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S2:E19 Part 2 - The Golden Compass & His Dark Materials (Series)
21 Plays3 days ago
Welcome to our second His Dark Materials discussion. In this episode, Crystal leads us into the world of The Golden Compass (also known as Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman. We’re covering the second half of the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy and episodes 5-8 of the HBO/BBC adaptation.
Hosted by Crystal with co-hosts Keri and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
Question of the Episode
- If you had access to the alethiometer, would you use it to ask a question for yourself, a question about your future, or find out other people's secrets?
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Intro/Outro Music - Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!)
Thanks for listening to Based on a Book - see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(01:02) Part One Recap
(03:04) Episode 5
(15:59) Episode 6
(36:09) Episode 7
(48:54) Episode 8
(53:54) Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Series Context
00:00:10
Speaker
podcast not yet censored by any government or religious agency. I'm your host, k Crystal, and I'm covered in sin. I'm Carrie, and my least favorite form of transportation is by hot air balloon.
00:00:24
Speaker
And I'm Lindsay, and I'm pretty sure this is skidooing.
00:00:30
Speaker
so That's right. You are in part two of our coverage of His Dark Materials and the first book in the series, The Golden Compass or Northern Lights.
00:00:42
Speaker
This is a three-part series. If you have not listened to the first part of our coverage, please stop now and go back. It's available the same place you found this one.
00:00:55
Speaker
But I don't don't want you to get caught up in all these spoilers because we are going to go Full spoilers. Part one covered chapters one through eleven. The first four episodes of the His Dark Material season one.
Recap of Lyra's Early Adventures
00:01:11
Speaker
We discussed Lyra and her. Beginnings in Jordan College at Oxford, running around with her bestie Roger. We met the Gyptians.
00:01:23
Speaker
Lyra was whisked away by Mrs. Coulter, who she found out was her mother. She also uncovered a plot of kidnapped children.
00:01:34
Speaker
what else did she do? She befriended the Gyptians, the Lord, the King of the Gyptians. She learned how to read the alethiometer. She met up with an armored bear and an aeronaut. Now she's heading north to free her friends.
00:01:51
Speaker
Right? Sounds about right.
00:01:54
Speaker
I'm still thinking about Lindsay skidooing. to she gonna We can do. going to skidoo right into another zip code.
00:02:06
Speaker
I don't know where my notes are on this, y'all. All I'm thinking is Lyra has done so much with her life already. I'm 43 years old. three years old ah like She's gone on an adventure.
00:02:20
Speaker
She really has. She's then gone for like a week and she's traveling the world. like I know. Well, and that's what's so crazy about these fantasy books. It's so wild to me. It's these little 12 year olds just taking over the world and they they have the world in their hands. Yeah.
00:02:37
Speaker
To be able to do everything. She now knows how to read the alethiometer. And everyone is looking to her to read this. That kind of controls their next moves almost yeah sometimes.
00:02:50
Speaker
yu And that's like a lot of pressure on her. They even sometimes leave her to go do tasks on her own that are risky. Which is know exactly where episode five, which we're covering in this part, episodes five through eight, opens with Lyra reading the alethiometer.
The Mystery of the Boy Without a Demon
00:03:11
Speaker
The alethiometer is pointing her towards what she thinks is a ghost in a nearby village. And she wants to go investigate.
00:03:22
Speaker
John Fah and the other leaders of their party are trying to convince her not to go, basically. But she says, you know, the alethiometer only speaks truth.
00:03:34
Speaker
It wouldn't have told me this if it didn't want me to do something about it. And it's important for us to figure out what this is. So she convinces them to let her go. Yorick is going to take her. Yorick is the big giant armored bear.
00:03:49
Speaker
He's going to leave his armor behind because he can travel faster. And the plan is they'll go investigate and come right back to the party and meet up with the party heading north as they keep moving. Right.
00:04:05
Speaker
So she gets on Yorick's back. They go to this nearby village. And they don't find a ghost. They find a little boy with no demon.
00:04:18
Speaker
In the book, this boy is Tony, the street kid. In the show, this is Billy Costa. And I don't know about y'all, but I teared up. Okay, I just sobbed. I just sobbed.
00:04:28
Speaker
Oh, sobbed. When they found this boy. I sobbed in both the book and... the show and here is pan telling her don't go don't you don't want to know don't go in there and she's going we have to we have to And even she's scared. She admits she's scared to go in there because she's never seen a human without a demon before. A human without a soul. Well, all
Lyra's Emotional Discovery and Trust in Instincts
00:04:52
Speaker
she knows before going in is it's ghost. There's something in there. It's a ghost. It's a ghost. It's like that's what the alethiometer says. Right. Because the alethiometer doesn't have – what does mean? Right.
00:05:00
Speaker
She doesn't have any way to explain it. It wouldn't even occur to her to think that a human could be without ah soul. And so that's the only way she can interpret this is that it's a ghost.
00:05:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And so she's scared to go in there. And when she goes in there, she's even more terrified of what she sees. And again, in the book, she doesn't know the kid. in In the show, she knows right away that's Billy Costa.
00:05:25
Speaker
She's played with him before. And he's almost catatonic. He's mumbling numbers. In the book, he's hugging a fish, just a dead dried fish because it's a fishing village.
00:05:40
Speaker
um and she knows she has to take him back to the Egyptians. And so she gathers him up as best she can to get on Yorick, and they take they meet back up with the Egyptians.
