His Dark Materials 3.7-3.8: HappySad Endings

Well, His Dark Materials certainly saved the very best for last, in the two concluding episodes of the third and final season (on HBO, at least for now) that lifted this entire three season narrative, for me, into Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter territory.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Episode 3.7 contained some first-class battle scenes between good and evil and its various manifestations, as well as a suitable reunion of Coulter and Asriel, even if that also spelled the end of their fleshly existence.  In fact, this next-to-last episode was so good and satisfying, I almost was hoping that it was the final episode in this all-too-short, three-season series.

I felt both more and less so after seeing episode 3.8.  As a paean to love, it was as tender and beautiful as 3.7 had been powerful.  But if you were looking for a happy ending, you were bound to be disappointed, as at least I was.  It was wonderful to see Lyra and Will on the bench at the end, sitting next to each other but unable to touch each other, because they were in different worlds.  And it was heartbreaking to see that closing scene as well, for the same reason.

Look, I'm a hopeless romantic and an incurable softie when it comes to fiction, whether on the screen or page.  There's more than enough pain and heartbreak in real life.  But I also wasn't convinced that Lyra and Will in separate worlds was so necessary.  (Note, again, that I haven't read Philip Pullman's novels.)  But it seems to me that with all this magic around, with the angels and witches and who knows what and who else, there could have been and should have been a way.

But, hey, that's what season fours are for, and I predict there will be one or more on HBO or elsewhere.  In the meantime, I'll try to take some solace in my daughter's daemon.

See His Dark Materials 3.6: Stories

See also His Dark Materials 2.1-3: Dust, Dark Matter, and Multiple Universes ... His Dark Materials 2.4: Chosen by the Knife ... His Dark Materials 2.5: Daughter and Mother ... His Dark Materials 2.6: The Hug and the Control ... His Dark Materials 2.7: Lots of Action, Little Time

And see also His Dark Materials 1.1: Radiation Punk ...  His Dark Materials 1.3: Coulter's Daemons ... His Dark Materials 1.4: The Bears ... His Dark Materials 1.5:  Sleepers and Questions ... His Dark Materials 1.6: His Fast Materials