A muddled Magisterium raises doubts about His Dark Materials’ commitment to its source material
TV Reviews HBO
NOTE: While The A.V. Club’s coverage of His Dark Materials looked at the first season from both Expert and Newbie perspectives, we’ve moved to one review for the show’s second season. Be forewarned that there may be light spoilers for the books toward the end of the review and the potential for significant spoilers in the comments.
When Lyra asks the alethiometer how she’s to go about finding someone who can tell her about dust in Will’s Oxford, also known as “our” Oxford, it dispenses two important pieces of information. The first is the logistical pieces necessary—the name of the college, the photo on her door—for Lyra to figure out the location of the dark matter research lab and Mary Malone, the former nun who turned to science as a different way of understanding the universe. The second, though, is more critical: despite having built her reputation on being able to spin a web of lies (although the show did a bad job of articulating that compared to the books, if we’re being technical), she is to tell Mary Malone the absolute truth.
That truth sounds absurd to someone from “our” world, of course, but that’s the point. When Lyra finds Mary, she tells her she wants to know about dust, and alludes to another world, and none of it is making any sense at first. But the alethiometer’s advice to Lyra is central to the premise of His Dark Materials, as this is by nature a story of what people do with the unvarnished facts of the matter. Lyra later tells Will that the alethiometer is not concerned about good or bad: it only cares about an objective truth, and ultimately the fate of this world comes down to what the people of these worlds choose to do with it. Lyra’s world is run by a regime that runs away from the truth, seeking to destroy that which they don’t understand. The future of these shared universes depends on people like Lyra who are able to open themselves up to the unknown, and the alethiometer knows that Mary Malone is cut from the same cloth. She may not fully understand what Lyra is saying, but she immediately realizes that what she calls dust might be what she calls dark matter, and swiftly opens herself up to the possibility that this could be something bigger than herself even if she’s not yet packing up her I-Ching box for whatever journey dust wants to send her on.
“The Cave” is a testament to how Pullman’s fantasy world is rooted in this principle of belief: not spiritual belief, as it’s understood in the context of the Magisterium or in the convent where Mary once studied, but rather in some power that goes beyond ourselves. Lyra spends the first book becoming in tune with this principle, and she begins the second by somewhat unconsciously becoming a missionary for a secular truth that is using her as a vessel to bring others into the fold. Here, both Will and Mary eventually come to realize that the answers they’re searching for don’t rest where they might have expected. Will goes to lawyers and grandparents in search of his father, but eventually it’s the alethiometer that gives him the assurances he needs—that his mother will be okay, that his father is alive—to follow the path that awaits him in Cittàgazze and beyond. Mary isn’t quite a believer just yet, but she’s already speaking the language by asking her colleague to have faith, realizing that she means something different than she did before Lyra Silvertongue showed up at her office earlier that day.
I appreciated that “The Cave” captured the almost intoxicating feeling of certainty that comes from dust—whether through the alethiometer or the computer the episode is named after—even if the show is still struggling a bit to articulate the subversiveness of this message. Last week, I mostly felt that the expansion of the Magisterium story was a waste of time, but in this episode I thought some of their choices compromised the very premise of their existence in this world. When MacPhail spoke at the Cardinal’s funeral, there’s a point where he refers to “this Magisterium,” and I found that perplexing: isn’t it the Magisterium? Isn’t the whole point of this organization its absolute power within the Church? It’s a small rhetorical distinction, I admit, but semantics is one of the first things that triggers that nagging voice in the back of my brain as a book reader that those involved with the show have continued to distance themselves from Pullman’s critique of religion out of fear of public backlash. There’s no question that the Magisterium is being presented as an autocratic and ultimately evil organization, and that it retains a clear religiosity, but a lot of what we see in “The Cave” muddles the core message.
