His Dark Materials season 1 episode 6 review: He was just a boy
In this week’s episode of His Dark Materials, the Gyptians reap vengeance upon the Gobblers and Bolvanger as Lyra reunites with her mother, Mrs. Coulter.
Last week’s episode of His Dark Materials was gut-wrenching and heartbreaking as Billy and Ma Costa were finally reunited, only for Billy to ultimately succumb to death after having been separated from his dæmon. To make matters worse, Lyra was kidnapped and taken to Bolvanger at the tail end of the episode, facing Billy’s fate herself.
This week’s episode of His Dark Materials begins with Lyra’s assimilation in Bolvanger as she’s dressed in the same hospital-gown green rompers as the other kids and led into the cafeteria (though it’s really more of an observation room).
Once inside, she sees Roger, but sadly, it’s not the reunion they want because they have to remain calm and not attract attention. The two pretend not to know each other, instead sending their dæmons to say a quick hello before parting ways.
It isn’t long before one of the kids is called up by a Magisterium nun and taken away for intercission.
Lyra gets taken back for more “measurements,” which really appear to be photos like the ones Lord Asriel had taken — ones that capture Dust. She takes advantage of the opportunity to question the doctor and throws him off guard by asking if that’s what he’s doing. She plays it off by saying he won’t find any Dust on her; she washes regularly. When he thinks he’s safe again, she asks if they cut away dæmons.
Thankfully for the doctor, a fire alarm goes off, and they line the kids up to take role. Lyra finds Roger and stands next to him, telling him they need to escape because the Gyptians are on the way to rescue them. Roger says it’s impossible, so Lyra throws a snowball and they start a snowball fight to get away.
In the midst of the chaos, they go back inside to look around and find a room full of daemons in cages without their humans. It’s creepy enough anyway, but some of the dæmons are hitting their heads repeatedly against the wall, showing that dæmons without their humans are just as lost as humans are without them.
On their way back, Lyra comes up with a plan to escape and tells Roger to spread the word with the other kids. Meanwhile, the doctors discuss what they’re doing and provide a helpful reminder of the political/religious motivations of the Magisterium.
The Magisterium believes Dust is tied to original sin, and if you cut one’s dæmon away before it settles (i.e. before the person hits puberty), you can free the person from original sin. The older you become, the more Dust, and thus sin, you have. However, lots of children have to die while they work out the kinks of their giant dæmon-separating guillotine.
Before long, Mrs. Coulter arrives in spectacular fashion wanting an update, which is mostly that the latest separator is killing slightly fewer children. Lyra sees Mrs. Coulter’s arrival from the window and begs the girls in her room to help her hide from Mrs. Coulter, telling them she’ll help them escape. They tell her to hide under the bed, and despite a close call with the Golden Monkey, it works.
Back in the cafeteria, Lyra continues to pump up the girls, telling them to be ready to fight, but the nurse comes to get her for intercission. Lyra tries to fight the whole way. She makes a run for it, but they grab Pan and throw him in one half of the machine.
She fights the doctors, shouting that she’s Mrs. Coulter’s daughter. Finally, Marisa appears, hearing Lyra screaming her name, and stops the machine. The two haven’t seen each other since Lyra escaped her apartment in London. Mrs. Coulter’s face as she sees her daughter in the last place she expected is one of shock, recognition, and fear.
It’s a beautiful shot, and Ruth Wilson looks absolutely stunning with the rack focus that brings her hand, reaching out for Lyra, into focus in the foreground of the frame — reminding us of the constant distance between them.
She takes Lyra to her room and tries to soothe her and act motherly, not unlike she had in London, but Lyra stares her down. Marisa then volunteers just how compartmentalized she is by saying she would never harm Lyra, but Lyra coolly points out that they were about to cut Pantalaimon away from her.
Marisa insists that she saved her and that she’s safe. But Lyra, of course, unlike her mother, cannot separate the mercy she was granted from the harm done to everyone else. “A life without Pan would not be a better life,” she says.
Lyra’s mother explains that the operation is a good thing, to which Lyra responds that she should have let it happen. Mrs. Coulter, clearly frustrated and trying to hide it, essentially tells her they have to work out the kinks and that it isn’t suitable for her yet. Lyra, of course, asks about her friends, why it’s suitable for them. Marisa says her friends will be safe, too, but Lyra tells her that Billy Costa is already dead.
