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After two years of waiting, Magician Season 4 is finally back on our screens — and boy does it feel like we’ve been waiting this long in the worst possible way.
The hit Netflix show is a complicated one to keep up with at the best of times, and it’s even more exaggerated when so much has happened in the interim. Liam Hemsworth takes over as Geralt of Rivia from Henry Cavill, we have a whole host of brand new characters that make up his ragtag crew, and Valgefort (Mahesh Jadoo) is far from hacking away with his senseless chaos magic.
The Witcher Season 4 begins as a slog, and that’s a storytelling problem
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At least for the first two episodes Magician Season 4, I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of the books and sports or have re-watched the last three seasons in preparation, you’re going to be as lost as a kid on the first day of high school.
As someone who doesn’t fit into either of those categories, I think Episode 1 did a particularly poor job of bringing us up to speed. We’re reminded that Geralt, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allen) have been separated since the end of the Battle of Aretoza, but details are thin.
Instead of a traditional ‘before…’ recap which would have worked much better – or a standalone recap on the platform like Netflix has done Magician Before that – we’re reminded of how things stand by a young girl reading a book about The Legend of the Witcher. It’s clear that she’s going to be important in Season 5, but the creative threat doesn’t help us get the simple understanding we need.
By the halfway point of Season 4, you’re back in the swing of things. Geralt becomes a side plot in his own story, and the action we see often feels like the CGI budget is clearly spent. Stranger things Season 5 instead.
Although this season has a distinct cutback on nudity and intimate scenes (which was a conscious decision by showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Husrich), those still seem somewhat poignant. I hate to sound like my nan, but it’s the swearing that gets me the most wrong in Season 4. There’s often no linguistic map from the show, and you swing from Old English to “I’m killin’ you** Kong killin’ you” in seconds.
The second half of The Witcher Season 4 is where it really shines
Get over those issues in the first four episodes, and you’re on to a winner in the second four. While I’ve been tight-lipped about the first half of season four, I couldn’t sing the episode’s praises loud enough. They’re the strongest in the franchise, with their visuals, storytelling, and world-building delivering something we don’t really want to see.
Instead of our last episode being a season highlight, I think it’s actually episode 6. Here, we see Villefort and Yennefer face off in the Battle of Montecalvo, which is greatly expanded from the original books. The action sequences are dynamic and push the creative boundaries, while there are plenty of genuine surprises in store (which may or may not be game-changers for Season 5).
I also had to take a moment for the new cast member who is the real star of Season 4: Laurence Fishburne. Although fans were quick to criticize his casting as brooding vampire Regis, Fishburne brings the perfect balance of wisdom and curiosity. It’s honestly surprising that he hasn’t been thrown into an old world fantasy series before, but now he really is part of the furniture.
Now the audience is more populated MagicianThe narrative that follows, and the narrative that follows, also takes more creative risks in these later episodes in the season. Without giving too much away, we have full-out musical numbers, dynamic sequences and unexpected alliances awaiting us, and I think each has spin-off potential (but more on that later).
is Magician Is Season 4 the best outing Netflix has had so far? No—and the main reason is that it’s a placeholder for Season 5. For the jaw-dropping ending we’ve all been waiting for, the show has to give us a lot of context for the moment, and in turn we have to ride the understated bits.
If anything, think of it as Season 4 Part 1. Just like that Deathly Hallows or Mockingjay i movies Harry Potter And The Hunger Gamesthe calm comes before the storm…and what a storm it is Magician Season 5 is coming up.
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