I realize what the show’s writers—this is the first episode on which Jack Thorne is not the only credited writer, with Francesca Gardiner co-writing—are trying to do with the conflict with the Witches. Lest we argue the show is unwilling to embrace the real-world implications of this story, the situation is shifting more toward a political allegory about the corruptive force of power. MacPhail is trying to become Cardinal, but he’s faced with a zealot drumming up support for his own candidacy, raging against the purported heresy of the witches in order to convince the Church to drop a whole lot of bombs on them. It’s a parable to the rise of modern fascism, as elected officials overlook extremist views within their party until they reach the point where they realize the only way they can stay in power is by openly validating them. Eventually, we find MacPhail knowingly atoning for his sin, burning his hand over a flame at his daemon’s request as though he knows what he did is wrong but he had to do it to wield power, only to immediately discover that Coulter has every intention of ignoring his authority and doing whatever she wants anyway.
The show’s message is clear if we take a broad view: “power corrupts, no need to tune in for more at 11!” But I disliked this notion that we’re drawing distinctions between members of the Magisterium in terms of their corruption, as though not all members of the Church are so bad. Perhaps it’s that the specifics of this political allegory feel too real in the current moment, but this notion of separating out those in power who act out of self-interest from those who truly hold fascistic beliefs is out-of-touch with the clarity of Pullman’s specific—not general—critique of the power organized religion holds in society, and shifted the Magisterium story from “mostly disinteresting” to “stuck in my craw” by the time we reached the end of the episode.
Ultimately, His Dark Materials is not solely about the Magisterium: in many ways, without spoiling anything, it’s about how what’s going on here is above them, and above the very notion of them, and so I don’t think this detour completely derails the rest of the work of the story. The stakes are still being established effectively, with Lord Boreal making first contact with Lyra as Charles Latrom (and hiding it from Coulter), and Coulter learning from Torvold that Lyra is not just missing in her world but missing somewhere else entirely. Will, meanwhile, is now fully at peace with what he’s left behind in his own Oxford, his mother safely in his teacher’s care and the police safely avoided after his close call with his no-good grandfather. The season is still successfully tapping into the driving force that comes from Pullman’s novel, that feeling like Lyra has awakened her full potential and is now driving all of the people in her orbit toward something bigger than she realizes. It’s just unfortunate that it continues to come with choices—some small, some larger—that build skepticism of whether the show will be able to awaken its full potential in the rest of this season and beyond.
Stray observations
- This is my first time encountering Simone Kirby, who plays Mary Malone, but I quite liked her: an inauspicious character, but that’s sort of the point. We’re now entering the point where there’s no longer a movie cast to compare to, so I am admittedly curious what direction the feature film franchise would have gone given the clear desire to draw “big names” as compared to the more BBC-like approach we’ve seen with the extended cast here. Open to any suggestions of circa 2007 casting options.
- Okay, so I realize that it’s horrifying when you see giant bombs dropping on something, but I have to be honest and say that I didn’t really understand what they were bombing? Were the islands meant to be sacred to the Witches in some way? Were there actually witches who were on the islands? Children? Communities? What was meant to be at stake in that moment? Couldn’t the witches just smoke monster away? Why were Serafina and Ruda elsewhere to watch at a distance? I thought they did a very poor job signifying what we were supposed to be feeling in that moment, which has been a consistent issue with the witches that nothing here resolved.
- Much as with the scene last week where Lyra told Pan to stay hidden but he emerged immediately, I feel like the writers are actively performing their newfound daemon budget: here they make a big deal about putting Pan into Lyra’s bag, but he pops up more often than you expect when they have such a convenient reason for him not to appear, and there was some nice comedy out of his disembodied voice emerging as well. Combine with seeing and hearing from MacPhail’s daemon and a brief sighting of Torvold’s, and Daemon sighting really is where the show has improved the most in the second season.
- To my point last week about Will’s battery life, we do get an insert of him getting the 10% battery alert and he does buy a portable battery pack the second he gets back to his Oxford, and so while I remain skeptical his battery lasted that long I’m going to say the show has done enough legwork to satisfy my pedantry this time. I know, I’m shocked too.
