I have been a huge fan of the Witcher franchise for a long time. Monsters, swords, magic- what more is there to want? So when the first season of The Witcher came out on Netflix, you bet I watched the whole thing as soon as I could. And I loved it. When I heard when season 2 was releasing, I could not wait to dive back into the lives of Geralt, Yennefer, and Cirilla for even more adventure in the world I had come to cherish.

Don’t get me wrong- I will be the first to admit that season 1 of The Witcher was not perfect. The worldbuilding could have been improved, the pacing at times felt off and it was more than just difficult to keep track of when events were happening from a timeline perspective. Keeping that in mind, I will order my thoughts into three sections: the narrative, both in ease of understanding and in quality; the technical quality and performances; and the quality of the characters, their actions, and their motivations.

Let us begin with the narrative. Throughout the entire first season, the hardest thing for many fans to understand was the pacing, or more specifically, when each event was happening within the in-universe timeline. This season, almost every event was shown in the order that they happened, or they were explicitly shown as flashbacks to previous events. In addition, this season had many plot twists, including a major reveal towards the end of the finale, and an explanation regarding how elves, monsters, and magic entered into the world in the first place. Along with this, following Ciri and Geralt through the first episodes and watching their interactions with other prominent characters, especially upon arriving at Kaer Morhen, was probably the most fascinating part for me in terms of worldbuilding and plot development.

Not only that, but the action scenes were well-choreographed, the CGI was well made, and the visuals were as near to perfect as possible. This show puts the quality in technical quality without a doubt. This season also featured my favorite performances, including Jaskier’s new, incredibly well-written and performed song about our favorite witcher (or butcher, if you will). I loved all of the performances this season, even if there were a few off-beats.

Of course, it’s hard to talk about a show without talking about the characters, and the characters in this season were about as well-written as they’ve ever been. Geralt’s journey had him becoming almost a new father figure for Ciri as she learned and grew in this entirely foreign environment, and Yennifer struggled with new troubles as her chaos was effectively tapped following the Battle of Sodden Hill. Without spoiling too much, each of the characters faced new challenges and many had personal battles that they had to overcome, along with new main players in the form of the elves, Fringilla and the Nilfgaardians, and the Redanians.

All in all, this season was, in my opinion, a drastic improvement from the already exceptional first season of The Witcher, and I look forward to more seasons to come. I would rate this season of The Witcher as a 10/10.