After a slow start, this second run finally upped the tempo, and the stakes. It helped that incoming director Leanne Welham seemed to have a knack not just for pace but for getting the best out of her cast, there being a bit more dramatic heft to some of the scenes. Lyra (Dafne Keen) snuck away from Will to visit physicist Mary once more to try to find out more about Dust, or as Mary knows it, Dark Matter. Big mistake - Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) and his men have been waiting for the youngsters to venture into Oxford again and when one of the fake police gave chase, Boreal posed as the friendly Charles to give Lyra a life and sneakily pocket her alethiometer. Lyra and Will had no choice but to go to his house where all pretense at hospitality was dispensed with. Boreal will give back the device, but only if Will and Lyra bring him the knife from the tall church Tower of the Angels in the realm of Cittagazze where the pair have been hiding out. What is Will's part in this prophecy and how dangerous is it for him to try to retrieve this blade, especially as he nears the age with the mysterious smoky Spectres look set to snatch him? Back in Oxford, Mary tried her best to commune with the Dust herself, via an old I Ching set. We also met Mary's sister and her children though whether they'll play any significant part going forward was unclear.
These episodes also brought back a few favourites. There was something rather magnificent about that cameo for giant talking polar bear Iorek who had a chat with a white hawk daemon of one of the witches. The CGI is so good in this series that the digital creations don't even feel fake anymore but actual characters. I love the bear and Pan and Hester and they feel as much characters as Lyra and Mrs. Coulter. Speaking of Lyra's nefarious mother (played expertly by Ruth Wilson), she was looking for her daughter and happened upon a seriously down on his luck Lee Scorsbey (Lin-Manuel Miranda). In one of the best two-handers of the show yet, Coulter found her normal method of threatening torture and death had absolutely no effect on Lee. He told her that Lyra was worth ten of him and that he'd been threatened by experts, his own father beating on him continuously during his youth. This experience helped Lee to recognise that Coulter was also an abuse victim, beaten by her own parent. That the two opponents had this in common led to a surprisingly powerful scene, Coulter stung (the scene where her downtrodden daemon tentatively held her hand was brilliant) and later helping Lee to escape, as she knew his devotion to Lyra would help keep the child safe if she could not. We even got out first, brief, glimpse of Andrew Scott's pioneer - and Will's father - Stanislaus Grumman/John Parry. He's much in demand but we only got a snatch of him looking all Druid wandering around in a robe in the forest. Fans will have to wait a little longer for the hot priest/Moriarty to make his Dark Materials debut properly.
70s Rating: ****
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