His Dark Materials- Full Series RECAP

Welcome to the Man of Recaps. This is His Dark Materials full series recap. Welcome to a parallel earth similar to our own, except everyone has a talking spirit animal companion called a demon. Cool. But it's ruled by an evil church-themed empire, the Magisterium. Not so cool. Meet Lyra Balacqua, a rambunctious young orphan raised as a ward of Jordan College. Lyra's had a pretty good life so far, hanging out with her best friend Roger the Kitchen Boy and her demon, Pantalimon, goes by Pan. Yeah, when you're a kid, your demon can change forms willy-nilly, but once you're a teenager, it settles on one. But now her uncle, Lord Asriel, played by James McAvoy, a super cool adventurer, is here to visit. See, he's given a presentation tonight about the research he's been doing up at the North Pole about dust. We don't learn what dust is yet, but it's super illegal to even talk about, but he's discovered something even crazier. In the Aurora Borealis, there is a city! Yeah, it's a portal to another world! Lyra really wants to go with her super cool uncle on his adventures in the North, but he's like, yo, I'm a badass scholar-adventurer, I don't have time to be babysitting. But soon after, Jordan College gets another exciting visitor, Mrs. Coulter, who's got a creepy golden monkey demon. Turns out she's a super cool scholar-explorer too, and she wants Lyra to come with her. Now naturally, Lyra's part of some prophecy, so the professors give her a cool magic item, the Alethiometer. They don't tell her how to use it though, so she's just like, hey Siri, what's up? Elsewhere in town, meet the Gyptians, the nomadic boat people. That night, young Gyptian Billy Costa sees a scary fox demon, and oh, he's kidnapped! Turns out lots of kids have gone missing lately, captured by the mysterious Gobblers. In fact, just then, Roger gets gobbled up too, Mrs. Coulter's like, hey, we'll look for him in London while we go on our adventure. So Lyra travels to London to be Mrs. Coulter's assistant. Mrs. Coulter seems real nice, but Lyra does some snooping and finds out she works for the Magisterium, running the General Oblation Board. G-O-B, yeah, she's the Gobblers! Soon they have a big fight that turns into a Pokemon battle! Monkey, oh, he's got Pan! Lyra's like, you can't treat me like this, my Uncle Lord Asriel will save me! But Mrs. Coulter drops a truth bomb, Asriel's not your uncle, he's your father! So Lyra runs away, but is captured by the Gobblers, then rescued by the Gyptians. She befriends Billy's mom, Ma Costa, who drops another secret parent truth bomb. The reason Mrs. Coulter's so interested in Lyra, because she is her mom! The Gyptians aren't sticking around, they've learned that the Gobblers have taken all their kids to the North Pole, so they sell all their little boats for one big boat, and we're going north! Now on the way, Lyra learns a little more about the Alethiometer. Apparently, you set the dials to the symbols that sort of frame a question, and then you concentrate on it and it'll tell you the answer. It takes years of study to even begin to understand it, but Lyra just kinda wings it, and she's a natural. Now who's this? It's Lin-Manuel Miranda, as Lee Scoresby, the Texan hot air ballooner! He's a good-hearted scoundrel with his hair team in Hester. He's here to rescue his friend, Yorick Burnison, who is an armored polar bear! The town stole his armor, though, but Lyra, with her golden compass powers, hey Siri, where's the armor? So Yorick goes on a rampage to get it back, and boom! Armored bear time, baby! So Lee and Yorick agree to come with the Gyptians on their quest. They find Billy Costa, hooray, but wait a second, where's his demon? Yes, the Magisterium is cutting kids' demons away, who knows why, but it leaves them as a shell of a human being, and he soon dies. Soon after, Lyra gets gobbled up again. She gives them a fake name, they don't know she's Mrs. Coulter's daughter, so they put her in with the rest of the kids, but Lyra's getting pretty old, they need to cut her before her demon settles, so they pick her to go next! It's only just then when Mrs. Coulter sees her, that's my daughter, stops the experiment. She finally explains what they're doing, it's all about dust. Now dust settles on adults, but it ignores kids whose demons haven't settled yet. The Magisterium thinks that dust is a physical manifestation of sin, and if they cut kids' demons away before they settle, the kids will like always be sin-free and it'll be an awesome paradise world. Mrs. Coulter's like, so you see, it's for the greater good, but it's like, yo, you're kidnapping kids and most of them don't survive these experiments, are you the bad guy? She runs over to the intercision machine, turns that thing on full power, and boom, explodes it! So the kids are saved, and the Gyptian's quest is over, but Lyra's like, hey, since I've come this far, I want to keep going north and find my father, Lord Asriel. But that night, they're attacked by monkey bats, and Lyra's captured again, this time by armored bears! They're currently ruled by the evil bear king, who set up Yorick. Lyra thinks quick in her feet, and claims to be Yorick's demon. She's like, yeah, I'll become your demon if you beat him in single combat. So Yorick's allowed in, he's like, wow girl, you're an amazing talker, I