His Dark Materials 2x03: Theft
Jul. 7th, 2021 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsHis Dark Materials 2x03: Theft
Well, as I found this episode to be quite mediocre, I suppose I at least have some things to talk about as a parse out why I found it so meh.
I don’t think there was anything about this episode that I thought didn’t work. And if I take it in pieces, I’d say most if not all of it was working, but taken as a whole I’m underwhelmed.
While I still don’t think show earned Lee’s devotion to Lyra, I at least bought it this time. I was initially worried that one of the things I liked about last episode was the lack of Lee and LMM, but I mostly liked him this time. I still think he’s miscast, I suspect they went looking for a charismatic guy (which they got), but didn’t put as much thought into how he suited to role in other ways. And there’s something about the voice that doesn’t mesh right. But I do think he’s written better that he generally has been.
Same with Colter I suppose you could say. This might be her best episode yet, although it actually kind of breaks every conventional rule of how to delve into who a character is since it’s all tell instead of show. But I also don’t think they were trying so hard to frame her in some creative way and just let her scenes play, and it’s much better for it.
Lyra and Will end up not getting as much to do, as even Lyra’s plot was a lot about the other people in it and Will’s was bordering on ‘Will is also there’ as I’m not sure he got a ton of material that furthered his story. More hitting home that the world they’re camped in might not be safe for him for as long as they need it to be.
I am finding myself a little curious how some of these subplots were handled in the book. Because some of them feel very much like the show’s writing is trying to take something that was gone over quickly into a full story where of course the timing has to match up with where it ends. You know, a lot like Will’s story in the first season. Some of them are doing okay, as the Lee and Colter stuff seems like an actual story beat. But then you have the stuff surrounding the witches and that feels very much like in the book these actions were discussed by one character catching another up on what happened off-page.
I guess while I’m on the subject, I’m curious how Boreal was handled in the books. Was the reveal here a surprise in the books or was it something the reader had been waiting for the characters to catch on to? I actually considered that last episode, if when Lyra met him for the first time it might have played very differently if we didn’t already know who he was.
And again, this is kind of what I was getting into last time; I’m not just watching this and thinking about it as it unfolds, I’m thinking about how it unfolds relative to the book; even though I haven’t read the book. It causes an interesting way of taking in the material, but not necessarily one I would recommend or apparently can easily describe.
Sigh. Okay, I’ve been putting it off for like a season now, but these last couple episodes have made me think about it. Was Will black in the book? I’m not complaining if he wasn’t; again I don’t have a mental version of Will for him to fit or clash with. And I know that racial issues aren’t the same in England as they are in the US; and even less so in what is portrayed in the media (on both sides of the pond). But there are elements of Will’s story that feel…like they would be different if they had been written with a non-white person in mind.
Especially when I’ve discussed my weird lens that I view the show through. It means that when I’m watching something like his grandparents last episode I’m wondering how much I should actually read into their attitude. They clearly have an attitude with Will and his mom, but how should I read into it? Or, more broadly, the whole subplot of a young black man being pursued by the police for nebulously explained reasons. Was it originally written with that element in mind, and just never was that big a deal because it didn’t need to be; or was the part written with Will being white so of course that factor wouldn’t come into it?
I’m sure I’m not expressing that well, these are not issues I like getting into. More my speed is the observation that Dafne Keen seem quite a bit taller this season, or maybe they just shot her from a weird angle a couple times.
Well, as I found this episode to be quite mediocre, I suppose I at least have some things to talk about as a parse out why I found it so meh.
I don’t think there was anything about this episode that I thought didn’t work. And if I take it in pieces, I’d say most if not all of it was working, but taken as a whole I’m underwhelmed.
While I still don’t think show earned Lee’s devotion to Lyra, I at least bought it this time. I was initially worried that one of the things I liked about last episode was the lack of Lee and LMM, but I mostly liked him this time. I still think he’s miscast, I suspect they went looking for a charismatic guy (which they got), but didn’t put as much thought into how he suited to role in other ways. And there’s something about the voice that doesn’t mesh right. But I do think he’s written better that he generally has been.
Same with Colter I suppose you could say. This might be her best episode yet, although it actually kind of breaks every conventional rule of how to delve into who a character is since it’s all tell instead of show. But I also don’t think they were trying so hard to frame her in some creative way and just let her scenes play, and it’s much better for it.
Lyra and Will end up not getting as much to do, as even Lyra’s plot was a lot about the other people in it and Will’s was bordering on ‘Will is also there’ as I’m not sure he got a ton of material that furthered his story. More hitting home that the world they’re camped in might not be safe for him for as long as they need it to be.
I am finding myself a little curious how some of these subplots were handled in the book. Because some of them feel very much like the show’s writing is trying to take something that was gone over quickly into a full story where of course the timing has to match up with where it ends. You know, a lot like Will’s story in the first season. Some of them are doing okay, as the Lee and Colter stuff seems like an actual story beat. But then you have the stuff surrounding the witches and that feels very much like in the book these actions were discussed by one character catching another up on what happened off-page.
I guess while I’m on the subject, I’m curious how Boreal was handled in the books. Was the reveal here a surprise in the books or was it something the reader had been waiting for the characters to catch on to? I actually considered that last episode, if when Lyra met him for the first time it might have played very differently if we didn’t already know who he was.
And again, this is kind of what I was getting into last time; I’m not just watching this and thinking about it as it unfolds, I’m thinking about how it unfolds relative to the book; even though I haven’t read the book. It causes an interesting way of taking in the material, but not necessarily one I would recommend or apparently can easily describe.
Sigh. Okay, I’ve been putting it off for like a season now, but these last couple episodes have made me think about it. Was Will black in the book? I’m not complaining if he wasn’t; again I don’t have a mental version of Will for him to fit or clash with. And I know that racial issues aren’t the same in England as they are in the US; and even less so in what is portrayed in the media (on both sides of the pond). But there are elements of Will’s story that feel…like they would be different if they had been written with a non-white person in mind.
Especially when I’ve discussed my weird lens that I view the show through. It means that when I’m watching something like his grandparents last episode I’m wondering how much I should actually read into their attitude. They clearly have an attitude with Will and his mom, but how should I read into it? Or, more broadly, the whole subplot of a young black man being pursued by the police for nebulously explained reasons. Was it originally written with that element in mind, and just never was that big a deal because it didn’t need to be; or was the part written with Will being white so of course that factor wouldn’t come into it?
I’m sure I’m not expressing that well, these are not issues I like getting into. More my speed is the observation that Dafne Keen seem quite a bit taller this season, or maybe they just shot her from a weird angle a couple times.
