His Dark Materials Review: The Daemon-Cages (Season 1 Episode 6)

The life of a child is one of danger and discovery, as seen on His Dark Materials Season 1 Episode 6, “The Daemon-Cages.” In the north, that danger only grows more certain.

The episode is a dark affair, and for good reason. Entering the lion’s den, so to speak, sends Lyra down a path of pain and heartache as it becomes clear what events are transpiring in the north. The severing of children from their daemons is a monstrous, terrifying affair, and the after effects are just as devastating.

The installation where the severing takes place is a cold, harsh location, a far cry from the more fanciful, lush locales that have graced His Dark Materials over the previous episodes. It’s almost as though goodness struggles to grow and exist in such an environment, the drabness only counterbalanced by the hope Lyra brings to the other prisoners apart from the heat lamps every few paces in the corridors.

The installation takes on the look of wartime bunkers, the dull grey and harsh guards with wolves at their sides giving off the impression of Nazi camps.  One line of special importance comes from the lead technician, who says he is only following orders. This takes on Nazi-esque messaging, as though doing as someone is told is meant to negate the horrors and atrocities committed against children.

That feeling of atrocity looms large, with the hollow, absent stares that the children have both before and after being severed from their daemons, and how hopeless and full of despair the locale creates. Their souls have been taken from them, their innocence stolen away. It’s as though all color is stripped of them, too, even down to the color scheme of their clothing.

But the darkness allows for a deeper story for both Lyra and Mrs. Coulter. They are on complete opposite sides of the conflict, and it’s most felt during their tense scene together. The quiet anger that Lyra emanates provides Dafne Keen another standout moment where her eyes say everything that she is not saying through her words.

That it comes after Mrs. Coulter saves her, and Lyra calls for her as “mother,” shows that despite those opposite sides, there is still something there between them, something deep and complicated, as far apart as they may be. The familial bond, though largely ignored over their lives, still is deep enough to cause both to urge and plead on each other to see reason, even if one side of reason is corrupt.

The scene allows for a small window into why Mrs. Coulter wishes to do harm to all of these children: she wants to see the pain of growing up stowed away and for goodness to rise in its place. Her view of puberty is skewed with hurt, the corrupting of the soul, and she pins this on the daemon, the second voice for each person. It brings the conflict and the bad things she’s done down to a personal level.

There’s also the question of the alethiometer, as Mrs. Coulter wishes for it to never get into Asriel’s possession. Can he potentially use it, just as Lyra can, or is Mrs. Coulter simply looking to make sure he never gets everything he needs?

Lyra’s time at the installation finally brings Roger back into the fold, along with the other captured children. Their worry of even stepping out of line shows how much fear dominates the place, and how hope, when in the form of Lyra, allows for even a small sliver of chance to enter their hearts.

The big escape scene is one of the most exciting moments His Dark Materials has done so far, and is a major credit to Euros Lyn’s direction. The many winding passages and the chaos of the fight as Lyra navigates through it brings a more epic scale to such a personal battle. That Mrs. Coulter decides to flee rather than fight back shows that while she may be brash, she knows when she is outnumbered.

Lyra also destroys the severing machine, though with Mrs. Coulter’s blueprints, and the mention of new parts making the process more successful, it’s easy to see this only being the beginning, rather than a finality.

The final moments of the episode, with Serafina confirming again, this time to Lee, Lyra’s importance, helps cement the direction His Dark Materials is going in. Asriel’s rescue is the next main mission, but there is more to Lyra’s story than rescuing him (ignoring the books and that the story is already out there).

Lee being tasked with looking after Lyra hopefully keeps Lin-Manuel Miranda around, as he’s been a wonderful addition to the show.

But Lyra does end up falling from the balloon at the end of His Dark Materials Season 1 Episode 6, “The Daemon-Cages.” Hopefully it’s only into icy water rather than a more painful surface, as they will need all the help they can get once Iorek goes to battle his old enemy during the rescue of Asriel.

His Dark Materials makes its mark by combining an epic tale with a personal story of family, making both just as important to one another and always remembering that Lyra is the key to the story and to the heart of the show. Framing everything through how she sees it makes everything she feels just as hard on us as it is on her.

This episode is tough on Lyra, and it’s felt in every frame. It’s a fantastic episode, and an important one.

Some stray thoughts on the episode:

• Will’s father John, back on the other world, turns out to be played by Andrew Scott, a rather fun surprise. Hopefully, as Will becomes a larger part of the story, Andrew Scott appears some more, as he’s always an excellent presence on any movie or show.

 

What did you think of this episode of His Dark Materials? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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His Dark Materials airs Mondays at 9/8c on HBO.

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