HIS DARK MATERIALS (S1E4) “Armour”: Buy One Bear, Get One Cowboy Free

Philip Pullman is great at writing characters. Maybe you know that. Heck, maybe you disagree with that. But for my money, the guy is great letting his readers get familiar with multiple characters, where an ordinary author might put a lot of stock into just the main character. He makes the motivations of his characters clear, so that we can understand what drives them, and what may be in store for their future.

In what is now the fourth episode of the epic journey of Lyra Belacqua, we are introduced to some of the final characters needed to tell the story, and the show wonderfully translates Pullman’s characters to the screen by, as I said, giving us some motivation. But more on that later. My favorite bear has finally arrived so let’s get into the episode recap.

This Week On His Dark Materials

When last we saw Lyra and her band of Gyptians, they were heading off to the great North to find and free the missing children that Mrs. Coulter and the General Oblation Board had kidnapped for reasons unknown. Arriving at the seaside city of Trollesund, Lyra and Farder Corum attempt to recruit the help of the armored bear, or panserbjørne, Iorek Byrnison. Iorek refuses their service, claiming to be only half the bear he used to be, especially without his armor.

The aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) comes in swinging and gun-slinging as a cowboy and former friend of the great bear, and agrees to help Lyra enlist Iorek, joining their quest along the way. Elsewhere, Mrs. Coulter consults the magisterium’s own alethiometer, asking about the true identity of Lyra. The episode ends with her speaking with another armored bear named Iofur, who is keeping Lord Asriel hostage.

Characters Becoming Characters

What rules about this episode is that we finally get a sense of who these characters we’re following are and what they’re all about. At this point we understand Lyra and what she wants (above everything, Lyra wants answers) but this episode allows us to get to know some of the other characters that will be essential to her story. James Cosmo gets to flex his acting muscles as Farder Corum, as he tearfully recounts his romance with a witch named Serafina (who we can expect to see soon).

Corum is clearly on this quest to save the children, but he also reveals himself to be a man searching for lost love. It’s one of those small performances that won’t garner him accolades, but serves to strengthen the episode and give it the stark injection of humanity that this show could always use more of.

Iorek Byrnnison, like Corum, has lost something as well. His armor and his throne. We learn in this episode that a bear’s armor is as sacred as a dæmon’s human. The show brilliant gives us Iorek in his lowest state as he slinks amongst the filth and blood in his workshop. He doesn’t want anyone to see or talk to him. He lives a life of shame and misery, all because he has lost what was his. We learn, at the end of the episode, that he has lost this to Mrs. Coulter, who helped Iofur claim the bear-king’s throne.

This episode lets us meet characters like Corum and Iorek on a deeper, more personal level than before, so that we can root for this entire band of rebels, and not just Lyra alone. This episode expands the show’s reach and vision just beyond one character, so that we can speculate on things to come, and the fate of the characters that we have begun to know so well.

We’ve Got A Crew

I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is a different role for the EGOT-aspiring actor. His Dark Materials is a world of darkness and troubles. There’s no singing and dancing, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love him singing at the opening of the episode. Is his accent a bit weird, almost like we can feel him doing an impression of John Wayne? Yes. But Lee Scoresby is one of those characters that you fall in love with pretty easily. He’s cool, collected, and gives you the sense that the good guys have a handle on things. He’s a character with a past, and he uses what he’s gained from that past to inform his future. Miranda brings that in his performance. He still has some chops that he needs to prove to me, but so far, I think he’ll make a unique addition to a crew that could use a bit of singing in hot air balloons.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Are you for or against the casting of Lin-Manuel Miranda? Let me know in the comments below!

His Dark Materials airs weekly on HBO.