His Dark Materials – The Spies (A Newbie’s Perspective)

Remember how excited I was about learning characters in His Dark Materials can travel between world’s last week? Well, that’s just how disappointed I was with this week’s tired twist – that Coulter and Asriel had an affair, complete with an angry husband trying to kill Lyra and both of them. What a dumb, predictable, and, frankly, annoying plot point. For one, it’s something that has been done a million times in stories across the centuries. But, and perhaps most importantly, it takes so much agency from Mrs. Coulter as a character. I’ve spoken to my sister (who has read all the books), and she assured me that Coulter’s “punishment” by society for her transgressions is treated as something that was not the right decision (albeit the only choice available in this society and world), but the last thing I want with my fantasy tales these days is to see the story’s image of the strong, mysterious woman hampered by society for sleeping with someone outside of marriage (whilst Asriel presumably got to keep doing whatever he wanted – although, it’s clear he’s not exactly beloved, that appears to be because of his area of research rather than his affair). I also don’t love the relationship between Lyra and Asriel and Coulter now resting on the “bad/insufficient parent” trope. Unless the series manages to do something novel or interesting with this arc, it’s just not doing it for me.

But you know what did work for me this week? Dafne Keen’s work as Lyra. I’m not sure if it was getting her out of the more stuffy sets and into a looser environment, or if it was just that she’s settled into the role, but I found Lyra to be a more nuanced and focused character this time around and a lot of that credit goes to Keen. Instead of staring blankly at others or furrowing her brow randomly, there was real emotion in Keen’s performance. Letting her smile and have some fun in her scenes with the Gyptians certainly didn’t hurt. This was the first time in the series that I wanted to follow Lyra on her journey – that I was actually invested in what she was going to do. And that’s great news moving forward.

Finally, Boreal’s journey into our world in search of the missing world jumper is by far the story I’m most interested in (which, considering it’s being treated as the series’ B-plot, might be a minor problem). Learning that this man was apparently born in our world and then jumped to the other (and acquired a daemon upon arriving, which is by far the coolest part of this story) is just wild. I’m still not sure why Boreal jumps between worlds (beyond the obvious: it’s a really cool thing to do), but this mystery will certainly link up with the Dust/Arctic/Asriel/Gobblers stealing children arcs in some fashion by the end of the tale, which leaves me super intrigued as to just how that will work. Will there be a portal up in the Arctic that people end up going through? Will additional worlds be involved in the situation? Does the Dust relate to the movement between worlds? This is the story I’m super invested in – not whether or not Coulter and Asriel could be good parents (spoiler alert: They will never be good parents – everything we’ve see so far indicates that, and if this story ever suggests otherwise, I will lose so much respect for the writing).

Final Thoughts:

— You know who I feel bad for? Pan. Poor Pan just wants Lyra to take things seriously, stay safe, and get some sleep. Twice now he’s suggested they get some sleep and twice she’s refused. Just listen to Pan, Lyra.

— So, Lyra is special because she can read the alethiometer without needing books. Cool.

— Boreal’s car just keeps getting tickets. Look, having spent a lot of time in London, I know that parking there is a mess. But, come on, man. Figure it out!

— I would love more time with Coulter to really get into her head about her feelings towards Lyra. She clearly despises Asriel (which I fully support – the man’s a tool), but she also doesn’t appear to care all that much about Lyra (outside of wanting her because she’s her mother). The idea that a mother lacks maternal feelings for a child is intriguing and rare in stories. Often we see a mother who appears to lack those emotions, only to witness her magically become a mother once she’s reunited with her child (or it happens over the course of the story). I hope this isn’t the case here. Coulter has a lot of personal demons to work through and having Lyra around is not helping things. I’m fine with her becoming a better person over the course of the story, but I don’t want to suddenly get a magical ending where she learns how to love again. I doubt that’s coming (based on the violence and malice already present in the story), but I wanted to get that out there.

— I suspect it’s coming (in light of the revelation that you get a daemon simply by crossing over), but I would love some more information regarding the history of daemons in this world. They are so interesting.