The Polish-American show follows Geralt of Rivia, a monster slayer for hire, and Princess Ciri, who possesses magical powers, as they are bound by destiny the episodes build up various character arcs before eventually all timelines merge.
Newcomers to the franchise may not know much about what preceded Season 1: notably an equally-successful game and, of course, the book series that it’s all based on by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
The Witcher, starring Superman Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia and the curiously-exotic Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg has been hugely successful and, for the binge-inclined masses, the series has filled the fantastical void that was left after the disappointing finale of HBO’s Game Of Thrones. Step aside crime drama, it's time for some fantasy. The show is intriguing, following Victor's personal mission to discover the truth, maintain his innocence, and struggle to cope with the internal personal conflicts within his new 'wataha'.Īnd now for something completely different. Being the sole survivor of the attack, there is immediate suspicion from the local prosecutor that Victor is somehow connected to what happened, that he may be connected to organised crime. Following his recovery, he returns to work to head a new 'pack' of the border guard, with his personal aim being to discover who the killers were and what their motives are. Celebrating in a log cabin after a successful mission, all but one border guard, Captain Victor Rebrow ( Leszek Lichota), are killed in a bomb attack. Set on the Polish-Ukrainian border, the plot follows an elite team of Polish border guards who combat human traffickers smuggling people into the country. Originally known in English as 'The Border,' HBO seems to have improved their translation for the most recent season, updating it to The Pack - as in 'wolf pack,' a more literal translation of 'Wataha.' As this is HBO, the production values are very high, the show is amazing and English subs are a given.
Although some of these shows seem to retread the same thematic ground, and also suffer from excessive aerial shots of forests and landscapes accompanied by eery, melancholic music (something all too common in Nordic noir), the narrative backbone of each series is unique enough to keep an audience captivated and wanting more! Below we've compiled a list of our favourite Polish series, which you can watch online in Polish, the majority accompanied by subtitles, and even one in original English audio. We've been so impressed by some of the shows we've watched recently that we dare say Scandinavian crime fiction (or Nordic noir) has now been nudged aside by the ascent of the Polish crime series. As much as we've been impressed by the calibre of Polish cinematography, the last few years have seen some top Polish shows being made, all of which are available to watch online through the big name streaming services. At the height of the lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic, we got through our list of top Polish books to read and then powered through the best Polish films, so it's almost inevitable that we'd remain glued to our screens to stave off boredom and move on to watching the best Polish TV shows.