His Dark Materials Season 3 is the final season of a fantasy drama television series based on the trilogy of novels of the same name by Philip Pullman, with a season essentially covering a book in the series. It is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Productions, for BBC One and HBO, with the latter handling international distribution. (Wikipedia)
His Dark Materials Season 3 is based on The Amber Spyglass and like the previous seasons is reasonably faithful to the key plot points of the source material. That said, Season 3 does somewhat gloss over Lord Asriel’s setting up of his Republic of Heaven and recruitment of various allies, including the Gallivespians – a race of little winged humanoids – not to mention a couple of renegade angels.
At the beginning of His Dark Materials Season 3, Lyra has been captured by her mother, the duplicitous Mrs Colter and Will Parry is desperate to find her. Will is eager to bring the Subtle Knife to Asriel as directed by his late father but his loyalty to Lyra always puts her first in every decision. This is, of course, a central theme of the series – how Lyra’s parents have been unfaithful to her and so due to that she is fiercely loyal to those she calls friends. Will respects Lyra for this, and thus supports Lyra in every way possible.
Lyra’s obstinate loyalty will test her and her allies and involve incredible risks but ultimately Lyra is proven right in every instance. This has nothing to do with her physical strength and skills but her indomitable spirit and that is what distinguishes her from the typical ‘chosen one’ trope. It is the ties that bind that win the day for the ‘good’ guys as sacrificial love beats out hubris and ambition every single time!
Only real issue has to do with the whole concept of Lyra somehow being the new Eve (?) and thus the bad guys have to destroy her to prevent a second fall? Makes no sense whatsoever – does this eradicate sin and the effects of the original fall? How? Never explained! Ridiculous. This idea renders much of the finale rather silly – not to mention trite and sentimental – after the penultimate episode was so strong but there you go.
In the final analysis, His Dark Materials is an enjoyable watch and one of the better fantasy adaptations in recent memory. Which is no mean feat considering the poor fantasy series currently out there. Recommended!
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