‘His Dark Materials’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘The Idea Of The North’ Review: Bone-chilling Truth

If His Dark Materials’ premiere seemed a little fast-paced and overwhelming to newcomers, this week’s episode titled ‘The Idea of the North’ will really get your head reeling. It pulls no breaks and it’s just one chapter after another slamming at your face as each surprise builds on the other. The second half of the episode, in particular, doesn’t allow anybody to rest. The scene-stealer in tonight’s episode though is Ruth Wilson’s Mrs. Coulter. She’s like the Cersei Lannister of His Dark Materials. Despite her general cruelty though, this woman is definitely growing on me. She’s terrifying, to say the least. But, at the same time, she’s spectacularly fascinating.

What’s also notable with tonight’s episode is that it’s now clearly shown where the show deviates from Pullman’s storytelling in his books. Tonight, we’re already brushing up on some things revealed in the second book. This might be to create a better and clearer emphasis on the bigger revelations. And as last week’s episode revealed, there’s no time for a step by step world-building. You just have to jump in and enjoy the thrill much like Lyra (Dafne Keen). Speaking of which, here’s what this little minx was up to in this week’s His Dark Materials.

New Life With Wonderful Mrs. Coulter

Arriving in London, Lyra is simply ecstatic. One of her first adventures is lunch at the Arctic Institute with Mrs. Coulter. Unable to contain her excitement and wonder, Lyra flits about the room. But, Mrs. Coulter gets her to behave. When Lyra brings up looking for Roger (Lewin Lloyd) for the second time that day, Mrs. Coulter asks Lyra to trust her to handle it.  She entices Lyra with the prospect of wielding power and having knowledge that none of the other scholars do.

Later that night, while Mrs. Coulter bathes Lyra, the child gets a taste of Mrs. Coulter’s firm hand. Mrs. Coulter suggests that Lyra change her hair. And while Lyra tells a story that might’ve been slightly exaggerated, Mrs. Coulter grips Lyra’s hair and tells the child not to lie to her. Pantalaimon doesn’t miss it and looks on in confusion.

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Afterward, Pan tells Lyra that they shouldn’t change just for her. But, it seems that Lyra’s taken with the woman’s kindness. As Lyra says, “Don’t we deserve nice things for once?” In the bathroom, Mrs. Coulter stays long after Lyra finished her bath staring at the pool in front of her. When she catches her daemon looking, she promptly snaps out of her trance and her daemon looks away as well.

Deep into the night, Pan suddenly hears clanging in the vents. He urges Lyra to wake up. But, the child insists its just the airways and leaves it be. Meanwhile, the Gyptians led by John Faa (Lucian Msamati) and Farder Coram (James Cosmo), raid what they suspect to be a Gobbler hideout. However, they arrive too late and only find Billy’s vest. In the new hideout, Roger does his best to convince little Billy that Lyra’s coming for them.

The First Portal in His Dark Materials

At the Magisterium’s main offices, Cardinal Sturrock (Ian Peck) warns Father Macphail (Will Keen), an acquaintance of Mrs. Coulter’s, about the Gyptian raid. Though the cardinal doesn’t deliver it directly, he threatens Mrs. Coulters General Oblation Board if they do not get their affairs in order and continue to cause more trouble. Then, he leaves Father Macphail to deliver the message.

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In Jordan College, Carlo Boreal (Ariyon Bakare), an authoritative political figure working with the Magisterium, comes asking to examine the head that Lord Asriel presented that helped convince the Jordan scholars to fund his research. The said head belonged to Stanislaus Grumman, a Jordan scholar who went on an expedition to the North but, suddenly disappeared. Interestingly, Boreal reveals that there has been a rumor that Grumman crossed between worlds. Unfortunately, The Master (Clarke Peters) firmly denies his request to examine Grumman’s skull.

Later that night, Boreal returns to Jordan and heads for the crypts. With his daemon snakes’ help, he locates Grumman’s skull. But, for some reason, he immediately determines it wasn’t Grumman at all. Afterward, he heads into an abandoned orchidarium. And there, he crosses into a world very much like ours with no daemons and all through a portal hidden in plain sight. There, in the daemon-less human world, Boreal enlists the help of a spy to find Grumman.

Mrs. Coulter and Her Daemon

On the other hand, Mrs. Coulter starts Lyra on her studies but, it obviously doesn’t interest the child. However, between the scholars in Jordan and Charles, the librarian, Lyra knows enough. And because of Lord Asriel, she knows about Dust now too. When Lyra slips and shows off her knowledge about Dust, Pan notices Mrs. Coulter tighten her grip harshly on her daemon. Because of this, he subtly urges Lyra not to tell Mrs. Coulter where she learned about Dust from.