00:05:53
Speaker
And at first, the Egyptians are terrified of what she's found, and they step back, and Yorick calls them out. He basically says, you know, if this child can be brave enough to take care of this this boy, then, you know, you should be half as brave as her.
00:06:10
Speaker
and And the Egyptians step up, of course, in the show. ma Costa realizes right away that's her son, Billy. i want to cry just thinking about it. I hate it. choking up. i I really have tears in my eyes. like I brought my tissues this time. guess whenever ah So whenever she leaves originally to go see, she's like, she has to go convince Ma Costa.
00:06:32
Speaker
She's like... I know you really want to go see go find Billy right now, but the alethiometer is telling me to go here, telling me there's a ghost in this location. Please let me go in this different direction. Trust me. You must trust me on this. And she's like having a really hard time because it kind of delays the process of finding her kid.
00:06:53
Speaker
She's like, and you please trust me on this. And then- and it turns out to be Billy. Lyra finds Billy in this condition and it's- Literally the saddest thing.
00:07:03
Speaker
And then when Ma Costa's holding him singing. know. God. That got me so bad she's singing. I know. I know. Messed me. Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
Messed me. Well, the little boy in the book is holding a fish and she describes like he's holding onto this fish almost like he's like holding what could be like his demon there. And he keeps asking for his demon. He keeps asking for Radder. Yeah, Radder. You know, have you seen Radder? Do you know where Radder is? Where's my Radder?
00:07:32
Speaker
I hate it. i hate that so much. I hate that. like brand And this is a kid's book. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, reminder, this is a child's book.
00:07:44
Speaker
Lindsay, like, what were you thinking during this part? were you I was, like, worried for you because your, like, love for animals. it It was the moment when Ma Costa was like, Billy, you can go find Radder. It's okay. You can go. I was like, nope. I know. Yep.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yep. I know. I was, like, thinking of you because you love animals so much. And I was like, Every time an animal disappeared, I was, I shed a tear. Yeah.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah. I have to keep hosting this episode. Quit. I know. I'm sorry. Well, okay. So at this point in like the book and the show, we, it's like kind of like coming together. Okay.
Theories on Demon Separation Motives
00:08:21
Speaker
This is what the gobblers are doing.
00:08:23
Speaker
They are currently trying to separate the demons from their demons. From the child. Right. so And they don't know why. They don't understand why. But they know that this is horrific.
00:08:34
Speaker
This is when my. From part one. I said that I had wild theory. This is where I can say my theory now. Okay. So. Whenever i had this theory. That the reason why.
00:08:47
Speaker
Which proved to be false later. The reason why they were cutting. the demon. From kids. I thought that. The adults wanted because Mrs. Coulter, her demon is not very connected to her.
00:09:04
Speaker
Like they don't really have a bond like other ones. So I thought that they were taking demons from kids and connecting it to other adults, like switching out their demons for better ones.
00:09:17
Speaker
Like tradesies? Yeah. Like would cut demons and connect them to themselves. Like if you wanted like a monkey instead of the one that you were stuck with, they were trading it out for like a better one.
00:09:31
Speaker
Or they wanted one that could switch out all the time because that's how like for a kid it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I thought that's what they were doing. And also, I had a theory that they were trying to have one person, like, have adults, they wanted multiple demons.
00:09:46
Speaker
So they were cutting a demon from a kid and in order for someone to have multiple demons for them. Collecting souls. Yeah, collecting souls for one person. Like, I was thinking maybe it means, like, if you had multiple demons, you'd have, like...
00:09:59
Speaker
more power or something like that i wasn't sure i was like trying to like connect that and i was like oh i got it so to be clear if you haven't read the books yet that is not what was happening
00:10:15
Speaker
i was trying to big brain it i really was i was like oh maybe that's it maybe that could be it maybe that's what's going on now i love it i love it i do We flash to back to our world where we see Lord Boreal who has found Elaine and Will Perry, who are the wife and son of this dude that he was looking for, who he believes to be from his world, but having a family in our world.
Lord Boreal's Search and Frater Coram's Past
00:10:51
Speaker
That sounds like something. I know men who'd probably be doing that. I'm very confused on why we want to find this person. i think he wants to know. I think Lord Boreal was trying to figure out how this person got across the worlds and what they know about crossing worlds.
00:11:16
Speaker
I think it was more of a, like, I need to find this dude so I can figure out what he knows and use it to my advantage. Yeah. Okay. Instead of having to figure it all out on my own. Lord Boreal is just a jerk.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah. um ah Elaine gives Will the letters that his father wrote to him. And so now Will has these letters as correspondence from his dad.
00:11:42
Speaker
And Elaine is starting to feel like she's being stalked. She's starting to feel like people have been in the home. She's starting to feel like You know, she's she's not mentally well, right?
00:11:56
Speaker
And Will's kind of been struggling to help take care of her this whole time. But now she's really starting to ramp up the paranoia. And Will thinks that it is just her paranoia.
00:12:08
Speaker
But Lord Boreal and his team of creeps literally are stalking her. So she might not be all there, but she ain't all gone either.
00:12:21
Speaker
Every time they cut to that man in that car, he was literally sitting and looking the exact same. i was like, is he even real? yeah I feel like they they used the same four-second cut.
00:12:33
Speaker
I was going to say that. Because he doesn't even move. was a mannequin in the car. Back with Lyra, we see Frater Coram meet with Seraphina Pecola the witch. Now this meeting is not in the book. it He meets with Seraphina's demon because witch demons can go apart from each other hundreds and thousands of miles. They can be apart from each other.
