His Dark Materials: The Intention Craft

Three episodes in and we’re nearly halfway through the book! Obviously this show plans on being extremely back-heavy, as this particular episode neatly covers only three chapters: one in which Will and Lyra plan their next move, one in which Iorek helps to reforge the subtle knife, and one in which Mrs Coulter is captured by Lord Asriel and promptly escapes onboard an intention craft.

Mary still hasn’t reached the mulefa yet (she’s already spent two chapters with them in the book) but it looks like we’re finally getting some forward momentum on that front, along with some extra bits and pieces courtesy of Jack Thorne.

Let’s deal with Asriel and Mrs Coulter first. Kudos to James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson for bringing the weight of a toxic relationship and the shared love of a child to all their interactions – in everything that’s said and done between them, they come across as a couple in the throes of an acrimonious divorce. Which granted, is not exactly the vibe in the book (book!Asriel would never shout: “why can’t you just be what I want you to be?” in Marisa’s face because he does not care about her in that specific way) but this is one of the screenwriting changes that I can understand. It’s a visual medium, and you want a chance to let your very-good actors emote.

She wakes up tied to a chair and the two of them reminiscence about the last time they were together: on the mountaintop, in the frozen north, after Asriel urged Marisa to come with him into a new world and she refused. Here it’s hinted that she went back for Lyra’s sake (ironic since Lyra ended up following her father) and the argument on whether or not she constitutes the identity of “Eve” is argued over once again.

But this time there ends up being an audience to their spat: Lord Roke, General Ogunwe and Queen Ruta, which gives us this nice composition:

Ruta wants Mrs Coulter executed immediately, and you can’t really blame her given things such as witch-burning and the Inquisition. On that note, I did love the fact that the chickens come home to roost for both Marisa and Asriel in this episode, as over in Lyra’s plot, she’s trying to convince Will not to take the subtle knife to her father on the basis of what he did to Roger. It’s a nice parallel and a reminder that although you can be powerful and ruthless in the short term, blasting your way through obstacles (especially if they’re innocent people) will eventually exact a price.

Mrs Coulter immediately reads the room, not sensing much in the way of sympathy or credulity, and so decides to play the “devoted mother forced into reluctantly admitting love for her daughter among other harsh truths” card. Hiding her deception behind actual truth, she says the only reason she would help them is because they are the ones that can in turn, protect her daughter.

But as with so much dialogue in this show, a lot of things are said, but never anything of plot-driving importance. The purpose of this scene is meant to be Mrs Coulter admitting her love for her daughter as proof of her changed loyalties, and offering valuable intel on the Magisterium in return for Lyra’s protection. That is all that the likes of Asriel, Ogunwe and Ruta want out of this interaction (especially since their Gallivespian spies are now with the children and no longer watching Father MacPhail’s inner circle) and it doesn’t even come up!

Instead, it plays out as though Roke, Ogunewe and Ruta actually feel sorry for her, and so give her the run of the camp with no binds, no guards, no supervision whatsoever. The scene closes with Asriel saying: “I think we’ve heard enough,” even though the interactions have just gone around in circles and no one has heard ANYTHING that’s relevant to the plot. It's just so frustrating, the wishy-washiness of this show, and how it never seems to get to the crux of the story.

In more abject silliness, Asriel immediately gives Mrs Coulter the name of the spy that’s traveling with the children, and asks for information about Will. She denies knowledge of the knife, even though she a. knows what a Gallivespian is, b. has probably deduced that it was one of Roke’s people that knocked her unconscious, and c. has absolutely no reason to lie about the knife, especially since all it’s going to take is a conversation between Asriel and Salmakia to prove that she’s lying. Which is what happens.

Later, Ruta sees her pursuing the plans to the intention crafts at her leisure, which isn’t suspicious at all, and just smiles to herself when Mrs Coulter asks to see the lab where they’re held, which is apparently even less suspicious. I mean, Ruta even says she shouldn’t be looking at them “quite so forensically” and then just leaves her to it!

But eventually we get to a scene that’s quite good. In front of the intention craft (wait, how did Mrs Coulter find it?) they have an argument that reveals something about their characters and motivations. Marisa accuses Asriel of wanting to simply take the place of the Authority, something he vehemently denies. He informs her that he’s calling off the search for Lyra, as he refuses to believe that she’s Eve, and his daughter is therefore of no importance without her association with the reality-cutting knife.

It then segues in Asriel breaking the news to Mrs Coulter: that he’s trying to tear down the Magisterium and the Kingdom of Heaven because the entity in charge isn’t the Creator, except of institutions and oppression. As he tells her: “everything hideous thing you’ve done in his name... and it was all a lie.”

