Anna Daniels
Cavill’s analysis of the exchange between Renfri and Geralt isn’t just about the immediate moment. A lot of Geralt’s overall emotional perspective is revealed in this single shot that’s meant to carry over the entire series. Geralt, a genetically mutated monster-hunter known as a witcher, is initially presented as rough, tight-lipped, and bitter. Later, with Renfri, we see a man capable of deep respect of life and honor, feeling lost in his circumstances. He doesn’t want to be feared, but understands that’s what keeps him alive more than any of his other impressive skills.
Hissrich chose to adapt Andrzej Sapkowski‘s short story in which Renfri is introduced — The Lesser Evil — for this specific reason. Her original pitch to Netflix says that “it sets up Geralt’s entire moral dilemma for the entire series in a clear and understandable way.” It’s a one-two punch: first, the exposition in the forest where Geralt and Renfri come to relate to each other as feeling like monsters, separate from the world and bound by fate; then, then the pay-off at the end of the episode, when Geralt offers to let Renfri leave with no questions asked, and yet she chooses to succumb to fate and die.
As the cherry on top, Renfri’s last words are to remind Geralt of the fate he has desperately tried to avoid in Ciri (Freya Allan). The rest of the villagers arrive, make an incorrect assumption of Geralt’s intentions in killing nearly a dozen people, and he’s ostracized anew, completing the cycle. The relationship created on the episode crystallizes into the overall character thesis instantly, and with no direct exclamation of exposition. It’s a masterwork in show and tell — Geralt is the lesser evil, and he must find positive purpose and identity from that.
Written by: Looper