- “They don’t have cars that fast in my Oxford”—but they do have Zeppelins, Lyra, tell Will about the Zeppelins.
- I know the show wants there to be this battle between Serafina and Ruda about the path forward for the Witches, but I’d wager it would be more interesting if the Cardinal had died from natural causes and MacPhail and Coulter simply blamed it on the Witches. Technically, the show is already doing half of that story given they could have saved his life and chose not to, so why not just let it all be a lie?
- I realize that it’s necessary for Boreal to see the alethiometer in his interaction with Lyra, but her walking while alethiometering is just dangerous. There needs to be a PSA about that.
- Seeing Lyra walking through the real Pitt Rivers Museum definitely made the early scenes in Cittàgazze feel more like a set, I think, but that still works to the story’s benefit to keep working toward blurring the lines between worlds slowly but surely.
- I mentioned comedy earlier, but Lyra insisting on a cape and a hat for her trip to Will’s Oxford did make me chuckle, and I’m truly outraged that HBO doesn’t have a screenshot of Lyra in that enormous hat available for me to embed in this review.
Through The Amber Spyglass (Slightly More Spoilery Discussion of Future Books)
Okay, so it seems like the critical mass in the comments is either book readers or people who are at least moderately interested in hearing more about the books, so I’m going to keep this here (while admitting that this review was pretty heavily shaped by the books, which is not something I want to repeat every week but was the path that emerged here).
In last week’s comments, one point we were discussing is how Lyra is grieving Roger’s death, which returns here when she insists that the reason she needs to find out about dust is so that Roger’s death was meaningful. There’s no question that, compared to the book, Lyra’s grief is a more significant part of her character, whether in an effort to soften her edges or simply to acknowledge that audiences at home will feel his death more acutely when we saw him die, and also followed his side of the story in a way the books didn’t. I think what we’re responding to, though, is the fact that in the books it really feels like Lyra “outgrows” who she was in the first book in the second, diving forward with a sense of clarity that is a huge part of the character. And I do think that this is something the show has never entirely captured, and which I’m curious to see them maybe grow into as the season goes on. But I did want to re-up this conversation here, in terms of seeing how others felt about whether Lyra’s grief at all complicates her journey at this point in the narrative.
41 Comments
Much as with the scene last week where Lyra told Pan to stay hidden but he emerged immediately, I feel like the writers are actively performing their newfound daemon budget:
“The future of these shared universes depends on people like Lyra who are able to open themselves up to the unknown”Maybe it’s because I first read the series when I was 11-12 and didn’t know much about Christianity at the time, but I have no fucking idea how I missed the connections to organized religion.Anyway, thanks for posting these – to be honest, I still haven’t made up my mind to get HBO Max.
I didn’t really understand what they were bombing?I think that they were bombing the cloud-pine trees that give witches their power of flight? If so, they were pretty vague about it.
They say it in slightly less vague terms in the third episode (which aired yesterday in Europe). People were killed by the bombs.
I thought it was more of a symbolic bombing of their ancestral homeland, to send a message to the witches, but mostly to show that MacPhail was a man of action. Basically like an unpopular president starting a war to drum up support.
It has been many years since I last read the books, but my impression of the episode was that they bombed what was known as The Lakes and is where witches raise their children until their daemons settle.The spokesman for the witches made reference to this during his effective trial, and it was immediately following the end of that day’s trials that we saw Mrs Coulter plant the idea. It’s the fact that they decided to target the witches weakest location being the area that they raise their kids (cause the witches could fly but not their kids).And while this show has been very dark (the original story even more so), they likely drew the line at graphically bombing children.
So, this episode ‘stuck in the craw’ (how Huckleberry Finn of you) of this writer because it refused to say all members of a bad organisation are inherently bad. Y’know, like any adult, responsible show would do. Which is quite in keeping with how childish most AV Club writing is, I suppose. I think I’ll skip the rest of these reviews (bye all.)
