HIS DARK MATERIALS - Episode 2: The Idea of the North Preview and Teasers

The second episode sees best friends Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Roger (Lewin Lloyd) both arriving at their new homes in London, although the stark difference between their circumstances is immediately obvious. Lyra has virtually full access to Mrs Coulter’s (Ruth Wilson) luxurious penthouse suite and terrace, alongside a new wardrobe, new hair, and the social circle that lifestyle affords. While the harsh world her buddy is thrust in to has a far more Dickensian feel to it. Where everything from colours to daylight are muted and toned down, food is rationed and all the children the Gobblers have taken share the same cramped living space.

I may have had some trifling issues with the opening episode, but Keen’s performance was solid throughout and she continues to shine here as her character comfortably carries the story forward through ever more complex waters. One fact about Lyra that becomes glaringly obvious early on in this episode is that she is a barefaced liar. She tells some whoppers which are easily seen through as fictious or absurd if thought with any sense of awareness. Yet Keen’s delivery of the lines along with her body language can’t help but make one think that Lyra is all too used to getting away with people believing in her untruths.

This blatant behaviour from the one character who has been given a secret truth telling gadget, the alethiometer (or golden compass), is very curious. Surely there must be a deeper purpose to the lies being told because of this, or perhaps there is already deception in place by someone, or ones, more skilled at distorting the truth than Lyra’s childish boasts? Either of these options are interesting aspects to explore, so I am open and intrigued to see whatever the story ahead has in store for our young heroine.

Here are this week’s teasers:

“The Magisterium is more powerful than any of us. Any sacrifice we have to perform to preserve its power, we do”
“We turned my hair into a rope. He climbed up me and out, then pulled me up”
“That’s Billy’s. This proves they were here”
“I could never be that far away from you Lyra. What is she?”
“You look like you’re so restless. Like you’re desperate to escape”
“And then, I met Lyra. I know she won’t leave us here. She’ll be looking us right now. Wherever she is”
“Tell the Oblation Board to control it or…or they’ll lose everything”
“You’ve already allowed his head to be thawed and treated. Vital information might have been lost”
“It looks absurd to be carrying a shoulder bag in your own home”
“In every room there are those that would belittle you. With my help, they won’t lay a scratch on you”