00:13:04
Speaker
Witches can also fly, which is super cool. ah But in the in the show, Seraphina does meet up with Fader Coram and It's this beautiful, we we learned that they had, that they were in love, that they had a son, that the son died during an epidemic, got sick and died. And Father Coram says that in his grief, he just wanted to be alone to grieve.
00:13:36
Speaker
And in Serafina's grief, she wanted to fight death, burn down the world. She... She was not going to take this lightly. And that's kind of what split them apart. Of course, witches live for hundreds and hundreds of years. Fodder Quorum is fully human and going to live a normal life. And so she ate or he aged and she did not.
00:14:02
Speaker
But you can tell the book in the book and in the in the show. But in the show, we kind of see it in stark relief because they do meet in the book. They choose specifically not to um Because they know it will hurt.
00:14:16
Speaker
And they know. That they can't be together. But in the. In the show they do. And it is this beautiful moment of him saying. You know.
00:14:29
Speaker
That she. It hurts to see her. But he's glad that that he has. and And she's still beautiful. She's so beautiful. and And she says so are you. I'm not so old that I still can't see the man inside. And that just like.
00:14:43
Speaker
Mm-hmm. The show knew what they were doing. they This show. This show, you guys. Yeah. The show knew what they were doing by bringing them together for a second and having their moments. And it is not this, like, it's just a very delicate, beautiful, intimate story.
00:15:06
Speaker
moment it's not like this make out session you know and so it was it's done so well and so beautifully because i feel like this one of those moments where like if they didn't do it right it would have just been weird yeah but they they really got it him just crying and she flies away my god i need more of it i need more of it um At this point, Billy does pass away.
Lyra's Capture and Undercover Mission at Bolvangar
00:15:38
Speaker
And then a raiding party of some kind comes in and captures Lyra in the night, killing some of the Egyptian guards, and runs off with ly Lyra and drops her off at Bullmanger because they're paying for kids.
00:15:58
Speaker
So Lyra's... Right in the thick of things. And that's where that episode ends.
00:16:07
Speaker
In the book, Lyra kind of knows right away where she is in the movie. She doesn't realize exactly where she is until they go to offer her some cold weather clothes. to They take her furs and stuff and offer her cold weather clothes. And it's the same suit as what Billy Costa was wearing when she found him.
00:16:29
Speaker
So she kind of realizes, oh crap. and She's like, this is not good. This is not good. Episode six, which is, i think, chapter like 16 or 17 in the book, she realizes right away that she cannot tell them her name.
00:16:48
Speaker
So she's when they ask her name, she says she's Lizzie Brooks. She gets kind of processed through. They do a quick physical. They give her her clothes. They send her into the mess hall where everybody's going to eat. And then you know, show her to the dormitories.
00:17:03
Speaker
She right away sees her buddy Roger in the book. She sees Billy as well. Cause Billy's not dead in the book and their demons talk to each other. So they don't draw attention, passing the word that like you, we don't know each other act dumb, do not draw attention to us.
00:17:24
Speaker
Um, And they start kind of making a plan. Like, what do you know? What have you found out? You know, Lyra tells them that help is coming.
00:17:37
Speaker
You know, we just have to hold on They tell her about what they've noticed about like the ceiling tiles and getting around in the ceiling in the book. In the show, they don't really get as much interaction
00:17:52
Speaker
Mrs. Coulter is on her way to Bullwanger and Lyra finds out and she's kind of terrified. And in the show, she convinces the other girls to like, you have to hide me.
00:18:06
Speaker
She can't know I'm here. And she tells them that she's my mom. She can't know I'm here. in the In the book, she that doesn't quite happen, but she kind of gets the whole like,
00:18:22
Speaker
She can't she can't know I'm here. i don't want to see her She we have to kind of make sure to not be around when she's around. Right. She also starts asking about like when do they you know the kids don't know what's going on still.
00:18:36
Speaker
Of course Lyra does. And so she doesn't really want to tell them exactly what's happening. But she's hearing them talk about what they've already gathered, which is that this has something to do with dust, that they measure our demons, that they're constantly weighing us and checking our age.
00:18:52
Speaker
And whenever your demons stop shifting is when they take you. and So there's there's already this fear amongst the kids. They are already very...
00:19:07
Speaker
scared about where they are, but also afraid to kind of push back at the adults, at the authority. The place is also guarded by armed guards, and the kids know that.
00:19:21
Speaker
So even if they could overpower the nurses and the staff, they have armed guards keeping them inside. Outside, there's nothing but fields of ice and snow. So even if they manage to get past the armed guards, where are they going to go?
00:19:37
Speaker
And she also notices that like the staff is like very... Dead inside. Yeah, very like dead inside. Like they don't really have any type of like emotions.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah, they're very very just kind of stoic. They don't don't show anything.
00:19:58
Speaker
Lyra begins to make a plan with Roger on how to escape. She's going to pull the fire alarm when it's time and she wants all the kids to know.
00:20:10
Speaker
well at this point, that don't they somehow sneak into a room or something and see all the demons? There's the test alarm. There's the test. fire drill. Yep, drill. yup the fire drill And they find a room with demons but no kids.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah. That part ripped my soul out. Like, literally, I'm watching the show, like, in the book, crying, listening to the audio book.