Re: Daemon BudgetTV show viewer only here, but I thought it might be a nice touch if, when all the priests of the Magisterium are in session en masse, that we could get at least an audio sense of insect wings fluttering – and maybe the occasional pop of a cricket or wasp or something around every, say, fifth person in the congregation. I understand the bad guys’ daemons are supposed to be well behaved and hidden withing their clothing, but some audio would give them a seedy feel that would please my inner Stephen King. Or would a detail like this not fit within what is being established here?
I got a kick out seeing Pan momentarily slip when he was walking along the back of the bench Lyra was sitting on — just the way a real animal might.
Gimmie some barking dogs. Clearly to be a guard, you have to have a dog daemon.
Or a lot of low-register barely audible growling.
I really enjoy this show’s opening credits and theme song. I know they were going for a GoT feel but, well, the credits at least have gotten there 85/90% of the way. I like when visual clues in the credits pay off in the show. It’s maybe not much of a compliment, but out of a 50 minute episode each outing, at least 3 minutes are reliably great.The main theme itself sounds like something from a pirate movie. I find myself humming it while looking up the show on the Monday night schedule.
It’s definitely an incredible theme song. Very simple but infectious memorable motif.
Maybe my sound system was off or something but it sounded to me like the intro music changed just slightly, like it sounds higher pitched than season 1. Is it just me?
No, it is slightly changed, and not just the pitch.
Didn’t watch the S1 finale…and I don’t feel a particular need to catch up now, hahaI wonder how much of it is the execution, and how much comes down to Pullman’s characters and ideas not holding up when separated from Pullman’s (excellent) prose.
I think there’s truth in what you say, but that saying characters and ideas work well in one context and fail in another is no aspersion on Pullman’s work. It’s not a problem if an author’s apparatus works in the way he used it but not when rearranged. The test of the quality of a piece is not whether you can use its parts indiscriminately and that they still work wherever.
Like, you couldn’t out the characters of Fury Road in a film with the tone of The Godfather and expect them to still come across well. The medium is the message, and all that.
The TV adaptation doesn’t aim to be exactly like the books, which is fine by me in theory – I prefer a more interpretive adaptation. It has made lots of adjustments in every area.The problem is that I don’t think those adjustments stack up against each other very well.
Like, they’ve stayed very faithful to the chronology and events of the book so you have this stuff which suited the book (because, as you say, Pullman has a particular style of telling it) but now those events are married to characters who don’t seem to match that. And because we don’t really believe in the characters a lot of the time, we can’t really believe in the ideas they’re espousing or buy into the stakes that concern them.
Honestly, I thought the movie managed a better job in that department despite all its failings. It made Northern Lights into a very fairy-tale-ish fantasy and though that’s perhaps not the best way to serve Pullman’s books, it did at least feel like a way, a consistent choice. All the characters felt like they were acting in a way that suited the narrative of the film.I think Thorne struggles with the idea of writing characters outside of the naturalistic-comedic style he’s come up on via shows like Skins and Shameless. I don’t want to spoil anything for ep.3 but there’s one scene in it which is just a real world/normal/domestic scene and it’s pretty funny how noticeably things spring to life. It makes you realise how much more at home Thorne is with characters bantering stake-less-ly in a kitchen than the demands of wider story.He can’t rise to meet how big these characters are, how big they need to be for this story. With a protagonist like Lyra it leaves her looking a little dull, her particularity muffled and vague. With huge characters like Iorek and Serafina, they just come across as conspicuous cardboard cut-outs: they can’t use any of the naturalism stuff Thorne’s good at and he doesn’t know how to write anything else. It’s like Shonda Rhymes trying to write Lord of The Rings or something: just a total mismatch of character writing to how these characters need to be written to work in this narrative.(I would say I think there’s been a big improvement this series, quite possibly due to Thorne now working with a co-writer for each episode).
i always imagined rachel weisz playing mary malone back in the day, but simone kirby is even better, i think it’s brilliant casting.and i agree that i wish they’d make the magisterium-as-organised-religion a bit more obvious at times, but after the furore around the movie and stage shows i can’t really blame them for not being so on-the-nose about it. besides, i think it’s still pretty clear what the message is unless you’re completely lacking discernment.overall i am really enjoying season 2, it’s getting really exciting.
