We've reached the halfway point in The Witcher season 4, and what better way to reset the board than with a few uncomfortable reunions? "A Sermon of Survival" sees Geralt and his bard companion Jaskier in a bit of a bind, but not from who you might expect.
While the hansa fights to get back on track, Ciri tries to embrace her new chapter away from Geralt and Yen...though she can't quite shake all her witcher training, thankfully. And at Montecalvo, the sorceresses under Yennefer find help from a surprising quarter.
FULL SPOILERS ahead for The Witcher season 4 Episode 4, "A Sermon of Survival."
"Why does everyone always want to make a sermon of my death?"
The episode kicks off with Geralt regaining consciousness in a war camp. Considering that he was knocked out by a Nilfgaardian, you'd think that's who has him...but no. He and Jaskier have been taken captive by a joint force of Cintrans and Redanians. Marshall Vissegerd of Cintra (Gary Oliver) is their captor, and he's extremely determied to also become their executioner, accusing them of being Nilfgaardian spies who led to the downfall of Cintra, on account of Geralt's failure to protect Ciri. He was there the day Geralt invoked the Law of Surprise back in season 1, which is a nice reminder of the long history the witcher has with Cintra. He plans to behead the witcher with due haste.
Meanwhile, King Radovid (Hugh Skinner) and his spymaster Djikstra (Graham McTavish) hold a meeting to discuss strategy. Well, Djikstra wants to discuss strategy; Radovid mostly wants to drink. We learn that King Foltest of Temeria betrayed the other northern monarchs and brokered an individual peace deal with Nilfgaard that leaves his homeland untouched by the war. One of the generals insults Radovid. You can see the wheels turning in the king's head, but he ignores the jibe for now.
*Book and Game Spoilers*
Radovid remains a very interesting character in the show, from an adaptation perspective. In The Witcher books, Radovid is only a child. Part of the epilogue of the saga as a whole is a brief bit of narration that reveals Radovid will one day grow into a ruthless king who goes on a crusade against all sorceresses and witches, on account of the fact that Philippa murdered his older brother King Vizimir. We never actually see Radovid as an adult, though.
In The Witcher video games however, Radovid is an imposing ruler who is often regarded as mad and brilliantly cunning in equal measure. The games are set after the books, and they took the idea of Radovid growing into a witch-burning king and ran with it. He's one of the most iconic villains that emerged from CD Projekt Red's game series.
The Netflix show's Radovid is somewhere in the middle. It aged him up so that he could be an active part of the story, but is still seemingly sticking to an original story that will resolve with him becoming a terrifyingly brutal ruler by the end of the show.
After the meeting, Djikstra takes out his frustration by beating a tree with his walking stick; remember, Geralt broke his leg at Thanedd. He's approached by Eva (Cal Watson), another spy who works for Radovid. She lets him know that certain prisoners of interest have been taken, and in turn Eva is able to stop Marshall Vissegerd from striking a fatal blow to Geralt while his head is literally on the block.
Our next scene catches up with a few other members of the hansa. Those idiotic villagers are still trying to steal Milva's horse; she shows up just in time to shoot some arrows and scare them off. As she's going over her supplies, Cahir (Eamon Farren) shows up, and after a brief conversation he officially joins the hansa. Cahir reveals he's been having dreams of Ciri, and believes his destiny is intertwined with hers and Geralt's. Farren is one of those actors who everyone acts beter opposite; I hope he gets more scenes with Meng'er Zhang's Milva. And I imagine he will, because there's some surprisingly cute tension going on between the two.
Back in the camp, Djikstra takes Geralt from the Marshall Vissegerd. That gives us a small bit of information about the camp dynamic; Redania saved the Cintran refugees and took them into their army, so the Cintran soldiers are subservient to Redania. Djikstra decides he's going to torture Geralt, but only because he wants to put pressure on Jaskier and Radovid's meeting in another nearby tent.
Radovid and Jaskier meet, for the first time since they parted ways on bitter terms at Thanedd after Radovid tried to abduct Ciri. Radvoid hugs Jaskier, and immediately believes his story that he's not a Nilfgaardian spy, but rather on a quest to save Ciri. We get a refresher of how tragic Radovid's circumstances were; he was right about to leave court to try and be with Jaskier, before his brother was murdered and he himself suddenly elevated to king. Radovid asks Jaskier to stay with him, while Djikstra starts torturing Geralt in the next tent over.
Djikstra stabs Geralt repeatedly, but the witcher just won't give him the satisfaction of a scream. Geralt mutters Ciri's name, and there's some cool crosscutting with her and Mistle in the greylock cave, which we'll talk about shortly. Once Geralt finally screams, Jaskier and Radovid confront each other; Radovid tries to use ordering a stop to Geralt's torture to get Jaskier to stay with him, but that only repulses Jaskier more. Djikstra thanks Geralt for his help, but then gives Geralt the news from Nilfgaard that Emhyr is going to marry Ciri. Djikstra doesn't know Emhyr's Ciri is a fake. But the news enrages Geralt nonetheless. He breaks out and attempts to fight all the guards, only to be captured again.
