His Dark Materials – Armour Review (A Book Fan’s Perspective)

After three episodes of build-up, His Dark Materials finally moves the story onto the North and introduces two popular characters from the novels.

The Gyptians have arrived in the port town of Trollesund and immediately set out to find allies to aid them on their quest. Farder Corman (James Cosmo) and Lyra (Dafne Keen) go to The Witch’s Counsel (Omid Djalili) so they can communicate a message to Serafina Pekkala. The Counsel tells the pair that the town has an exile bear, Iorek Byrnison (Joe Tandberg) who has been enslaved by the town. A Texan aëronaut, Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) lands in the town to find Iorek.

Like the previous episodes in the series “Armour” had to stretch out the events because events happen a lot quicker in the novel. In the book Lyra didn’t have to do much to convince Iorek to join the Gyptians. All she needed to do was read the alethiometer to find out where his armour was and he did the rest. In the TV show Iorek was more guilt-ridden because he believes he had done a dishonourable act and deserved to be punished. This was the showrunners’ extend this storyline to make it fit a 55-minute episode. When Lee Scoresby and Iorek meet there was a sense of genuine sadness.

Lee Scoresby has been altered a lot from the novel. In the novel Lee Scoresby was stuck in Trollesund after his balloon crashed and needed to fix it before he could leave. “Armour” opens with Lee Scoresby flying to Trollesund with the intent to free Iorek. He even describes how Iorek got into this situation which was made redundant for two reasons. Firstly, Lee was describing the events to his dæmon so she should know this already. Secondly, this information was reiterating to Lyra later on and done in a much more organic way, like Iorek saying why his armour was so special.

In the novels Lee Scoresby was a seriously minded Texan who was handy with a gun and grows to see Lyra as a surrogate daughter. The TV version lightened the character, making him a more reckless figure who antagonises a bar full of men into a fight and tries to outsmart a Magisterium officer with legal jargon. He is far from the book version of the character.

The only thing the casting directors got right with casting Miranda was that he was more age-appropriate then Sam Elliott was in the film. But Elliott’s performance was closer to the book. The showrunner had a casting coup getting Miranda considering his success on Broadway, but they changed the character to suit Miranda’s acting style.

An emotional moment in the episode was when Lyra asked Farder Corman about his connection to Serafina Pekkala. Farder Corman and Serafina Pekkala were lovers when he was a young man and had a son together. But the child died and it was a powerful moment when Farder Corman breaks down in tears. It gave the show some emotional realism.

One of the big challenges for the series was bringing Iorek Byrnison to life and the CGI effects were the best the show has to offer. He was incredibly beautifully realised, having scars on his nose, discolouring of his fur, and basically looking like a real bear. When he does don his armour it was pretty much how I pictured it when I read the books.

The production designers were trying to make Trollesund look like a frontier town, which adds to a Western motif. It was a ramshackle place that was built that’s on the edge of civilisation. However, the landscape around Trollesund was clearly a bench in South Wales and not looking like Scandinavia. When the Gyptians arrive in the town in the novel it was the dead of winter yet in the show the conditions seem mild.

Another change from the novels is Serafina Pekkala’s dæmon, Kaisa (David Suchet). He was changed from a snow goose to a gyrfalcon. I have a few theories about why they made this change. The first was creative because the showrunners thought a falcon would be more majestic and fitting for a clan leader or that they thought audiences wouldn’t take a talking goose seriously. The other theory is that it’s financial because it was cheaper to render another bird of prey.

After the rather slow and drawn out start of the first three episodes “Armour” does pick up the pace and the action quota. It is just a shame that the showrunners have changed so much with Lee Scoresby’s characterisation.