First Impressions:
Hands down, the best season of the lot. Admirable pacing, attention to detail, and a generous weaving of Pullman's lore made season 3 of "His Dark Materials" fascinating, riveting, and thrilling to watch.
Plot Summary & Deep-Dive:
Including Daemon voiceovers, all the cast brought their A-game to the series finale of "His Dark Materials". They went to war - a highly anticipated scenario, this one - with the kingdom of heaven, as portrayed in Pullman's books where it was led by a proud angel called Metatron (Alex Hassell) claiming to be god.
All the main characters and their Daemons took sides and gathered staunch allies to their respective causes. Even the witches weren't left out of the final fight. The antagonists were anyone who served the Magisterium, which was now led by Father President MacPhail (Will Keen).
Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) played an amazing role this season. While Will Parry (Amir Wilson) was off seeking the lost Lyra Silvertongue (Dafne Keen), Asriel was taking the fight to heaven as the only means to end the threat to 'Dust' and all that it made possible on Earth and other worlds.
Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) was relatively subdued this season, but that only made her seem even more unpredictable and dangerous. Lyra was in her custody and being forcefully safeguarded against the threat of the Magisterium.
As her biological mother, these sequences overtly seemed to add to Coulter's depravity and selfishness. However, her deeply emotive dialogues on motherhood redeemed her character in admirable ways this season.
The severing of one's Daemon, or soul, continued to be one of the prevailing plot-elements. Its dark depths were explored against the backdrop of war and Christianity-inspired tropes.
It was all artfully adapted from Philip Pullman's novels, which themselves are superb, to say the least. I would like to read the books again, it's been a few years since I spent time in Pullman's profound universe.
The separate notions of "death is going to die" and "everyone has a Death" set intriguing precedents going forward. I liked the sinister elements that surrounded the Magisterium's blind belief in Lyra being "Eve", the originator of all sin.
It all made sense to fans like me who have read the books and been with this HBO show from the start. It was smoothly done and contained no fuss or unnecessary deviations from the core plot.
Mary Malone's (Simone Kirby) forays into Pullman's version of the Garden of Eden added to the visual and empathic wonders this season. The elephant-tapir creatures there spoke a language called Mulefa, which was captivating in every way.
Angelic entities - that were technically comprised of Dust - added to the thrill factor. Those who were in on the truth went up against the 'false angel' Metatron (Alex Hassell). The fascination sourcing from these elements was so carefully woven into the plot that the entire season felt credible and seamless.
The romance between Lyra and Will felt forced and received little to no build-up. But it had its share of emotional moments regardless.
Aside from the heaven-and-earth war at the heart of the story, a great many war of words further enriched the plotline and lent a world of importance to the core characters.
Final Notes:
From the Intention Craft's role in the story to Lyra and Will's travel into the Land of the Dead to rescue Roger Parslow (Lewin Lloyd), and more besides, "His Dark Materials" Season 3 delivered on drama, emotion, thrill, love, guilt, faith, unity, prophecy, and fantasy.
Engaging performances, expansive cinematography, great musical scoring, and outstanding editing complemented superb production design, detail-driven costume design, stellar stunts, and excellent VFX. The art direction, set decoration, and hair-makeup teams were also on point. Whatever may have been wrong with season 3, it was too negligible for me to notice.
To call this season epic would be putting it mildly. It was a mic drop for the lore it so far adapted and did justice to. With this set of books now successfully translated to screen, there are other stories from Philip Pullman waiting to come into focus.
I think only the Alethiometer can tell us when and how that particular cloud of Dust will manifest.
Hands down, the best season of the lot. Admirable pacing, attention to detail, and a generous weaving of Pullman's lore made season 3 of "His Dark Materials" fascinating, riveting, and thrilling to watch.
Plot Summary & Deep-Dive:
Including Daemon voiceovers, all the cast brought their A-game to the series finale of "His Dark Materials". They went to war - a highly anticipated scenario, this one - with the kingdom of heaven, as portrayed in Pullman's books where it was led by a proud angel called Metatron (Alex Hassell) claiming to be god.
All the main characters and their Daemons took sides and gathered staunch allies to their respective causes. Even the witches weren't left out of the final fight. The antagonists were anyone who served the Magisterium, which was now led by Father President MacPhail (Will Keen).
Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) played an amazing role this season. While Will Parry (Amir Wilson) was off seeking the lost Lyra Silvertongue (Dafne Keen), Asriel was taking the fight to heaven as the only means to end the threat to 'Dust' and all that it made possible on Earth and other worlds.
Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) was relatively subdued this season, but that only made her seem even more unpredictable and dangerous. Lyra was in her custody and being forcefully safeguarded against the threat of the Magisterium.
As her biological mother, these sequences overtly seemed to add to Coulter's depravity and selfishness. However, her deeply emotive dialogues on motherhood redeemed her character in admirable ways this season.
The severing of one's Daemon, or soul, continued to be one of the prevailing plot-elements. Its dark depths were explored against the backdrop of war and Christianity-inspired tropes.
It was all artfully adapted from Philip Pullman's novels, which themselves are superb, to say the least. I would like to read the books again, it's been a few years since I spent time in Pullman's profound universe.
The separate notions of "death is going to die" and "everyone has a Death" set intriguing precedents going forward. I liked the sinister elements that surrounded the Magisterium's blind belief in Lyra being "Eve", the originator of all sin.
It all made sense to fans like me who have read the books and been with this HBO show from the start. It was smoothly done and contained no fuss or unnecessary deviations from the core plot.
Mary Malone's (Simone Kirby) forays into Pullman's version of the Garden of Eden added to the visual and empathic wonders this season. The elephant-tapir creatures there spoke a language called Mulefa, which was captivating in every way.
Angelic entities - that were technically comprised of Dust - added to the thrill factor. Those who were in on the truth went up against the 'false angel' Metatron (Alex Hassell). The fascination sourcing from these elements was so carefully woven into the plot that the entire season felt credible and seamless.
The romance between Lyra and Will felt forced and received little to no build-up. But it had its share of emotional moments regardless.
Aside from the heaven-and-earth war at the heart of the story, a great many war of words further enriched the plotline and lent a world of importance to the core characters.
Final Notes:
From the Intention Craft's role in the story to Lyra and Will's travel into the Land of the Dead to rescue Roger Parslow (Lewin Lloyd), and more besides, "His Dark Materials" Season 3 delivered on drama, emotion, thrill, love, guilt, faith, unity, prophecy, and fantasy.
Engaging performances, expansive cinematography, great musical scoring, and outstanding editing complemented superb production design, detail-driven costume design, stellar stunts, and excellent VFX. The art direction, set decoration, and hair-makeup teams were also on point. Whatever may have been wrong with season 3, it was too negligible for me to notice.
To call this season epic would be putting it mildly. It was a mic drop for the lore it so far adapted and did justice to. With this set of books now successfully translated to screen, there are other stories from Philip Pullman waiting to come into focus.
I think only the Alethiometer can tell us when and how that particular cloud of Dust will manifest.