His Dark Materials: The Idea of North (1x02)

Okay, we're really getting into some stuff!

Cons:

I feel much less intrigued by the Lord Boreal plot thread. I mean, this is the one thing they're doing differently from the books, thus far. They've introduced the idea of parallel worlds so early. In the novel, that reveal is teased out so gradually and doesn't really come to a head until the second book. I'm ready to have my mind changed, but so far seeing Lord Boreal in our world with all of our modern technologies, sitting there having coffee with someone, isn't actually all that interesting to me.

There was a lot going on in this episode, and along with Boreal's detour, we also got a brief glimpse of the Gyptians on their continued quest to find Billy and the other missing children. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the brief scenes we got, but I think the episode might have been better if it had had a tighter focus, maybe just following Lyra and Roger, without the distractions of these other little hints.

Pros:

Mrs. Coulter is quickly becoming the most fascinating thing about this show for me. The nuance in her performance, the way she behaves around Lyra, the way she talks about Asriel... obviously, knowing stuff from the books makes me appreciate her performance even more, but even without that, there is so much tension in every moment with her, even before you find out that she's running the Gobblers.

A few specific moments to drill down on... I think the moment when she hits her Daemon was really troubling and intense. We have just learned that there's something different about Mrs. Coulter, because she can be far away from her Daemon. And then right after that, we see her hit him on the head. This is... self harm, right? I mean, it seems that way. There's also that comment where Mrs. Coulter tells Lyra that she's always been uncertain about heights, because she has the impulse to jump. This comment feels calculated, but it's hard to know exactly what she is hoping to impart with it. I love that kind of thing.

This episode is also starting to cement the relationships between the Daemons and humans a bit more, which I like. We see that hurting a Daemon hurts the human, and a journalist is murdered when her butterfly Daemon is crushed. We also know Daemons and humans cannot be physically apart from one another by more than a few feet. This is obviously important moving forward.

Lyra's experience feels very trapped in this episode. She is always in Mrs. Coulter's suite of rooms, and if she leaves, Mrs. Coulter is right there with her, watching her every move. We get to see her exploring through the vents, finding out information about the General Oblation Board, etc. but yet there's no sense of adventure. It all feels very imperative, and urgent, and scary. When she finally does escape at the end, it's only to be in dire straights as Pan is lured away by the mysterious whistling that has been luring Daemons to the Gobblers.

I like how Mrs. Coulter shifts between this world of glamour with Lyra, straight over to the Gobblers. She's kind to the children she has kidnapped, promising to send letters to their families. It's chilling to see scenes of Mrs. Coulter with Roger, inter-cut with Lyra investigating in Mrs. Coulter's inner sanctum. Suddenly, all of the kindnesses with Lyra are re-contextualized when you know that she'll lie to children to get what she wants.

At first, I was going to say that I was annoyed by how quickly certain pieces of information are being revealed. The fact that this episode shows Lyra getting comfortable with Mrs. Coulter, and then the fall-out and the end of that part of the story, all in one hour, might have been a problem. But honestly, they are doing such a good job with pacing, and with making the world feel immersive, that I actually don't mind the pace. There's still quite a bit of story to get to, and only six more episodes in this first season! Will the first season complete the whole story of the first book? I don't know, but I am firmly along for the ride!

9/10