His Dark Materials, episode 3 recap: the truth is out – and it's not just that Mrs Coulter is a full-blown villain
In a lively third episode, titled The Spies, Lyra learned to read the alethiometer and joined the Gyptians on their rescue mission to the frozen north. There were also Hot Priests, spy flies and death.
Lucky Lyra was rescued from the Gobblers
In a short and snappy one-minute pre-titles scene, we saw abducted heroine Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) caught in a net and being transported in the back of a van.
Happily, though, the vehicle was hijacked and she was rescued from the child-catching Gobblers’ clutches by a gang of masked Gyptians – including Tony Costa (Daniel Frogson), brother of missing boy Billy. Phew. Roll that Game of Thrones-alike title sequence.
Mrs Coulter was on warpath but still looked chic
Back in Oxford, villainess Mrs Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson) stormed Jordan College with the Nazi-like Magisterium police. “Find me something heretical or illegal,” she barked, with little regard for the sacred principle of “scholastic sanctuary”. They duly discovered books on how to read banned alethiometers.
The Master (Clarke Peters) admitted that he’d given the device to the AWOL Lyra for protection. The furious Mrs Coulter ordered her men to “widen the search” but not before tearing the college apart. She promptly went home and did the same to Lyra’s bedroom.
Mrs Coulter’s femme fatale wardrobe has become a talking point in fashion circles and, true to the character’s taste for tactile fabrics, was here sporting a silken teal trench coat. As she said last week: “The clothes you wear determine the way people see you.” Cut to Lyra wearing a dress in the same shade, after her mentor had tried to turn the girl into a mini-me protégé. We were about to learn why.
Lyra learned the truth about her mother
Lyra was taken to the Thames, where canal-faring Gyptians from around the country had gathered to seek the 27 missing children. These waterway scenes were filmed at Sharpness Docks on the River Severn, location-spotters.
Gyptian king John Faa (Lucian Msamati) vowed to keep Lyra safe, enigmatically telling her: “You have always been important to us. Lord Asriel was good to us but you’re special on your own account.” All very Harry Potter-meets-Luke Skywalker.
Taken in by matriarch Ma Costa (Anne-Marie Duff), Lyra was dressed in Gyptian clothes (shedding her Coulter-approved finery) and narrowly escaped another search by the Magisterium police with their snarling sniffer dogs (in Philip Pullman's books, low-ranking people in service often have canine daemons, due to their obedient natures).
In a three-minute exposition dump of a riverbank conversation, Ma Costa revealed to Lyra the missing half of her parentage riddle: Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) and Mrs Coulter were actually her parents.
We heard how Marisa had been married to Edward Coulter but fell in love with Asriel and had his baby. When Edward realised he wasn’t the father, he tried to kill baby Lyra in revenge, so Asriel put her in the care of a Gyptian nurse – Ma Costa, of course – before fighting and killing Edward in self-defence. Mrs Coulter became a social pariah, while Asriel was stripped of his money and property. As part of his punishment, he was barred from seeing Lyra but took a covert interest in her upbringing, often visiting her at Jordan College.
Lyra’s world had been turned upside down again. No wonder Mrs Coulter had been so keen to mould her and was now desperate to find her.
Boys’ burglary mission ended in tragedy
The Gyptians knew that Mrs Coulter was taking the abducted children to the far north. In a bold bid to find further detail, Tony Costa and Benjamin De Ruyter (Simon Manyonda) snuck out under cover of darkness and broke into Mrs Coulter’s apartment, searching for the General Oblation Board plans briefly glimpsed by Lyra.
Wen they were caught in the act by her monkey daemon, Tony managed to escape but Benjamin was gunned down in the marble corridor by pyjama-clad Mrs Coulter. Benjamin and his bird daemon out up a brave fight until they were taken down by a combination of the vicious monkey and Coulter’s strangely simian martial arts skills.
