What Is Lost
Episode 3 of The Witcher Season 2 begins with our story finally making some decent progress. Ciri is still training with Geralt at Kaer Morhen. She’s also continuously haunted by visions of the Black Knight, but keeps that a secret from Geralt. Things are not all well at Kaer Morhen though. Lambert is not happy that one of their own has fallen, still angry about Eskel’s death. Yesemir refuses to give up on finding what’s happened to Eskel, continuing his autopsy and trying to find the root cause of his infection. Geralt though convinces him to stop. He believes Eskel should have peace. Coen and Lambert eventually decide to test Ciri’s resolve. They bring her out to an obstacle course outside, complete with swinging pendulums and some pretty steep drops. And it doesn’t take long before she’s knocked out on her back. Meanwhile, Tissaia attends a meeting with various other politicians, wondering just what to do about Nilfgaard. Unfortunately they’ve caught wind of the potential alliance between Nilfgaard and the Elves, believing they need to hit back. Interrogating Cahir has proven fruitless, while Yennefer returning throws a big spanner in the works. Despite being back, she’s told to lay low while Tissaia bides her time and tries to turn the court to her favour. Triss Merigold is back on the mend too and she sit with Yennefer, talking about her scars. She’s intent on finding a new way forward. Interestingly, that new way has already begun in Nilfgaard. With over 4000 elves heading in to the castle, some of the humans there are not happy about this new alliance. Francesca has obviously been encouraged to come here, courtesy of the Gods, intent on finding Dol Blathanna. Stregobor continues to try and push his agenda too, doing his best to convince the council that Yennefer is a threat. Tissaia sees how bad this could be for them and suggests she kill Cahir to prove her worth – and that she’s not a spy. After all, going free from Nilfgaard after being in their company for so long is a little suspect. That night, in front of everyone, Yennefer takes up the axe and prepares to kill Cahir. However, she double-crosses them all, freeing Cahir, slashing his binds and riding with the man on horseback far away from Tissaia and the others. After numerous tries, lots of cuts and bruises and a whole lot of determination, Ciri manages to complete the obstacle course at Kaer Morhen. Almost anyway. Her landing is less than soft, and after spitting up blood, finds herself looking at the feet of Geralt. Back inside the castle, Ciri tells Geralt about her visions and how she feels a strong sense of being pulled. Her visions are becoming stronger, so Geralt decides to test that theory. He leads her out into the woods, believing she may well possess some form of magical power, just like her mother. Well, the pair wind up finding Eskel’s Leshey, missing a limb and ready to fight. As Geralt does his best to hold it off, Ciri runs away. Unfortunately the Leshey follows her, blindsiding Cirri and cutting off her escape route. Thankfully Geralt is there and he slays the creature. But will Ciri learn the skills in time to help slay the beast next time?
The Episode Review
The third episode of The Witcher starts to deepen the political alliances now, as things take on a much slower pace. There are deeper themes of xenophobia and mistrust running right the way through this show; a stark contrast to the growing trust between Ciri and Geralt. So far the story has been slowly building up to bigger things, leaving lots of potential for a bombastic second half to this season. Either way, this ending does hint that we’re going to get more development on our two big plot lines of the season, with plenty to like about the story so far.
