No Way Out
Episode 5 of His Dark Materials Season 3 begins with Mary Malone wandering through the woods. She remembers her calling – to save “the boy and the girl” – but she’s doubting herself. That is, until she’s led to a large outcrop of trees. Heading deep inside, she takes refuge and begins exploring the area, where more of the Mulefa are dotted around. The one who brought her here happens to be called Atar, and slowly but surely Mary begins to learn their language. She keeps coming back to the word “sraf” though, which she eventually realizes translates across to Dust. It takes her a while to figure it out but once she does, she heads atop the trees and realizes that Dust seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate. The trees – along with the Mulefa itself – are dying. Meanwhile, Lyra is still feeling the effects of being separated from Pan. It’s like an iron hand is yanking on her heart. Eventually the boat comes to a stop, with the ferryman adamant that Pan will not be where they left him, throwing into question whether she’ll ever be reunited with him. Will and Lyra wander through this land and come face to face with numerous dead men and women, many of which that have been separated from their daemons. Lyra wants their help, but when the whispering voices begin taunting her, Will and Lyra end up separated. However, Lyra does find Roger but he’s very different. Even worse, the knife isn’t working either. The Harpies arrives and begin taunting Will and Lyra, pointing out just why they’ve shown up here. Lyra manages to wish the creature away, but the words are harsh and certainly cut Will. When she talks around Roger, discussing their past, all the dead gather the courage to listen as she and Will both intend to enact a plan to get them out of this horrific ghost camp. Elsewhere, Mrs Coulter is imprisoned but she bides her time to try and get out. Our gallivespian spy points out that the bomb is ready and the Magisterium intend to sever her from the golden monkey. However, it’s clear that Dr Cooper is having second thoughts about this. In the midst of all this, Alarbus heads off to see The Authority and brings up Asriel’s manipulation of Dust and how there’s a new knife-bearer that hasn’t been manipulated. As a result, Metatron decides to send a warning. Mrs Coulter is taken out of her cell and led to the lab, while the rest of the priests are in prayer. Mrs Coulter finds herself sitting alongside her daemon preparing for the worst. Dr Cooper heads in to prepare her binds in the chair, where Coulter does her best to try and talk Dr Cooper around, telling her this needs to stop. Coulter is convinced that Macphail is going to blow up the entire Magisterium but the guidance system he has is convincing enough for Macphail to shrug that off. The gallivespian heads in and takes out several of the guards while Dr Cooper stops the machine before it can sever the bond and turns it off. As a result, Macphail strikes her down, whilst the gallivespian releases the golden monkey. Coulter manages to get free from the chair and wrestles with Macphail. Unfortunately, the bomb is targeted and primed to go off. At the last possible second though, Coulter manages to pull the power source out and stop it. However, Metatron shows up, in all its blinding light, and decides to get rid of all the Dust in the world. Not only that, but the machine turns back on with enough time for Macphail to be separated from his Daemon. The bomb is also released, targeting Lyra. the bomb is also released. Back in the Land of the Dead, Lyra tells her stories and reminds all the Dead of what it is to be alive. As the group begin taking off, who should show up but Lee Scoresby! After some heartfelt reunions, the explorer joins them in their escape. An explosion rocks the Land of the Dead though, thanks to a blinding light dropping from the sky. It’s the bomb. And as it strikes the ground, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
His Dark Materials returns this week with a solid episode, one wracked with tension and a good deal of drama for all our different characters. We have Lyra and Will off in the Land of the Dead, where their plan looks set to have big ramifications for the wider world. Whether Lyra will be reunited with Pan though remains a mystery. Meanwhile, the situation at the Magisterium hits breaking point and it’s perhaps ironic that it’s Macphail now that happens to be separated from his daemon. And what of Asriel and his coming war? Given he was absent from this episode, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see a good deal of him in the next chapter. Thankfully though we do see more of Mary Malone and her role appears to be a crucial one for the fight to follow.
