After two episodes in and around London, it’s time for this adventure to really get going. After finding proof that Mrs. Coulter is taking the lost children North and doing… something to them, she and the Gyptians are leaving the city in pursuit. But first: Hey kids, it’s stage and screen’s Lin Manuel Miranda! Applause! The episode opens on him singing, because what else would you have him do?
Miranda plays Lee Scoresby, a much-beloved character from the books. He’s a cowboy-styled airship pilot searching for his friend Iorek, an armored bear who lost his armor in a drunken bet. Lee arrives in the northern village of Trollesund, and is surprised to see a whole crew of Gyptians that far north. He and his daemon, a rabbit, seem to have a similar relationship to Lyra and Pan, with Lee always seeking trouble and his Daemon trying to talk sense into him. He’s going to be a fun character.
Dafne Keen (Credit: Alex Bailey)
In the meantime, Lyra accompanies Farder Coram to seek help from a witch named Sarafina. First, they have to meet with a middleman, a doctor, to set up a meeting. He’s hesitant to, but when Coram mentions the missing children, the doctor provides some more information. He mentions something called an intercision. No details yet on what it is, but he assures Coram the rumors are troubling. The vagueness is chilling to those of us who know what it is. It really drives home that whatever awaits these children, it’s something truly horrible. The doctor agrees to bring their proposal to Serafina if Lyra shows him that she can read the alethiometer. When she does, he gives her a substance that can summon Sarafina if she should ever need her. He also recommends the seek the services of an armored bear.
That’s going to be hard to get, though. There is a bear in this town, but he spends his time drunk, working off a debt. As Lyra eventually puts together, the Magisterium tricked him. They got him drunk and stole his armor. In his rage, he caused some major damage to the town, and now he works the cheap metal of the town to pay off his debt. Not even his friend Lee can lift him out of his depression. He tries, but Iorek brushes him off. He doesn’t want Lee’s help, nor does he want him to stay. Complicating things further, John Faa has heard of the trouble Iorek caused and doesn’t want to travel with him either. It’s up to Lyra to ensure they retain the bear’s services.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Dafne Keene really shines as Lyra in this episode. There are so many moments from the books I can’t wait to see, but this is absolutely the Lyra I was hoping for. She’s smart, confident and knows how to play people. She teases some information out of Lee Scoresby and also convinces him to join the Gyptians on their journey North if she gets Iorek’s armor back. Lee shares with her that the Magisterium has the armor now. That’s all the information she needs to ask the alethiometer a more exact question. In return, she steals his bacon and disappears. See? She’s awesome.
Lyra finds Iorek and asks her to join him if she can tell him where his armor is. He doesn’t believe her at first since he’s spent months looking for it himself. She shows him the alethiometer and tells him it’s in the basement of the church. Despite being a fantasy epic with lots of British actors, His Dark Materials has never felt like a replacement for Game of Thrones. It’s aimed at a generally younger audience, for one thing. For another, the books it’s based on have an ending, and a pretty good one too, so that’s a plus going in. Mostly though, this series isn’t as action-oriented as GoT. We’re not going to get the giant sweeping battle scenes of armies running at each other. We do get a giant bear tearing a church apart, though. So that’s something.
Credit: Alex Bailey.
The Magisterium guards surround the church, guns drawn and ready to fire. When Iorek emerges clad in magnificent armor, you know those guns aren’t doing anything. The bullets bounce harmlessly off the bears armor and he tramples right through the guards as they’re reloading. He’s about to crush the captain’s head for tricking him, but Lyra begs him not to murder the man. Between her and Lee reminding the bear of who he is, he takes his foot off the captain’s head and joins Lyra. Lee, Iorek, and the Gyptians find that Lyra’s been playing them all and now they have no choice but to travel together. They all need her, after all.
The armored bear is one of the big moments from the books. For the last three episodes, all I could think of was when we would get here. He looked just as cool as I was hoping he would. A bear with armor could have been super cheesy, but the show made him into the terrifying, regal fantasy creature I imagined. I also love that we were able to spend a full episode in this town. It treated Iorek’s predicament like a mystery. He was trapped in this town, everyone who cared about him wanted to get him out, but he was stuck there. Lee’s fast-talking Texas confidence man routine was fun to watch, even if he needed a little help making use of the information he uncovered. Lin Manuel Miranda’s goofy smiling enthusiasm actually fits the character really well, and I’m excited to see him and Lyra have more scenes together.
Ruth Wilson (Credit: Alex Bailey)
We also got to see the politics of the Magisterium. As someone whose read the book so many times, these parts are super interesting to me. Just because His Dark Materials isn’t trying to be another Game of Thrones, doesn’t mean it can’t take some of the lessons from that show. It’s building out the world, hinting at things Lyra only begins finding out about much later. We get to see the inner workings of the church, where Mrs. Coulter fits into it all, and why they keep working with her despite her clearly having her own agenda. We see they have their own alethiometer, and one person who can read it, but only while studying books detailing the meanings of each symbol. He can’t intuit the meanings like Lyra can, and it can take him weeks to get an answer. Questions are therefore allowed sparingly. Mrs. Coulter gets one for arranging the capture of Lord Asriel. She chooses “Who is Lyra Belacqua?” Given that we know she’s Lyra’s mother, why would that be her question.
This is all stuff that’s implied in the book, but never shown in this level of detail. The world of His Dark Materials is what made me fall in love with the series so hard, so I love seeing it explored in detail here. The show also knows it can’t introduce the armored bears without hinting at what’s to come. The episode ends with a bit of foreshadowing as Mrs. Coulter meets with Iofur Raknison, the king of the Armored Bears. Well, King now, after Coulter got rid of Iorek for him. She offers him a deal: In exchange for control of the imprisoned Lord Asriel, the Magisterium will baptize him. This show’s gearing up for a bear fight. It’s a few episodes away at this point, but I can’t wait to see it.
His Dark Materials airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO
Previously on His Dark Materials:
- His Dark Materials Season 1 Episode 3 recap
- His Dark Materials Season 1 Episode 2 recap
- His Dark Materials Season 1 Premiere recap
from Geek.com https://ift.tt/33jyfHd
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment