His Dark Materials: The Idea of North Show Only

November 11, 2019 2:21 AM - Season 1, Episode 2

Lyra starts her new life in London, determined to find Roger with Mrs Coulter’s help. The Gyptians continue their search for the missing children and the elusive Gobblers.
posted by KTamas (9 comments total)

Well, I'll say this, this show is dense. Like I can still follow what's going on but it's a lot.

I still mostly enjoy it but I am bothered by Ruth Wilson's character because her actions seem to make no sense sometimes? Like in the middle of the episode she abusive at one point and then suddenly reveals to Lyra that McAvoy's character is her father, which just feels like out of nowhere. She's also presented as someone smart and yet are being outsmarted by Lyra? Lyra's actions also don't always make sense, like her talking about Dust: she seemed smarter than to reveal something like that?

Anyways I rewatched the trailer for the season and I want to say more but that might be a spoiler; so I'll just say it feels like the real fun is starting later?

P.S.: Look ma', a multiverse!
posted by KTamas at 2:33 AM on November 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

It's true, that stuff is very well situated in the book narrative but I don't know how it sits in just the show.

I LOVE the inclusion of our-Oxford at this stage.

Very much love the costume designers.

Had the subtitles on so had the (of course) Latin lyrics for the theme. It may include a terrible pun.

Enjoying this!
posted by lokta at 2:19 PM on November 11, 2019

Sorry, didn't realise there were two threads!
posted by lokta at 2:25 PM on November 11, 2019

oh my goodness I forgot - "let's have this meeting in chapel, for er, dramatic reasons"
posted by lokta at 4:31 PM on November 11, 2019

I figured there was a blend of two explanations for Coulter’s behavior - the separation between her and her daemon made her slightly crazy, and it is fundamentally a YA story, so the adults have to be stupid at least some of the time for narrative convenience. I also assume she had/has a torch for Asriel, so she’s presumably less rational in regards to him specifically.

Ruth Wilson remains my favorite from the cast so far - she plays sociopaths magnetically well.
posted by tautological at 6:40 PM on November 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

tautological: it is established now that she can get far away from her daemon but the show said nothing so far about the why and its effects as far as i can tell... or is that something from the book?
posted by KTamas at 8:21 AM on November 12, 2019

I thought this was an improvement over the first episode, but perhaps that's to be expected given that the first is weighted by a lot of setup/exposition. I read the books, so I'm familiar with the story, but casually.

While it required a bit more attention than most TV, I was able to follow the plot, which this time out seemed free standing. My (cursory) knowledge of the story helped smooth some of the rough patches, but I felt that the drama and suspense were organic to the episode and did not rely too heavily upon it.

I will make an exception to that for the "crossing", which I think must be interweaving "Northern Lights" with "The Subtle Knife". I wonder if someone not familiar with the story would be able to tell what happened by the dialog clues and the "familiar" presentation of the alternate world, or would just be baffled. Score 1 for the readers.
posted by hwestiii at 10:19 AM on November 12, 2019

Mod note: Friendly reminder there are Books Included threads for this, so folks who have read the books and want to discuss the connections/adaptation/etc can do that there. Let's try to keep this one for Show-Only discussion. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:49 AM on November 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

Less confusing this time, partially because they started showing the "flip" between daemons. Still very fast paced, but quite interesting.
posted by wnissen at 4:22 PM on November 13, 2019 [1 favorite]