give you the nickname And then it's time for an armored bear battle! Except they fight without their armor on, so not as cool. Long story short, Yorick wins, and is now the king of the bears, who are gonna be good bears now. So Lyra reunites with her friend Roger, and together they ride their bear friend up to Lord Asriel's super sweet polar cabin. So Lyra and her dad finally talk about what he's doing up here. Turns out dust, whatever it is, comes from the world on the other side of the Aurora Borealis. He wants to travel through that portal and discover the real nature of the universe. Unfortunately, to open the portal, he needs a huge burst of energy, the kind that you get when you split a kid from his demon. Yeah, poor Roger just can't catch a break. So Lyra's trying to save her best friend from her father, who just like her mother, is gonna kill him for the greater good. But she's too late, Lord Asriel, oh, he goes through with it! Sliced off, and boom, big explosion of energy! Just then Mrs. Coulter meets him on the top of the mountain, he's like, hey my love, forget the magisterium, join me! She's made her choice though, she's dedicated to the magisterium, so these two are opposed, but they're still super attracted to each other, and make out! So she doesn't stop him, she goes home, as Lord Asriel travels through the gateway to another world. Lyra gets there a minute later, and when there's a shining doorway to another world in front of you, you step through it! Meanwhile, we've been following another kid, Will Perry, from our Earth. His father, John Perry, disappeared at the North Pole many years ago, leaving Will to take care of his mom. Turns out he somehow traveled to Lyra's world, where he became the scholar, Stanislaw Grumin. This magisterium guy, Lord Boreal, found a secret doorway between our worlds, and has been crossing through, he's got a Tesla parked here. To learn more about parallel worlds, he's looking for Professor Grumin, which led him to John Perry, and now Will, he sends some thugs to break into their house. But Will's cat gets in the way, knocks this guy off the balcony, yeah, Will's cat just killed a guy! So Will goes on the run, ends up finding this interdimensional doorway, and so season one ends as both our kids are traveling to another world! In this world, the portal is not at the North Pole, it's in a more tropical climate, and after a short walk, she comes to a city. The city seems to be abandoned, but soon she runs into someone, it's Will! So as these two introduce themselves, the first big shock is that Lyra has a talking animal companion, her demon Pan! Long story short, Lyra and Will become fast friends when he cooks her an omelette, but Soon they meet some native kids who gives them the story, this is the city of Sitigaze. The adults are all gone because they fled from the Specters, these Dementor-like monsters that suck out your souls, but the kids are safe, they only attack adults, much like how in season one we found out dust only settles once you're a teenager. So Lyra wants to explore Will's world, and it's a bit of a culture shock as she gets to see our Oxford, which is similar but different to her own. But for now, the Alethiometer leads Lyra to a dark matter physicist, Dr. Mary Malone. Turns out she's studying what Lyra's world calls dust, but our world calls dark matter shadow particles. She's just discovered that they react to human brainwaves, and Lyra's like, yeah, I know all about that, so she meditates, pretends to read the Alethiometer, and is able to communicate with them. She's like, well Doc, they say you are super important, but I gotta go right now, so she blows the scientist's mind and peaces out. Dr. Malone is trying to talk to the dark matter using the I Ching, the Chinese stick-based fortune-telling system. And it works, much like Lyra's Alethiometer, but there's kind of a big extra step in there, she finally programs it to just speak English. And it's like, okay, so what are you, and the answer comes back, we're angels! Um, like, angels, angels? Mary Malone used to be a nun, so this is a big revelation for her. But they're like, yeah, we'll explain later, for now you gotta go cross to the other world. Now Lyra and Will aren't the only interdimensional travelers here, because we've also got from Lyra's world the magisterium guy Lord Boreal. He acts friendly and befriends Lyra, gives her a ride in his Tesla, but then she realizes he stole the Alethiometer. She and Will go to confront him, where he comes clean about who he really is, and he offers to make a trade, give her the golden compass back in exchange for the subtle knife. It's hidden in Siddhagaze at the top of this tower with the tied up old man, because this random kid already took the knife, and this knife, by the way, is super sharp. And this guy doesn't want to talk, they end up fighting, and Will's fingers all get sliced off! But then he's able to beat this guy and claim the knife. And so congrats, kid, the knife chose you, cutting off those fingers is how it chose its new owner. And what makes it so special, it is so sharp, it can cut through the fabric of reality and open doors to other worlds. Now the kids don't want to give this power to Lord Boreal, but they figure they can use it for an interdimensional heist, steal the Alethiometer back. So Will cuts a window right