His Dark Materials: Season 2, Episode 1, ‘The City of Magpies’ Recap and Review
After nearly a year since its climactic season one finale, the second season of HIS DARK MATERIALS premiered Monday on HBO. Based on the book series by Phillip Pullman, the show follows a 13-year-old girl named Lyra (LOGAN’s Dafne Keen), a child with magical abilities who lives within the multi-world reality set by the show. In the timeline viewers are first introduced to in season one, one of the elements that sets their world apart from ours is that all humans have a companion called a daemon, which is a human soul that takes the form of an animal. The humans physically cannot live without their daemons and must always keep within a specific distance from each other. Lyra is an orphan who is living with scholars at Jordan College in Oxford, where we see that she is abandoned as a baby by her polar explorer uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy). She and her best friend Roger (Lewin Lloyd), who is also an orphan, live a relatively happy life at the college until their world is shaken upon discovering that other children from the college are starting to go missing. Thus sets up the premise for season one, where Lyra, upon discovering her special abilities via the usage of a rare device called an alethiometer, takes the lead to find the missing children and uncover the secret operation behind it. In fighting on this journey, she meets an aeronaut named Lee Scorsby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and enlists his help to take down the Magisterium.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
Dafne Keen and James McAvoy in HIS DARK MATERIALS.
In a brief summary of the events of season one, Lyra finds the place where the missing children are being captured, brainwashed, and—in some cases—killed, and learns that the woman behind the operation, Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson) is actually her mother. This obviously causes a deep strain between the two and is heightened when she learns that Lord Asriel, her uncle, is actually her father and is on an evil pursuit to take power over a mysterious substance called Dust. Lord Asriel believes that the answers he is looking for can be found in one of their world’s alternate realities, and believes he needs the power of a human child and their daemon to open the portal. He kidnaps Roger, and Lyra is all but a moment too late in rescuing him when her father successfully removes Roger from his daemon, killing them both instantly and successfully using their power to open up a rainbow portal into a new world.
Lord Asriel reunites with Marisa and asks her to join him, so they can become an unstoppable force in their mutual pursuance of Dust. She declines, falsely stating that she wants to stay behind for Lyra, and Lord Asriel walks through his new portal as Lyra secretly spies from nearby. Lyra goes over to Roger’s body and mourns the death of her friend, vowing to ensure his death will not be in vain and walks with her daemon through the portal to go after her father and stop him before it’s too late. The season ends when another child named Will (Amir Wilson), who had been introduced a few episodes prior and is living in one of the alternate realities, finds a second opening to the portal and walks through after being mysteriously drawn to it.
In a brief summary of the events of season one; Lyra finds the place where the missing children are being captured, brainwashed, and—in some cases—killed, and learns that the woman behind the operation, Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson) is actually her mother. This obviously causes a deep strain between the two and is heightened when she learns that Lord Asriel, her uncle, is actually her father and is on an evil pursuit to take power over a mysterious substance called Dust. Lord Asriel believes that the answers he is looking for can be found in one of their world’s alternate realities, and believes he needs the power of a human child and their daemon to open the portal. He kidnaps Roger, and Lyra is all but a moment too late in rescuing him when her father successfully removes Roger from his daemon, killing them both instantly and successfully using their power to open up a rainbow portal into a new world.
Lord Asriel reunites with Marisa and asks her to join him, so they can become an unstoppable force in their mutual pursuance of Dust. She declines, falsely stating that she wants to stay behind for Lyra, and Lord Asriel walks through his new portal as Lyra secretly spies from nearby. Lyra goes over to Roger’s body and mourns the death of her friend, vowing to ensure his death will not be in vain and walks with her daemon through the portal to go after her father and stop him before it’s too late. The season ends when another child named Will (Amir Wilson), who had been introduced a few episodes prior and is living in one of the alternate realities, finds a second opening to the portal and walks through after being mysteriously drawn to it.
Lin-Manuel Miranda in HIS DARK MATERIALS.
This series of events is where we leave off when season two begins. Lyra is in the new world—lost, lonely, and missing Roger. At first, her daemon is her only companion until she ventures into a nearby town and meets children who look around her age. These children do not have daemons, and Lyra is struck by how they are able to survive without them. The children are more aggressive and violent than the children in Lyra’s world, and it is not until she meets and teams up with Will, the boy who walked through the second portal opening, that she feels she meets someone she can trust to help her in her fight. There are no adults in this new world, and in speaking to Will, Lyra learns that he is also from Oxford—but not the same one as her.
Meanwhile, Marisa continues working with the Magisterium—the evil organization to which she is loyal—to find Lyra and prevent her from getting in the way of their and Lord Asriel’s plans. They capture a witch who is interrogated by Marisa, and the witch tells the prophecy of a child. Upon realizing the child in the prophecy is Lyra, the witch is immediately killed by Marisa who continues to grow into more of a tyrant.
Simultaneously, Lee—having been made responsible for the well-being of Lyra and Roger—is unaware of the specifics of the events that have transpired and meets with a group of witches to prepare for the battle against the Magisterium and find Lyra. Lee is assigned to a mission to find Stanislaus Grumman (FLEABAG’s Andrew Scott), an explorer who is believed to be dead but has connections to their world.
Meanwhile, Marisa continues working with the Magisterium—the evil organization to which she is loyal—to find Lyra and prevent her from getting in the way of their and Lord Asriel’s plans. They capture a witch who is interrogated by Marisa, and the witch tells the prophecy of a child. Upon realizing the child in the prophecy is Lyra, the witch is immediately killed by Marisa who continues to grow into more of a tyrant.
Simultaneously, Lee—having been made responsible for the well-being of Lyra and Roger—is unaware of the specifics of the events that have transpired and meets with a group of witches to prepare for the battle against the Magisterium and find Lyra. Lee is assigned to a mission to find Stanislaus Grumman (FLEABAG’s Andrew Scott), an explorer who is believed to be dead but has connections to their world.
The episode ends when Will, after reading letters from his (allegedly) deceased father, has a vision of a knife—implying he has magical abilities as well—and begins walking towards the Tower of Angels in the heart of the city that seems to line up with what he saw in his vision. As he walks, the Specters (the evil beings that have attacked and killed all of the adults in the city) begin pursuing him as he is older than most of the children and is therefore at risk to be captured.
Amir Wilson and Dafne Keen in HIS DARK MATERIALS.
Overall, the episode moved quite slowly and did not show any particularly ground-breaking events. Much like season one, it appears the show will move at a quieter pace in service of setting up the story and its necessary context. The pairing of Will and Lyra makes for an interesting premise as both young actors are strong and command the screen, and their introduction into this new world where the children are running things sets up a lot of potential. With the assignment placed on Lee, it is expected that the beloved Andrew Scott will finally make his long-anticipated appearance on the show and will bring some heightened energy to this fantasy drama.