Search results
Dec 17, 2021 · Now, Nivellen’s ties to Geralt stretch back to when Geralt wiped out a wyvern infestation for his father. Nivellen’s looks are linked to a curse inflicted on him by a Priestess, forcing him to live alone.
Dec 17, 2021 · A mansion on a nearby hill is supposed to be occupied by a friend of Geralt’s, but when they get there he’s jumped by a terrifying monster with tusks and fur. This, though, is Geralt’s friend, Nivellen, now cursed to roam the halls of his manor as a monster for all eternity.
- Jonathon Wilson
- The Witcher’s second season premiere plays the hits.
- The Witcher Season Two Images
- Which main character are you most excited to catch back up with in The Witcher Season 2?
- Verdict
- The Witcher Season 2, Episode 1 Review
- More Reviews by Kat Bailey
- IGN Recommends
By Kat Bailey
Updated: Dec 21, 2021 11:20 pm
Posted: Dec 17, 2021 8:01 am
The below contains full spoilers for The Witcher Season 2, Episode 1. For a spoiler-free review of the first six episodes of Season 2, click here.
Of all the episodes in The Witcher’s sometimes uneven first season, most observers seemed to agree that the third episode was among the best of them. Apart from representing a big jump in production value from the first two episodes, it was just fun to see Geralt break out the fine silver and hunt a solid monster of the week. It was a fight that most viewers — video game fans and book readers alike — agreed was great.
It appears the producers noticed. The Witcher’s second season premiere takes pains to recapture the look and feel of that episode, spinning a twisted version of Beauty and the Beast while laying the groundwork for what’s to come.
Like so much of Season 1 before it, Witcher Season 2’s premiere adapts one of the collected short stories, specifically A Grain of Truth. It begins in proper monster of the week fashion, with a group of travelers wandering into a wintry abandoned village and being immediately slaughtered by an unseen monster. It’s a classic X-Files cold open, emphasis on cold.
The rest of the episode picks up from where Season 1 left off, jumping between Geralt, Ciri, Tissaia, and Yennefer as they collectively deal with the fallout from the previous season’s events. Yennefer, whose fate was left in doubt after Season 1 (but c’mon, we all knew she would be fine), is being held captive by Fringilla — her former classmate turned Nilfgaardian ice queen. Tissaia is close behind, frantically sifting through the ruins of the battlefield in the search for her former protege, and performing the mind meld from hell on Cahir, one of the major villains from Season 1. But the main focus is on Geralt and Ciri, who are united at last after a season-long buildup.
Geralt
Ciri
Yennefer
Going into this new season, one of my key questions was whether Ciri — played by relative newcomer Freya Allan — would be able to hold her own against the rest of the cast. Ciri’s arc was unquestionably one of the weakest elements of the first season, and while some of that was due to the uneven pacing, her performance also left her scenes feeling curiously inert. That’s still the case in Season 2, but paired with Henry Cavill and Kristofer Hivju, who plays the boisterous beast Nivellan in the opener, it’s at least not quite as noticeable.
Hivju, it’s worth mentioning, provides plenty of energy for two as Nivellan, mugging relentlessly in his monster makeup as he prowls about his scenes with Geralt and Ciri. It transpires that Nivellan desecrated a temple as a young lad, whereupon he was cursed by one of the priestesses. “I was a gormless young twat, fell in with the wrong crowd,” Nivellan moans.
The Witcher begins its second season by playing the hits.
The Witcher begins its second season by playing the hits, bringing Geralt and Ciri together in the kind of entertaining monster-of-the-week plot in which the show excels. It does a great job of reacquainting viewers with The Witcher’s unique fantasy world, weaving in plot elements from the previous season without detracting from the main story. It’...
EDITORS' CHOICE
Review scoring
amazing
"A Grain of Truth" is a strong start to The Witcher's second season, leaning into what worked best in the first installment.
- Kat Bailey
Dec 17, 2021 · In the Witcher S2E01 Explained, I explain what happens in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 1 A Grain of Truth. I breakdown the episode, A Grain of Truth, in great detail going over episode 1 of...
- 17 min
- 65.2K
- JellyJugz
Dec 17, 2021 · As the episode ends, Fringilla’s band of soldiers is massacred by a volley of incredibly accurate arrows, leaving only Fringilla and Yennefer alive. Who fired them? We’ll...
Ciri inquires about how they met, and Nivellen reveals that many years ago, Geralt was hired by his father to clear their woods of a wyvern infestation. Nivellen tried to prove himself to his father by killing one first, but instead fell into their lair.
People also ask
What happens in Episode 1 of The Witcher season 2?
Did Geralt kill a wyvern?
What was the ending of Season 1?
Jun 13, 2023 · The Witcher season 2 episode 1 recap: A Grain of Truth. The second season of The Witcher starts with another adaptation of a short story from The Last Wish, “A Grain of Truth.” It begins...