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Later that night, Lyra and Pan hear the clanging again. Lyra follows the sound and ends up in front of Mrs. Coulter’s study. When she opens it, she’s terrified to discover Mrs. Coulter’s golden monkey inside. See, in His Dark Materials, daemons can’t be too far from their humans because it’s physically too painful. But, here it was, far from Mrs. Coulter. Suddenly, she hears Mrs. Coulter calling for her. As the older lady heads down the hallway to Lyra, the child sees her daemon behind her. Lyra explains but, Mrs. Coulter brushes it off as a dream. After delivering Lyra to her room, Mrs. Coulter deals a harsh blow to her daemon who whimpers in pain.

In The Face of Mrs. Coulter’s Anger

The next day, Mrs. Coulter tells Lyra to stay in her room as she entertains her guests from the Magisterium, Father MacPhail and a companion. As Mrs. Coulter leads Father MacPhail into her study, the priest delivers the cardinal’s threat. Outside, Lyra disobeys orders and eavesdrops. Unfortunately for her, MacPhail’s companion catches her. Ending the conversation abruptly, Mrs. Coulter snaps at Lyra and sends her to her room. There, Lyra panics and tucks the aletiometer in a white handbag and securely puts it around her.

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After the priests leave, Lyra emerges and faces Mrs. Coulter’s wrath. To her credit, Mrs. Coulter tries to real it in. However, when Lyra dare disobey her once again, she sets her golden monkey on Pantalaimon. Pan tries his fiercest to fight back but, the monkey overpowers him and pins him to the ground hurting both him and Lyra. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter stands over them and threatens Lyra to act the sweet, charming, innocent, delightful child she should be whenever guests arrive lest they have a confrontation Lyra can’t win again.

When Lyra cries that Lord Asriel would never do anything like that to her, Mrs. Coulter’s anger increases twice fold. “He’s done nothing!” she screams. “He’s a failure of a man and a failure of a father.” Realizing her mistake, Mrs. Coulter loses her fire and falls to a chair. Upset at finding out who her true father is, Lyra dashes to her room and begs Mrs. Coulter to leave her alone. She brings out the alethiometer and pours out her questions but, it doesn’t budge in her hands once more. So, she kicks it away. What she doesn’t see is that when she settles a bit, the needles soon start moving. Outside her door, Mrs. Coulter sheds a tear of her own. But, she quickly wipes it away.

A Taste of the Horrors of The General Oblation Board

After their altercation, the tension runs thick between Lyra and Mrs. Coulter. While Lyra slaves over her studies, Mrs. Coulter heads out. With no way to get out, Lyra decides to check the study. But, it’s locked. Then after examining the vents, she finds one that easily opens up. She climbs the narrow tunnel and uses it to get into Mrs. Coulter’s study. There, she discovers tons of documents and letters about the General Oblation Board. More than that, she discovers the blueprints of a plan to sever a human from their daemon.

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Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter visits the Gobbler’s hideout and mingles with the kids. Obviously, each kid is just as enchanted with her as Lyra was. To calm their worries about their families, Mrs. Coulter has them all write letters to their loved ones. When she comes upon Roger, she immediately recognizes him by the letter he writes to Lyra. When she comes out of the room, however, she carelessly throws the letters into a furnace.

As Mrs. Coulter heads back home, Lyra hurries to get out of the study and back into her room. Just as the elevator doors open, Lyra plants herself on her chair and forces her breathing to calm. In a second, Mrs. Coulter checks on her. Seemingly pleased at Lyra’s obedience, the golden monkey gives Pan a little tender caress on the head. At bedtime, after pondering on what happened, Lyra and Pan decide to keep the alethiometer safe for Lord Asriel.

Lyra’s Escape

The next day, Mrs. Coulter holds her party where Lyra has been perfectly docile and obedient. From the corner, the journalist Adele Starminster (Georgina Campbell) watches her keenly. When she gets the chance, she pulls Lyra aside and asks her questions about Mrs. Coulter and the Oblation Board. Through her, Lyra finds out that the Oblation Board is the Gobblers and Mrs. Coulter is the Oblation Board. Before Adele could ask her anything else, Lyra panics and gets away. Seeing them, Boreal, who was also in attendance, and Mrs. Coulter immediately take action.

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Boreal intercepts Adele and drags her out of the party. He traps her in his car. And knowing that she knew too much, he traps her butterfly daemon in his hand. It’s a great sacrilege to touch another person’s daemon the world of His Dark Materials. Daemons can touch one another but never humans and daemons not their own. Suddenly, Boreal squeezes on the daemon in his hand and kills it and Adele instantly.

Meanwhile, Lyra finally hatches her escape. Using her bedroom window, she gets to a fire escape. When she gets on the street, she runs like crazy until nightfall. Just as she’s about to get a little bit of sleep on a cold doorstep, however, she and Pan hear a soft whistling. They then see a fox on the street, the one that was said to be with the Gobblers. And having an irresistible urge to follow it, Pan approaches. Lyra soon follows. Then, suddenly a man grabs her from the back.

His Dark Materials continue Monday, November 18th, with “The Spies” at 9/8c on HBO.