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When it first debuted back in 2019, The Witcher was touted to be Netflix's answer to Game of Thrones. The production quality and budget certainly were comparable. Since then, it has consistently been received well and is one of the streaming service's popular episodic offerings. But it has not left the same impact on global pop culture that GoT did. Part of the reason, I believe, is its basic premise, as presented in the series, is not as different from the usual fantasy fare. The world-building is not as strong in this Lauren Schmidt Hissrich creation. In the first few seasons at least, Game of Thrones had robust writing that nicely delineated the sheer depth of its world and cast of thousands of characters. 

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The focus of The Witcher, which is based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, is much smaller and the overarching politics in the Continent is nowhere near as detailed. Of course, GoT went all downhill in the last two seasons. Here's hoping the Netflix series has a better fate.

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Is The Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 worth watching?

Irrespective of what I said, I have always found The Witcher a lot of fun. I am certain one reason is that — this will sound a bit nerdy — I am quite attached to these characters. But the show is also unapologetically pulpy in the style of those fantasy novels that cropped up in the last half of the 20th century and roughly mirrored the plot of The Lord of the Rings: Terry Brooks' The Sword of Shannara, David Eddings's Belgariad, Guy Gavriel Kay's The Fionavar Tapestry, and many more. It's shlock, but good shlock —  if you know what I mean.

I loved the five episodes that are available to watch in the first volume of the show's Season 3. Having read all Witcher books and played every game by CD Projekt RED, I do find a lot of things frustrating. Most casting choices are spot on but a couple are weird, more so when those characters come into focus this season. 

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But the story of the main trio — Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri — is worthwhile. Based on the second Witcher novel, Time of Contempt, the season kicks off with our three characters evading their bounty hunter pursuers even as Ciri is trained in the arts of witchery and magic by Geralt and Yennefer, respectively. Geralt and Yen want to find and kill Rience, the rogue fire mage that they faced in the last season. 

The war in the Continent beckons — but who cares?

Try as I might, I find it really hard to care about the conflict that is simmering in the wider world as our heroes navigate the treacherous terrain of the Continent. The show has always struggled to reconcile its two contradictory natures: one that is character-focused and the other that is much bigger in scope: the impending war between the Nilfgaardian Empire and the always-fractious Northern Kingdoms. I am sure all that is very dangerous and dark times are ahead, but the writers have not done a good job in making that part exciting. I'd rather see Geralt, Yen, and Ciri undergoing their journey even as life goes on as usual elsewhere. The reason I find the show's politics boring is because I know all about what happens later on in the story already. But that was true for GoT too, and I quite liked its handling of pseudo-medieval politics.

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Anyway, to keep her safe for good from the various forces, evil or not, hunting her and to further train her in the arts of magic, Geralt and Yen decide to take Ciri to Aretuza. They also zero in on the identity of the powerful mage who is running Rience's strings. Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see how the show handles the subsequent events.

A dash of Geralt, a pinch of Yennefer, a sprinkle of Ciri: that's all I need in my Witcher delicacy.

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