into his basement, he's gonna grab it, but oh, golden monkey, yes, Mrs. Coulter is here! So now Lyra's reunited with her evil mom, but it's like, I'm not evil, I love you, Lyra, like you should join me, we'll work together. But Lyra's like, nah, you're definitely evil, and so it's time for a demon Pokemon rematch! Because Lyra's still a kid, her demon can change shape, so Pan turns into a honey badger and beats this monkey. Lyra and Will, with the knife and compass, manage to escape just in time. In Lyra's world, the Magisterium is guarding the big portal, but now the witches bust in and kick some butt, get on through. Most of the witches leave to go find Lord Azrael and help him in his quest, but Seraphina Pekla is like, yo, because of the prophecy, I need to protect Lyra. And Lyra's like, hey, what is this prophecy? But Seraphina pulls a Doctor Strange, uh, if I told you, it won't happen. Now she pulls out her Alethiometer to ask it, what am I supposed to be doing right now? And it tells her something she didn't expect, she needs to help Will find his dad. And also searching for Professor Grumin is our aeronaut, Lee Scoresby, who heard that he's important in all this. And finally he finds the man himself, and he explains there's a multiversal war coming between the forces of good and evil. They need to find the bearer of the subtle knife and get it to Lord Azrael, because that's the only thing that can kill the Authority. Um, are you telling me the main goal of the story is to kill God? No, no, no, that's an oversimplification, but I mean, basically, yeah. Now this dude has somehow learned magic, he's become a shaman, and summons a wind to get him through the portal. And at this point the Magisterium's like, well, if everyone's going through the portal, we'd better follow, so they're hot on their tail. Lee Scoresby's like, hey man, you go find the kids all by your time with an epic last stand. And Lee Scoresby dies. Meanwhile, Boreal and Coulter are looking for the kids, but they gotta watch out for the Spectres! But Mrs. Coulter saw how what they do is similar to the intercision cutting away the demons that she was studying, and so she has a theory, and she's right! The Spectres don't attack her, in fact, she can control them! We don't fully understand yet how she does this, but basically, by embracing the dark side, she can master it. Boreal's like, yo girl, that's amazing, together you and I can master interdimensional travel. And she seems into it, these two start smoochin', but oh what's this, oh it was the poison kiss! She's like, yeah, no offense man, but we're not gonna be partners, I'm on a whole nother level than you. And so Lord Boreal dies. Now Mrs. Coulter finds a new witch to interrogate, like okay, what is this prophecy, who is Lyra? And she finally gets the answer, Lyra is the new Eve! Yes, the biblical story of Adam and Eve! And it's like, well if the last Eve ate the bad apple and was kicked out of Eden, I gotta make sure Lyra doesn't make the same mistake. Meanwhile, Will's shaman dad sends him a dream message of where to meet him, so he sneaks off while everyone naps. And this guy only knew he was meeting the bearer of the subtle knife, he didn't expect it to be his long lost son! So father and son reunited, I'm so sorry I abandoned you, I mean, it wasn't really my fault, I was stranded in another dimension. Also, I know this is kinda heavy, but I need you to use that knife to go kill God. But just then, a soldier catches up to him, and Will's dad, oh, takes the bullet for him! So they were reunited for all of two minutes, and now Will's dad dies! And now with Lyra taking a midday snooze, totally unguarded, her evil mom's like, hey, wake up from your nap, kid, I'm kidnappin' ya. And also here for a 30 second cameo is James McAvoy, Lord Asriel himself! He's making an epic speech about tearing down the Authority and building a new Republic of Heaven where freedom and free thinking is encouraged. But uh, who you talkin' to, man? There's no one here. But wait, what's this? The angels show themselves, and they're like, yeah, we're in! Yeah, we get the story of how the Authority isn't God the creator, he's just an angel like any of the others, but rules his evil kingdom of heaven through lies and oppression. So now in season three, Lord Asriel is flying around in his interdimensional fighter jet. Turns out most worlds are ruled by an evil church empire, so he's collecting the best freedom fighters from every world, bringing them to his new army, the Republic of Heaven. Meanwhile, Lyra's being held prisoner by her evil mom, Mrs. Coulter, who's keeping her safe by keeping her drugged. Will's out looking for her and gets some help from two bald dudes who are like, what's up, bro? We're angels, and guide him to Lyra's world, where Will runs into armored bear Yorick Burnison. Will befriends him by using his magic knife to cut his helmet in half, what the hell, bro? But the Magisterium is also hunting Lyra. They send this new young priest, evil Jon Snow, with a creepy spider demon to go assassinate her, because they've also learned that Lyra is the new Eve, and they need to stop her from eatin' that apple. So Will cuts his way in to rescue Lyra, but Mrs. Coulter distracts him by talkin' about his mom, and you can't use the knife when you're distracted, oh, it breaks! And now the Magisterium's