The Witcher Season 2: First reviews between dream scores and mediocrity
The first reviews for the second season of The Witcher-Netflix series have arrived.
Next Friday, December 17th, we will finally find out what happens to Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer in the second season of The Witcher (Netflix). The first international reviews, including from colleagues at GameStar, are now online and show a very positive picture. In summary, Season 2 clearly surpasses the first ten episodes and eliminates major weaknesses in terms of storytelling and production value.
Evaluation overview and metacritic score:
- on Metacritic The second season gets a very good rating from currently ten reviews 75 points* one. In comparison: Season 1 has a score of 60 points.
| Magazin | Rating |
|---|---|
| Paste Magazine | 92 |
| Collider | 91 |
| Decider | 90 |
| Consequence | 83 |
| The A.V. Club | 83 |
| The Telegraph | 80 |
| Empire | 80 |
| The Independent | 60 |
| Radio Times | 60 |
| The Daily Beast | 40 |
What stands out: Most of the magazines rate the 2nd season in the very good category, some of them awarding well over 80 points. Only a few outlets find the new episodes rather mediocre. The reviews refer to six of the eight episodes.
That is praised and criticized
For a better understanding of the pure numbers, we summarize what the magazines liked and what there is still to criticize in season 2.
That’s positive
- clearly more accessible narrative structure: Elimination of the difficult to understand time leaps from season 1.
- higher production value: Among other things the ugly Nilfgaard armor were exchanged. Generally far more attention to detail.
- big focus on main characters: Especially Geralt and Yennefer with fantastic acting.
- many great staged locations
That’s negative
- some supporting character storylines come very short
- The arc of suspense is not always maintained.
Here you can find the spoiler-free review of the GameStar:
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How Good Is The Witcher Season 2? (Spoiler-free review)
His colleague Maurice was also able to watch the first six episodes of Season 2 The Witcher in advance and had a lot of fun overall. Among other things, the narrative structure, which deviates from the episodic narration of the first season, is now much more straightforward and accessible.
A second beginning: Since season 2 was based on the books and no longer the short stories, we are experiencing a second beginning of the series, so to speak. On the positive side, this means that a lot of time is taken for the main characters, including the “father-daughter” relationship between Geralt and Ciri. On the negative side, however, that the consequences, according to Maurice, are not always that exciting.
Are you looking forward to Season 2 of The Witcher on Netflix?
Reference-www.gamepro.de
Positive: Much enhanced production quality, including music. Acting of Freya Allan much improved. Lead characters delivering good performances throughout. Storytelling more streamlined.
Negative: Unnecessary deviations from book narrative, poor character development particularly of (but not limited to) non-lead figures, instead introduction of new characters for no purpose (despite there being already plenty of characters anyway). Too much jumping between locations, Yennefer story arc newly invented and not convincing. Despite much improved CGI and cinematography, green screen technique very much visible in some scenes.