His Dark Materials S3 The Enchanted Sleeper review

 

aka Looking for Lyra. It’s a good thing they include a Previous On…montage at the start of this episode because its been two long years since we last saw Lyra and co and I have to admit I’d completely forgotten whereabouts we are up to and that she’d been bundled into a trunk and carted away by her mother Miss Coulter. Not only is there that recap but the episode opens with an impressive narration and paintings that outline the situation.

 

I’d forgotten too just how good Ruth Wilson is in this role which requires her to be both good and evil, sometimes at the same time. I think it’s that smile which you’ve never quite sure whether to trust. She’s taken her daughter to a remote cottage built into  a cliffside by the sea and kept her sleeping though we get to see that her dreams are unusual. They seem to involve tragic Roger, her best friend who I did remember was killed in the series’ most shocking incident to date. Plus I’d not forgotten that golden monkey who is her deamon and who remains one of the most disturbing digital creatures any series has featured.

So while Lyra sleeps her uneasy sleep Will is looking for her and receives unexpected help from a couple of angels; again something of an understated visual triumph as they sort of shimmer into existence very effectively. The Magisterium are also looking for mother and daughter- cue Will Keen’s cunning but also worried looking McPhail. He seems to have an equally slippery character called Father Gomez to help him. Its funny- they look like neither trusts the other but outwardly its all reverence and loyalty.

Lord Asriel meanwhile is recruiting for his war against the Authority and is trying to persuade a leader called Ogunwe ( a stoic Adewale Akinnuoye- Agbaje) to join him and he takes some persuading. While I’m usually in favour of characters with commitments not dropping everything after a short conversation Ogunwe’s arguments for not helping seem a tad undernourished especially when he knows full well the horrors the Authority can bring down on people.  James McAvoy remains a highlight, his well meaning but rather self obsessed Asriel makes for a different sort of hero but potentially a good leader. The only real action to speak of comes when Will encounters the bear Iorek Byrnison who is having trouble with the locals but even this is fleeting. 

The episode luxuriates in it’s scene setting, perhaps a little too much at times. No change of location is complete without a sweeping establishing shot across lush or barren or watery landscape lending the production the tone of a nature documentary rather than a drama while the orchestral flourishes follow a similar route. Visually this is sumptuous and looks like massive amounts of money and time were spent on it. However the narrative pace can be glacially slow which works when we’re in the Magisterium giving it that sepulchral religious feel but not so much when we’re sitting in a cottage doing, well, not a lot. Will’s wandering with the subtle knife also seems quite random, but perhaps I wasn’t paying full attention. Also if Lyra is drugged and asleep how come her demon is up and about and just seems a bit drowsy?

The narrative continues to ask questions about faith and throws out some intriguing ideas- “death is a lie” says Asriel at one point. By the end of the episode it feels like we’ve finished the introduction and the real action will kick off next time. I’ve decided to watch this weekly rather than binge though the next episode is on Christmas Eve which hardly seems the right time for it. Still if you want you can see it all in iPlayer of course.