here, so they gotta escape the old-fashioned way with Yorick Burnison helpin' him out. Now they run into a pixie person, here to recruit them for Lord Asriel, but Lyra still hates her dad for killing her best friend Roger, in fact, she's been having dreams about Roger and is like, look, I think we need to go to the land of the dead to rescue him. So the blacksmith bear repairs the knife and they cut their way to the land of the dead, which turns out is a real bad place, there is no heaven or hell, the Authority has turned the afterlife into this eternal prison camp. But Lyra does find Roger, as well as Lee Scoresby and Will's dad, Jon Perry, and Lyra leads a revolution, yo, this is not okay, it's time for a prison break! Will uses the knife to create a way out, and Lyra makes a new deal with the Harpy, people will tell them their life stories and he'll guide them here. So Lyra and Will just saved death, now instead of eternal prison, you do what you're supposed to do and go back into the universe. Meanwhile, Lord Asriel has found his former flame, Mrs. Coulter, she's like, I'm wanted by the Magisterium now, I may as well join you. But she immediately betrays him and steals his interdimensional helicopter, she goes back to the Magisterium and pretends to be on their side, but when she finds out they're making an interdimensional spirit bomb to kill Lyra, she sabotages it. But now, up in heaven, turns out the original authority isn't even here anymore, it's his Regent Metatron who's ruling, and when he learns that the mortals are harnessing the power of dust which could hurt him, he's like, nah, I don't think so. So the skies open up and he hijacks the spirit bomb, sets it off, boom! He didn't tame it at Lyra, though, he used it to create an epic crater, the Abyss, which is across all worlds, and sucking all dust into it. Yeah, Dr. Mary Malone, by the way, has mostly done nothing, but she ended up on a world with these elephant people and befriended them. Using the tree sap here, she's built this amber spyglass which lets her see dust and she's been studying it. Turns out dust is consciousness itself, so, you know, a world without that would be a real bad. And now it's time for the final battle! Lord Asriel makes his epic speech, we are free! And yeah, good angels vs. bad angels, witches flying around, Lord Asriel in a fighter jet! Lyra and Will made it over here, it's like, uh, are we supposed to join in? And it's like, I don't know, I don't think so. On the ground they're fighting specters, but Mrs. Coulter's like, yo, I'm the baddest there is and disintegrates them. After this, Metatron sends her an invite and meets with her in person as a human like, yo girl, I like your style, you wanna join me? And she's like, yeah, obviously. But Lord Asriel flies in there too, unfortunately he gets confused and fights himself and loses. So Mrs. Coulter and Metatron come to taunt him, he's like, Marissa, you're really this evil? And she's like, well, almost. Earlier, Lord Asriel had turned the Abyss into a weapon and now Mrs. Coulter's golden monkey throws the switch, oh, epic dust spirit bomb destroys Metatron's castle! And now that he's weakened, she and Asriel grab him together and oh, off the cliff! Even though she was an awful broken person, in the end she truly did love her daughter Lyra and sacrificed herself to save her and, by extension, the whole multiverse. And so, the day is saved, and our main character kids didn't even do anything. They do find, though, this weird magic cube, Will cuts it open, and it is the original Authority trapped in here who's so old he just disintegrates. Will's like, oh man, I really thought I was gonna have to shank him. But unfortunately, the day isn't saved because dust is still flowing out of the worlds. Our kids don't know that, though, so they just go for a nice little vacation. And in fact, our kids aren't kids anymore, they're turning into teenagers, and oh, it's happening! Yeah, they start smoochin'. As we've learned, once you're not a kid anymore, you start attracting dust to ya, and your demon settles, and it becomes this little ferret thing, and Will gets to see his demon, it's a cat. But more importantly, because Lyra's like the special nexus, her attracting dust reverses the flow everywhere, yes, it's coming back into the multiverse. But the day is still not saved, because even though they reverse the flow of dust, like, it's still escaping through all the open portals. The only way to save the multiverse is to go back to their own worlds and destroy the knife permanently. These two can never see each other again. And so they do what teenagers do and spend 30 minutes saying goodbye. You hang up first. No, you hang up first. And after one final interdimensional kiss, Will closes the portal and breaks the knife for good, closing all the portals down everywhere and restoring balance to all the worlds. And so one year later, Lyra's back in her world, and we never found out what happened to the Magisterium, um, we assume it just collapsed. And the Lyra and Will never actually see each other again. Every year they come to this bench which exists in both their worlds for an interdimensional date. And so it's a bittersweet ending, as His Dark Materials comes to an end. If you liked this recap, hit that subscribe button for more of the best recaps of TV and movies.