Wednesday, August 12, 2020

The Witcher - Betrayer Moon


The main storyline of "Betrayer Moon" involving a kingdom haunted by a princess turned into a grizzly creature known as a Striga is supposed to have personal ties to the past of Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill). Unfortunately, the writers of the series have forgotten that they have told us next to nothing about the Witcher's backstory leaving any deeper meaning impossible to connect to his unknown previous experiences. The episode features plenty of Geralt acting like a first-rate dick (something Cavill excels at) to everyone in the kingdom from the local witch to the king himself. The creature also took down another Wicher (Gudmundur Thorvaldsson) whose entire existence appears to be to allow Geralt to be slightly miffed not at the Witcher's death but that the kingdom hushed up the his death (making it look like the warrior left with the townspeople's money).

Gerault thumbing his nose at authority makes for the best part of the episode as he discovers the person behind the princess' curse and then leaves him as an offering prior to his attempts to return the girl to human form. The B-story, which is likely to have far larger ramifications over the remainder of the season, involves Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) losing a cushy position when truth of her ancestry comes to light leading to her to undergo a dangerous transformation (which, other than losing the ability to have children in the future, is ill-defined) in order to be reborn as a beauty capable of turning the king's head and reclaiming what she believes to be rightfully hers. Ciri (Freya Allan is nearly completely absent in the episode, appearing only in the epilogue where she becomes entranced and is drawn into the woods of Brokilon thus setting up the next stage of her story.

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