His Dark Materials – Æsahættr Review

The second season of His Dark Materials has come to its conclusion which sees the series live up to the title.

Lyra, Will, and the witches have to decide on what their next course of action. Lyra fears that the witches will suffer the same fate as Roger if she stays with them. Will has hallucinations of his father. Lee Scoresby and Stanislaus Grumman have clash landed and the Magisterium forces are after them. Mrs. Coulter searches for Lyra. In another world, Lord Asriel’s forces believe they need to get the legendary Æsahættr so they can defeat The Authority.

“Æsahættr” can be seen as The Empire Strikes Back or the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode “The Crossroads of Destiny” of the His Dark Materials series. These were the dark conclusions for the middle part of a trilogy. Our heroes were left in a seemingly hopeless situations and show the forces of evil on the ascendancy. The Empire Strikes Back and “The Crossroads of Destiny” were great stories so “Æsahættr” was in good company. I am aware Avatar: The Last Airbender was released after the His Dark Materials novels.

Lyra and Will they finally see the wider context of the conflict. Will struggles to accept his importance due to the knife choosing him. Whilst Lyra plans to run away because she fears The Witches will get killed if they stay with her. These dilemmas were invented for the series . The invention for the series worked best was for Will because he was an ordinary kid who has this destiny thrust upon him. All he really wants was to have a normal family and he has to continue on his quest to achieve this.

The change involving Lyra was detrimental to her character. Her train of thought made sense that she was still grieving over Roger felt responsible for her death, hence why she didn’t want The Witches to suffer Roger’s fate. But this implies she had no problem putting Will in danger.

The emotional key of their story came with their heart-to-heart conversations. Pan tells Will that he was the bravest boy Lyra has ever known, and Will revealed that Lyra was the first friend he has ever had. There had come a long way from their earlier bickering.

Mrs. Coulter continued to shine, although she does revert back to having raged filled moments like she did in the first season. Throughout the season Mrs. Coulter had become obsessed with her daughter and she spends most of her time looking for Lyra. In the finale Mrs. Coulter’s obsession with Lyra and her religious beliefs collide when she found out what the Witches called Lyra. It was a powerful moment when the Witch confirmed Lyra’s alternative name, especially for people who haven’t read the novels. Mrs. Coulter returns to her ruthless ways when she faced the Witches. It was deliciously dark when she commands the Spectres and even threaten her own dæmon.

The action involving Lee Scoresby was mostly loyal to the book. He literally had a last stand, and these events were close to how I pictured them when I read The Subtle Knife.

One of the most tragic moments in the novels was when Will and Stanislaus realised who they were. It was bittersweet. The series plays this differently. One of the big changes was Will’s sickness which was underplayed in the series. Another change was when they realised who each other were – in the novel was they only made the realisation at the last moment whilst in the series they realised who they were much earlier. The final change was how Stanislaus met his end because a character from the novels was not included in the series. However, it was more impactful that Stanislaus meeting his demise at the hands of a random soldier than a scorned lover.

Like in the previous episode, Mary’s story was lacking. She was simply travelling around the alien landscape. She doesn’t get to do much and the most she did was say to Bella and Paola that she needed to continue her journey. A disappointing change was the TV Series making no reference to Stanislaus having heart disease because it will become important later in the story.

“Æsahættr” was an excellent conclusion to the second season. It was similar to “Betrayal” where it had a dark tone, put our heroes at a low ebb, and provides a great hook for the next season.