His Dark Materials 2x07: Æsahættr
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His Dark Materials 2x07: Æsahættr
Well, I suppose this show has worked me back around to ‘I should probably read the books’ level by the end of the season. But not enough to make me sure that I will. Enough that I can at least go back to thinking ‘I can see how this would work better in the book, but it still might not be for me.’
Look, I want to get to the god-killing part of the story; I’m way more curious about what Asriel’s been off doing than I am any of the things we’ve been watching happen. Also, I’m vaguely curious if they’re always so strict at saying ‘the Authority’ in the book or if it’s actually called God there. I’m not sure which way it should go; in some ways it makes sense to have the people of Lyra’s world call it something different, so maybe they do; but there’s also something to it as if the show is trying mask that it’s about killing god which I would find hysterical if they are. We have this story dripping in Old Testament Judeo-Christian mythology but we don’t want to get too much heat for talking about God.
I have quite a few scraps of thoughts about this one, but I can’t lock many of them down. As an episode it was decent and was at least trying to put some character work back into the lead characters, but it’s not super well done. Like I said, I can kind of see how it would be better in book form, because we’re inherently more in the character’s heads so they can do more reflection and reaction than are going to come through in a visual story.
There is something I find myself back on (if I ever left) but from a different angle through the season. Coulter has to work better in book form, doesn’t she? In seeing her through Lyra’s eyes I think she would seem a lot more layered that she does when we watch her. She just seems evil for the sake of evil and a clear case of an abusive parent who loves their kid ‘in their way,’ where it would be more interesting if we had Lyra who wants to see her mother as sympathetic and is confused by what Coulter’s actions mean, because she’s a child who doesn’t quite get it.
That’s kind of tied back to my problem with the Old Testament mythology here; I feel like a lot of the players involved are allegories, but I’m not getting it because I’m not that interested in Old Testament mythology. I have a mix of Sunday school level knowledge of the Genesis story (probably not even learned in Sunday school since I went maybe a half dozen times as a kid when it would make my grandma happy), mixed with cynical atheist readings of events in the story. Plus I generally suck at allegory anyway, so combine that with being an allegory I don’t understand and I don’t get it. Maybe in the book they can spell things out a little more. It is sort of meant for kids; so a childish understanding might be appropriate. I mean, even I get the allegory in Narnia, I just happen to draw the conclusion that Aslan is a dick; then again, I don’t really understand any other perspective that asshole.
****
That was where my initial review ended. Not entirely because I ran out of things worth talking about, but because I took a break and lost track of what those things were. And while I never regained what I was going to say, I think the fact that I didn’t come back to these reviews in all this time is notable. Also as a series (current) wrap-up, I’ll add a couple things.
First off, I think they are back on for s3 at some point, and I will probably review it once it’s out. Probably after it’s all been released though, I don’t think I could sustain interest week to week. I don’t know if I’d find more to say that way though; maybe if I only had the existence of the books making me uninterested in speculation, I’d see it more as a show and not as an already told story. Maybe. Or maybe not; now that I say it, I bet not.
I don’t know what it is about this show that I just can’t get into any aspect of it. Part of me wants to lay it at the story’s own identity crisis as being somehow a kids book, a YA book, and an adult novel all at the same time. Maybe those pieces work together better in the book, but I also don’t know that that’s entirely to blame for my disinterest.
Another part of me thinks this show (maybe the book or maybe not, I’m not sure) seems to pussy-foot around what it’s trying to say and show. And actually, this is still connected with the above point. Because the show needed to pick a tone where the book could fluctuate a bit more, and I think that’s partially tied a hand behind the production’s back. Tied further in with that is a certain feeling of…trying to not piss people off any place they don’t have to.
I don’t just mean that from the religious angle, but we’ll come back to that. It has a lot to do with trying to appeal to larger audience and a certain degree of sensibilities shifting as well as what people will accept in a book vs. a visual medium. Plus what you even *can* do in the different medium. I feel like the kids are never pushed the way I suspect they would be in the book (maybe I’m wrong on that front, but this is how I feel about it), and while some of that I’m sure has a practical reason, it also has a vibe of…trying to make the show as easily digestible as possible. I think it also affects Coulter in a way I can’t at the moment nail down. I never have quite nailed down what I think is wrong with that portrayal.
But I suppose I have to talk about the religious aspect somewhat. Although I do think some of my thoughts on that subject will be influenced by how they actually go about the conflict with god in the last season. Because I think they’ve tried to treat it was as light a touch as possible (it’s not like the conflict with the church could be pulled out of the story and still have it resemble the book’s plot); but when the story takes it that far, how do they treat it with a light touch? In that regard I do feel the loss of the episode 2x08 that was scrapped for COVID, which was supposedly going to follow Azriel’s machinations at the larger battles going on. That would be telling of where the story was going now.
…Yeah, I still don’t know how to put my thoughts on this show into any kind of structure. I don’t dislike much about the show, it just feels like…ironically, soulless a lot of the time.
