The Witcher's Big Season 3 Part 1 Fight Made No Sense

It's no news that "The Witcher" Season 3 has been a massive disappointment. Instead of being a triumphant finale to Henry Cavill's dedication to the show, the Netflix series continuously fails to find its footing, ending with the lowest fan ratings so far. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to see the show's trajectory, as Season 3 Part 1 features an incredibly confusing fight early on. 

While Season 3, Episode 1, "Shaerrawedd," wanted to end with a bang, the climactic scene doesn't make any sense when you take a step back. As Geralt (Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allen), and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) visit the titular elven ruins, Rience (Sam Woolf) attacks them with a seemingly endless army of thugs. Just as the fire mage thinks he's won, Yarpen (Jeremy Crawford) and Jaskier (Joey Batey) arrive with their own endless group of dwarven mercenaries. 

As if there weren't enough people on the battlefield, the Scoia'tael appear out of nowhere, turning the fight into an incredibly confusing three-way battle. Geralt chases Rience through a portal – more on that in a bit – leaving Yennefer to hold the portal open, who bizarrely doesn't get a single scratch on her while standing out in the open. It's clear Netflix wanted this battle to be an epic fight featuring many of the show's biggest characters. However, the result looks more like random characters appearing out of thin air rather than an Avengers-like battle scene.

With so many random characters at play, it was already hard enough to follow the fight at the end of "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1, but Geralt's (Henry Cavill) actions have the entire situation making even less sense. 

After he chases Rience (Sam Woolf) through the portal, the Witcher gets the upper hand on the fire mage, literally holding the villain's life in his hands. However, instead of killing Rience, which he has the perfect opportunity to do, he breaks his hands and runs back through the portal, letting the season's big bad live another day. Before you chalk the decision up to Geralt showing mercy, he immediately begins slaughtering his enemies when he returns to the battlefield, proving that he'll do whatever is necessary to protect Ciri (Freya Allen) – except kill Rience, their biggest threat. 

Story-wise, there's no reason behind Geralt's decision to spare Rience besides giving the Witcher an enemy to fight for the rest of Season 3 Volume 1. To make matters worse, if he had killed him in the opening episode, it would've saved Codringher's (Simon Callow) and Fenn's (Liz Carr) lives, two of Geralt's close friends. The Witcher could've saved himself some heartbreak and the Continent plenty of destruction if he had just killed Rience, but instead, "The Witcher" gave audiences a confusing fight scene.