00:20:40
Speaker
I was listening to the audio book, just standing there, not moving, crying. Watched it in the show, sobbing. And, like, she talks about how, like, they're just, like, looking for human contact with And I just like could not take it. But again, there's all these taboos about how to handle demons too.
00:21:01
Speaker
If that's not your demon, you don't touch it. Yeah. Right? And so even though she feels like that's what she wants to do, she she knows she shouldn't. Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
In the book, they kind of make it seem like once the demon and the children are separated, if they survive – That these kids, they just – they're done with them. They just kind of set them loose to like fend for themselves or figure it out.
00:21:29
Speaker
And there's lots of – like the guy in the village that had the – Billy, or in the book it was Tony, tells them there's lots of other kids. We see other kids like this in the woods now and then, but they don't last long.
00:21:42
Speaker
who So we kind of get this impression that these kids are just – you know, shoved off and that the demons are what's kept. In the show, they do find the room with all of these kids and no demons.
00:21:59
Speaker
And these kids are much like Billy Costa was found, catatonic, mumbling, you know, counting softly to themselves. And they're rhythmically counting along with the sign with the light, with the alarm light.
00:22:12
Speaker
and And so Lyra and Roger make this plan to get out. They're going to... is You know, when the when the time is right, they're going to pull the fire alarm.
Escape and Chaos at Bolvangar
00:22:21
Speaker
All the kids need to run. The Egyptians are coming.
00:22:24
Speaker
We just have to wait. Now, at this point in the book two, Serafina Pekela's demon comes to Lyra to tell her how far away the Egyptians are, that Yorick Berenensen is closer and coming faster, but they're they're coming, right?
00:22:42
Speaker
And, ah you know, just to hold on a little bit longer. In the book, Serafina's, Pecola's demon also helps to release the demons that are caged.
00:22:56
Speaker
And they were doing that, they were taking way too long to show us what what they did with those demons in the show. I was like, hello? What about the demons? I thought the same thing. Because the kids came out and then I was like where are the demons? Yeah. Hello, where are the animals? I was scared. Right.
00:23:14
Speaker
But they get – in the book, they get the demons out. The demon convinces these these child demons to transform into birds so that they can fly away. But they are weak.
00:23:25
Speaker
They are – they're struggling. And – Even if they make it back to their kids. And and in the book. they they describe They have to go find these kids now. They're not there.
00:23:40
Speaker
And. You know we're kind of told that like. Even if they're reunited. It'll never be the same. Which is heartbreaking. So then when you see it in the show. After having read that in the book. Knowing that that bond never comes back.
00:23:55
Speaker
Like. You see all those kids. And you see all those demons. And. It's horrible. it's so horrible. And I'm like, well this is a kid's book. This is a kid's book. This is kid's book. don't think this show is a kid's show. I'm just saying.
00:24:10
Speaker
i don't know that I would want – I mean, there's nothing in it that's, like, particularly, like, super violent or, you know, like, super sexual or gory or anything. You know I mean Like, it's not, like, specifically not for kids. But in my mind, it's such a heavy show. I don't know that I would want, you know, a fifth or sixth grader middle schooler watching this, you know, personally. Yeah.
00:24:40
Speaker
So while while we are waiting for them to get rescued, Mrs. Coulter spots Lyra.
00:24:52
Speaker
they They are literally hauling Lyra and Pan into the cutter, the incision machine. lyra is screaming pan is screaming everybody's yelling in the show i'm bawling exactly in the show lyra screams mrs coulter is my mother mrs coulter is my mother and the guy shows that whole part right the guy's about to slam the door and he's like wait what and the The girl up in the booth is like... She's lying. Just close the door. you know
00:25:28
Speaker
But this is when Mrs. Coulter happens to come into the room at just the right moment. And stops the machine just seconds before...
00:25:39
Speaker
it yeah I was... I knew it was going to happen. and I knew she was going to save her. I still was panicking in this part. So at this point... At this point in the book and the show...
Mrs. Coulter's Complex Character
00:25:52
Speaker
I'm like really like starting like a character analysis of Mrs. Coulter. Okay. You know what I mean? Because can't get a good read on her.
00:26:05
Speaker
i can't get a read on her as a character um whether she's like the big evil or not. I don't sense that she's the big evil.
00:26:19
Speaker
i think she wanted to be the big evil. And i think i I think she would have been the big evil except yeah Lyra won her over in the weirdest way possible. You know what i mean? Somehow – her Her motherly instincts that she had zero of slowly begin to thaw, slowly begin to to warm to Lyra and the role of mother.
00:26:46
Speaker
and But this is the part in the show that I kind of loved is Lyra has been saved from the incision and Pan have been saved. They're back in Mrs. Coulter's room. Mrs. Coulter is trying to convince her.
00:27:00
Speaker
that like we're not really doing anything that bad and lyra do it to everyone else but you right and lyra's not buying any of it but at some point she realizes she's just gonna have to fake it long enough to get this woman to trust her so that she can get out of there right and she does mrs coulter asks for the alethiometer and lyra hands her A sealed up tin with one the spy flies in it. And it she opens manages to pry it open and it runs at her.
00:27:33
Speaker
And in the show, when Lyra escapes and slams that door and locks it, and then they're both screaming at each other on either side of the door, i was just like...
00:27:46
Speaker
That was so good. That was such a moving moment for me. Yeah, like that was cinema. That's what it was. It really was. That was like peak. I loved that moment.
