His Dark Materials: Season 3 (Final)

Based on: 1995 book trilogy of the same name by Philip Pullman

Written by: Jack Thorne

Starring: Dafne Keen (Lyra), Amir Wilson (Will), Ruth Wilson (Mrs. Coulter), Anne-Marie Duff ("Ma" Costa), Will Keen (Father MacPhail), Lewin Lloyd (Roger), Ruta Gedmintas (Serafina), Jade Anouka (Ruta Skadi), Simone Kirby (Dr Mary Malone), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Ogunwe), Jonathan Aris (Roke), Chipo Chung (Xaphania), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Balthamos), Jamie Ward (Father Gomez), James McAvoy as Lord Asriel Belacqua, James McAvoy (Asriel)

His Dark Materials season 3 trailer: 

I was happy to find this third and final season to be a pretty clean wrap-up of the series. 

Although I admittedly never felt truly captivated by the story itself, the world always kept me in wonder. It was so fantastical, so magical, and so exciting that every episode kept me enthralled and wondering what kind of adventure the characters would find themselves in the midst of next. 

Lyra with her friend Iorek, an armored bear

The only elephant in the room that I want to address before proceeding too far is the anti-Christian themes present. I remember when The Golden Compass movie came out in 2007 and there was significant backlash from it within my church circles; I also took a stand by not seeing it in theater. Several years later, I realize that all authors and artists have their own agendas or alignments, and it's impractical for me to only consume art by creators and artists whose views I agree with. Nowadays, I acknowledge when artists (including prominent actors) and creators hold and push views I disagree with, but I don't let that stop me from loving the art. 

On the same note, I also want to point out the anti-church ideas presented in this series that were so obvious that I found it amusing. The labeling of people's souls as "daemons;" the fact that the main, antagonistic, militant organization (known as the Magisterium) pushing for order (via death) was modeled very obviously after the Catholic church; the primary antagonist is an Archangel known as "the Authority" and is a surrogate for God; beings known as "angels" are generally antagonistic; and "witches" and "Gyptians" orders of people pursuing freedom and love. I would also like to take this time to note that "gypsies" (presumably what "Gyptian" in the series represents) or Roma people are just an ethnic culture of Europeans who shouldn't be thought of as "against" the church. In summary, all these labels represent what I can only assume to be a bad experience Pullman had with the church. He's welcome to express that this way in his world, and my watching and loving this show doesn't change what I believe about the church or my own faith. 

A leader in the Magisterium gives orders to his subordinates

Lyra with her "daemon" or soul, Pan. All daemons in the series take form of animals

Okay, wow, I didn't intend to spend quite that much page space on this "elephant," but here we are! So in basic, His Dark Materials is about a girl, Lyra, who comes into possession of a magical device known as an alethiometer that can answer any question for those with the ability to use it. Over the course of the series, Lyra goes on quest to find her parents, which leads her into a larger plot to help her allies defeat the Authority and the Magisterium. Along the way, she meets Will, a boy from another world who can use a magical dagger known as Æsahættr which can cut doorways between worlds. The two ally with each other to fight various enemies (including Lyra's parents) and ultimately join an army (which includes Lyra's parents) to kill the Authority by sending him to hell. 

Lyra watches as Will cuts a passage between worlds

Lyra using the alethiometer

This season felt more cohesive than past seasons because Will and Lyra's mission felt more tangible; in the first two, they had spent a lot of time figuring out who they and their true allies were. Plus, in this season, the two of them use Will's dagger to travel to purgatory to save their friend Roger, and on the way, help all the souls trapped their find their way to peace and move on. This carried a lot of weight as Roger had been a main character back in season 1. Over the course of that whole season, we got to see the profound strength of the sibling-like friendship Lyra and Roger had shared, making his sacrifice and death in the season 1 finale resounding. That earlier arc made the importance of this one in season 3 tangible for the audience and provided appropriate closure for Roger and Lyra's friendship. 

The only area that I think season 3 (and possibly the whole series) could have improved on would be to humanize the Authority a little more, or at least make the effects of his death/overthrowing a little more understandable. In the final episodes of the series, his defeat felt like taking down a symbol or figurehead. For the degree of sacrifice the heroes had to make to kill him, I would have wanted the stakes and results to feel more real. I understand that it generally meant greater freedom and, I think, the end of the Magisterium, but so what? How did Lyra and Will's lives change as a result? How did the world as a whole change? I can't say I'm quite sure, even now. 

A faction of witches hovers in the sky, ready to offer their services as allies against the Authority

Still, as an end to the series, this season worked very well. Every character arc was addressed, and nothing new was brought up near the end to be resolved. Every sacrifice (and there were many) felt worth it. The very end was admittedly a bit overly tragic; I thought that the sacrifice required by Lyra and Will was a bit too great. In fact, I would argue that their sacrificed somewhat nullified some of their character journeys because they were forced to give up some of the good they had earned, so the hardship of their process had been for nothing. I felt that the ending might have been written a bit differently to make their ending just a bit less tragic, but that's just me. But that complaint is not that big. 

Overall, it was a great series. Very well written and produced; each season was great on its own and contributed to a better whole.