The Witcher season 1, episode 2 recap: Four Marks

Episode 2 of Netflix’s The Witcher features Yennefer of Vengerberg (AKA “piglet”), Cirilla, “ratboy,” Geralt, a bard, a goat-man and angry elves.

Previously on The Witcher, we met Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), a monster slayer. We also met a roaring Princess of a fallen kingdom named Cirilla (Freya Allan). This episode basically has three stories, and we’ll look at each as a full segment. We’ll begin with Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), who we first see being bullied for her “crooked” posture. We quickly learn she has special powers, though, as she mysteriously “portals in” to Aretuza to avoid mockery. There she accidentally meets a man named Istredd (Royce Pierreson). He encourages her to leave, seemingly worried that her magic can be traced.

Apparently, if she eats a flower she can open a new portal, which she does, not knowing enough about this Istredd fellow anyway. When she gets back home, Yennefer is actually sold by her step-parents for four marks! The woman buying her, named Tissaia de Vries (MyAnna Buring) is accused of being a witch. It turns out she actually is, and she’s buying Yennefer to train her as a mage, after tracing Yennefer’s magic portal. Yennefer is locked in a room and is upset enough to punch a mirror.

We meet the other mages, and each has a special story linked to their abilities. Anica (Szandra Asztalos) saved a boy with her mind, Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni) accidentally froze a cat and Sabrina (Therica Wilson-Read) “turned her mother fat” (in Tissaia’s words). Tissaia differentiates chaos from magic, urging them to use balance and concentration. Magic is not without its risks, as we quickly see, Fringilla lifts a rock but it withers her hand (ouch!). Also, Yennefer struggled to raise her rock at all, even with the aid of a flower. She later returns to Istredd, but never for long. It seems they’re falling in love and stuff.

More from Show Snob

• The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
• Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
• Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
• Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”

Yennefer catches lightning in a bottle

Yennefer and the other witches practice thought transference, although Yennefer lags behind the others. However, later on, when the pressure’s off, she has success in reading Istredd’s mind. When she returns to Tissaia’s horrible classes, Tissaia keeps calling her “piglet,” which keeps getting on Yennefer’s nerves. One of the witches, Doralis (Eliza Varga), captures lightning in a bottle, though she gets harmed. After “piglet” fails and Sabrina succeeds flawlessly, our piglet gets frustrated, re-directing lightning at Tissaia!

Later, Istredd tells Yennefer about elves being slaughtered, which is a major theme in this episode of The Witcher. In fact, he notes that all the skulls around them are elves. Yennefer reveals that her father was half-elf. It turns out that the piglet is being used by Tissaia. Similarly. Istredd is supplying information to Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen). Later, Yennefer spies Tissaia turning the other witches turned into greenish-yellow eels, then she asks her little piglet to simply push them into the water. When she does, it seems to trigger additional magic. It’s a very strange scene, but The Witcher is a very strange show.

Cirilla still fleeing Cahir

The Witcher hasn’t forgotten about Cirilla, who is still on the run from Cahir (Eamon Farren), the Nilfgaardian army commander. Now she resides in a forest where she meets an unknown, hooded fellow. Though she doesn’t know his name at first, he eventually identifies himself as Dara (Wilson Radjou-Pujalte), breaking his previous fearful silence toward the end of the episode. A survivalist elf, Dara has knowledge of which plants are poisonous and also offers Cirilla some tasty rat meat, which leads her to call him “rat boy” at one point. Cirilla sees a Cintran flag at one point and believes they’ll be safe. Let’s be honest, though: What are the odds of that happening for long?

Still, they find a camp of refugees and Cirilla meets Adon (Krisztián Csákvári). Things get weird when she noticed his necklace of elf ears. He says avenging the uprising of Filavandrel (Tom Canton), an elf king who had slain Adon’s close family. Not trusting Adon, Cirilla calls herself “Fiona” to him. “Fiona” informs Adon’s mother, Lilja (M. Simon Andrea) Adon also says he wishes to be a knight when Cintra rises again. Well, he quickly loses that wish after Cahir’s crew attacks in the night, leaving Adon and others as dead as disco. However, Cahir’s men don’t kill Lilja — she’s killed by Abbott (Sándor Köleséri), a servant she was abusive to (some lessons must be learned the hard way!). Fortunately, “ratboy” rescues Cirilla and they head off to an uncertain future.

Geralt of Rivia, the annoying bard and the goat man

In a tavern, Geralt of Rivia (AKA The Witcher) is approached by a bard/struggling musician named Jaskier (Joey Batey). While Jaskier continually annoys everyone, Geralt is approached with a job offer to kill a creature that’s been stealing grains. Geralt agrees to take the job, gets on his trusty horse named Roach and heads into trouble. Before long, Geralt is hit in the forehead by a slingshot stone. Similarly, Jaskier is knocked out. They awaken to meet Torque (Amit Shah), a man-goat creature (AKA a Sylvan). Before Geralt can mouth off much, someone else punches him, doing their best to keep him in line.

As elves beat up Geralt, one is revealed as Filavandrel — the one who won Adon’s ire earlier. He tells the story of “the great cleansing,” which was a genocide against elves perpetrated by humans. However, Torque talks Filavandrel into sparing Geralt’s life, recognizing that he is also an outsider. There’s a bit of a compromise, as Geralt gives Filavandrel his money, though seemingly as a matter of principle rather than paying for his own survival. Also, Torque is told not to return, lest Geralt be regarded as failing his task. As the episode ends, Jaskier lives on to annoy others with his songs, crafting one now which urges listeners to “Toss a coin to your witcher.”

What are your thoughts on The Witcher? Let us know in the comments!