00:27:57
Speaker
Like mother and daughter doing the same thing, screaming at each other. just and and not not no words. They're literally just screaming. Like I wish I could have been...
00:28:10
Speaker
Like, on the sidelines, like, the people, like, filming, just witnessing them performing that. Yes. Like, it was just so, like, I had chills watching that. And Pan was like, all right, Lyra, enough.
00:28:26
Speaker
Enough. Pretty much. got And the the monkey the whole time hiding in the corner. Like, yeah this is too much for me. I'm out. The monkey hiding in the corner. Yeah. and mean But also the scene with ah Mrs. Coulter where she's trying to pry the tin open with the knife had me stressed.
00:28:41
Speaker
I was like, what are you doing with that knife? I know. Flashbacks to the ruins and him trying cut. Mm-mm. Yep. And she was like panicked. Like she was like, like they you have this seal really hard. and like she it was almost like this crazed look in her eye. upon Yes, I finally got it. Like crazy, creepy.
00:29:03
Speaker
She's the best actress for this part. Loved it. Like I can't, I cannot stop talking about like, it's like the character that you love to hate.
00:29:17
Speaker
Kind of thing where it's like she's such a bad person and you love to hate it because it's just done so well. Absolutely.
00:29:28
Speaker
Absolutely. ah So at this point, Lyra smashes that fire alarm. All the kids start to escape. She in the in the show, she goes to destroy the incision machine that so she just pushes a bajillion and a half buttons and it overloads itself and it explodes.
00:29:47
Speaker
That was crazy. That was crazy. That was lot. That was a lot. But she's – so she's trying to find her way to release the the demons that are still trapped in the show and the kids.
00:30:00
Speaker
And she's being kind of cornered by these Tartar – these guards when Yorick shows up and the Egyptians show up. And everybody kind of starts helping to, like, gather up the kids, get rid of the guards – And then Serafina shows up in the in the book, like witches, multiple show up in the show. It's just Serafina and she seems to handle it fine on her own. That's seems all they needed.
00:30:27
Speaker
That's all they needed. That scene was so badass where she fucking goes through and just. go you you And then out. Done. And then she was gone. She didn't even say bye. She yeah was like, job's done. I'm out.
00:30:42
Speaker
They in the book, the the kids are trying to leave, you know, and they're freezing and they don't know where to go and there's fighting happening and the place is exploding and burning down.
00:30:55
Speaker
It's very up in the air as to how they get out of there, um because from that point in the book.
00:31:06
Speaker
Lyra ends up back with Yorick and Lee Scoresby and Roger back on the airship getting out of there. In the show, they they kind of round up the kids and the demons um and the Gyptians.
00:31:26
Speaker
The Gyptians just stopping to hug the kids without the demons. Got me. that That got me. Mm-hmm.
00:31:37
Speaker
There were a lot of moments in the show that hit me real hard compared to the book. And the book hit me in a few places, but the show just is done so well. it And so that moment where, you know, Serafina's come in and just killed everybody. And Mrs. Coulter is even kind of like around the corner like, oh, shit, can I come out or am I going to get killed too?
00:32:03
Speaker
And then Roger walks out of this doorway leading these kids without demons wrapped in these red blankets. And the Egyptians just all stop.
00:32:16
Speaker
They just stop what they're doing. And they begin to just hug these kids. hey And it was such a beautiful moment. It's such a sad just – it was horrific and beautiful at the same time, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:34
Speaker
So meanwhile, Lee and Lyra and Roger and this giant armored bear are going up in a hot air
Dangerous Travels and Bear Duel
00:32:43
Speaker
balloon. i Literally, you would not catch me in a hot air balloon with a bear.
00:32:50
Speaker
i mean, no. Like, first of all, i was like, okay, first of all, how big is this hot air balloon basket? Because that's crazy. that A whole bear.
00:33:01
Speaker
a polar bear, too. They're not small. Yeah. like and was armor With armor on. armor. and I was like, what is the weight capacity, first of all? Because that's crazy.
00:33:13
Speaker
Well, and they do. They talk about it in the book that, like, it ain't easy to get in the air with his fat ass on board, you know? Like, that's insane to me. And Lee and Yorick have that kind of, like, banter of, like,
00:33:29
Speaker
battle buddies kind of thing like yeah fought together in the past and so they rip each other constantly you know and and he's like york you gained a few pounds and you know york tells lee that like your aim seems to be getting a bit better you know like yeah they tease each other and so it's kind of funny but yeah they're all up in this hot air balloon and they're going to go save lyra's dad who is being held captive by the other Passerbjorn, by the other armored bears.
00:34:01
Speaker
um However, as they're flying, it's middle of the night in the Arctic Circle, so it's dark. And apparently there's cliff gas, which seemed to be some sort of like skeletal bat Ghost creature?
00:34:20
Speaker
i don't know. Either way, they attack the balloon. Lee's trying to shoot him off. And in the kerfuffle, Lyra falls out of the hot air balloon.
00:34:32
Speaker
That part had me so stressed. I did not like that part. That part had me stressed. Now, yeah again, in the book, it's a little different. They're being towed by the witches, which, how cool is that? I would fly in a hot air balloon being towed by witches. That...
00:34:46
Speaker
Maybe not with the bear, but. No, I don't want the bear in the basket. Take the bear out of the basket. That was a fancy basket, too. There were all kinds of like. Yeah. Well, in the when he's shooting at those things in a hot air balloon.