The casting here makes me think Mary Malone could have been Joan Cusack
I don’t know how much more obvious it needs to be. They’re obviously a priesthood, wandering around in cassocks, and in this episode they basically go through a leadership selection process very similar to that of the Catholic church, with the ritual burning of paper slips etc.Perhaps it’s because we don’t really have a view “from the ground”. There’s not really a sense of how the Magisterium control the lives of the citizenry because we only spend time with Lyra & Will or Mrs. Coulter and Father MacPhail. Lots of people say they’re evil and oppressive but that’s never really shown (outside of obvious plot drivers like hiring the Gobblers to snatch children).
Rachel Weisz is astoundingly beautiful (her nickname at Cambridge was the Trinity Hall Heartbreaker). MM is not meant to be that – she’s written as being nice looking but not much more.
Unfortunately, this is the episode that got me to give up on this show. I always disliked the deviations from the book, but it just became too much in this one.I can’t stand the forced Game of Thrones-ification of the show, as if that’s the only way to make a “good” fantasy show. The entire Magisterium storyline is both intensely boring and angering to me because I know they’re trying so desperately to make this story “epic” when it doesn’t need it, when it’s truly an amazing story on its own already.Cutting away from Lyra finally meeting Mary Malone to the boring and nonsensical Magisterium war plans was frustrating. Why would Lanselius walk of his own accord into the Magisterium, and on top of that, why would he reveal the profound secret about how the Witches separate from their daemons to them? And now he’s going to their jail for some reason? All this to develop MacPhail (who cares) and show that the Magisterium is evil and bombs people? We already know they’re Very Bad and Evil.Scattered thoughts:Does Boreal really have nothing better to do than sit in his car all day? Is it because he’s worried about getting his wheel clamped again? His weird and creepy scene with Lyra in the museum once again made me hate that they made him a character in season 1. It takes away any mystery or tension about who he is. In the books he’s supposed to come across as charming, but here he is just awkward and stilted.I was also confused about the bombs…as if the Witches live in one place when they live all across the entire North.I did love the Cave scenes though, I think those were very well adapted, and I think the actress is a great choice for Mary.It’s weird how they are writing Lyra to keep bringing up “original sin” every five minutes. If I recall she doesn’t know much about that and certainly not enough to say it constantly.Will’s made up grandparents…what.I’ll still read the recaps here to see what everyone else thinks, and on Tumblr I get to watch the show through the gifs people make.
I am both anticipating and dreading how they will present and visualize the material and characters from the third book. There is just some wild stuff I am worried they will lighten the clearly anti religious messaging.
I’m right there with you. Amber Spyglass goes to some (literally) weird places and thus far for all the fantasy elements, I keep wondering how a show with daemons, armored bears, witches, etc. manages to look so bland.It’s not a great testament to the visual language of the show that I have no idea how they’ll render the Mulefa.
My kid walked by the TV and in 2 seconds of total viewing the series said “wow what bad CGI” the part where pan was sticking out of the backpack.