His Dark Materials 2x07: Æsahættr
Well, I suppose this show has worked me back around to ‘I should probably read the books’ level by the end of the season. But not enough to make me sure that I will. Enough that I can at least go back to thinking ‘I can see how this would work better in the book, but it still might not be for me.’
Look, I want to get to the god-killing part of the story; I’m way more curious about what Asriel’s been off doing than I am any of the things we’ve been watching happen. Also, I’m vaguely curious if they’re always so strict at saying ‘the Authority’ in the book or if it’s actually called God there. I’m not sure which way it should go; in some ways it makes sense to have the people of Lyra’s world call it something different, so maybe they do; but there’s also something to it as if the show is trying mask that it’s about killing god which I would find hysterical if they are. We have this story dripping in Old Testament Judeo-Christian mythology but we don’t want to get too much heat for talking about God.
I have quite a few scraps of thoughts about this one, but I can’t lock many of them down. As an episode it was decent and was at least trying to put some character work back into the lead characters, but it’s not super well done. Like I said, I can kind of see how it would be better in book form, because we’re inherently more in the character’s heads so they can do more reflection and reaction than are going to come through in a visual story.
There is something I find myself back on (if I ever left) but from a different angle through the season. Coulter has to work better in book form, doesn’t she? In seeing her through Lyra’s eyes I think she would seem a lot more layered that she does when we watch her. She just seems evil for the sake of evil and a clear case of an abusive parent who loves their kid ‘in their way,’ where it would be more interesting if we had Lyra who wants to see her mother as sympathetic and is confused by what Coulter’s actions mean, because she’s a child who doesn’t quite get it.
That’s kind of tied back to my problem with the Old Testament mythology here; I feel like a lot of the players involved are allegories, but I’m not getting it because I’m not that interested in Old Testament mythology. I have a mix of Sunday school level knowledge of the Genesis story (probably not even learned in Sunday school since I went maybe a half dozen times as a kid when it would make my grandma happy), mixed with cynical atheist readings of events in the story. Plus I generally suck at allegory anyway, so combine that with being an allegory I don’t understand and I don’t get it. Maybe in the book they can spell things out a little more. It is sort of meant for kids; so a childish understanding might be appropriate. I mean, even I get the allegory in Narnia, I just happen to draw the conclusion that Aslan is a dick; then again, I don’t really understand any other perspective that asshole.
****
That was where my initial review ended. Not entirely because I ran out of things worth talking about, but because I took a break and lost track of what those things were. And while I never regained what I was going to say, I think the fact that I didn’t come back to these reviews in all this time is notable. Also as a series (current) wrap-up, I’ll add a couple things.
First off, I think they are back on for s3 at some point, and I will probably review it once it’s out. Probably after it’s all been released though, I don’t think I could sustain interest week to week. I don’t know if I’d find more to say that way though; maybe if I only had the existence of the books making me uninterested in speculation, I’d see it more as a show and not as an already told story. Maybe. Or maybe not; now that I say it, I bet not.
I don’t know what it is about this show that I just can’t get into any aspect of it. Part of me wants to lay it at the story’s own identity crisis as being somehow a kids book, a YA book, and an adult novel all at the same time. Maybe those pieces work together better in the book, but I also don’t know that that’s entirely to blame for my disinterest.
Another part of me thinks this show (maybe the book or maybe not, I’m not sure) seems to pussy-foot around what it’s trying to say and show. And actually, this is still connected with the above point. Because the show needed to pick a tone where the book could fluctuate a bit more, and I think that’s partially tied a hand behind the production’s back. Tied further in with that is a certain feeling of…trying to not piss people off any place they don’t have to.
I don’t just mean that from the religious angle, but we’ll come back to that. It has a lot to do with trying to appeal to larger audience and a certain degree of sensibilities shifting as well as what people will accept in a book vs. a visual medium. Plus what you even *can* do in the different medium. I feel like the kids are never pushed the way I suspect they would be in the book (maybe I’m wrong on that front, but this is how I feel about it), and while some of that I’m sure has a practical reason, it also has a vibe of…trying to make the show as easily digestible as possible. I think it also affects Coulter in a way I can’t at the moment nail down. I never have quite nailed down what I think is wrong with that portrayal.
But I suppose I have to talk about the religious aspect somewhat. Although I do think some of my thoughts on that subject will be influenced by how they actually go about the conflict with god in the last season. Because I think they’ve tried to treat it was as light a touch as possible (it’s not like the conflict with the church could be pulled out of the story and still have it resemble the book’s plot); but when the story takes it that far, how do they treat it with a light touch? In that regard I do feel the loss of the episode 2x08 that was scrapped for COVID, which was supposedly going to follow Azriel’s machinations at the larger battles going on. That would be telling of where the story was going now.
…Yeah, I still don’t know how to put my thoughts on this show into any kind of structure. I don’t dislike much about the show, it just feels like…ironically, soulless a lot of the time.