Later that night, Geralt and Jaskier are once more chained up together in a tent. Jaskier confesses he still has feelings for Radovid, but hearing Geralt getting tortured made him reject the king. Geralt realizes that Djikstra was using him to break Radovid of hope, so Redania's new king would commit to a bleak existence of war and death. And surprisingly, Jaskier actually supports it, saying Radovid deserves nothing else. Say one thing for this season, it's the show's grimmest yet.
Djikstra and Radovid meet the following morning, and Radovid finally snaps. He threatens the general who humiliated him the day before, and then he exiles Djikstra, because he watched how Djikstra manipulated Vizimir and blames the spymaster for damaging his relationship with Jaskier. Radovid is now prepared to step up and be a stronger king fo Redania, just like Djikstra wanted. Eva takes Djikstra's cane and escorts him from the camp, while Radovid prepares to attack the town of Dillingen.
Then the Cintran marshall comes to execute Jaskier and Geralt. But before he can commit to the murders, Regis suddenly appears and puts him to sleep. Then he rips off Geralt and Jaskier's chains with is bare hands. The bat's out of the bag: Regis is a vampire, even if it takes a minute for Geralt to say it. He tells Regis they need to part ways, and Regis gives him some witcher elixirs for the road. Laurence Fishburne continues to just dominate every scene he's in.
Outside, Geralt and Jaskier limp through the camp. Jaskier tries to sweet talk their way through the checkpoint by pretending to be deserters, but before he can fail too hard the hansa shows up to rescue them.
The calm is short-lived. Once again, Nilfgaard attacks, and this time Radovid is in the thick of battle. This battle is a step up from some of The Witcher's past attempts, with some haunting shots of soldiers fighting between tents, high tension as beloved characters come under attack, and a frenetic pace that's still easy to follow. Geralt's hansa is forced back into the camp and stuck between two armies. He drinks one of the new witcher elixirs from Regis and goes to town on the soldiers from both sides. Then he crosses paths with Cahir, and immediately lashes out. Cahir refuses to fight, even when he's pinned down at swordpoint. Before Geralt can kill Cahir, Jaskier takes a bad blow to the head. Geralt must choose: bloody vengeance, or saving his friend? He chooses saving Jaskier, and the hansa escapes as an explosion tears through camp.
Stygga Castle
While the majority of this episode focuses on Geralt and Jaskier's plight, there's still plenty of other good stuff going on. We also check in briefly with Istredd (Royce Pierreson), who's still scouring the Book of the Monolith for more information about Ciri's powers. Yennefer is standing there with him looking frustrated, which is funny because the viewers know it's actually Vilgefortz using illusion magic.
Istredd finds an addendum for the book from Avallac'h, the elven sage Francesca referenced last episode. Multiple Avallac'h references in a row? The show is definitely setting him for the future.
Istredd claims he knows why Ciri is special; she has a special Elder Blood mutation that lets her manipulate time and space not just on the Continent, but other spheres. Istredd thinks Vilgefortz would want to drain her power and take it for himself, killing her. Which, of course, he would. This lets Vilgefortz finally, gleefully, give up the ruse. Moments later, Fringilla unwittingly interrupts, and Vilgefortz traps her along with Istredd, revealing he knew about her shaky allegiance all along.
Forces gather at Montecalvo
We also spend a good chunk of time at Montecalvo this episode, where Yennefer and her sorceresses prepare for battle. The final group of novices from Aretuza arrive at the castle seeking sanctuary. Yennefer wants to train them in their powers; Margarita doesn't because if this generation dies, the school of Aretuza dies. It's a good way to help establish just how dire the stakes are for these sorceresses. Their entire way of life is nearly gone, and hanging on the edge of total obliteration.
The sorceresses put their heads together to try and decide who they should be inviting to help their defenses. Sabrina tosses out the idea of contacting Marti Sodergren — that's a sorceress who specializes in healing. She takes part in a big battle in the final book, so the mention of her here could be set up for next season. Yennefer also brings up Nenneke and the priestesses of Melitele. Then, Philippa flies through the window as an owl, and as soon as she transforms back into human form, she spits out an eye she ripped from a person's face. More rogue mages attacked her, and slaughtered the Oxenfurt mages Philippa was hoping to recruit.
But the most interesting addition to the Montecalvo forces comes form Triss, who returns to the castle with the witchers Vesemir (recast to Peter Mullan), Lambert (Paul Bullion), and Coen (Yasen Zates Atour). The witchers don't like Yennefer because of her role in the Voleth Meir plotline from season 2, but because Vilgefortz is after Ciri, they're willing to see if they can advise the mages on defending their keep.