She demanded to know who’d sent him but Benjamin was defiant to the last, throwing himself down the lift shaft rather than betray his people. It was a somber yet magical moment as his daemon dissolved to dust in the monkey’s hands. His demise was different in the books but this was a highly effective change by screenwriter Jack Thorne.
Lyra began to master her truth-telling device
After wise old Farder Coram (James Cosmo) won her trust, Lyra showed him her secret alethiometer. Kindly Coram explained how it worked but stressed that it took years of study to operate and was useless otherwise.
When Lyra made her mind go blank, however, the compass-like instrument’s cogs began to turn – and when its hands alighted on the symbol of an hourglass and skull, she surmised that Benjamin was dead – her first prediction, which turned out to be true.
Coram was impressed, telling John Faa that her intuitive ability to read the alethiometer without the books could make Lyra “more valuable to us than any soldier we have”.
Lord Boreal pursued Fleabag’s Hot Priest
We’re still unconvinced by dastardly Lord Carlo Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) stalking the corridors of the Magisterium and flitting between parallel worlds – a plot thread which has been moved forward from the second book in Pullman’s trilogy but is yet to bear fruit. However, it was amusing to see that all the power in the multiverse couldn’t prevent his car from getting clamped.
Boreal visited spook Thomas (Robert Emms) at his riverside lodge to see what he’d unearthed about polar explorer Stanislaus Grumman. We discovered that Grumman was actually a former Marine called Colonel John Parry (played by Fleabag and Sherlock star Andrew Scott, although he won’t appear properly until series two).
Parry had been born in our dimension but passed through to Lyra’s 13 years ago, somehow acquiring an osprey daemon on the way. He left behind a wife (with a history of mental health problems) and child – fans of the novels will know who – so Boreal hired a mercenary to watch them. We’re intrigued to see how this transplanted storyline fits into the wider narrative.
Sinister spy-flies tracked down their target
Drowning her sorrows on the rooftop of her apartment building – thought she was scared of heights? – Mrs Coulter released a pair of mechanical drone insects, let them “smell” Lyra’s clothes, then sent them off into the night to locate the fugitive.
We later learned that these Doctor Who-ish devices had been forbidden by the Magisterium. Their illegal use demonstrated a mother’s desperation to find her child, said Ma Costa. She should know.
The buzzing bugs duly found Lyra’s boat. She and Farder Coram managed to catch one but the other escaped to report back to Mrs Coulter. They had to go north. Now.
Expedition to the frozen north began
The Gyptians gathered at a “Byanroping” meeting to discuss their plan of action. The authorities weren’t interested in the abducted children, so it was up to them to stop Mrs Coulter and her child-snatching Gobblers.
Making an impassioned plea, Lyra insisted that fighting back was the only way. Leader John Faa agreed and gave a rabble-rousing speech, pumping up his people with foot-stamping and chanting. After a disappointingly flat introduction, the Gyptians were beginning to come into their own.
They loaded up their ship and set a course for the Lapland port of Trollesund, gateway to the north. “You’re a remarkable girl, Lyra Belacqua,” smiled Ma Costa proudly. “I don’t think the north knows what’s coming.”
Can’t get the direction out of my head
This episode was stylishly directed by Dawn Shadforth – best known for her pop promos for the likes of Oasis, Florence & The Machine and Kylie Minogue’s classic Can’t Get You Out of My Head video.
Shadworth’s TV credits include last year’s Getty kidnap saga Trust. Next year, she’s directing Channel 4 porn industry drama Adult Material. She’s clearly attracted to projects with “Material” in the title.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and a giant armoured polar bear arrive next week
Wrap up warm because the eight-part series reaches its midway point next Sunday with an episode titled Armour.
It sees Lyra and the Gyptians arrive in the North to seek the help of the Witches' Consul, Texan aeronaut-for-hire Lee Scoresby (played by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda) and a certain armoured bear. Who needs Excitable Edgar when you’ve got Iron-Clad Iorek?
