Travel between worlds and political intrigue: Why His Dark Materials Season 2 is even better than Season 1.

Viewers can expect a full disclosure of the story, familiar faces and new heroes.

On November 16, a new season of the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books started on the American HBO channel and in the Russian Amediatek (the British BBC got the premiere a week earlier, and they have already released two episodes).

In the first season of the series, viewers were introduced to the main character Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) and her world, where every person has a daemon - a part of the soul, embodied in the form of an animal. After the girl's uncle Lord Asriel ( James McAvoy ) discovers mysterious particles called "dust", the authoritarian religious organization Magisterium declares his discovery heresy. And Lyra herself set off on a dangerous journey to the north in the company of gypsies, the armored bear Iorek Byrnison, aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and many others.

At the same time, they showed another world, very similar to ours. There lives teenager Will Parry (Amir Wilson), whose long-disappeared father is somehow connected to the mysterious events.

The creators of the series decided not to retell each book of the trilogy verbatim, although they stayed close to the main content: in the first season they captured some lines from the second volume, preparing in advance for the continuation. And that's not a bad thing: the project received excellent reviews.

The only thing he was criticized for was that the pace of the story was too leisurely. This approach was necessary to present the characters and their worlds in more detail. But it still broke the tension.

The second season develops all previous ideas. And at the same time it looks more dynamic, more mature and darker.

Warning: the text contains spoilers for the first season! If you haven't seen it yet, read our review and start watching.

History doesn't need a boost

The finale of the first season made everyone who had not read the books shudder. Lord Asriel, who turned out to be Lyra's father, killed her friend Roger to open a passage to the multiverse. Wanting to understand the nature of the “dust,” the girl also went to another world. Meanwhile, Will had to deal with the man who broke into his house and escape through the passage.

Since the action ended on a very emotional note, and the audience is already familiar with the characters, the continuation is much more dynamic. Lyra and Will finally meet and quickly become friends. Moreover, Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson play out the emotions of the characters in surprisingly touching ways. Despite all the difficulties, they remain slightly funny teenagers who need support. The necessary “chemistry” is felt between them.

If in the first season the action revolved mainly around the alethiometer - a device that can answer any question, now a magic knife falls into the hands of the heroes (by the way, this is the name of the second book of the series). And this artifact , of course, is needed by many.

Meanwhile, Lee Scoresby goes in search of Stannislaus Grumman, who, as previously revealed, is the missing John Parry (Andrew Scott). And these heroes delight with every appearance in the new season.

It is clear that the lines of the main characters will gradually converge. But first, each of them will have to go their own way and overcome many difficulties.

Of course, His Dark Materials still remains a fairly measured series. A lot of time was devoted to dialogues and simply beautiful filming. But now there are more events in each episode. And this allows us to better reveal not only the main characters.

The plot becomes more varied

The first season was somewhat reminiscent of a road movie : the main characters traveled from one point to another. The subplots complemented the story, but still didn't seem very clear. This was especially true of the Magisterium and Will's world.

The continuation looks brighter here too. Lyra's world is faced with the consequences of Asriel's actions, which affect literally everyone. Many have seen the city in the sky, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Magisterium to talk about heresy. So he starts a war with the witches. There is scope for action and rather tough scenes.

And the main advantage is a more interesting disclosure of other worlds. At first, the heroes find themselves in a very strange city with its own dangers. And then it comes to the place where Will lived. And the difference between the two universes becomes more pronounced: not only are there no daemons on the other Earth. Lyra meets modern science, smartphones and speculation about dark matter.

Moreover, the creators of “His Dark Materials” act wisely by not overwhelming the viewer with new characters. Only a few heroes appear, like another supreme witch from Lyra’s world and a female physicist from Will’s universe. Therefore, there is no need to get confused in the action.

More politics and criticism of religion

The author of the books, Philip Pullman, did not hide the fact that his novels are not just fantasy about other worlds. Talking about the Magisterium, he criticized the authoritarian orders of the church and showed the danger of religious figures coming to power. By the way, it was the attempt to remove all serious themes from the action that failed the first film adaptation of His Dark Materials - the film The Golden Compass.

The new series initially stayed closer to the source, but it is in the second season that the more “adult” component comes to the fore, which makes “His Dark Materials” almost similar to “Game of Thrones.” The highest ranks of the Magisterium are still trying to force people to adhere to religious canons, hindering the development of science and denying even what has become completely obvious.

And then a struggle for power unfolds, where there is room for forgery and fake candidates. Here a lot of attention is paid to Marisa Coulter (Ruth Wilson): she is now responsible for the main intrigues. Moreover, the creators of the series seem to deliberately make the process of electing a new head of the Magisterium similar to the election of the Pope.

Finally, the witches get a chance to open up: they have to choose whether they are ready to get involved in a war with the Magisterium or limit themselves to peace negotiations. And all this very organically coexists with the main lines of the narrative, without overloading the action.

The second season of His Dark Materials not only perfectly develops the ideas of the series and Philip Pullman himself. It can correct the attitude towards the project for those who found the beginning too drawn out and confusing. Moreover, it is obvious that the plot will not stop there, because the third book of the Amber Telescope series is ahead - the most ambitious and mystical.

UPD. Material about the 2nd season of “His Dark Materials” was updated on November 17, 2020.