One qualm I do have to mention though: how did the witchers get to the castle so fast? We've established that portals aren't working for the Montecalvo sorceresses, and it's a long ride from the castle to Kaer Morhen.
Later, Yennefer and Vesemir look at a model of Montecalvo and plan the defense. Yen drops an interesting insight into Vilgefortz's past, that he used to be a mercenary and therefore is building an army he's prepared to lose. Vesemir askes Yen some pointed questions about their magical defenses, and advises that magic won't be enough to win the fight because it is a finite resrouce. Which gives Yennefer an opening to ask the aging Vesemir to train her and the others to fight like witchers.
This leads into a brief training montage where various mages show their other skills. Sabrina knows archery, and Vesemir wants Triss to fight using butterfly swords. Francesca has a lot of skills, which makes sense because she's an elf with centuries of experience. She challenges Yen to a sword fight, and surprise, Yen can fight because Geralt trained her once upon a time. They fight to a draw.
After the excitement of sparring, Vesemir and Yennefer cook food together and talk about what home means to them. Yen recalls the safehouse section of the season 3 premiere as the time she felt most like she had a home. Peter Mullan is a quieter Vesemir than Kim Bodnia, but that works really well for the dark tone of this season.
Vesemir gives a speech about what it means to be a leader, and how Yen embodies that quality. Which is a little weird, and I don't necessarily love it. The music in this scene — and this season in general — have been rock solid, though. We leave Yen's plotline with an assinine plan: Vesemir says he's going to kill Vilgefortz, as revenge for what he did to Geralt. And look, we all know Vesemir is not going to succeed. Most likely, he'll just get himself killed. But he's going to try anyway.
*Game Spoilers*
This entire plan to lure Vilgefortz to Montecalvo is a pretty direct rip off of a key plotline from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. In that game, players have to lure the Wild Hunt to Kaer Morhen, where the witchers and their allies hope to defeat them and stop them from chasing Ciri. The set up for this prospective siege of Montecalvo feels exactly the same: they're luring an elusive yet obscenely powerful enemy to attack them in their stronghold, and it sounds like there's a good chance it will go badly for Vesemir.
Ciri and the Rats: "It's time for a change"
We also spend a good amount of time with Ciri and the Rats in this episode, including a cool monster fight. The Rats are taking it easy in their hideout, where they find out that they all have bounties on their heads. Falka's is the highest, of course. We get more hints that something bad went down at Rocayne, and they're trying to be more cautious now. All these mentions of Rocayne likely coincided with the canceled Rats spinoff, so even though it didn't pan out as a movie, the show is still considering its events canon.
And then Ciri starts giving herself a haircut. Mistle comes and helps her. Ciri grapples with the fact she's somewhat of a celebrity now, getting more attention than she wanted. All she really wants is just to be herself, not what others want.
Then we get the banger of a scene with Leo Bonhart inspecting the murder scene in the tattoo parlor. A woman is crying over a body, and Bonhart kills her because he "can't think with [her] fussing." Copley is giving an incredible performance, and it's very cool to see how Bonhart works out how Ciri fought her way through these three. He's intrigued by Falka and her mysterious skills.
Back to Ciri, where she's finally rocking a new hairstyle. She wants to thank Mistle in a physical way, and Mistle says that she knows a place nearby — which turns out to be a pretty cool cave. Unfortunately, it has a greylock hidden in its depths which has been affected by a parasite that's causing it to be aggressive. The fungi is extremely beautiful, so much so that they nearly miss dodging its attack. Ciri hears Geralt's voice in her mind, which helps her focus on the battle at hand.
Greylocks are usually harmless according to Ciri, but the parasite is making this one vicious. It knocks her and Mistle against a wall, and Mistle is out of the fight. But Ciri uses her witcher training and lets the parasite wrap around her sword, then wedges it between a rock and yanks it out of the greylock's mouth. It's a very cool fight scene. Generally, it feels like Freya Allan is not only stepping up as the most compelling character, but she also has some of the best fight scenes of the season. Truly taking up Henry Cavill's mantle.
On the walk back, Mistle reveals she's almost been killed by a monster before, in Rocayne. She was saved by a witcher named Brehen, who was also ultimately the one who got between the Rats and Leo Bonhart and allowed them to escape. Brehen wanted to save a certian princess but failed, and another witcher, Geralt of Rivia, had to step in. Mistle heard Ciri say Geralt's name, and wants to know more about Ciri's past. Ciri does tell Mistle about Geralt and Yen, but believes if they're still alive, they're better off without her.
Verdict
"A Sermon of Survival" rounds out the first half of The Witcher season 4, and thankfully, the show still feels like an ensemble piece where everyone has something important to do, rather than just relying on the performance of one lead star. This episode feels a llittle uneven; the material for Ciri is great and Geralt's is pretty solid, but Yennefer's shows some cracks with its plan to repurpose a crucial part of the video game in a way that I'm not sure will work.