Review: His Dark Materials
collage & photography by Lauren Burns, @laurenelburns, BBC
Before starting His Dark Materials, I had no idea that I’d become so hooked on a show about a girl with a magic compass and a talking ermine, yet I ended up falling down a TV show rabbit hole and watching both seasons in a day (I don’t know whether to be impressed or embarrassed by this). The show, based on the book trilogy by Phillip Pullman, follows two teenagers, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they navigate a multi-world reality and overcome the various dangers present in each. Key themes from the show include family- as Lyra is an orphan who comes to learn the identity of her parents- truth, fate, religion, and the journey into adulthood.
It seems relevant to begin by highlighting just how stunning the world-building is in His Dark Materials. We explore the icy North of Lyra’s world, the stunning scenery of Oxford and its gardens in Will’s world (the Earth that we know), and the coastal town of the Cittágazze. What we see of Lyra’s world is predominantly basic structures such as shops with corrugated iron roofs and narrowboats, Will’s world has the brick-and-mortar structure we often see in our own world, and the Cittágazze resembles the pastel beauty of coastal villa resorts in Italy. Travelling plays a big part in the show, whether this be between worlds or simply between locations in the same world. So, the world-building is vital to ensure that we, as the audience, understand what world the scene is taking place in. One criticism of mine is that the locations would have had a more meaningful impact if we had been able to spend more time in each place, nearly every episode involved a new set that would interrupt the previous location we were slowly getting to explore.
Contributing to the world-building is the exceptional work undertaken to bring the daemons and bears to life. ‘Daemons’ refer to an animal companion that every inhabitant of Lyra’s world has; they are the physical embodiment of the human soul, and settle their form (i.e. have a set animal form and no longer shift between animal forms at will) when the human reaches puberty. As CGI is expensive and daemons can’t be more than a few feet away from their human at all times, I expected that the animals would be absent from many shots to save money. I was pleasantly surprised that the show doesn’t shy away from including daemons in the majority of shots, even going as far as giving them up-close scenes where the daemon’s facial expression is key to characterising them.
The armoured bears, first seen in all their glory in the film The Golden Compass, play an integral role in His Dark Materials. Iorek Byrnison becomes king of the bears after being recruited by Lyra and Lee Scoresby to help them on their quest, and the detail of dark and light reflecting from his white fur and the ripples of muscles as he runs and fights are incredible to watch. I don’t have specific budgetary information, but I would imagine that a considerable chunk of the CGI budget was invested (wisely, in my opinion) into ensuring the polar bears were brought to life in a realistic way- or at least as realistically as talking polar bears can be, anyway.
The star-studded cast include Dafne Keen, Amir Wilson, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and there are no complaints from me about the way they lit up the screen with their performances. McAvoy’s portrayal of Lord Asriel Belacqua desperately trying to avoid getting sentimental about his daughter in order to focus on the cold-hearted decisions he must make for work, and Wilson’s presentation of a torn Mrs Coulter, trying to better her child’s future but hurting people in the process, shows how thin the line between loving and hurting can be. Belacqua and Coulter are both on their own path to doing what they believe is best for humanity, but this leads to Lyra suffering at their hands. When she is mistakenly put into her mother’s Tearing machine to remove her daemon, and when her father kills her best friend in order to open the gateway to other worlds, it’s clear that they are- to put it mildly- abhorrent parents. They are unable to provide Lyra with what she actually needs in their mission to provide her with what they think she needs. In the wise words of Lee Scoresby: “it’s not enough though, is it? Love. Doesn’t mean you won’t hurt her, doesn’t mean she’s safe with you. It doesn’t work that way.”
Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson, as the main characters of season two, carry the show with a brilliance that is wondrously unexpected for actors of just 15 and 16 years old, respectively. The journey their characters embark upon is one of great realisations that adults are very rarely the perfect idols children believe they are. The lies and mistakes that the adults make become the catalyst for Lrya and Will to take matters into their own hands, and their emotional maturity (despite it being the result of having to fend for themselves) is a masterpiece to watch through their acting skills. Lin-Manuel Miranda brings a depth to his character that captured my attention from the get-go. Particularly with his dedication to protecting Lyra overcoming imprisonment, crashing his balloon in the North, and even crossing worlds to ensure her protection. Their father-daughter relationship developed seemingly out of very little interaction, but his refusal to give up her location to the enemy because “I do love her, and I swore I’d keep her safe” made me extremely grateful that Lyra had at least one adult giving her the love and safety she needed.
His Dark Materials is a show that covers many themes relevant to young people trying to navigate the turbulent journey to adulthood, and the focus on ‘found family’ is a comforting reminder that friends can fill the void left by family who do not value us with the love and support we may need. The special effects, storytelling, acting, and world-building all contribute to the enjoyable watch that the show provides. I would recommend His Dark Materials to anyone who is interested in a well-developed fantasy drama show!
by Holly Berry
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