The Cave
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The pace and cars are accelerating this week on “His Dark Materials”! We get a convergence of Dust and Dark Matter and newcomer Mary Malone! CARDINAL MacPhail! And that evil duo, Mrs. Coulter and Lord Boreal are up to no good! Thank the stars Lyra and Will are together and getting in sync! It’s all in S02E02 “The Cave” which aired on HBO on November 23, 2020. It was written by Jack Thorne & Francesca Gardiner and directed by Jamie Childs.
This is Episode 19 and contains the news and our episode breakdown and analysis. To hear our feedback and Bridge to the Stars spoilers segments, stay tuned for Episode 20.
We have two great news items for you this week. First up, Digital Spy opines that Season 2 has accidentally fixed the show’s biggest problem. And then Pop Sugar teases why that bench scene is so integral to the story.
Then we are onto the episode! Lyra and Will set out for Will’s Oxford, where Lyra learns the cars are a bit faster than she is used to. The alethiometer tells her to find a scholar who can help her with Dust. She meets Mary Malone, who is doing research into Dark Matter. Lyra discovers that this substance is the same as Dust. She tells Mary that the doctor has something important to do, and that she can modify her computer to talk to Dark Matter just as Lyra can talk to Dust. Meanwhile, Lord Boreal encounters Lyra in a museum, and offers to help her if she needs to. We learn he goes by the name of Charles Laytrom in Will’s world.
Will checks on his mother, and finds that she is all right. He talks with a lawyer who administers his mother’s trust and asks her for the money remaining. The lawyer tells him his father’s parents are alive and in Oxford and that they could allow him access to the money. He meets them and finds that DI Walters has already been in touch to try and capture him and his father’s letters, and he flees. He and Lyra meet in the botanical gardens, and he learns of the alethiometer and Lyra’s ability to read it. Lyra assures him he can trust her.
Meanwhile, in Lyra’s world, Cardinal Sturrock has died. Father MacPhail becomes acting Cardinal. He and the Magisterium put many people on trial, including witches’ consul Dr. Lanselius. Mrs. Coulter recommends that Father MacPhail demonstrate a show of force, and he orders an attack on Serafina Pekkala’s witch-clan at Lake Enara. He is unanimously voted to be Cardinal, and thanks Mrs. Coulter for her help. She tells him that she has trapped him and is now free to go where she pleases without constraint from the Magisterium!
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