Please note that this article will have spoilers for The Witcher up to Season 1 Episode 8: Much More.

All three timelines in The Witcher finally converge in Episode 8: Much More, which will hopefully lead the way for a more linear and cohesive second season. Episode 8 is by far the most action-packed episode of the series to date, and while there's nothing here that one-ups the incredible swordplay from the end of The Witcher Episode 1, there's still quite a few noteworthy and impressive action sequences.

With Nilfgaard having successfully invaded Cintra, it now turns its attention to the northern kingdoms of the Continent. The mages that decided to fight back against Nilfgaard set up at Sodden Hill, which will prevent the massive Nilfgaardian army from continuing its conquest. It appears that much of The Witcher's special effects budget went to this episode, as we get to see all sorts of magical attacks and abilities on display, showing what the mages are really capable of when they're allowed to let loose.

Some of the more notable moments during the battle at Sodden Hill include Nilfgaardian mage Fringilla opening a portal to allow her forces to fire arrows through the ground and into enemies behind the castle wall, and Triss utilizing her earthly magic to incapacitate enemy soldiers with poisonous spores. All of the mages get to show off their abilities during this lengthy battle sequence, which is plenty fun to watch.

One knock against this whole thing was that it didn't have much weight to it. There have been many comparisons of The Witcher to Game of Thrones, but this battle lacked the bite that would be found in a Game of Thrones fight scene. Many of the characters who died were nameless or had just been introduced to the show, and so much of it lacked impact it would have had otherwise. Something it did do, though, was better establish the Nilfgaardians as threats, and more specifically, give some spotlight to Cahir and Fringilla.

With The Witcher timeline jumping all over the place throughout the season, we haven't had the chance to spend much time with the show's villains. While they suffer from the show's tendency to have cartoonish villains, it was still nice to see what Cahir and Fringilla were capable of, and it builds them up to be more imposing threats for The Witcher season 2. It will be exciting to see Geralt and his companions confront them, and hopefully it doesn't take an entire second season to get to that point.

Nilfgaard gets the upper-hand in the battle of Sodden Hill, forcing Yennefer to utilize some especially powerful sorcery where she absorbs some fire and unleashes it on enemy soldiers. It's unclear what happens to Yennefer after this attack, but she disappears from the battlefield. Besides this impressive display of her powers, Yennefer also caught a huge fireball with her magic and threw it into the sky, which was another great way to really get over just how powerful of a sorceress she has become.

The other notable event at the battle of Sodden Hill dealt with Vilgefortz. Vilgefortz was introduced in The Witcher Episode 7, so viewers aren't really given much time to become all that acquainted with his character or motivations. Here we get to see him fight Cahir in an exciting swordfight that he ultimately ends up losing. Cahir boots Vilgefortz down a hill instead of killing him, and then Vilgefortz ends up killing an ally sorcerer, so it seems he is joining the Nilfgaardian side, or maybe always intended to do so and his fight with Cahir was really just for show. If we had spent more time with Vilgefortz, his sudden betrayal would have been more shocking, but maybe his character will get more screen time in The Witcher season 2.

The battle of Sodden Hill makes up the bulk of this episode, but that doesn't mean Geralt and Ciri are completely absent. We get to see Geralt do some more monster-slaying, and we also get some hints about his past. Geralt winds up in the care of a merchant after he is attacked by a monster, and he has some fever dreams about his mother and the various women that he has met on his journey, including Yennefer. Geralt also has a vision of himself at the Sodden Hill battlefield yelling for Yennefer, but is unable to find her.

Princess Ciri, meanwhile, is taken in by a friendly woman after it's revealed that she killed all of her old friends with her powers at the end of the last episode. As luck would have it, the woman is married to the merchant that saved Geralt, and the two finally find each other. Ciri has seen some of Geralt's visions and knows about Yennefer, and the first season ends with Ciri asking, "Who is Yennefer?"

After an entire season of buildup, it was satisfying for The Witcher to finally bring its principal players together and have all the timelines catch up with each other. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich took a gamble with the structure of the first season's narrative that didn't really pay off, but now the door is open for the second season to be much more cohesive. From Henry Cavill's performance as Geralt to Dandelion's super catchy Witcher song, The Witcher Season 1 proves that the show has the right ingredients to be something special, as long as the cheesy dialogue and pacing issues are fixed next season.

The Witcher is available to stream now on Netflix.