His Dark Materials – The Daemon-Cages Review (A Newbie’s Perspective)

I have a confession to make: I broke down and asked Twitter to explain just what was happening with His Dark Materials. Not everything, mind you. I get the basic machinations of the plot (Magisterium bad, Asriel flighty, polar bears awesome, daemons = the soul of the person, people can travel between universes, Lyra is special). But I was still a bit lost on a couple points, namely what is Dust (and why is it so linked to children) and why we want to save Asriel (because he’s a bit of a dick). Thankfully, some lovely Twitter peeps explained the basics of those two questions to me and now I think I finally get what the story is moving toward (although everyone agreed Asriel was a dick).

So, Dust is an allegory for original sin (according to the Twitter folks, and it makes sense within the story) and the Magisterium wants to eliminate it (the only clear reason is because they are a religious organization and don’t want anyone to have any fun in life). And the focus is apparently on kids because they don’t have stable daemons yet, so they can still live without them (albeit as emotionless husks of humanity). I’m still a bit shaky on this aspect of the story, and it seems like this is a crucial element of the main arc of the series, so that worries me a bit.

I have been trying to watch the show without delving too deep into the mythology around it – largely because the series has really failed in explaining just what is happening on a mythological level, which is frustrating – but when there’s an episode like “The Daemon-Cages,” you need to have a solid grasp of this world to really understand what’s going on. And that just wasn’t there for a non-book reader like me. I want to like this series more than I do. I want to understand all the minutia, the character motivations, the world at large, but I don’t. And I don’t think I ever will, unless I read the books.

And that’s my key takeaway from this experience: His Dark Materials isn’t written for the new viewer to understand. For some shows (say, for instance, Watchmen), you can understand the main thrust of the series without knowing the source material well. There will be Easter Eggs for those who are superfans, but the casual viewer gets what’s happening. With His Dark Materials, I find myself struggling week in and week out to keep character names straight, to understand motivations (I finally understand Mrs. Coulter’s game plan, although I still don’t find her that compelling of a character at this stage – she’s been shoe-horned into a very specific role and left there to rot), and to understand the mechanics of this fantasy realm. I shouldn’t need to ask Twitter folks to explain the key elements of the story. I shouldn’t be tempted to read up on Wikipedia to understand what’s happening. I shouldn’t have to read the novel to understand the television series.

I will say that I was sad to say goodbye to the Gyptians this week – they’ve been the most interesting group of characters on the series; well-written and full of strong performances, every moment Lyra spent with them was worth watching. I was less thrilled with the Deus Ex Serafina moment in the battle (we have been shown/told far too little about both her as a character, and witches in general, to make that moment earned), but I did enjoy her speech to Scoresby. I love it when a scoundrel character is forced to lead with his heart (and Lin-Manuel Miranda is much better in quieter moments than in loud ones). But it’s also a problem when my reaction to Lyra falling out of the airship was “Well, I guess that means another ridiculously confusing adventure . . .”

On the Earth Prime side of things, I still don’t understand why Will is important, other than that the voice over said he was. It was nice to see Andrew Scott is playing his missing father (and since it’s Andrew Scott, one assumes that character will appear at some other point in the series – and that he likely isn’t really dead), but this whole arc just doesn’t make any sense to me. What are we trying to discover? Is it just where John Perry crossed over into the other world? Is it who John Perry really is? We’ve been on this particular story for a few episodes now with little to no actual plot movement. A slow burn is fine, but ideally there is enough plot already present to make the viewer want to take that route. Here, there isn’t.

So, to wrap up this week’s review, thanks to some help from internet strangers, I understand a bit more about what is happening on the show. But I’m still so hopelessly confused on major plot points that I honestly don’t think the series is built for those who aren’t familiar with the novels. And that is a major shame. An adaptation should be able to stand on its own. His Dark Materials plain can’t.