As fans of the source material brace themselves for what has long been rumored would be the least Witchery season of The Witcher, and Cavillites continue to seethe in rage at the injustice of Henry's ignominious expulsion from the franchise, one man is willing to brave the woke-infested waters of what stopped being a passably fun series halfway through the second season.

Well, folks, it ain't good, but is it as bad as we'd feared? Pretty close.

When the ball is fumbled so often over such a short period of time, it's challenging to decide where to start. However, what stands out most in this initial embarrassment is how forgettable the last season was and how hard the writers are trying (and failing) to remind the audience with hamfisted, awkward expository dialogue.

Yet it is their bumbling efforts to reignite the audience's emotional connection to season 3's blunders that are most comical. If you can remember, the third entry nearly completely sidelined Cavill's Geralt and gave us a never-ending whinefest from Ciri as the bard lost him self in his new lover's dark brown eye. Oh, and there was a war and political intrigue and danger, I guess. It was a huge mess, one that no sane person could have felt anything but disdain for. Not exactly the emotional foundation that great stories are built upon.

That the show continues to be an unfocused mess in this episode, with a bloated and forgettable cast telling a disjointed story with no sense of the passage of time or in-world geography, and even the basics —like what the heck is going on —help nothing. However, now that Netflix has returned to the world of... I honestly couldn't tell you. The question on everyone's mind is how does Liam Hemsworth compare to Henry Cavill after stepping into the golden contacts and Targaryen wig of Geralt of Rivia? Not well.

Hemsworth is a fine actor who has struggled to find a footing in Hollywood. However, if nothing else, last year's Land of Bad showed us that he can handle action. But no one, not even Cavill, was ever going to be able to save this dismal show from its arrogant and hateful showrunners and writers. Yet, here we are, and we have to discuss how he did.

The long and the short of it is... not great. At least in this first episode, Hemsworth is a shockingly poor substitute. Not many could do as much with a character who says as little as his predecessor did, but the 35-year-old Aussie just doesn't have it. He's blameless for some. As big a nerd as Hanky C. might be, God also chose to bless him with the manliness face in Hollywood in the past forty years—butt chin and all. Liamsworth, on the other hand, who's not exactly a sideshow freak, has a softer face with a relatively weak chin. There are dozens of roles in which these genetic lottery results wouldn't make a difference, but not for Geralt. He's an archetype of masculinity, and being boyishly handsome just doesn't cut it.

Were Hemsworth's slimmer physique and softer look the only problem with his take on the character, no doubt the rest of the season would unfold just fine as fans came to accept the differences. Unfortunately, he seems utterly out of his depth with the character, imbuing him with all of the charisma of kelp. In his few short scenes, he seems uncomfortable in the role, like he's going through the motions. Although that's not entirely his fault. He is given very little to do. Given the direction the show has been going in since season 2, and the showrunners' admission that this season will be focused on the female characters, would anyone be surprised if he felt like the afterthought his character has become?

Of course, the saving grace in many a mediocre program such as this is often the action. Not surprisingly, episode one of the fourth season of The Witcher can't seem to juggle even that single ball. The CGI is atrocious, with rubbery-looking monsters and blood effects ripped straight from 1998's Blade. Hemsworth also lacks the indefatigable quality that his predecessor brought to fight scenes. There's a reason that people talked about his arm reloading in Mission: Impossible - Fallout for years. The man knows how to look cool when he fights. Again, Hemsworth is bad. He's just not as good.

As for the rest of the show, as stated earlier, it's bloated with an uninteresting cast doing generic fantasy things with motivations that you won't care about, to achieve goals that you won't remember. The dialogue and internal logic are some of the worst. There's a scene in which Yennifer opens a portal into a tavern and someone asks her if she's a mage. That's but one example.

I will be shocked if the rest of the season can save The Witcher.