Sunday, January 1, 2023

What I’m Watching: His Dark Materials (Penultimate Episode)

His Dark Materials: Season 3, Episode 7 “The Clouded Mountain” (B+)

This was an intense episode that felt a lot like an ending, though I suppose there are certain things to be cleared up which will make the content of the finale. The idea of flesh being stronger than spirit is an interesting one, and Asriel and Mrs. Coulter managed to trick Metatron into thinking that Mrs. Coulter had betrayed Asriel so they could unite and both sacrifice themselves to ensure that he could be defeated. Lyra watching Mrs. Coulter’s daemon disappear felt like a finite confirmation that, whatever mental construction they might have inhabited before they ultimately took him down, this is the end. Metatron also had an intense effect on the soldiers who started turning on each other after he whispered in their minds presenting himself as their maker and their destroyer. This show has featured some dazzling visuals, like the sight of all the ships going to war in the distance so both sides looked like specks. The concept of Lyra having made it so that death no longer needs to be feared but instead thought of as a journey back into life is interesting, and I again see that as more of an indictment of religion than as a celebration of immortality. Serafina was able to save both Pan and Will’s daemon, and we’ll see what life looks like for them as whatever new normal takes hold and this world’s two heroes find out what is ahead for them now that they have fulfilled their significant purposes.

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