Mrs Coulter reacts to this tearfully, as though he’s just broken her faith. I’m not entirely sure about this. In the books, she’s motivated solely by greed and cruelty – the idea that she was a true believer in the dogmas and doctrines that surrounded her is questionable. She did it all for power, not genuine religious conviction. But it’s still a decent scene because the actors are charged-up, and there’s a central thoroughfare in their dialogue as it pertains to each one’s ambitions, their beliefs, and their feelings about Lyra.

Asriel then shows Marisa the entrapped angel, and she does seem to respond with sincere religious awe. While this is happening, Ogunwe and Ruta are having a discussion of their own outside, with the latter voicing her scepticism that Xaphania’s followers will truly turn against one of their own, especially if they discover that Asriel is torturing the imprisoned angel. That’s a bit of a leap and not something that was ever brought up in the books – are we to assume that Thorne is setting up his own subplot?

The answer to Ruta’s pondering (“it depends on what Asriel decides to do with [the angel]”) is that Asriel is going ahead with its execution. Um, why? When it has already provided extremely important intel, and if nothing else, could be used as a hostage? He even says: “I don’t do this willingly, but you forced my hand.” Forced his hand? When? How? In what context? What is going on?? If he wants him to deliver a message to Metatron, then why is he blowing him up?

At least we get some great reaction shots from Mrs Coulter, who clearly doesn’t know how to feel about all this, and ultimately uses it as a distraction to get to the intention craft... which doesn’t seem to be guarded in anyway. Asriel is shocked, shocked I tell you, but calls off his men and allows Marisa to escape.

Just for reference, all this plays out in the book very differently, in which Asriel and Marisa are clearly playing each other (and everyone around them) from one second to the next, never sure what the other is thinking or where they’re going to end up. Ultimately, Asriel gets the upper hand, and it’s implied that he deliberately showed Marisa the intention craft to give her an escape route, telling Ogunwe: “she’ll go to the Consistorial Court, and give them the craft as an earnest of good faith, and then she’ll spy. She’ll spy on them for us... and as soon as she finds out where the girl is, she’ll go there, and we shall follow.”

As in the show, Asriel directs Lord Roke to hide upon the craft and report back to him, then he and Ogunwe “moved back into the workshops, where a later, more advanced model of the intention craft was awaiting their inspection.”

Here it plays out more as though Marisa managed to catch him unawares, leading to Ogunwe angrily asking of Asriel: “What kind of game are you playing?” I’m not sure anyone knows at this point.

"It's all going according to plan... I suppose."

***

Let’s check in with Lyra and Will, whose motivations are much simpler and are therefore in a subplot that flows much more coherently, and which actually improves on the book by having them openly discuss their options and have a conversation/squabble about what they actually want to achieve.

Because of her nightmares and because she feels guilty about his death, Lyra wants to travel to the realms of the dead in order to find Roger and make things right between them. For a lot of reasons, this is an absurd idea and yet I’ve no problems with it because it’s precisely the sort of thing a prepubescent child would come up with. The fate of all the worlds hang in the balance, and she just wants to say sorry to her friend. That totally checks out

On the other hand, Will wants to deliver the subtle knife to Lord Asriel, as his father bid him to do. As he tells Lyra: “Since he died, I’ve done none of the things he asked me to do.” He feels he owes it to his father to obey his instructions, which puts him at odds with Lyra, who does not trust Lord Asriel at all. In a nice touch, she points out that Asriel is responsible for Roger’s murder, citing it as evidence that Will cannot trust him no matter what his own father told him.

Here, Lyra gets to frame the choice as a moral one: not only does Roger need their help, but they cannot assist a murderer. But Will has his own ethical standpoint: he made a promise to his father, and is aware that whatever Lord Asriel is doing, it will effect every sentient being within all the worlds that exist. He can’t just abandon that on a half-crazed idea from Lyra!

I really like that there’s an extended argument between them over what they should do, as this tension is completely missing in the books. Will is initially more concerned with mending the knife, and once that’s done, he capitulates to Lyra’s idea without argument – his logic being that if they’re going to the realms of the dead to find Roger, they can search for his father as well. (And even though Lyra is motivated by Roger’s death, the book isn’t particularly interested in the fact that Asriel was the one who killed him).

Here, there’s emotion and logic and morality running throughout their entire debate, and neither one is truly wrong or right. But since Will is the knife-bearer, he’s ultimately the one to make the decision. Does he keep his promise or assist his friend? His father or Lyra? He goes with Lyra. I mean, he already delayed taking the knife to Asriel in order to save her from Mrs Coulter. It’s not too surprising that he’d do it again, though I appreciate that there was a degree of conflict about it.

