has dormant magical abilities. Similarly to how Ciri's powers revealed themselves in the first episode when she was under great stress, so too do Yennefer's. She teleports herself to a man named Istredd, but her powers act as a beacon to a magical woman named Tissaia de Vries. Tissaia purchases Yennefer from her parents' farm, takes to calling her "piglet," and starts training her to be a sorceress.

Tissaia teaches Yennefer and some other women at Aretuza, which looks great in the show, confirming that Netflix spared no expense when it came to bringing The Witcher to life as a TV series. We see some other impressive locales throughout the episode, with the production values in general throughout this episode really standing out. The digital effects of the magic look tremendous, as do the more practical effects and make-up, especially in regards to the goat monster Sylvan that Geralt meets in his story.

But while Yennefer's plot line has plenty of impressive visuals, it's not very interesting from a story perspective. Yennefer is simply not as accessible as Geralt or even Ciri, who benefits from having had half of the previous episode dedicated to establishing her as a character. It doesn't help that Yennefer's story is so dark and strange, with everything from floating rocks to people being transformed into eels to suicide and sexual assault attempts. It's a lot to take in all at once, especially when it's not immediately clear in this episode how Yennefer's story will connect to Geralt's or Ciri's. It's easy to see how those who are unfamiliar with The Witcher source material would be confused about why we're spending time with Yennefer and these other new characters.

Yennfer's story takes up the bulk of the run time, which is unfortunate as Geralt's scenes are infinitely more interesting. In Episode 2, Geralt finds himself in the company of Jaskier, aka Dandelion, who wants to change the public perception of the Witcher with song. Jaskier adds much-needed comic relief in the otherwise depressing episode, and his chemistry with Geralt is a highlight.

Henry Cavill as Geralt continues to be the driving force of the show, and the main reason why anyone would tune in to watch. In this episode, we get to see Cavill not only flex his comedy chops through his conversations with Jaskier, but we once again get to see some exciting action when he comes across Sylvan, the aforementioned horned goat monster from before. Sylvan is created using practical effects instead of CGI and looks fantastically creepy, and while his brawl with Geralt is short-lived, it's a shot in the arm in an episode that's much slower-paced compared to the first one.

Geralt and Jaskier are captured by Sylvan's friends, who are angry elves living in the mountains, led by their king Filavandrel. Ultimately, Filavandrel decides to let Geralt and Jaskier go, and the theme connecting the three separate storylines in this episode becomes apparent.

The Witcher episode 2 is all about elves, and their status in the world of the television show. We learn that Yennefer is part-elf, we deal with the elves in the mountains who have been run off their land, and Ciri's story also has an elf in it. The elf in Ciri's story is Dara, who saves her life by warning her about some poisonous berries. Ciri finds some Cintran refugees and camps with them, only for Cahir to show up and slaughter everyone in camp. Ciri manages to escape with Dara's help so that she can continue her search for Geralt.

Ciri's story was once again a weak link in The Witcher Episode 2, as was the stuff with Yennefer, whereas the Geralt scenes were all great. Episode 2 suffers from having to spend even more time away from Geralt than the first episode, and the sheer amount of lore for viewers to take in may be overwhelming to some, but its visual continue to impress and the action sequences are still a lot of fun.

The Witcher is available to stream now on Netflix.