To be honest, this being an HBO and BBC joint project (like Rome) and this review only having 24 comments, I’m very much expecting there to be no third season (like Rome). I don’t think the show has really justified its existence, and it’s cutting corners like the movie did. I’ll see it through to the end, but I don’t think it’s finishing the trilogy. Which is too bad, because I think La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth are actually better than the first trilogy (aside from the creepy age sexual thing going on)
I don’t know – I think they have to complete it. The BBC side of it isn’t so ratings dependent (i.e. BBC will fund shows that are core to its stated purpose, particularly ones with younger viewerships, not just ones with high ratings.) In any event, the BBC ratings are pretty good for a show like this.I quite like how simple the visuals are. The world is meant to be like our world, but slightly different. Having something overgrand would miss that.I agree that this changes completely with the Mulefa, and I do hope the anti-religious stuff stays. There are barely any practising Christians left in the UK, so why temper the source material to pander to them.
I’d LIKE to see them finish it, but I’m not so sure. Not only do they have to do the mulefa, they have to do frickin’ angels and the chariot of god, and the third book is a lot more action heavy, more zeppelins, flying witches, fighting bears, etc. They haven’t really shown that desire to do Game of Thrones level battles and special effects, and while the BBC may not care about viewership, HBO is doing a lot of bankrolling, and now that HBO is owned by ATT, they care a lot more about viewership than they did when HBO was self-run.
I’m hoping that Mrs. Coulter leaving the Magisterium means we can have less of that storyline—I know they still think Father MacPhail is a main character in the show, but I’ve read the books multiple times and been watching the show and still forget that’s what bald priest’s name is. I’m not angry about the Magisterium storylines, just bored. Although I do agree about the bombing: They like to show the witches’ islands in establishing shots but they’ve never quite established what’s actually there other than a bunch of empty woods. Boo hoo?HOWEVER, all the above might just be forgiven for Lyra and Mary this episode. It was done so well—their instant chemistry, Mary’s warmth, etc. It was exactly what I wanted it to be.Will’s plotline was rather dumb, but at least he’s back with Lyra by the end.
I think by “this” Magisterium, he was referring to the members — the make up of THE Magisterium?
Yeah, it’s like a “these United States” moment. I really think McNutt is making a mountain out of a linguistic molehill here.
Having never read the books, and being desperate for shows to watch, I find this series to be… fine. I don’t really understand Boreal though. He obviously knows about the different worlds and seems to spend most of his time in “our” world, but the entirety of the Magisterium doesn’t know about it? His story hasn’t really moved forward in 1+ seasons. I already know more about the witches that just showed up this season than I do about Boreal.
He was introduced far far later in the books. Second half of the second book, I believe.
Mary Malone = Rachel Weisz, of course.
(Though Weisz would also have made an excellent Coulter.)
I’m sure her husband (the superior Asriel) would have talked her out of it.
Ack. I really want to love it. I’m enjoying watching it all be brought to life visually and I think the casting is great. I can’t find a way to say this without sounding like a snooty prick but here goes – how come we can’t find people to adapt these books who actually get it?
The writing is just not great. I appreciate that it’s been given the sort of ‘Doctor Who’ slot on the BBC, so I’ve just got to deal with the fact that they’re trying to write (down) for kids in a way that I find unneccesary. But I’m perpetually cringing a little bit at how Jack Thorne seems to want to whack us over the head with Themes, but totally neglects certain plot points and nuances that would make it unneccesary to whack us over the head in the first place. It’s particularly bad with the witches who charge around making prophetic statements and exchanging intense looks about a girl they barely spent any time with in S1. Serafina Pekkala’s meant to be like Lyra’s cool but serious aunt, but they’ve no basis for a relationship based on what we’ve seen on screen.
That being said, it is getting better. The next episode ‘Theft’ just aired in the UK on Sunday night and I think I liked it best so far. I’m hoping that soon they’ll stop trying to write Will and Lyra as ‘likeable’ and just ride on their obvious talent and chemistry – they’re already great! Stop trying so hard.
I’m totally with you. I have no particular feelings of antipathy towards this series. I enjoy critiquing something and this gives me plenty to analyse on the ‘why is is bad?’ front! I’ve had an adaptation of HDM I love, the play, so it’s all gravy for me.
