Television Review: His Dark Materials, Series 1

Show: His Dark Materials, Series 1

Company:  Bad Wolf, BBC, HBO

Date: 2019

Plot: Based on author Philip Pullman’s beloved trilogy, His Dark Materials follows Lyra, a brave young woman from another world. Lyra’s quest to find her kidnapped friend leads her to uncover a sinister plot of a secret organization, encounter extraordinary beings and protect dangerous secrets.

It’s been years since I read the Philip Pullman books and even longer since I cringed my way through the attempt at a film. I was intrigued at how the series would be portrayed and had high expectations due to the hype I was hearing about it.

With it being so long since I read the books, I cannot comment on accuracy. From what I could remember, however, His Dark Materials felt like it stayed true to the source material. It was a good watch: tense, realistic characters and some amazing effects for something on the small screen.

The characters felt they were how I remembered them. Lyra was inquisitive but vulnerable; Lee still remains my absolute favourite with his carefree attitude and heart of gold; Azriel is mysterious and elusive and Mrs Coulter was terrifying with her changing emotions and softly spoken threats.

Dafne Keen is an impressive young actress and I liked her portrayal of Lyra. Her emotions and reactions were spot-on for a girl facing the life-changing events that Lyra does: from terror to cheekiness, from love to heartbreak. When you then consider most of the characters she is interacting with aren’t there, it adds depth to her performance.

Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter also was a strong choice. Her character goes from one extreme to another in a blink of an eye and she got the balance right: her emotional vulnerabilities are there for everyone to see but no one is brave enough to mention them due to her tendency to snap.

I did feel the relationship with the daemons was underplayed: I never felt the connection between Lyra and Pan despite it being an essential part of her character. The daemons were often unseen, unheard and overlooked as the key element that differs the worlds.

Although I enjoyed the show from the beginning to end, I thought the tension peaked too early and moments that were due to be heartbreaking didn’t deliver the way I anticipated. The show was one of the strongest aired in five years with over 7 million viewers at the start, but then dropped dramatically by the finale. Although it was staying true to the books, the final few episodes lacked tension and the fast-pace that had been present in some of the earlier episodes.

The pacing slowed down when the locations switched between worlds more frequently. While it is putting everyone in place for a second series, when there is Lyra fighting against powers-at-be in one world interspersed with Will wandering around Oxford, lost and on his own, it dramatically undermines the fight happening. It also felt like there were character-arcs that trailed off without any conclusion or sense of finality.

I still enjoyed the show – given that I watched the majority on catch-up, it had to really hold my attention given that each episode was an hour long – and am looking forward to seeing where they continue the story-arc in the second season and whether it stays as true.

Amazon

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