DISCLAIMER: This recap of The Witcher Season 3 Episode 7, “Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Welcome back, citizens of the Continent! It’s penultimate episode time, and Ciri just tripped on ayahuasca in Joshua Tree. This could’ve been her Eat Pray Love. While this particular storytelling device isn’t innovative, it serves as essential character development for Ciri. (Psst. The Magicians does the “character endures harsh growth in the desert” well. I even wrote about it.) She’s learning to stand on her own two feet. And something tells me she won’t take sh*t from anyone when she arrives in Nilfgaard.
Fun fact: “Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan” is a play on the treasure hunt quest “Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire” in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Ready to delve into “Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan”? Let’s get to it.
We open with Ciri (Freya Allan), landing in the Korath desert from the portal in Tor Lara. Meanwhile, Jaskier (Joey Batey) walks through Aretuza post-battle. It’s seen better days. He finds Radovid (Hugh Skinner) chilling in a room. Apparently, he was looking for his guards. Radovid fills Jaskier in on what’s happened. You know, Vilgefortz conspired with Nilfgaard. It’s suspected that Emhyr var Emreis, aka Ciri’s papa, took the Continent by surprise, starting a second war.
Jaskier offers to help Radovid escape Aretuza by having him stay with some friends. Radovid wants Jasky to accompany him on this journey. However, our Bard must find his family (aww). Radovid suggests Jaskier start with Geralt because he’s unsure if Ciri survived the Tor Lara explosion. Next, Jaskier reunites with Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), who reveals she searched the rubble of Tor Lara and didn’t locate Ciri. Oh, and Triss took Geralt to Brokilon to heal because he might be dying. So, there’s that. In short, things suck butt right now.

Speaking of Brokilon, Eithné (Lorna Brown) and her dryads tend to Geralt (Henry Cavill). Milva (Meng’er Zhang) reveals that Geralt is dying, so they must act fast. Geralt weakly urges the dryads to let him die, but Eithné is having none of it. They’ll save him. Ciri wakes in the desert, alone and afraid. She holds the talisman Yen gave her and whispers a spell to whisk her home. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. But behind her, we see a cloaked figure in the distance. Is it a mirage? Discovering where she is, Ciri charts a path out of the desert and hopefully to a place with food and water. She starts walking.
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Next, Ciri wakes up after falling asleep under the sun. Her face is peppered with burn marks and blisters. Should’ve brought sunscreen (I kid, I kid). Ciri pulls out a small jar and applies a salve to her burns. Then, she begins licking its contents for sustenance. She drops the jar before continuing on her journey. As the night sky dazzles with stars, Ciri sings a song to herself. She’s inundated with images of Geralt and Yen and their brief time as a true family. She falls to her knees and sobs.
Once the sun rises the following day, Ciri fashions a makeshift scarf out of part of her vest. At one point, Ciri spots what looks like a puddle of water. However, she runs her hands through a gooey substance, giving way to a sand monster bursting through the surface. Thankfully, a unicorn saves her. Yen had told her about their existence, but Ciri didn’t believe her. Ciri tries to pet the unicorn. He has personal boundaries, though, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Then, Ciri finds a lizard and her nest. She tries eating one of its eggs, slurping it up like a smoothie. Yum. She hallucinates her mother, Pavetta (Gaia Mondadori), who embraces her. However, their conversation turns toxic when Pavetta claims Ciri is “too much” for her loved ones. Talk about an unsupportive mother. She calls Ciri a “heavy weight to bear.” Ciri retaliates, telling the spirit of her mom that she wanted to get on that boat with Pavetta. Pavetta disappears. After that, Ciri relocates the lizard and takes a bite out of it.
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Next, Ciri sees visions of Vilgefortz taking down Geralt and Lydia choking Yennefer. She winds up sitting in front of the cloaked figure that has been lingering on the edge of our periphery. We’ve seen this figure pop up a few times thus far. This person can relate to Ciri as a princess. She claims she tried to change things, but the system failed her. The enigmatic figure reveals that Ciri might think she has the power to implement change; however, so many women before her felt the same. Cloaked Lady (CL) is mysterious and cryptic, like any good Ghost of Christmas Past/Present/Future.
Later, Ciri wakes up in the desert with her unicorn buddy looming above her. He leads her to water, which she eagerly drinks. It invigorates her. Then, Ciri hallucinates another figure from her life — Calanthe (Jodhi May). The dead Cintra queen taunts Ciri like her daughter did. Calanthe asks Ciri what she’s done to prepare for the coming war. Ciri bites back at her grandmother’s taunting, reminding Calanthe that she was in charge when Cintra was razed to the ground. God, I forgot how incredible Jodhi May is in this role. She’s a force of nature.

In another fit of rage, Ciri punches the rock next to her after Calanthe disappears. She reunites with Cloaked Lady, who finally reveals her identity: Falka (Hiftu Quasem), the Redanian princess who led a rebellion before burning at the stake. Ciri encounters a vicious creature that emerges from the sands the following morning. Thankfully, she incorporates her physical training from Geralt and kills the monster by striking it repeatedly in the head with a rock. Unfortunately, the unicorn becomes collateral damage, suffering a nasty wound.
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Ciri applies a bandage to the injury before helping the unicorn to its feet. That evening, Ciri slowly removes the bandage. Now, the wound is infected. Her unicorn pal might die. Ugh, this is par for the course in hard fantasy — the cute horsie always dies. Falka returns and encourages Ciri to harness the fire she started to heal the unicorn. Ciri recalls what Yen told her about the repercussions of practicing fire magic. Falka’s like, “F*ck that. Save your horned horsie!” Ciri holds her hand above the flames. She absorbs some fire through her palm. Then, she applies that to the unicorn’s wound, which heals instantly. The unicorn flees, though.
Falka urges Ciri to cut loose anyone scared of who she is and what she can do. She pushes Ciri to embrace the fire. Become one with it. We see the flames consume her bodily. Could we get Dark Ciri here? However, upon envisioning the deaths of Geralt, Yennefer and Jaskier, Ciri has a change of heart. Sure, the fire feels good, and having this ability feels natural, like breathing. But she doesn’t want to lose her loved ones. She claims she doesn’t want this power anymore. Make it stop.
Then, Ciri wakes up to see a few men standing above her. They recognize her and decide to take her captive. Uh-oh. This can’t be how her soul-searching journey ends.
Meanwhile, Jaskier asks the dryads to let him enter Brokilon so he can be by Geralt’s side. Initially, the dryads hesitate to grant him entry until he starts singing in Elven. Milva allows him access. He finds Geralt convalescing, but he looks like he might be on death’s door. Jaskier informs him about Ciri and how she’s en route to Nilfgaard. Dun, dun, dun.
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Do you think Vilgefortz helped orchestrate Ciri’s kidnapping and journey to Nilfgaard? Will Geralt transform into Liam Hemsworth in the season finale like The Doctor? Only time (and one more episode) will tell.
The Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
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