His Dark Materials – The Lost Boy Review (A Book Fan’s Perspective)

“The Lost Boy” was the episode of His Dark Materials I was most looking forward to because I knew it would cover one of my favourite moments in the novels.

Following on from their rampage at Trollesund the Gyptians travel northwards to Bolvangar. When Lyra reads the alethiometer she finds out that the Gyptians will be outmanned and outgunned. She also discovers that there is a ‘ghost’ in a fishing village and sets out to investigate, even if it goes against the wishes of the Gyptian leadership.

In our world, the Parry family is monitored by Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) as a part of his investigation into John Parry.

At this moment of the story Lyra discovered what’s been happening at Bolvagar because the titular Lost Boy was a child who had escaped from the facility. The boy had been experimented one and lost his dæmon, the most unimaginably evil thing to happen in this world. In the novel the boy was so traumatised by what happened that he holds a fish in desperation and the villagers were afraid of the boy. It was a moment that showed how dark the story could go and how high the stakes are.

The 2007 film version ruined this pivotal event. It came at the end the film, most of the horror was taken away, and the boy’s mother reassures him by saying they will find his dæmon. This scene was the one that annoyed me the most about the film adaptation.

The TV show does make some alternations from the novel. Both the TV show and the film change the boy from being a random child to Billy Costa (Tyler Howitt) and the events in the village were different. Changing the boy to Billy Costa was understandable because it added more of a personal connection to the Gyptians and gives them an added desire for revenge. When Lyra goes into the hut there was a sense of eeriness and dread. Lyra was terrified but she had to fight through this to discover what the ‘ghost’ was.

I would have like to have seen Billy treating dead fish as a dæmon and the villagers being terrified because they see the dæmonless child as an abomination – but this is me being a book purist. It would have been cool to see Lyra telling off the villagers and showing her compassionate side. The episode keeps in tack the character’s importance and the tragedy of his death.

“The Lost Boy” has a lot of character moments. I criticised “Armour” because Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) was a much more light-hearted character then he was in the books. Miranda becomes more like the Lee in trilogy in this episode. The change came when Lyra arrived with Billy Costa. Lee acts more fatherly and protective towards Lyra: she had seen some dark things that night, she didn’t need to see any more. Lee offers some of his wisdom to Lyra. Lyra also got to bond with Iorek when they travelled to the fishing village – he reveals why he was exiled from Svalbard and Lyra foreshadows what she can achieve against the bears.

“The Lost Boy” sees the first appearance of Serafina Pekkala (Ruta Gedmintas) in the series. She meets Farder Coman (James Cosmo) for the first time since their son’s death. They engage in a debate about what actions they need to take and Serafina explains what’s happening in the wider world. Cosmo is able to make this scene convince as the gravity of the situation becomes apparent.

Like with the previous episodes there were expansions upon the material. This time the series shows Will Parry (Amir Wilson). This part of the episode shows Will’s day-to-day struggles, something that was only briefly touched on in the novels. He is a kid having to look after his mentally ill mother, made fun of at school because of it, and puts up a lot of walls to protect them. This part of the story was more socially realistic because they are ordinary people who are going to be dragged into a huge event.

The show expands on the role of Will’s mother (Nina Sosanya) who only appears briefly in the novel. She suffers from paranoia and her son has to care for her since she struggles to function. Her worries were dismissed because of this. Yet, she’s right to worry. Mrs. Parry does an action where she taps on the wall which hides at a theory Will has in The Subtle Knife.

“The Lost Boy” was leagues ahead of all the other episodes in the series so far. It matches the tone and message of novels and showcases His Dark Materials‘ full potential. My criticisms of this episode is just nitpicking.