The Witcher season 3: Every episode reviewed and explained

The Witcher season 3 episode 8: “The Cost of Chaos”

It all comes down to this: Henry Cavill’s last episode of The Witcher. Cavill left the series after season 3, and Geralt will be played by Liam Hemsworth in season 4 and beyond. Unfortunately, the season 3 finale of The Witcher is not a grand sendoff to Cavill. It’s a bit underwhelming considering how good the season was up to Episode 7.

One of my big problems with this episode overall is that Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri don’t really play important roles. Let’s get into it.

The episode opens with Milva (Meng’er Zhang) and the healers helping Geralt. Geralt still wants to leave before he’s ready, but at least he’s not moping as much.

Geralt trains hard throughout the episode, but he’s not at full strength. Geralt and Jaskier are approached by Dara, who asks Geralt to tell Ciri that he forgives her and that he’s sorry. Geralt proves he can fight and then leaves for Nilfgaard to save Ciri. Geralt kills a group of Nilfgaardioan soldiers who are blocking the road after they refuse to let a girl and her family through. Geralt lets one soldier go with a promise to Emyhr that he will free Ciri. Milva also joins them, so it appears Geralt, Jaskier, and Milva will be the new trio trying to save Ciri.

Meanwhile, Yennefer learns that Vilgefortz has found Ciri and is taking her to Nilfgaard, although what she’s heard isn’t actually true. If Ciri joins forces with Nilfgaard, or appears to join forces, it will shift the tide of the war and bring others to Nilfgaard’s side.

Yennefer, Tissaia, Triss, Phillippa and others find Vilgefortz’s castle where he was torturing those Elven girls who Geralt found killed. They reverse the spell to help the dead find peace. They have a row out in the wilderness before Yennefer takes charge and tries to unite them.

Yennefer and Tissaia have a conversation about her role in this war between Nilfgaard and the North. Yennefer must find Ciri. She’s tired of Tissaia feeling sorry for herself, but it doesn’t help. Tissaia chooses not to fight anymore, and she dies, or so we are led to believe. I’m not totally convinced that Tissaia didn’t just fake her own death to find a way to defeat Vilgefortz, but we’ll see in season 4 and beyond.

Yennefer then goes to visit Geralt, who apologizes for losing Ciri. She tells Geralt that she’s so angry about what Tissaia did and asks who the sorcerers and sorceresses have now. Geralt says that they have Yennefer. He promises to make Vilgefortz and Emyhr pay for what they did.

Yennefer hatches a plan to kill Vilgefortz with the surviving magic users from Aretuza.

Elsewhere on the Continent, Fringilla visits Emyhr in Nilfgaard with Francesca. They have some plans in the works. They propose that Francesca and Fringilla be sent to Cintra, but there’s a twist: Emyhr isn’t just going to let the elves off easy. They must remain allied with Nilfgaard with the Scoia’tel on the front lines fighting in the North. It’s effectively a death sentence for the elves who can fight, although Emyhr promises to protect the young, old, and those who are unable to fight.

Later, Fringilla reveals that Emyhr is responsible for killing Francesca’s baby. Fringilla wants to make things right, but Francesca is furious.

Dijkstra survived the battle at Aretuza and returned to Redania, where he breaks the bad news to Vizimir about what happened. Vizimir tells Dijkstra that someone must pay, and it appears to be Phillippa, but luckily, Phillippa’s lover Eva finds out. Dijkstra offers his life in exchange for Phillippa’s. She thanks him for doing so and reveals she has a new plan. Eva kills Vizimir, which makes Radovid the new King of Redania.

In Nilfgaard, Ciri is honored in a welcoming ceremony to weaken the North and turn the tide of war, but it’s not actually Ciri! It’s Teryn, the fake Ciri. We also see Vilgefortz, who has a pretty scarred face from the collapse of Tor Lara, with Emyhr and the fake Ciri.

Next we catch back up with the real Ciri, who is tied up in a bar while her captors are eating. She’s been here before in her visions. The captors mention Kayleigh and a local band of bandits called the Rats. The Rats show up. We met Mistle and a few others earlier this season. There’s a big brawl, but the Rats win easily. Ciri faces off against her captor and kills him.

At the end of the episode, Mistle asks who Ciri is, and Ciri says, “Call me Falka,” and then season 3 ends.

Verdict

I don’t love how this season ended, but I’m intrigued to see where the story is going. It’s just a shame that Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer are separated again at the end of the season, but I guess that’s just how it goes with this show. This is a long, epic journey, and if Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer are to find peace, it’s not going to be until the very end.

As mentioned, this episode covered a lot of ground, but it wasn’t all that interesting for the main trio. Ciri was absent most of the episode while Geralt prepared for a new journey and Yennefer mourned the loss of Tissaia.

After watching the episode, I’m very interested in seeing what Francesca is going to do after learning of Emyhr’s involvement in the death of her child. The Redanians are also still making big moves. I don’t know why, but I find myself rooting for Phillippa and Dijkstra to find a way to stop Emyhr.

I’m also curious to see how Ciri fits in with the Rats and how quickly they learn who she really is and if they care.

And that’s it! The Witcher season 4 is in development, but we don’t have a release date yet. When it premieres, Henry Cavill will no longer play Geralt of Rivia; he’ll be replaced by Liam Hemsworth.

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