His Dark Materials

Season 3 is thought-provoking, devastating at moments, and completely emotional. The final episodes turned me into a sobbing mess, just as the books did, and reminded me just why I loved the story so much.

In its third season, His Dark Materials finally strikes the right balance. ... If the series doesn’t always articulate this idea [the cosmic conflict of Pullman’s trilogy in the precious ephemera of everyday life] effectively in its most fantastical sequences, its footing is very sure where it counts, as Mary recalls her joyful loss of faith and Will and Lyra fall in love. The series handles the story’s ending equally well.

It can be said without revealing much that season 3 spends too much time of its eight-episodes on Asriel and Coulter and less on Lyra and her companion, the daemon-less Will Parry (Amir Wilson). ... A mostly first-rate cast is thoroughly committed to the beyond-fantastical tale. ... They’re one of the elements of the series that readers of the novels will find particularly ingenious, startling and/or endearing. But these same qualities can be applied to the entire series.

This theme of what parenting involves here proves more engaging than all the theology and action of the first episode. Asriel is a bad dad but outdone in parenting by his ex, Ruth Wilson’s captivatingly evil Mrs Coulter.

Niggles aside, His Dark Materials was a gorgeous spectacle: visually lush with exquisite costumes, beautifully realised details and a sweeping score that made it feel like something really special. But that polish was matched by performances which have only improved as the series has gone on, hammering home the emotional complexities of Pullman’s tale and ready to step up to the vast scope of the eventual grand finale.

This is a worthy and comprehensive adaptation of a literary world which deserves to be seen.

Bringing the series to an emotional conclusion, this is a complex, ambitious take on books that always required considerable commitment. There are budget limitations, but they’re overcome thanks to a clever adaptation and daemonically good cast.

This last batch of episodes is poetic, heavy with heart and soul, and provides a satisfying conclusion to a story that’s been (mostly) a joy to watch unfold.

At the end of the day, Season 3 of His Dark Materials is…fine. Fans of Pullman’s novels will love the opportunity to see the world of his books brought to such vivid and detailed life onscreen, and its final episode is a rich and heartfelt coda to all that has come before, with Keene and Wilson at their absolute best together. But it’s hard not to wonder what a version of this series that was more willing to take more risks.

There's a lot going on here, what with all this and also Lord Asriel zipping around parallel worlds recruiting people to wage war and promising that "death is a lie". ... But high quality as it consistently is, it does feel time to wrap it up.