00:35:02
Speaker
I know. It doesn't seem smart. Let's not shoot bullets at the hot air balloon. Like we're already really high in the air. Yeah. somehow we're just gonna shoot holes hot air balloons are crazy as it is we're really high up in the air and you're gonna shoot bullets up in the sky the whole basket's just a rocket yeah a basket bottom falls out Lyra's a goner. Lyra's gone. Yep.
00:35:30
Speaker
Just lost a kid. It happens. Whatever. It's like, what's the the possum in the wild robot? Pinktail. She's like, meh.
00:35:44
Speaker
Like, oh, you're still alive? Oh, okay. Right? So she falls out of the- Lyra falls out of the basket. and
00:35:56
Speaker
we we that kind of ends that episode
00:36:01
Speaker
episode seven we find out that lyra survives yay but she's how literally how snow is not always soft when you hit but maybe she just got lucky with the fluffy stuff So she survives the fall, but she is captured by other armored bears and taken Jofer Rackensen's palace, the king of the Pasarbyr.
00:36:32
Speaker
She convinces Jofer. That she is Yorick's demon. That Mrs. Coulter had been lying to him this whole time and that she could get Bear's demons and Yorick got the first one, but she doesn't want to be Yorick's demon. She wants to be Yorick's demon, the king of the bears. She just butters him up.
00:36:56
Speaker
She's so smart. but If I was in this situation, I'd be like, I don't know. I mean... I would not be able to like think on my feet like this. Like this is crazy. She's over here like making up the best stories.
00:37:10
Speaker
And Yofur's over here eating it up. He's like, all right, let's do this. And she convinces him that the only way for her to become his demon is if he kills Yorick in single combat.
00:37:26
Speaker
Because she knows that if Yorick even comes into the their lands or whatever, that he's going to be killed instantly. He's not considered ah an armored bear anymore, a passerbjorn anymore, because at one point he broke the law by killing another bear.
00:37:42
Speaker
We find out that he was tricked into it, but that's a whole different story. So Yorick gets in, gets led back to the castle. Joffer's like,
00:37:56
Speaker
game on, bro. And Yorick's like, are you sure? and basically just wipes wipes the floor with him. He really does. Done for.
00:38:08
Speaker
like, you're done. But mean, do have any doubt? No, absolutely not. And Yorick is just so dedicated to Lyra and so just in love with who she Mm-hmm.
00:38:21
Speaker
And he would like run like he was like running for her when he knew that she like in the show, whenever she was like falling out of the basket, Lee was like freaking out like he was freaking out because he was like in charge of protecting her.
00:38:37
Speaker
Was, like, trying to grab her. And even York was, like, Lily, like, you need to grab her, like, right now, right now, right now. And then she fell. And then he, like, must have hurried up and was, like, you know, screw Lee. Goodbye. Like, I need to go find Lyra. And, like, Lily was running nonstop yeah to get to her.
00:38:54
Speaker
York is so dedicated to Lyra. And not her protection. that so much. I love I know. He's my favorite. But it's – he's the best. He really is. And it's not just about protecting her. It's about – Like being able to serve her and her purpose and what it is that she – because he recognizes that she has something big to do.
00:39:18
Speaker
And he wants to make sure that she's able to do it. And so when she says, will you take me here? He's like, okay. And when she's like, I want to stop. Can we stop?
00:39:28
Speaker
He's like, okay. At one point, she curls up next to him and he's kind of like, what the hell? And she's like, I'm cold. You're warm. And he was like, oh, okay. You know, like. Yeah. Lindsay, I knew you would love him because you love the grumpy sunshine friendship.
00:39:43
Speaker
That is so yeah your thing. Yep. That is so your thing. Boy, he? He's, yeah. That's Yorick. Mm-hmm. i I really love. So at this point, he this is when he wins the battle with Jopher.
00:40:00
Speaker
He takes back his rightful place as king of the the bears, king of the Pasar Bjorn. And um he gives Lyra a new name.
00:40:13
Speaker
He names her Lyra Silvertongue for her ability to manipulate the situation as well as she did. And Lyra is so honored by this name that she insists on using it basically throughout the rest of the series.
00:40:32
Speaker
And I just I thought that was a really beautiful like he Yorick is the one who gives her her name after you know she finds out that she's had this same last name as Asriel who she thought was her uncle but is actually her dad but she's been lied to about who her parents are her whole life. And always left by him too. Always left by him. yeah Not just lied to and left, but absolutely freaking used and betrayed by both of her parents.
00:40:58
Speaker
And so why would she why would she ever want to be Lyra Balacqua ever again when she has a name like Lyra Silvertongue that she earned and was gifted to her by the King of the Passerbjorn? Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
I wish I could tell that story about my name. You know what i mean? yeah Yeah. I would like someone to gift to me. and No, I don't actually. Never mind. Lord knows what y'all want to call me.
00:41:26
Speaker
So at this point, Lee Scoresby and Hester have crash landed um and Serafina, you know, finds them.
00:41:38
Speaker
to kind of help them back on track and lee is all upset that he has lost lyra and seraphina says no you got her exactly where she needed to be and now someone else is taking her the rest of the way like you did exactly what you were supposed to do yorick uh offers to take lyra the rest of the way to her dad with roger because roger's with yorick Because Lyra wants so badly to get back to her dad and give him the alethiometer that she thinks he needs, right? Because the alethiometer keeps telling her that she's supposed to bring her dad something.
