The Idea of North
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Who knew that the pilot was just a warmup for a blow-your-mind episode of His Dark Materials? Mrs. Coulter is kinda, um, unhingy? There’s…another universe? More than one? Lyra is just trying to figure out the grown ups with us, as we cringed and shouted at the twists and turns in S01E02 “The Idea of North”! It aired on HBO on November 11, 2019, and it was written by Jack Thorne and directed by Tom Hooper.
We have some cool news to share this week beginning with NBC Think and their belief that ’His Dark Materials’ does Philip Pullman justice, but the timing is could be unfortunate. Then we have two excellent interviews, beginning in The Ringer with Jack Thorne and the challenges and joys of adapting the source books. Then we have The New Yorker exploring the fallen worlds of Philip Pullman.
There is so much choice material to unpack this week, just like Lyra does when she and Mrs. Coulter arrive in London at Mrs. Coulter’s flat. They spend some time getting to know each other a bit better, both at home and in a visit to the Arctic Institute. Roger is revealed to be with the missing children and befriends young Billy Costa. The Gyptians continue the hunt for their lost children but are unsuccessful. Mrs. Coulter visits those children at a new location and promises them an adventure in the North. She writes letters to their parents that she later burns in an incinerator. Lord Boreal meets with Father MacPhail and later the Master, and then he steps through an opening into the Oxford of our world. He enlists a man there to help him find the explorer Grumman, whom he believes to be alive and traveling between worlds. Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter’s daemon can be far from her. Later our heroine has an argument with Mrs. Coulter that results in the monkey daemon attacking Pan, which causes Lyra terrible pain and anguish. After Mrs. Coulter leaves for a while, Lyra spies in her study and finds plans for a strange device with compartments for holding a daemon and a human, and a blade between them. Mrs. Coulter hosts a party, and Lyra meets a mysterious reporter who asks for her help gathering information about the General Oblation Board. Pan reckons this is related to Gobblers and the journalist says that Mrs. Coulter IS the Oblation Board! The reporter is later detained by Lord Boreal, who kills her by crushing her butterfly daemon. Lyra flees from Mrs. Coulter along the London rooftops and hides in an alley. Pan spots a fox daemon in the distance, approaches it, and Lyra is promptly grabbed from behind by a large man!
After our episode breakdown, we dive into more aspects of the ep, including the lyrics to the theme song. Then we get some terrific feedback from you guys. After that it’s time for all the book readers as we cross into our Bridge to the Stars segment, which is chock full of spoilers and speculation so spoilerphobes beware!
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