Note: Major spoilers for all episodes.
#8- The Idea of
North (1x02)- Lyra in London isn’t
terribly exciting. Keen and Wilson do pretty solid work but we are just
stalling until Lyra can learn enough about Coulter to decide to flee. The
decision to have Coulter reveal Lyra’s father was probably to alleviate the
number of truth-bombs in episode 3, but then it makes it pretty obvious who the
mother is. Also it makes Coulter seem less in control by having her blurt out
the truth. The scene with Adele Starminster talking to Lyra was way too fast to
even understand what was happening, and it’s lame that she so willingly walks
down and gets in the car despite knowing the danger she is in. Boreal’s trip
into “our” world blunts the impact of Asriel opening a window later. There is
more mischief he could have gotten himself into in Oxford.
#7- Lyra’s Jordan
(1x01)- These first few chapters are
my least favorite part of the entire saga, so this was always going to be
pretty low on the list. There’s a lot of world-building to get to, and they do
just a so-so job of it. Asriel’s presentation was done a little too fast, and
the heresy of what he was describing was glossed over. Also, though the lack of
background demons is annoying but understandable, their connection to humans
was not quite as established as it deserved. On the plus side, Dafne Keen is
the perfect Lyra, and Roger was perfectly likable in a pivotal role that does
not have much time to develop. Including the gyptians in their own little
side-story was a decent move, I just wish Faa and Coram made a bigger first
impression.
#6- The Spies
(1x03)- Lyra finally links up with
the gyptians and the story can really get started. James Cosmo gets his chance
to show the friendly side of Coram – though John Faa is still sadly lacking the
gravitas we should have gotten with the character. On the positive end, Ma
Costa gave off a great mix of fun, tough, motherly, and fearful about her son;
and Benjamin’s sacrifice was surprisingly badass. Also, Mrs. Coulter became a
bit more loopy with her obsession with heights and her monkey-like attack on
Ben. Sadly, I think the Boreal plotline is going too fast – we don’t need to
introduce the Parry boys this quickly. They should instead have used his screen
time to expand on how the Magesterium works.
#5- The Lost Boy
(1x05)- I remain divided on the
decision to bring Will into the story early. Certainly for being a co-lead
character, you want to have him involved in the story and not seem like a
season 2 tag-along. But there’s still a lot of plot to get through before he
meets Lyra, and it’s kind of a slow burn with him until they meet, risking
audience alienation. I also don’t think they did a great job of characterizing
him in this episode; he doesn’t even speak that much.
On Lyra’s side,
there’s not as much action but there’s an opportunity for emotional moments –
with mixed results. The rescue of Billy Costa (Tony Makarios in the book, now
wisely co-opting the movie’s choice to make it a gyptian boy) should have been
so much more disturbing by having him hold the dead fish in an attempt to
compensate for the loss of Ratter. As I understand, they filmed it but it did
not work for some reason. But that was a key part in displaying how close a
daemon is to their human. In fact, Billy is barely communicating at all.
Luckily, it is slightly made up for by his farewell scene with his family, and
with the gyptians singing. Coram also gets a nice – but all too quick – reunion
with Serafina. There are some problems with this ep, but I put it above eps 1-3
due to more interesting source material.
#4- Betrayal
(1x08)- At last, they finally dug
into the religious and Biblical aspects of it all. Although it’s still vague,
it does inspire confidence that they may be able to do season 3 justice. The
goal of having Will and Lyra entering worlds at the same time makes sense, and
will allow season 2 to hit the ground running, but they still did very little
to make us care about Will, or understand why he would want to cross the
portal. As for the meat and potatoes of the episode, I thought McAvoy settled
himself well into the Asriel role, and his chemistry with Dafne Keen makes me
sad that they don’t get much more to do together. They sadly reduced the big
battle at the end (no witches?) but made a strong stand with the Roger
sacrifice. I could never quite picture what this whole sequence looked like in
the book, but it came off great. It seems a waste not to have Lee and Serafina
in it one more time before the season break. Maybe have them surprise-attack
the Magesterium soldiers. (Also: lord, please bless Thorold and keep him safe.)
#3- The Fight to
the Death (1x07)- Most of the bear
palace intrigue was well done. They properly displayed Lyra’s trickery, and
Iofur’s voice actor is fantastic. I was also pleased to see they kept in Jotham
Santelia, who was memorable in his one scene. Despite the lack of armour, the
bear fight was properly intense, though I wanted to see some more personal
animosity between the two. (Those complaining that the killing blow was
visually obscured by Lyra need to chill out – hardly a sin here.) I don’t think
we needed them to move on to Asriel’s lab in this ep, but McAvoy properly sold
Asriel’s initial fear and subsequent relief, even though his plan seems
obvious. Elsewhere, the Will Parry story continues to be dry, and Serafina
refuses to speak in anything other than vague, listless prophecies. I like her
look, but give her some personality, please!
#2- The
Daemon-Cages (1x06)- There’s a lot to
get to, so we don’t have time to venture out beyond Bolvangar other than a
brief stop with the Parrys (unnecessary, in my mind). The Bolvangar set is
filled with tension – it looks simultaneously cold and sterile, a chilling
combination. The addition of the “cut” children being kept in a room with
shaved heads is interesting, and ensures we are not left dangling with the
possibility of loose kids running around – the failure to show the freeing of
the caged daemons was terrible though. The assault on the facility was decent,
but not as impressive as the movie. And Iorek’s wry humor was off-tone for both
him and the situation. I did think they sent the gyptians off well, and Lyra’s
fall out of the balloon felt natural.
#1- Armour (1x04)- The northern set looks fantastic – a nice change of
pace from the generic look of London and Jordan. The addition of Iorek and Lee
(and Hester) add some much-needed levity and intensity to the show, and it feels
like Lyra and the gyptians are finally settling into the characters the book
presented to us. Lin-Manuel is obviously a joy, and I can even accept that his
take on Lee Scoresby is a bit different than what he is supposed to be. I think
the script for him is on the weak side, and he does what he can with it.
Cristela Alonzo is an inspired choice for Hester. I liked seeing more of the
Magesterium inner-workings, even if the priest-with-a-nasty-predilection trope
is overdone. Maybe my favorite scene is Coulter paying a visit to Iofur, hiding
around a dark corner with his majestic armour, and offering him baptism in
exchange for an alliance. It makes Iofur look pathetic, and Coulter a
strategist.
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