His Dark Materials – Theft

By: Ellie Yates

Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Pan (voiced by Kit Connor) leave a sleeping Will (Amir Wilson) behind in Cittagazze and head for Will’s Oxford. When Lyra sees Mary (Simone Kirby) at the college Mary tells her she needs to leave as D.I. Walters (Jamie Wilkes) is there asking questions about her. He finds them in the lift and asks them to step into the office. He questions Lyra, who introduces herself as Lizzie, about who she is and where she is from. She tells him she’s from London and is staying with friends. He asks her if Will is staying with her and she lets it slip that he is. As Mary tries to intervene Lyra makes a run for it and D.I. Walters chases after her. Lyra lets Pan out of her backpack and he turns into a magpie, guiding her away. Lyra stops with stitch only for Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) to pull up and offer her a lift. Thinking he is Charles from the museum she jumps in – oblivious to the fact he is working with the man chasing her. Lyra starts to panic; however, and begs to be let out of the car. Boreal eventually lets her out and in a hurry she leaves her backpack. He shouts back to hand it to her, minus the alethiometer!

Back in Cittagazze Will is dreaming about his dad and has visions of a knife. He wakes and starts to read his dad’s letters. He shouts Lyra as he wants to use the alethiomter to find him as he’s sure he’s still alive. He soon realizes that Lyra isn’t there and heads out to look for her, not seeing the note she has left him. He comes across Angelica (Bella Ramsey) and asks who she is watching in the tower. She says it must be a ghost as there is no way in or no way out. Angelica explains to Will that the tower is the Torre degli Angeli which belongs to The Guild, who are a group of men who know important things. However, they all fled when the Spectres came. Angelica warns Will that he is nearly an adult and he needs a plan to avoid the Spectres. When he returns to their “house” Will notices Lyra’s note telling him that she’s left for Oxford. He travels through the window and finds her crying on a bench. She tells Will that she’s lost the alethiometer and that the police have been asking about him. She says they can’t go anywhere without the alethiometer. Pan reminds her that Charles/Boreal gave them his card and they have his address. The trio agree to hide until it is dark.

Meanwhile, Lee (Lin Manuel-Miranda) and Hester (voiced by Cristela Alonzo) are on the search for Will’s dad, Grumman. Their balloon takes them to Yenisei where Lee asks the locals what they know about Grumman. One of them tells him that Grumman got his leg trapped and died, but the barmaid (Kirsty Besterman) tells him that she heard he survived and was working in the observatory up the mountain. Lee and Hester head to the observatory and find Dr Hayley (Angus Wright) who tells them that he works there alone, but is hesitant to tell them what happened to the others. Lee asks Dr Hayley what happened to Grumman and Dr Hayley tells him that Grumman is somewhere up the Yenisei river and is a heretic. Lee thanks him for his help, but as he leaves he is shot at. Lee fires back, shooting Dr Hayley, and tries to save him. Dr Hayley tells him not to and that Grumman is an enemy of the Magesterium and so is Lee. As Lee tries to leave again, he is surrounded by the Magesterium’s army. It’s clearly not his day!

Serfina’s (Ruta Gedmintas) daemon Kaisa (David Suchet) visits Iorek (Joe Tandberg). Iorek tells him that the hole Asriel created has damaged the climate. Kaisa says that he is there for Lyra and the Magesterium are destroying the witches, but all Serefina cares about is Lyra. He explains that Lyra will return their free will, across the worlds, but she must not know this or she will fail. Iorek tells Kaisa that Lyra followed Asriel through the hole. Iorek asks him how the Magisterium targeted the witches and Kaisa explains that they destroyed their land, killing witches but they will find their own justice.

Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson) has to make an unexpected pit-stop in Yenisei and learns that Lee is being held there. She visits him in his cell with the intention of torturing him into giving away Lyra’s whereabouts, but he stays strong. Lee explains that his past with his abusive father means that he can withstand pain. He realizes that Mrs Coulter has suffered the same past and tells her she knows she won’t break him. He says his life is only worth one tenth of Lyra’s and he’ll never tell Mrs Coulter where she is. With pain in her eyes, Mrs Coulter leaves Lee’s cell and her daemon gently holds her hand to comfort her. Later, Mrs Coulter receives a letter from Boreal telling her that he knows where Lyra is. She frees Lee from his cell and tells him that she knows a lot of people looking for Lyra are bad people. She tells Lee that if he finds Lyra that he needs to keep her safe. He promises he will.

Unaware that they are being watched on CCTV, Lyra and Will approach Boreal’s mansion. He invites them in and Lyra introduces Will as “Mark.” Will explains that they have come to get back something of Lyra’s that she left behind in Boreal’s car. Boreal opens the alethiometer and tells them that it is his now. An agitated Will tells him that it’s not and Boreal addresses the children by their real names. Lyra realizes that she has seen Boreal before in her world and demands that he give her the alethiometer back, throwing a glass at him. He tells her that if they get the knife from the figure in the Torre degli Angeli, he will give back the alethiometer. Lyra vows to obtain the knife.