Review of 'His Dark Materials' 1.4

The bears took center state in episode 1.4 of His Dark Materials last week. If this is starting to sound like a three-ring circus, that's because it is, but the menagerie in His Dark Materials is far more diverse and intriguing than any you'll find in any circus, or, for that matter, to use another place where the Bears appear, in any football game.

I discussed the daemons in my previous review (of episode 1.3). The bears apparently are not daemons. But there are sentient and speak. They have no daemons, but they consider their armor, which can be removed, to be their souls. So, in effect, their armor is a kind of inert daemon.

And the bears are very strong, which makes them good to have on your side in a battle or a war. And that's what's shaping up in the action up north — a war between Coulter, who commands the Magisterium, and the Gyptians, who want their children back, and who now have Lyra and her truth-telling device on their side. Since we're still early in the story, these relationships are still developing and being discovered.

Mrs. Coulter continues to be the most enigmatic. We learned in a previous episode that she is Lyra's mother. But now we hear that she may not. In our world, with our logic, the two states of being cannot both be true: Coulter is either Lyra's mother or she is not. But I have a feeling that not only animals and their alliances but logic itself is a little different in His Dark Materials, which makes it even more appealing and interesting to see.

See you here again soon. Given the role of animals in His Dark Materials, I'm assuming the humans there didn't celebrate Thanksgiving.