It’s only the third week, and His Dark Materials appears to be speeding though the book almost as fast as I did when I was 13. Last week’s episode saw Lyra learn the truth about Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel. Specifically, that Coulter is the leader of an organization kidnapping children, and Lord Asriel is her father. Then, she escaped the fancy penthouse only to get caught by a gobbler. The opening of this episode lets us breathe a small sigh of relief. Her kidnappers are stopped and beaten up by a group of Gyptians. Tony Costa recognizes her from Oxford and she joins the Gyptians to search for their missing children and her missing friend.
For her part, Coulter is tearing up Jordan College looking for Lyra. She uses it as an excuse to search for anything heretical, breaking the scholastic sanctuary. When she finds a book that shows how to read an alethiometer, she wants to know where the device is. The headmaster reveals that it was with Lyra when Lord Asriel left her to the college. They gave it back to her when she left. Now Coulter really wants to find Lyra. And to punish the college for inconveniencing her so. She really is a fantastic villain, just how I imagined her to be.
Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter. (Photo Credit: Alex Bailey)
The Magesterium isn’t entirely happy with Coulter’s methods. They clearly get something out of scholastic sanctuary as well. At the very least it keeps potentially damaging knowledge contained. The Magesterium officials decide all they can do is find Lyra as fast as they can. The sooner that happens, the sooner they can put all this behind them. And information has made it back to them that Lyra has joined a group of Gyptians. They send a squad of police to raid the Gyptian boats while Lyra hides in a secret compartment behind a cupboard.
The police don’t find her, but the encounter freaks Lyra out nonetheless. She runs away, not knowing if she can trust anyone. Mrs. Coulter, she knows, will stop at nothing to find her. Meanwhile, the people keeping that from happening won’t tell her anything. Ma Costa decides to let her in on what everyone’s been keeping from her: Mrs. Coulter is her mother. She and Lord Asriel had an affair years ago. When Lyra was born, Asriel tried to hide her at one of his estates. Coulter’s husband tried to kill Lyra and Asriel killed him instead. Lyra figures out the Costa was the nurse who took care of her as a baby and agrees to stay with the Gyptians.
Lucian Msamati as John Faa, Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa. (Photo Credit: Alex Bailey)
The first two episodes had so much happening, it came as a relief when this one pumped the break a little bit. The story is still humming along at the same quick pace, but this episode took time to let moments breathe. As Lyra spends more time with the Gyptians, we got to know them as characters and see what their society is like. There’s a scene where the Gyptian leader, John Faa, tries to convince everybody to follow him North to find the missing children. He’s met with protest and it takes Lyra talking about Mrs. Coulter and her friend Roger to convince everyone. This kind of scene could have been boring. It’s long, quiet shots of someone talking. But the writing, acting and cinematography combine to make it a captivating speech. We know how it’s going to turn out, but it’s exciting to see how it gets there.
Similarly, the episode does a great job with the alethiometer scenes. Going in, this was the part of the book I most wondered how you would film. In the book, Lyra slowly learns what each symbol can mean and how to make the device work. It reads like you, the reader, and she are learning a language together. That’s super hard to adapt into film. The episode managed to make those moments of discovery feel real. And that’s the secret. It’s multiple moment. It’s first discovering that she can move the answer needle by making her mind blank. Later, it’s trying to translate her question into symbols and interpreting what comes back. It’s this episode’s own mini-mystery and it’s fun to watch Lyra slowly solve it.
(Photo Credit: HBO)
The action soon kicks right back up though, when Tony Costa and Benjamin break into Mrs. Coulter’s apartment. Lyra tells them where they can find plans for the facility where they’re taking the children, and Tony is determined to go get them. It’s a wonderfully tense and scary scene. As they’re digging through Coulter’s desk, you know they’re going to be caught any minute by the creepy-looking monkey. Tony manages to escape with a list of the kidnapped children. Benjamin isn’t so lucky. The show further demonstrates the connection between human and daemon, when Coulter’s monkey is able to stop Benjamin in his tracks by tackling his bird. Coulter threatens to torture him for information, but Benjamin is able to wriggle free and throw himself down the elevator shaft. As he dies, his daemon turns to dust.
Coulter is exactly as terrifying as I wanted her to be, and this scene had me sitting bolt upright the entire time. Back on the boat, Lyra figures out how to read the alethiometer, and it tells her that Benjamin’s dead. She rushes outside to tell the Gyptians. They’re astonished to learn she’s right, but Mrs. Coulter’s spy flies spot Lyra. She captures one of them, but the other gets away. It’s a great way to set up the next episode with a ton of momentum. Next week brings the promise of something new. The Gyptians have to head North immediately. And now Mrs. Coulter will be on their tail, which is sure to make for some excitement. His Dark Materials continues to be everything you hope for from an adaptation. I know what’s going to happen next, but I can’t wait to see it.
His Dark Materials airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Previously on His Dark Materials:
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