His Dark Materials – The Fight to the Death Review (A Book Fan’s Perspective)

Following two fairly focused episodes, the penultimate episode of His Dark Materials sets up all the pieces ready for the big finale.

After freeing the children that were held at Bolvangar, Lyra (Dafne Keen) gets captured for a third time – this time by the bears of Svalbard. Lyra has to use all her wits to do the impossible: trick a bear. In our world, Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) makes his move and attempts to get hold of John Parry’s letters from the Parrys, forcing Will (Amir Wilson) into the multiverse quest.

When the series started I was unsure about Dafne Keen’s performance as Lyra because she came across as too polite and wooden. As the series progressed her performance has improved and in this episode, she truly acted like the character in the novels. Lyra was always smart and had the ability to lie effectively. Keen got to showcase this as Lyra because the character has to tell of the lie of her life – that she’s Iorek Brynison’s artificial dæmon. It was a blazon move that had to go perfectly or else she’s dead. Keen as Lyra tried to hide her fear as bears prowl around her. Her actions have a wider impact than she realises.

The big event in this episode was the final confliction between Iorek (Joe Tandberg) and Iofur Raknison (Peter Serafinowicz). This provides the biggest action sequence of the episode – a fight between the bears. The fight was altered for the episode because it took place within the palace instead of outside – a change that was properly made because it was cheaper to film it in a tight, internal location. The fight was less violent than it was in the book, which was understandable considering the demographic the show’s aimed at. By focusing on Lyra at the end of the fight it leads to some tension because both Lyra and the audience don’t know who won.

The TV show does make alternations to this storyline. The biggest involved Jotham Santelia (Asheq Akhtar), a professor who was held captive by the bears. In the novel Santelia was kindly if a little mad due to being chained up in a cell for months, the TV version was more antagonist towards Lyra. The other change was the bears no longer carry around dolls as makeshift dæmons, an important motivation for Iofur Raknison because he wants to be seen as an equal to humans. Even the film version realised this.

The theme of this episode was love. Lyra’s experience was with Iorek and Roger (Lewin Lloyd). She had bonded with Iorek when they travelled to bring Billy Costa back to the Gyptians and they ended up becoming their mutual protectors. Lyra finally gets to spend proper time with Roger since they had been fighting for their lives in Bolvangar. It makes their scenes more painful for book fans because we know what’s going to happen, especially after seeing Lord Asriel’s (James McAvoy) sees Lyra.

The love theme ties into Will’s story as well because his love for his mother drives him. He had been protective towards his mother (Nina Sosanya) and his actions in this episode were because of this. Will’s final scene was emotional due to him having to abandon his mother to protect her. His storyline in the TV series finally reaches where he was introduced in the novels.

“The Fight to the Death” expands on the role of the Magisterium at this point in the story. They had been humiliated and Bolvangar was in ruins. This story expansion was really in the episode to set up the final battle of the season, a battle that never happened in the books. In the episode, the Magisterium was able to mobilise an army and get to up North in a manner of hours. It’s a similar issue that Game of Thrones and Vikings where later seasons ignored geography.

The series has shown the Magisterium to be a solely British organisation and act more like a fascist government with some religious dressing. In the books, the Magisterium was an overarching, international organisation that supersedes national governments. It’s basically the Catholic Church and people are meant to be more loyal to the religion than their nations. In the novels, Magisterium used Russian soldiers in the area instead of British.

A moment that goes against the characterisation in the novels was at the beginning of the episode. This involved Mrs. Coulter’s (Ruth Wilson) interactions with a dæmonless nurse. It started well enough because Mrs. Coulter taunts the nurse and the nurse was a lost soul whose world was shattered. The tipping was when Mrs. Coulter kills the nurse because it was a moment of rage. In the novels Mrs. Coulter was cold and calculating: when she killed someone it was for her own self-interest or a part of a grander plan.

Another mischaracterisation in the episode involved Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda). He shouts “woo!” when he finds out Lyra’s alive, something the character in the trilogy would never have done. The character’s personality has flipped from being a reluctant participant to a more serious figure. He just comes off as inconsistent.

“The Fight to the Death” was at his strongest when it focused on Lyra and Will’s actions and characterisation, but it is a downgrade from the previous two episodes.