Episode 2: The Idea of North

Last week, I was introduced to the world of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The premier did enough to spark a bit of interest in me, but lacked a major wow factor. For BBC, ratings for episode 2 saw a viewership drop of about 1.5M. Hopefully America didn’t follow suit. If you haven’t read my first impressions after the premier, I highly suggest you head on over and use that as a precursor to this post.

The Idea of North focuses on Lyra and Pan adjusting to life in London with Mrs. Coulter. The very first shot of the episode is a gorgeous overview of this world’s London and the several airships filling the sky. Unfortunately, things aren’t so beautiful between Lyra and Coulter. Tension is thick, and patience is thin as we get our first glimpse of the underbelly of the high class, designer clothing wearing beast.

My biggest critique of the premier can probably be summed up as the episode being slow. In contrast, episode 2 felt jam packed. Coulter’s monkey served as the first red flag screaming ulterior motives, but an episode later her secrecy and hot temper are the neon signs advertising it right in Lyra’s face. Let’s dive into what we learned during this episode.

Deciphering Daemons

To me, this episode is all about the daemons. With no book knowledge, this was an hour-long crash course for Daemons 101. Coulter’s monkey, unlike traditional daemon companions, can stray from its human. I won’t lie, I’m not entirely sure I knew this was special until Lyra and Pan discussed it, but Coulter is hiding something. Daemon warfare is also a thing. Pan gets an ass-whooping Stone Cold Steve Austin would be proud of, and we can see the toll it takes on Lyra. Lastly, we learn how telling a person’s daemon can be about their personality.

The monkey fits what I know of Coulter thus far. Human-like. She walks around like a high-class, benevolent person. In reality though, she is almost human. Not quite there yet. She is an evil child kidnapper who is seriously confused about her own identity.

Can we address the elephant in the room? Well, the snake I guess… and wasp, and beetle. Could these guys have been given more obviously evil animal representations of their souls? I’m sorry, a wasp? What kind of piece of shit do you have to be that your soul is represented by something we make cans of nuclear warfare to eradicate? Compare that to the reporter’s butterfly, which served as an all-to-obvious sign of her detrimental delicateness.

A daemon as fragile as a butterfly proves to be quite damning as we learn that the death of a human’s daemon results in their own demise. I could be wrong about all of this, but she looked pretty dead to me. The shape-shifting ability of children’s daemons seems to be yet another form of protection in this world, similar to how Dust does not affect them.

Expanding the World

Courtesy of HBO and BBC

The stakes have been raised, and I am officially hooked. I watched Lord Boreal walk through a shimmering light and step out into my own world. Okay, he didn’t come out of my flat-screen like the girl from The Ring, but he crossed over into the “normal” world we know and love(or hate). This completely blew my mind. I knew the snake was up to something but this was truly not even a thought on my radar.

We now know that the world seen in the Northern Lights is your typical base universe, and Lyra’s world is the equivalent of a parallel universe. I’m sure more people must have discovered this other than Boreal, and I think Coulter might have an idea what he has been doing. Possibly planned by Pullman, but this knowledge led me to connect Boreal’s name to the Aurora Borealis – or the Northern Lights. This opens up so many possibilities and is certainly the hook I was looking for.

The Good, the Bad, and My Take

Ruth Wilson was wonderful in this episode. Her portrayal of an almost bipolar-like fragility was astounding. Honestly, her tears after laying into Lyra beg the question if she is genuinely evil, or if she has a shred compassion hidden somewhere deep within.

Dafne Keen impressed again, whereas some of the new characters seemed over the top. Mr. Wasp seems like he escaped the Addams Family and I couldn’t take him seriously.

The best thing this show has going for it after two hours is undeniably the story. Credit Pullman for this, because this world is entrancing. I might not survive the weekly wait, especially while OGT Mark is already reading his way through the first book in the series.

I’ve praised a lot about this episode but it had its faults. Asriel is revealed to be Lyra’s father in a rushed, poor delivery. Coulter’s first anger outburst is the easy way out of spoon-feeding a plot twist to the viewer. I didn’t like it and I doubt many did.

The other thing that stuck out was the use of a smartphone in the other universe. The first novel was released in the mid nineties so I can only imagine the angry tweets about Boreal’s smartphone being fired off from actual smartphones.

My Take: A-

The second episode benefit from better pacing, more action, and an outflow of insights raining down upon viewers new to the His Dark Materials universe. I just hope the hook didn’t come too late, and that people who may have checked out after an uneventful premier gave it a second go tonight. I know I will be tuning in next week, will you?