***

There’s not much to say about Iorek’s reforging of the knife. In the book it’s an extended sequence in which everyone participates in the building of the fire, the preparing of the tools, the effort it takes to hammer the tiny pieces back together – but at some point the showrunners clearly realized that a giant polar bear with an opposable thumb delicately putting together shards of a knife was beyond their ability to convincingly portray.

"Okay, I'll do it. But off-screen."

It’s a pity in a way, as I can always respect swinging for the fences, but the show recalibrates the whole sequence into what’s almost a psychic ordeal, in which Iorek guides Will through the steps of focusing his mind and in doing so, fixing the knife.

Finally, Balthamos inexplicably returns to say hi to the kids and then promptly bail again. This is another baffling change from the book, in which he disappeared in a grief-stricken panic. Here, he peaced out before all the drama at the cottage went down, but has now apparently decided to reappear, apologize and just leave again? Did he leave so little an impression that Thorpe felt the audience needed one last reminder of his existence? Because he’ll be important later, and they’ve pretty much dropped the ball on the power of that moment.

Also, before he leaves, he tells the children: “I shan’t be far away.” Um, yeah you will. They’re about to travel into Death Itself.

***

And Mary is still on her neverending hike. We are going to see a mulefa eventually, right?

I don’t want to be too negative, and I am going to see this through, but I’m really struggling here. Though in saying that, I’ve been struggling from the start of this entire series. There’s just an indefinable spark that’s missing from this project – plenty of isolated scenes and snatches of good ideas, but nothing that really pops or comes together in that “eureka!” kind of way.

Ah well, we’re nearly halfway through now, and since the next few chapters aren’t my favourites, there’s a chance that the show can elevate the material into something I can be more engaged by. I live in hope.

Miscellaneous Observations:

The children tell each other: “you seem different.” And when the knife is reforged, Will tells Lyra that that feels different too. In other words, puberty is imminent. Nicely done.

Mrs Coulter was fiddling with a medallion around her neck in the last episode. Here, Asriel recognizes it and asks: “you still wear it?” So, a love token that was exchanged between the two of them? Again, I have to reiterate that this is not book material, in which Asriel and Mrs Coulter are the least sentimental people you’ve ever met in your life, but that seems to be the basis of the medallion.

In another minor subplot, Gomez returns to the Magisterium on the warpath and tells Father MacPhail that Lyra will have to be dispatched by more insidious means. In response to this, MacPhail enlists the help of Doctor Cooper from the Oblation Board and sets the stage for the creation of the... well, I won’t give it away just yet.

The actress playing Doctor Cooper looks familiar, so I’ll assume that we saw her in season one, way back at Bolvanger. The character is also from the books, though not was introduced properly until The Amber Spyglass, and was a man. In any case, the character’s reappearance is a nice use of continuity and of setup for the Magisterium’s next big move.

I also appreciated Asriel commenting on the fact that the subtle knife and the blade used for incision are made of the same components. It’s Lyra who notices this in The Subtle Knife and quails a little at its implications, though it’s more of a curious bit of world-building than anything substantial (like the link between amber/anbaric light/electricity/electrum). Still, it was nice to hear it noted.  

The wordless exchange between Mrs Coulter her daemon before they steal the intention craft was another clever moment, and rereading the chapters along with watching the show revealed that the monkey does speak, though only ever to Mrs Coulter, in private. My memories had falsely recalled that it never said a word at any point.

Also, General Ogunwe was originally a character from Asriel’s world, as he has a cheetah for a daemon. Methinks this is another cost-saving measure.

I liked that they leaned back into the fact that Asriel is a deeply, deeply ambiguous character... or at least it seems that way. On reflection, there’s a good chance that him roughly grabbing a woman by the face/neck and saying: “why can’t you be what I want you to be?” while tears sparkle in James McAvoy’s eyes is meant to be romantic. You can never really tell.

Still, I had to enjoy the irony when he accusingly tells Marisa that he never put Lyra in danger, conveniently forgetting about the time in which he was left horror-stricken at the possibility that he would have to sacrifice Lyra to open the door between worlds. It was touch and go there for a second.

I’ve seen some commentators complain that the reforging of the knife was barely an inconvenience, which is a fair call. In a longer story, perhaps we could have watched the kids struggle to survive without it for a while, but the breaking of the subtle knife was never about its loss – it’s about setting up a plot-point that’s still to come.