00:42:13
Speaker
And so that's the only thing that she can kind of figure. And so she packs up Roger and they jump on the bear's back and they go off to where the bears have been guarding him, which is actually his whole freaking laboratory up on a giant mountain. Mm-hmm.
00:42:31
Speaker
And when they get there right away, g she kind of goes to the door. Asriel sees her and is like, no, i didn't ask for you. no like what are you doing here? Yeah, like livid.
00:42:46
Speaker
He's panicked, freaked out, mad. And then he sees Roger and he's like, whatever, you guys come inside, get him some food. Let's get him cleaned up. He's like kind of relieved.
00:42:57
Speaker
Mm-hmm. He kind of like switches. it goes from like, no, you can't be here to like, oh, well, you're already here. Come on in. You know, it and both kids notice it right away.
00:43:10
Speaker
Of course, Lyra is heartbroken because she is literally battled. with You know, like armed guards, almost lost her demon, had to fight her mother, escaped being captured countless times just to get to him.
00:43:29
Speaker
And then he treats her like that. and No wonder she don't want his name.
00:43:36
Speaker
They flash at this point to the Egyptians, which we don't get this in the book of them gathering up the kids and like All the kids plus all the the kids and demons that were separated.
00:43:49
Speaker
But they're together too. And they are heading back south. We don't quite get that in the book. But we do hear more about it in the next books. So they will they won't leave us hanging on that.
00:44:04
Speaker
We get some more conversation with Lyra and her father at this point about what he's doing up there. and why he's so interested in dust and what this dust is all about.
00:44:16
Speaker
And this is when he reveals to Lyra that
00:44:24
Speaker
the church thinks that dust is sin. It's evidence of original sin. that you when you're When you're innocent, when your demons are innocent, they can still shift because in their version of the Bible, there were demons as well. So they kind of talk about that's when the demons can still shift.
00:44:48
Speaker
And that it wasn't until Eve ate the fruit that their demons settled. And... So the only thing that they can see of that when when your demon settles is when the adults start collecting dust.
00:45:05
Speaker
And so that must be evidence of sin, of of the original sin.
00:45:12
Speaker
We don't really get what Ezreal really thinks it is. All he knows is that it is coming from these other worlds and he can see these other worlds and he wants to go to these other worlds. Mm-hmm.
00:45:23
Speaker
Yep. he He is – this is where we start to see him be a little crazed. Yeah. This single track mind.
00:45:34
Speaker
And at one point even Lyra says, you know, and you call yourself a father. and he says – love this in the show. And he says, no, that's the point. I've never called myself a father. And that was like a gut punch. like Can you imagine hearing that at 12 years Yeah.
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah. So like built up this thing in like your head as you're going to expect something. And like, yeahp also at this point, I mean, you always know, I think, especially reading it.
00:46:08
Speaker
as an adult, that this guy is not a good guy. Right. You know? But now it's kind of shifting where, like, he is... Like, there's a difference between, like, just not a good guy and possibly on, like, the bad side.
00:46:26
Speaker
Right. Of, like, the story. And this is where I'm like, oh, he is not... good No, it literally turns out all the adults except for the Egyptians are bad.
00:46:39
Speaker
All of them. All of them. Yeah. You know, ah literally all of the the people, the adults in this world that are telling everyone that they are the right way, they are the good ones, they are the best ones, they're the ones you need to listen to, they know what's best for you, you know or and they're better than everyone else, are all bad.
00:47:01
Speaker
The people that are content to be considered the least of society turn out to be the best people. And that it's it's just, don't know, it's devastating. These children had to find that out.
00:47:15
Speaker
Yeah. we And one of my favorite quotes of like this entire book is like at the very end where it's like, if all the adults want to get rid of dust, then that must mean that it must be good.
00:47:29
Speaker
Right. yeah And I love that yeah because that is like such, I feel like that's very relevant to, you can say that about a lot of things. But I just think that's interesting.
00:47:41
Speaker
We do flashback to our world but where Will Perry and his mom have had a break-in and somebody has just ransacked the house. This is when Will realizes that his mom is not paranoid.
00:47:55
Speaker
That something is really wrong. And he but takes his mom to someplace safe. His coaches. i think it's his coach of some kinds.
00:48:05
Speaker
Or maybe a teacher's house. And... but he And convinces them, like, can you just kind of keep track of my mom for a little bit so that I can go clean up kind of thing. But what he does is he gathers up those letters and he runs.
00:48:19
Speaker
So now Will is on the run and he's going to read through those letters and he doesn't really know what to do, but he's going he's trying to figure it out.
00:48:27
Speaker
And... At one point when he goes back to the house to to get the letters and some other things, he comes into contact with the Lord Boreal's goons and accidentally kills one of them by pushing them over the rail and he falls.
00:48:45
Speaker
So now Will's even more scared of going, getting any kind of help because he thinks he's going get in trouble. Back in Lyra's world, we're in episode eight now.
00:48:59
Speaker
Lord Asriel is basically captured Roger and taking him up to the closest point to the Northern Lights he can get. And he is going sever the bond between Roger and Roger's demon.
00:49:21
Speaker
In the book, Asriel's butler dude wakes up Lyra and says, He's mad. He's crazy. He's taken Roger. You need to go get him.
00:49:33
Speaker
In the show, his butler dude knows what's going to happen and seems kind of cool with it. Which I thought was really sad. Either way, Lyra does go chasing after them to try and save Roger. The Magisterium at this point is also coming to get Asriel.
