Live Reaction: His Dark Materials on HBO - Season 1 Episode 1

Hey, y’all. I’m finally sitting down to get started on an HBO series that is, I think, going to fill the GOT sized hole in my life: His Dark Materials. I was ecstatic to find out that HBO would be taking it on as a series for all the obvious reasons; being faithful to the source material chief among them.

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I read the books by Philip Pullman several years back when I found out that the Catholic Church hates them. As an atheist and a fantasy nerd, I cruised through them pretty quickly once I got my hands on the first one. The second and third books of this hero-trope bending trilogy may have been a few of the first books I ever read entirely as digital files, now that I think of it.

I found the protagonist, a plucky 12-year-old girl named Lyra, very relatable, though I was in my mid-20s at the time (mid Aughts, prior to the when the movie came out, and I’ll touch on that soon). It’s always refreshing to experience the Hero’s Journey through a female lens. While it is a pretty standard chosen one coming of age tale, the world building around it is particularly unique and interesting, IMO.

Watch a Preview of S1

I'm one of the many book readers that found the 2007 movie adaptation, The Golden Compass, disappointing. They strayed too far from the plot and kept it way too lighthearted. I trust that HBO’s take on it will be darker. I’m literally only 10 minutes and I’m already satisfied based on what I remember of the book series I read once 15 years ago. It’s honestly making me want to start paying for Audible again so that I can listen to them. Yes, I’m totally that person who picks apart and over analyzes the differences between TV shows and source material.  Don’t even get me started on The Expanse (which, I love, and will, in fact, be writing about soon).

Okay, so it’s December 6, 2019, 9:37 AM and I’m 10 minutes into Episode 1. There are 5 episodes so far. I’ll be reacting in real time.

Azriel’s dramatic speech about academic freedom gave me tingles. I fucking love James McCavoy.

As I expected, I got interrupted about 40 minutes in, so might as well update. The intrigue and plot are all being established, and the characters playing them are very attractive British people, so, you know I’m on board for all of it. If you’ve never read the books, or if you prefer episodic television written by people who pour over the source material and reproduce it smartly so that you don't have to read books, this series is for you. The design is spot on – and the villainess just arrived on scene.

My bestie and I were just talking about how Nicole Kidman ruined the movie. She’s great where she’s great, don’t get me wrong! I love her in Practical Magic and Moulin Rouge. She is gorgeous and perfect for Eyes Wide Shut. But don’t cast her as this powerful, smart, scheming woman with enormous power in a predominately male theocratic environment. She doesn’t have the depth required for it.

Her name is Ruth Wilson

This one, though. I KNOW not to like her and I am LOVING her. Lyra’s wide-eyed wonder and fascination with her is totally understandable and reasonable for a 12-year-old orphan that idolizes her explorer uncle. An uncle who, not coincidentally, just left her again to do heretical research in the mysterious North after dropping a rather ominous hint about this mysterious substance called Dust that everyone’s upset about.

I’ve never seen this actress in anything else, but I think she’s probably perfect. The way she makes Lyra feel smart and immediately gains the girl’s trust is spot on. If you went into this without any context you would probably think she’s being perfectly honest. Since this is the Information Age and all, though, we know she’s not because the marketing set her up as the big villain. 

Lyra herself is actually perfect. X23, as I know her, blew me away in Logan. I knew for sure we’d see her again in something just as dark. Dafne Keen. She’s incredible. In fact, I’m going to go follow her on Instagram right now because she is a beautiful human being.

And a total badass.

Okay, so the show is over and I only got interrupted like 17 more times, but I powered through. The preview for next episode looks like we’re going to get pretty far over the next hour. Initially, I think that’s too fast, but bring it on! I have work that needs to get done, but doesn’t blogging about a new show sound so much better? It really does. Plus, there’s only four more episodes available for me to binge…

I’m starting to wonder how quickly they plan on getting through everything. The teaser info already hinted at getting into book 2 with all the talk about meeting a boy from a different dimension, and episode one used a considerable chunk of its screen time setting up the fact that there’s a large plan at play in which Lyra plays a critical role. Spoiler! She’s the Chosen One, and the implications of that are unspooled mostly in book 3.

via GIPHY

So, let’s take a minute to talk about the Daemon thing. In this world, a person’s soul is embodied by an animal that is literally connected via an invisible field. Children’s daemons change forms until puberty, at which point they settle on a form. Interestingly, each individual’s daemon is their opposite gender (except in rare cases, I think…), and they can talk. It’s been too long for me to detail exactly what happens, but the images I’m seeing are definitely along the lines of the story as I remember it in general.

Overall impression of Episode 1 is definitely good, as you can probably tell. It’s all world building at this point, of course, and plot setting. So glad that HBO put the talent and capital resources behind this project even though the movie sucked. I feel like this is going to make up for the crappy movie so hard. Game of What? I’m with Lyra, baby. HDM is the new GOT.

Also, I’m wondering if spoilers are still a thing we need to worry about? Don’t @ me if I ruined it for you. I’m not sorry, and I’m pretty sure I can’t ruin it because this show is a treat for the eyes. The CGI is good and mostly dedicated to the daemons. The overtly (IMO) selective use of it has major GOT S8 vibes, but I’m willing to forgive it because holy shit, armored bear.

Image courtesy of Forbes.com

Okay, so that’s it for Episode 1, and I’m onto the next. Stay tuned.