Liverpool Sound and Vison Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amir Wilson, Andrew Scott, Kit Connor, Ariyon Bakare, Will Keen, Ruta Gedmintas, Jade Anouka, Sean Gilder, Simone Kirby, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Terence Stamp, Joe Tandberg, Scope Dirisu, Sophie Okenedo, Lindsay Duncan, Jane How, Brian Protheroe, Angus Wright, James McAvoy.
If you are going to be distracted from the on-going torture to which nature and time have placed humanity in 2020, then you should find solace in the fantasy epics being produced; some against some of the most unforeseen pressures to have ever been witnessed by the small screen.
The second season of His Dark Materials is one such epic fantasy that has been hit by the times we live in, and yet, in the grand sweeping gesture that this particular adaption of the Philip Pullman set of books is apt to inspire, what has been affected by the real world, is by definition, not seen to affect the beauty captured within.
Reduced in episode running time due to matters out of their control, the team behind the scenes and the actors to whom so much is entrusted, have produced a worthy season which almost matches the intensity and drama to which the first series was quite rightly hugely appreciated and admired for.
It is with respect that His Dark Materials has been able to combine such a sense of greatness in its scenes and motifs of atheism and religious dogma to the point where they blend almost seamlessly together and have the audience asking questions of blind faith, no matter the way of the cross, the prophecy, or the belief. For being able to ask questions is what drives us to a higher plane, and the mirroring of this during the second season of the show is one that is impossible to ignore.
It is to the cinematography, the capturing of Oxford in its pomp and glory, the other worlds that are stitched closely to our own, that the intrigue lays, and with Dafne Keen once more excelling in her role of Lyra Belacqua/ Silvertongue, Ruth Wilson performing with icy brilliance as Lyra’s mother, Marisa Coulter, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby, and the introduction of Andrew Scott as the mysterious Colonel John Parry/Jopari, His Dark Materials continues to break ground in its pursuit of spreading knowledge through questioning the accepted beliefs to which others steadfastly adhere to.
Despite being hindered by time and nature, the second series of His Dark Materials continues the strong and ethical work laid down in its preceding foray, and one that when it returns, will surely be much anticipated.
Ian D. Hall