00:49:53
Speaker
This episode is not... There's not a ton of substance to it because a lot of it is just like the bears are fighting the Magisterium. The Magisterium is going after Asriel. Everything's in slow motion. It's just building, building, building.
00:50:10
Speaker
But the gist of it is is that Asriel does end up killing Roger. and he does open ah gateway into a new world.
00:50:24
Speaker
And Lyra realizes that the she can't trust any of the adults in her life.
Lyra's Growth and New Challenges
00:50:31
Speaker
And that one of the best things that she can do is to honor Roger's death by finding dust before her father does.
00:50:38
Speaker
By finding the source of dust before her father does. And she says goodbye to Roger. um And leaves him gently in the snow, which I cried again. That, just the whole building The whole thing I bawled.
00:50:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The whole thing building up of severing their bond and like them like yelling to each other. can't. I cannot deal with that. It was too much.
00:51:10
Speaker
And then the whole moment between Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Yeah. That was kind of wild. That was weird because she's talking about how like, i can't let you do this. He's talking about you can't really stop me. And then he's like, you could come with me. We could do this together. And she she's like, no, I want to stay and be like a mom.
00:51:27
Speaker
Right. To Lyra, which was like. And he's like, are you sure? even Asriel was like, wait, what? Yeah. Yeah. and She was like, no, this is what I want. And of course, Lyra was like, nope.
00:51:39
Speaker
And her and Pan step into this gateway, which was really beautifully done. his was really pretty. Well, like at this point, I was thinking with Mrs. Coulter, like I couldn't tell if this was like her own personal choice of, you know, within herself wanting to you know, stay for Lyra and all that.
00:52:06
Speaker
Or, like, I just can't tell like, the Magisterium, if they almost, like, have something over on her to work with them or if she just is, like, kind of, like, is that bad.
00:52:18
Speaker
That's what I'm trying to figure I guess we'll have to find out. Yeah. We also see ah at the end of this episode ah Will Perry... stepping through the gate from his world into for some reason thought they were gonna run into each other i did too like grab hands i thought they were thought they were gonna be like oh sorry because they really did like the way the show was going they both kind of stepped through at the same time yeah i forgot it's probably completely two different portal areas so well because one's at the north pole and one's yeah yeah yeah well i realized that
00:52:55
Speaker
what ah What's neat, though, is this is kind of where we we get – we stop. This is it. We don't really see anything else until the next season and the next book, which we will be covering in our our next season, season three of Based on a Book. So keep an eye out. All of this month, all of the titles we cover.
00:53:15
Speaker
our first books in a series, and we will be covering the second and third books as well. So keep an eye out for We have to wait that long. You have to wait. I don't know if I can. But don't wait too much longer for a little bit more His Dark Materials talk. Come back to us for part three, where we will discuss a little bit more about the show, kind of recap what we discussed. But we want to dig in a little bit to that horrible movie from 2007. Yeah.
00:53:40
Speaker
um It reminds me a lot of our Percy Jackson talks and the Percy Jackson movie. So that ought to be fun. So stick around for that. But that brings us to our quote of the or our question of the episode, which is, if you had access to the alethiometer, would you use it to ask a question for yourself?
00:54:06
Speaker
a question about your future or find out other people's secrets. What you got, Lindsay? Man. um I want to say that I'd probably say future just because I like to plan ahead anyway, but I'm probably like going to end up looking at my past and like, man, did I overthink that scenario? What actually happened? Probably. Yes.
00:54:32
Speaker
We come on. Let's face it. We all do. It's true. Mm-hmm. I don't know. I have a lot of paranoia about seeing my future. i really do. i i don't like the idea of seeing my future because i I feel like that would affect so many things so terribly.
00:54:52
Speaker
So because of that, I think I would just want to see somebody else's. i get it. What's going on in their life. I'd be like, no, I'm just going to pretend like I don't know what's going on.
00:55:05
Speaker
I have like an epic fascination with tarot and all things divination. And I would say that I would just not use the damn thing.
00:55:17
Speaker
I just like I'm kind of the same. I don't really want to know the things that I'm supposed to know come to me when I'm supposed to know them. Yeah. well will tell me what they want me to know when they're ready for me to know it. And I just I'm just going to leave it like that.
00:55:30
Speaker
Although I do like the idea that it can give you insight into like if I ask the alethiometer, like, what's the weather going to be tomorrow for sure? Should I reserve the park pavilion or should i reserve like, I don't know, room somewhere, you know, like an actual venue? Like, who knows?
00:55:50
Speaker
Or I could ask like, you know. are there actually peanuts in that restaurant or is it truly peanut free you know like you might could get some little bit more detailed truths but for the most part i don't think i would use it at all yeah i feel like when you start messing with like the path that you're like supposed to be on you get put on to like Into bizarre situations you're to be And make decisions that you wouldn't have normally made. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:24
Speaker
And just have, like, gone with the flow. Yeah, there you go. Exactly. Well, that wraps up part two. Yeah. of our coverage of his dark materials. We hope you'll join us for part three, but don't forget to follow us on socials for more thoughts, insights, clips, different things that we find and post to our stories because they're fun or just to see our beautiful faces because we are gorgeous.
00:56:50
Speaker
ah We have Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and of course, YouTube. You can find our podcast anywhere you find podcasts. And we cannot wait to see you again the next chapter of Based on a Book.
00:57:04
Speaker
Bye. Bye.