But at the same time I do feel this slightly cross sense of, as you say, “how come we can’t find people to adapt these books who actually get it?”Like I don’t like to be churlish about creative work. Writing and making stuff is just so hard, and fandoms constantly act entitle and like they know better than TV writers etc. I know it’s a tough gig adapting something like this. Some stuff is great. Joel Collins’ production design is looking so good and working so hard. The directing also seems good so far this series.
… But I raise my eyebrows at the hubris involved in these particular producers and writer thinking they’re remotely equipped to be the ones to take on this story. God loves a trier, but I don’t get a real sense of people who understand the size of the task and earnestly struggling to do the story justice. They seem like they feel like they’ve basically nailed it in their complacent and unimaginative approach.
I’ve been to a couple of Q&A events involving them and whether through those or the text of the show I have barely ever got a sense they have a particular angle to bring to bear.(Mild expectations spoilers for ep. 3 below for any Americans reading…)
(Talking of bears… I even managed to joylessly find fault with a certain bear’s appearance in ep. 3. I won’t spoil here but I went into it here https://www.kathrynrosamiller.com/post/hdm-reviews-s02e03-theft. It felt like yet another sign there’s really not a lot going on underneath this series’ bonnet.)I don’t know if it’s fair but I sense a bit of genre snobbery from Tranter and co: like “how hard can it be, it’s a children’s fantasy, and we’ve worked on Proper Shows like historical dramas and classy soaps.”Despite how the previous sounds I really am enjoying watching, and in this series some of that enjoyment is even because it’s working quite well as a show now! I agree that ep. 3 is a bit of a high water mark for the series. I gave it my top score so far, and it’s not that anything super major happened, but everything just worked well. Hurrah!
I gave Jane Tranter a lot of shit for not getting it in season 1. Season 2 has shaped up a lot better so far, but it’s obvious that a lot of people in the business take up projects for professional reasons first, creative understanding second.
I always imagined Rachel Weisz as Mary Malone when I first read the book. Regardless, I really enjoyed this Mary Malone (her energy first and foremost)…
Emily Mortimer (The Newsroom, Lars and the Real Girl) as Mary Malone?
I’ve watched up until the latest episode and, well, angels! Or, rather, one. One thing I’ll say: the BBC isn’t like American broadcasters, perpetually scared of pissing off the far-right “Christian” nutfucks who infect the land of the fat. Then you have the fact that the books are by a British author, who has created a world with a very-British mindset: religion is lovely and all that, but it’s really just a big load of wank and hocus-pocus with stories being told from a big book of myths to scare children and keep gullible adults in line. And the BBC isn’t scared of terrifying children/internet bloggers – hello-to-fuck, Doctor Who? – and has a grand tradition of creating at least one show every ten years or so that scares the little kiddies so much that they have nightmares (mine? Dark Season. Kate Winslet and computer brainwashing. Scared me senseless of my Commodore 64). If you want something to blame for the lack of overt mockery of religion in the show so far, blame HBO (but there are subtle, even brilliant visual clues. For one, look at where the Magisterium building is, then look up what’s supposed to be there and have a chortle if you know anything about the British monarchy).The real mockery is starting to make an appearance now, especially in the latest episode. This was the episode that doesn’t just gently stick a toe into a deep river – it plunges right in, ignoring the feeling of the rocks underfoot. The very concept of what Dust is and what it represents and what power it can exert – and why it terrifies the Magisterium – is something that needs to be unfolded and explored over a couple of episodes, not in a data-dump episode. Thankfully it seems that the show is being deliberately slow in that matter and it’s better for it. As for the characters, thankfully Lyra is less of a brat than she was in that fucking movie. I’m still going to come out and say it – Mrs Coulter might be the antichrist, but she’s a fucking fabulously dressed antichrist at that. Those outfits are fucking choice. And Ruth Wilson possesses more menace in one eyebrow lift than Nicole Kidman could ever hope to achieve.