His Dark Materials – Theft Review

The Subtle Knife was the shortest of the novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy. This meant that the TV series had to expand the story to make it fit the median, and “Theft” was proof of this.

Lyra sets out to Oxford to meet Mary to discuss Dust but a police detective was waiting for the girl. This leads to Lyra running into Sir Charles Latrom for a second time. In Lyra’s World Lee Scoresby’s search for Stanislaus Grumman takes him to a small industrial town in Russia.

In the previous episode, I thought the storyline that stuck to the book (i.e. Lyra and Will in Oxford) was stronger than what was invented for the series. With “Theft” the opposite was true, the storyline involving Lee Scorsese was the more interesting one.

In the novel, Lee Scoresby’s search for Stanislaus Grumman was relatively short. The TV version extended this plotline to give more drama. This half of the episode had a Western vibe – the town looked like a frontier town and Lee goes to the hotel and the salon, typical locations for Western fiction. When there was action there was tension and a build-up before Lee has to draw his six-shooter and he gets emotional about having to use it.

If this was all the episode had to show then it would have simply been an extension to Lee’s search. The biggest change from the novel was Lee meeting Mrs. Coulter. In the book, the characters never met and from a book purity viewpoint this is blasphemy – but it was the best scene of the episode. It was a great character moment for Lee who has to stand up against a powerful and unhinged woman. His arc in the series has been one where he went from a man who reluctantly joined in on Lyra’s quest to being someone who’s willing to die for her. Scorsese underwhelmed in the first season because he came around as a jovial, swashbuckling character – a different figure to what he was in the novels. Fortunately, he’s coming into this own in the second season.

Mrs. Coulter was shown as a more conflicted character. This was already hinted out in previous episodes because she’s torn between her position with the Magisterium and her biological connection to Lyra. This was already hinted at in the episode “Dæmons Cages” where Mrs. Coulter saved Lyra from being severed from her dæmon and in “The City of Magpies” she was obsessing over a photo of Lyra. The series was fast-forwarding the storyline where Mrs. Coulter’s where her love for Lyra outweighs everything else. A tender moment I liked was when Mrs. Coulter’s dæmon tries to comfort her.

Lyra and Will’s storyline was faithful to the book. Lyra talks to the police which leads to her accidentally revealing she was with Will and Lord Boreal stole the Alethiometer. However, this storyline was difficult to stretch out for half episode so there were additions. These were showing Mary’s family so there she has more ties to Oxford, and Will and Lyra go to the cinema to watch Paddington. The cinema scene was meant to show some bonding between Will and Lyra with Lyra revealing her grief over Roger, but considering that Will was meant to be on the run then wouldn’t a cinema trip be a bad idea? The strongest part of this story was setting up the next episode because Will sees a figure in the Torre degli Angeli and Latrom giving the youngsters a task.

“Theft” was at its best when it showed the various character dynamics and characterisation. Along with the tension and little bits of action “Theft” was an excellent episode of His Dark Materials.