Item: The Witcher
Rating: 6.9
Author: Matt Purslow

This review contains full spoilers for The Witcher Season 1, episode 5, titled "Bottled Appetites". For a refresher, check out our review of episode 4, "Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials".

It’s been a long time coming, but with episode 5 The Witcher finally gets a move on with its overarching plotlines. Geralt and Yennefer meet for the first time, and Nilfgaard actually enacts a plan to capture Ciri. There’s notable character development across the board, and a stronger feeling of coherence between the show’s separate threats. But despite this, episode 5 notably suffers from many of The Witcher’s production woes, which overshadow several of the story’s triumphs.

Episode 5’s strength comes down to the work of writer Sneha Koorse and director Charlotte Brändström, who finally make The Witcher feel like an ensemble cast show rather than three separate projects cut together. The episode swaps between its perspectives at a quicker pace than previous episodes, making each character feel more engaged in the overall plot. This is further helped by having two of the three stories finally entwine. Ciri’s scenes are reduced in the latter half as the action heats up between Geralt and Yennefer, but overall the show now feels notably more coherent.

Ciri may have less screen time, but Nilfgaard finally begins its hunt for the Princess, which significantly raises the stakes and provides a much-needed sense of plot progression. It’s been easy to feel that Ciri has been in an indefinitely safe place over the last three episodes due to her would-be-captors having vanished from the story, but using a Doppler in the form of Mousesack to trick the Princess into leaving the safety of Brokilon is a smart way to introduce a little dramatic irony and tension to the proceedings. We’re finally at a point where it’s exciting to see where Ciri will go next.

Similarly, it is exciting to see Yennefer going all-out as a bitter and selfish character during her first encounter with Geralt. We’ve been on quite a journey with her, and the sequences with Kalis’ baby in the previous episode tie right into her manipulation of Geralt here, as she attempts to use the djinn to reverse her sterilisation. The time we’ve spent with Yenn helps paint her story as a tragedy, which successfully prevents her from becoming the piece’s villain. But she has become a central character who’s pushing the boundaries of the anti-hero archetype, which adds further colour to The Witcher’s unpredictable and complex moral palette. Unfortunately, the portrayal of “dark” Yennefer is notably less subtle than that delivered during her origin story. This party serves to bring the character’s anger to the forefront, but the more overt scenes in which she parades around naked with a womb painted on her abdomen feel silly rather than chilling, and that, unfortunately, undercuts the sense of darkness that the episode is clearly attempting to convey.

That darkness is also misserved by a few directing decisions throughout the episode. While the show has always had an occasionally misplaced sense of humour, it really comes to the fore here; the naked mayor’s penis obscured by a flagon and two apples, or Yennefer’s sex clinic being the prime examples. Jaskier tags along for the adventure once more, meaning further quips and cheeky rhymes. But in an episode that finally finds a better sense of coherence, he feels like the odd one out. Some of his dialogue, such as when he discovers Geralt and Yennefer having sex, is practically ripped from a sitcom. Rather than providing a fun juxtaposition as he did in Geralt’s standalone quests, Jaskier simply comes across as annoying and entirely out of place.

The Witcher: Season 1 Gallery

Geralt and Yennefer’s first meeting is also bizarre in tone, with the White Wolf dragging a seriously ill Jaskier through an orgy that’s shot like R-rated music video for Moulin Rouge. Far from being the sultry, mysterious sequence it aspires to be, the scene is just a bit embarrassing.

Talking of naked folk, the episode’s attempt to build sexual tension between Geralt and Yennefer falls entirely flat, which means when the two get down and dirty in the final moments of the episode it feels as if it has come from nowhere. Their bathing scene, which I can only assume is there to establish attraction, is so flat and lacking in spark that it fails to generate any genuine feelings between the two. Cavill shows less emotion here than he did during his conversation with his horse in episode 1, which certainly paints an odd picture. It makes their later intimate encounter feel cheap, and prompted by Yennefer being impressed by Geralt’s save-the-day abilities rather than any genuine connection. Those familiar with the books and games will know Geralt is pretty promiscuous, but the way this sequence is built up to and presented means it is unclear if this is a casual encounter or the start of something more. It’s clumsy character progression for such an iconic couple.

While these poorer elements threaten to overshadow “Bottled Appetites,” it’s important to note that the core story, based on Sapkowski’s The Last Wish, is one of the season’s strongest tales.

Its final twist, in which we realise that Geralt was granted the djinn’s wishes and thus has unknowingly wielded the key to stopping it all the long, is a satisfying reveal that forces the White Wolf to solve the quest like a puzzle rather than via a kill. This also helps anchor the show in its unique fantasy niche; not everything in The Witcher’s world can be solved by political backstabbing (or just literal backstabbing). Some things need lateral thinking and an understanding of mythical rules.

The approach to the djinn also demonstrates the show’s chops when it comes to horror. The aesthetic continues feel similar to The CW’s Supernatural, but this time around the use of a foe lacking physical form means the horror is set through more atmospheric means than a tangible creature. There’s some good drama to be had in the episode’s pentagrams, blacked-out eyes, and arched spines. While the djinn doesn’t link to the wider story, its creepy nature does run parallel to the ritualistic magic that we saw Nilfgaard’s mages use in the previous episode to read Calanthe’s thoughts. It all helps further shape the impression that there’s a constant and sinister magical threat that lies beyond the plane.

Verdict

It finally feels as if The Witcher’s elongated prologue is over and its individual threads are being pulled together in order to advance the overarching plot. The events of “Bottled Appetites” have true consequences for the story; Geralt and Yennefer have begun their relationship, and Nilfgaard’s plot to capture Ciri has not only been put into action, but also succeeded. But all this comes as the show is going through an identity crisis, with its comedy sitting uncomfortably alongside its darkness, rather than working in tandem with it. It feels as if there’s a struggle to unite the show’s separate elements as it transforms from an episodic to serialised structure. Furthermore, some odd direction leaves dramatic scenes feeling unintentionally silly. With just three episodes of the season left, The Witcher needs to overcome these problems quickly. For more, check out our review of The Witcher Season 1, episode 6.