Netflix’s The Witcher series continues the story of the witcher Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), and Princess Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (Freya Allan). The trio are like a family: father, mother, and daughter. However, powerful forces, kingdoms, and factions hunt the trio because of Cirilla’s status as the child of the ancient Elder bloodline, which holds the power to shape the world’s fate and travel to other worlds across The Witcher multiverse. The episode begins with Yennefer meeting with an Aretuzan contact and requesting the latter to bring a letter to Tissaia (MyAnna Buring). After the meeting, Cirilla sees Royal Messenger Aplegatt (Jim Sturgeon) and sees a premonition of his death. Before Cirilla could warn Aplegatt of his impending death, Yennefer intervened and warned Cirilla that changing destiny and fate by warning others of their future would have dangerous consequences. 

Yennefer and Cirilla continue their travel to Aretuza to provide a haven to Cirilla where the latter could train to control her Elder Blood powers. However, the two face conflicts in their journey because of Cirilla’s constant visions and premonitions, which makes her desire to “play hero” much to Yennefer’s annoyance. Yennefer becomes so annoyed that she scolds Cirilla for not thinking about the consequences of her “heroic” actions. Cirilla argues, “What is the point in me seeing the future if I can’t do anything to change it?” Following the scolding and the argument, Yennefer decides to bring Cirilla to her childhood home, where Yennefer grew up as a deformed, hunchback girl before becoming a powerful, beautiful sorceress. Yennefer gives Cirilla her memories of her hunchback past, which helps the two to strengthen their bond as Yennefer had similar struggles in her past to that of Cirilla in the present day. 

Geralt and Jaskier (Joey Batey) meet with Codringher (Simon Callow) and Fenn (Liz Carr). Condringher and Fenn run a detective agency focused on gathering information on people, events, resources, and more all over the Continent. Geralt paid and requested information on Rience (Sam Woolf). With the information gathered, Geralt confirms the theory that Rience was working for a sorcerer far more powerful than him. Codringher and Fenn inform Geralt that Rience’s master operates in Vuilpanne Castle. Before leaving, Codringher and Fenn warn Geralt that many clients, such as Istredd (Royce Pierreson), are searching for Cirilla. 

In Aretuza, Tissaia and Triss (Anna Shaffer) join an argument between Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), Stregobor (Lars Mikkelson), and Sabrina (Therica Wilson-Read) regarding King Henselt and his decision not to send grain to Temeria. Sabrina argues Henselt will not send the grain even though Vilgefortz continued to plead with her to convince the king to do so. Stregobor argues that even if Henselt sends the grain, the Scoia’tael Elves will merely steal them on the road. Stregobor also explains that the Aretuzan mages’ lack of action towards the threat of the elves and Cirilla made the Northern monarchs lose faith in them and demand action. Tissaia intervenes that all decisions will be made by the Aretuzan Council, not by a few mages. Once the meeting ends, Tissaia admits to Triss that the grain issue is indeed dire and asks Triss to return to Temeria and handle the problem with King Foltest. Triss refuses in favor of teaching the Aretuzan students the ways of magic. Tissaia interjects that Triss is only doing this because she is guilty of not being able to help her friend Cirilla much to Triss’ anger.  

In Redania, Dijkstra (Graham McTavish) and Philippa (Cassie Clare) discuss Radovid (Hugh Skinner) and how they could use the Redanian prince to keep King Vizimir (Ed Birch) in line. Later, Jaskier meets Radovid to ask the prince if he could send people to threaten Codringher and Fenn for information about the identity of Rience’s master, information the two detectives kept from Geralt and Jaskier. Radovid thanked Jaskier but asked the latter to sing for him and his company of friends. Later at the royal feast, Radovid informs Dijkstra and Philippa that Codringher and Fenn have information about Rience. The scene ends with Radovid telling Dijkstra that Vizimir met with emissaries from Nilfgaard the night before. Sometime later, Rience burns the detective agency and kills Codringher and Fenn to prevent his master’s identity and plans from being discovered. Philippa witnesses Rience’s actions and follows him in her owl form when he leaves in a portal. 

In Cintra, Emhyr (Bart Edwards) meets with his dwarf blacksmith to retrieve his finished sword. The Emperor of Nilfgaard told the blacksmith that he once won his empire by personally killing the Usurper who robbed Emhyr of his birthright since Emhyr’s childhood with a Mahakam steel sword. Emhyr then explained his goals of ending all the wars in the Continent, having Cirilla be his queen to secure his claim over Cintra, and having all the races live in peace. Once the Empire conquers the entire continent, Emhyr requests his dwarf blacksmith to make a new sword, one befitting of the Emperor of the Continent. 

Fringilla is locked up in an unknown wine cellar for her past crimes of lying and failing Emhyr. She is forced, alongside other prisoners, to take sips of new supplies of wine to test if the drinks are poisonous. When a prisoner dies from a poisoned wine, Fringilla realizes that if she plays dead, she can be casually thrown out of Cintra in a body bag and escape her captivity. With that realization, Fringilla escapes her captivity. 

Gallatin (Robbie Amell) saves Cahir (Eamon Farren) from Northern soldiers. Gallatin tells Cahir he lost faith in Queen Francesca (Mecia Simson) and her leadership because of Francesca’s belief that Cirilla will save Elvenkind because of her Elder Blood powers. Because of this, Gallatin requests Cahir to meet Emperor Emhyr Van Emeris and requests Gallatin himself should usurp and take over the Scoia’tael Elves. Geralt heads to Vuilpanne Castle to continue his investigations to find the identity of Rience’s master. Geralt fights a monster made from the flesh of three Aretuzan sorceresses in the castle. Geralt kills the monster and discovers an unconscious girl with an appearance similar to that of Cirilla. Geralt saves the girl and is shocked when she says her identity is Ciri. 

Fake Ciri

The Witcher Season 3 Episode 2 focuses on the mystery of Rience’s master, who has proven to be a dangerous nemesis to Geralt and others hunting Cirilla. There was a lot of tension towards who the master was because they portrayed so much evil to capture Cirilla to create Fake Ciri and monsters to fulfill their goals. The episode also continues to delve into political machinations made in both Redania and Nilfgaard as players in both powers desire to hold their power and spread their influence by manipulating other people. 

The episode became even more interesting when Rience’s master imprisoned a Fake Ciri in his base at Vuilpanne Castle. It is unknown what Fake Ciri’s purpose is, but her purpose is likely to be a decoy so Rience’s master can use the real Cirilla with no opposition. In The Witcher novels, Fake Ciri was formerly Cintran nobility before her parents’ murder. The death of her parents made Fake Ciri lose her noble status, forcing the girl to be an orphan who had to live from one refugee camp to another before being forced to be Cirilla’s decoy. 

Rating: 6/10