In need of a coin to fund their quest, Éile, Fjall and Scian hatch a risky scheme that leads to a firestorm of trouble.

Episode 2 doesn’t move the needle on the writing, the characters or the story. In that sense we know what we’re getting from this Witcher prequel.

The tropes continue to be heavily laid out, the storyline is pretty heavy handed and the characters’ dialogue services the plot rather than the characters.

The action is decent enough and it continues to look pretty but Blood Origin is a strange entry – it is not long enough for us to learn much about the characters but it’s too long for it to really fall into the space which movies occupy.

What we have is a strange ensemble of characters recruited for their different skills (by the plot rather than by the narrative) with much of the more interesting elements occurring off screen.

In that sense it remains Not Very Good. However, for me at least, it remains fun to watch in that vein of decent enough B movies where the characters are making decisions because they have to advance the story and get us to the end.

I worry that shows like this (and there are a lot of them on streaming right now) have come about because the streaming channels were hungry for content and greenlit whatever came across the table without enough quality control. At the same time, I think shows should be allowed to be bad – it’s where people learn their skills, develop their next idea and how we make sure people stay in the industry long enough to do something interesting. In other words, it’s the same plea people have for supporting the mid-list in publishing. Some small number of shows will be runaway best sellers. Most will not, but the successes support the also rans.

I also worry that with the streaming bonanza running out of steam we’re going to quickly see this show and many like it disappear with nothing coming to replace them.

So I’m having fun with Blood Origin despite its shonky plotting and dialogue because I know that in a couple of years’ time I’ll be twiddling my thumbs during the big gaps between yet more sequels and shows that all feel the same but have proven to have mass appeal.

Rating? 6 heroes from central casting out of 10.

Stewart Hotston