All photos courtesy of IMDB.
This month, I decided to have a look at His Dark Materials, which is currently on HBO. It is an eight-episode series based on Philip Pullman’s book series of the same name. Dafne Keen plays Lyra Belacqua, our main character.
As a note, though I’d heard of the book series (and adored the name), I’ve never read any of the novels, so I went into watching this with no knowledge of the world or characters.
Strengths
I loved a number of things about the series.
First on the list is the dæmons. From a storytelling perspective, I found it very clever. What dæmons actually are isn’t revealed in the series so far, though there are hints at their nature by virtue of action plots that involve using dæmons in various ways.
Every human is born with a dæmon, which is a magical animal companion. When they are still children, a dæmon can shapeshift into different animals, but when the child comes of age, the dæmon settles on one shape. This shape epitomizes the nature of the human. Some humans have snake dæmons, some have falcon dæmons, some have mice or cats or bugs.
Lyra with Pantalaimon
For me, I found dæmons to be an interesting aspect, because they reminded me a little bit of Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket, who acted as something of a conscience or keeper of common sense. I don’t think the dæmons necessarily are that specific in role, but I found the connection compelling to turn over in my head. More than once, different dæmons tried to talk their humans out of what looks like a dumb idea. Sometimes they listen; often they don’t.
From a technical perspective, the CGI used to create the dæmons and other creatures in the world was pretty fantastic. And from an acting viewpoint, I found the voice actors to be exceptional. So much of each dæmon’s personality is conveyed with their voice that I couldn’t help but be impressed by those behind the voices.
I especially liked Kit Connor as Pantalaimon, Lyra’s dæmon. But Lee Scoresby’s (Lin-Manuel Miranda) dæmon, Hester, played by Cristela Alonzo, was probably my favorite. She has a dry, yet somewhat snarky, sense of humor and seemed to always be mildly exasperated at her human’s penchant for making questionable decisions.
The Gyptians gathering.
The visuals for the series are gorgeous. It has a bit of a steampunk feel to it. Lush and detailed, the settings had so many rich and stunning aspects that it was hard to simply watch the characters. I wanted to see everything all at once, from the 1920s-esque apartment to the medieval-looking Jordan College to the frigid North.
And from the storytelling aspect, one of the things I really admired is that the writers were not afraid to do hard things. I can’t really say more than that without dropping a spoiler, so I’ll leave it there. But you’ll know what I mean when you watch the series.
Weaknesses
Even with all those strengths, there were some things I found problematic.
First, the pacing was way too fast. Perhaps if I’d watched it week-to-week, maybe it wouldn’t seem so breakneck, but when binge-watching, it feels manic how quickly things move. Connections among things and people came much too quickly, barely giving enough time for the viewer to think through the connections before we are galloping on to the next thing. If they’d allowed for maybe two more episodes, I believe the story would have unfolded without feeling quite so hectic.
I found most of the big reveals to be predictable, with one or two minor exceptions. Anticipating reveals isn’t uncommon for me, but so many of them in this series were easily pegged rather quickly. I always find that a bit disappointing.
In many ways, the entire thing felt a little bit like a caricature. This could have been a result of the pacing though.
There was just so much crammed into the story that we didn’t spend much time on any given thing. There is the circumstance of Lyra’s birth and being taken to Jordan College, the question of Dust, the ruling religious group called the Magisterium and the overall social and cultural implications of it, the Gyptians and the Gobblers, and the inexplicable appearance of Mrs. Coulter. And that is all in the first episode. Each of these things has a plot moving through the series and each episode, it seems, adds at least two more unrelated subplots. We only really scratch the surface of any of them, and I find that frustrating as a viewer.
Mrs. Coultier
The caricature feeling is also increased by the actors’ work… or perhaps it’s more on the director. While I felt the actors did a very good job within their roles, because we were moving so quickly, there didn’t seem to ever be enough time for the actors to spend on any given emotion or experience. So everything felt very surface-level. Mrs. Coultier reminded me a lot of Faye Dunaway’s Joan Crawford portrayal from Mommie Dearest, because of her pell-mell barreling through different emotions.
Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed His Dark Materials and will likely tune in for the next season. Though, honestly, watching the series makes me want to read the books, since I would guess that the issues I have with pacing are not a problem with the written story.
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