His Dark Materials: The Spies

This was very much a transition episode, moving Lyra from Mrs Coulter's sphere of influence to the safety of the gyptians (with the promise of the north on the horizon), but it also made me realize something about my reading experience with Philip Pullman's trilogy, and why I'm not totally blown away by this adaptation.

So much of the joy of reading Northern Lights is in the way Pullman tells the story, his choice of prose and careful parsing of information, and those are things that any television adaptation cannot hope to capture. More than that, my enjoyment of the books is an intellectual joy rather than an emotional one.

I don't have a vested interest in Lyra or any of her relationships, rather it was always the slow uncovering of the theological mysteries Pullman had woven and the rich settings in which it all took place that engrossed me. I'm re-reading the books for the first time in years, and I just want to pore over all the strange little details and clever turns of phrase.

It was in this episode, when I saw the gyptian canal boats which were just your standard canal boats that I realized this just isn't going to capture that indefinable aesthetic Pullman crafts.

And that's okay. The books are unique in ways that are so difficult to describe (not helped by the fact they were incredibly formative texts for me) that I knew going in that I should just enjoy the ride.

At the end of the last episode Lyra was captured; five minutes in she's promptly rescued by the gyptians. Things are a little tweaked, as in the books these guys were just opportunistic slave-traders, whereas there they really are Gobblers, and they manage to take one captive (I guess this is an easy way of learning where they should go once they hit Trollesund, though it seems unnecessary since this is the episode where Lyra learns to read the alethiometer).

Still she's among friends now: James Cosmo (who I love dearly even though Farder Coram should be much older and much more frail), Lucian Msamati as John Faa, who hasn't made much of an impression yet, and Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa, who provides a stark comparison to Mrs Coulter as far as mother figures go.

(In fact, do you think it's a coincidence that their names are so similar? According to the wikipedia, Ma's first name is actually Maggie, which means both have M.C. as their initials).

***

Meanwhile, we're privy to a bunch of original scenes that... don't really add much.

Mrs Coulter takes out her anger on Jordan College and threatens the Master with charges of heresy. He responds by bringing up scholastic sanctuary, and honestly - I feel the screenwriter must be in love with this concept as it has come up so many times despite only being mentioned once in La Belle Sauvage and nowhere in the original trilogy.

Mrs Coulter then brings out the alethiometer texts to use as leverage against him which is cool, but then we learn that she had no idea Lyra was in possession of the alethiometer. Seriously? You're telling me she never searched Lyra's belongings? What was the monkey doing all the times he separated from her then?

(The Master also mentions that it was Lord Asriel who brought the alethiometer to Jordan College. Technically it was Malcolm, though I suppose it makes no different considering it was always meant to belong to Lyra).

***

We also get some more scenes with Lord Boreal at the Magisterium (I'm pretty sure he wasn't affiliated with the church in the books, though admittedly his associate in our world does realize that he's working alone) and I suppose it does (or will) link him with the church agents that eventually go after Will.

Still, filling in these gaps only opens up more questions - like how did he meet this guy in our world and how did he ingratiate himself so well? Some things are best left mysterious, and another of the trilogy's strengths is in depicting just how in-over-their-heads the children are in a world of adults.

Surprisingly, we get the big reveal as to who Grumman really is - though I suppose it's not really a reveal considering we haven't even met Will yet. It provides a reasonably nice mirror to Lyra finding out that Mrs Coulter is her mother, though I'm not sure why Boreal's associate brings up the fact Grumman/John Parry has a daemon despite coming from our world.

Sure, this comes up later in The Amber Spyglass, but is it really that relevant now?

***

Finally, we get an alternative version of the gyptians' off-page raid on the Ministry of Theology, which here becomes Mrs Coulter's apartment. It ends the same way and serves the same purpose - with Lyra figuring out the alethiometer and reading it correctly for the first time.

And now, off to the north! Lee Scoresby awaits!

Miscellaneous Observations:

At one point in this episode Ma Costa tells Lyra she's "safe as houses". Given that they live on canal boats, is that a likely phrase for a gyptian to make?

It was mildly amusing that Lyra tells Farder Coram that she doesn't ever want her daemon to stop changing shape. Girl, he barely changes as is!

Also, I noticed that Farder Coram spoke directly to Pan, which is something that doesn't happen very often in this world (someone talking to someone else's daemon). Perhaps it was meant to demonstrate that he was trustworthy.

We get another scene of Mrs Coulter's fascination with heights, this time balancing on her balcony edge while her monkey watches from behind the window. Interesting stuff.

I'm not sure I like the clicking of gears within the alethiometer, which makes it look more like a scientific device than something more nebulous and spiritual. What are the gears doing anyway? It's the needle that answers the questions posed to it.

Mrs Coulter rips pages out of a book, so you know she's evil. She also knows how to apply pressure points to an assailant, which is mildly ridiculous. Still, at least we get to see a daemon die on-screen. It's just as eerie and poignant as it is in the books.

***

Where the books were so original, this adaptation is pretty paint-by-numbers, from the constant discussions of Lyra's specialness to Lyra delivering an inspiring (but not really) speech to the gyptians at the Roping (there are so many more interesting beats in the book, which essentially plays out like the Council of Elrond, with several ethical and practical questions raised and answered).

Ah well. I know what to expect going forward, and I'm going to concentrate on just enjoying things as they are.