All in all, it’s a wonderful scene with Marisa and Lyra as they both recognize their mother-daughter relationship for the first time with Marisa apologizing for Lyra having been harmed and Lyra realizing she can use this weakness to her advantage.
Marisa asks her for the alethiometer. “I am your mother,” she says, full of remorse, love, and manipulation in equal measure. Lyra gives her the spy fly tin that Farder Coram soldered shut. When the fly comes out of the tin and attacks her, Lyra grabs her shoes and runs out of the room, jamming the lock on the door so her mother can’t escape.
It’s a gif waiting to happen as mother and daughter scream wildly on either side of the door. Seriously creepy and so much fun.
Lyra runs to set off the fire alarm, and mayhem ensues as she sends Roger to free the kids who’ve survived the intercission. Lyra finds her clothes and boots to put on then runs into the intermission chamber and “hits buttons until something happens” which, incidentally, is blowing up.
While the kids are making their escape, the doctors are sending the Tartars after them, and the Golden Monkey leads Mrs. Coulter through the air vents. Right when the kids get cornered, the Gyptians arrive! (Yes, they have been hauling it on the mountain this entire time. The Gyptians are the MVPs of His Dark Materials, forever and always.)
Lord Faa and Tony Costa take out two of the Tartars as Ma Costa throws one of the doctors up against the wall, asking if he remembers her boy. He stammers that he was just obeying orders, and she replies, “He was just a boy.” She kills him with what might be the most satisfying neck snap of all time.
They all manage to make it outside, but there are too many Tartars, even with Iorek on their side, and the Gyptians soon become overwhelmed as one of the doctors sees Lyra and tries to take her again. Just in the nick of time, Serafina Pekkala shows up and flies through the air, stabbing the remaining villains in a flash before disappearing again (but not before we get another sad, reminiscent look from Farder Coram).
As the Gyptians gather up the lost children to take them home, Roger and Lyra go with Lee and Iorek in Lee’s balloon to free Asriel, Mrs. Coulter watching all the while. On their way down the mountain, Lord Faa and Ma Costa discuss the outcome of the fight, and it’s clear that Lord Faa doesn’t think they’ve won. Though Ma Costa insists they defeated the Gobblers, Lord Faa says, “I thought we’d be bringing him home, Maggie.”
Though Farder Coram has gotten the bigger scenes during this season of His Dark Materials, Lord Faa’s quiet leadership is just as moving. Throughout the entire season, he has always wanted to do what is right by his people and work to get Billy back. It’s a heartbreaking moment as Ma Costa shakes off the grief and they keep going.
That night, while Lyra and Roger sleep, Serafina, an old friend of Lee’s (because they both fly, apparently) visits to tell him about Lyra’s importance in the universe (bringing us back to that all-important prophecy). Lee, a straight-shooting Texas aeronaut who just wants to get paid, tries to resist it all at first, saying his contract with the Gyptians is over. But Serafina insists they need each other.
“She’s responsible for the fate of everything and I’m responsible for her,” he says, somewhat dumbfounded. “The world is in your hands, Mr. Scoresby,” Serafina responds.
It’s a fantastic scene between Lee and Serafina that will set up the relational dynamics for future seasons of His Dark Materials, while also showing just how lovable Lee Scoresby is (and how much of a BAMF Serafina is, too). Lin-Manuel Miranda’s performance grows on me every week as we get to see more of the softer side of Lee.
Later, all is quiet in the balloon when the meters start going haywire and Hester stirs, waking up Lee. There are creepy sounds outside of the balloon, and Lee draws his gun to look outside when a cliff-ghast attacks. Iorek wakes up and launches out of the balloon.
Lee fires at them, feeling very Han Solo/Indiana Jones as he says, “Cliffghasts. I hate cliff-ghasts.” In the mayhem, the weight of the balloon falls off balance and Lyra falls against the side of the balloon and out of the edge of it into the air, ending the episode on a literal cliffhanger…
Next. His Dark Materials season 1 episode 5 review: Where is Ratter?. dark