Has Anyone Seen a Bear?!

His Dark Materials sometimes it feel like it ’s moving through plotlines atbreakneck stop number , but the latest episode knew to slow things down . That ’s because there ’s no way of life in hell that anyone ’s gon na rush the first appearance of Lee Scoresby ( Lin - Manuel Miranda ) and Iorek Byrnison , thearmored bear .

“ Armour ” takes place almost entirely in Trollesund , a port wine town that ’s a common stopover for folks kick the bucket northwards . It ’s small-scale , it ’s dirty , and it ’s full of secrets — not to mention make its fair share of Magisterium soldiers . Lyra ( Dafne Keen ) and the gyptians are making a supplies stop before head inland tofind the kidnapped kids , a hiatus where they get way more than they bargain for . You see , Trollesund ’s got another peculiar visitant : aeronaut Lee Scoresby . And he ’s on the Holman Hunt for an armored bear .

We first come in across Scoresby in his hot air balloon , singing a duet with his arctic hare daemon Hester ( Cristela Alonzo ) before they arrive in Trollesund in search of their ally Iorek Byrnison . Scoresby finds that the town is either uninterested or afraid to tell him anything about the bear , to the point where he gets into a bar brawl ( with Hester providing fight tips and gloss comment ) . He also comes across a cowardly port master , Syssellman , living under the thumb of the Magisterium , toy by Harry Melling ( who you might substantially acknowledge as another snivel humans - child , Dudley Dursley from the Harry Potter serial ) .

Oh hey, there he is!

Oh hey, there he is!Photo: HBO

Iorek ( voiced byJoe Tandberg ) is gruff , acute , and uncompromising . I found his performance intriguing — he was the bear , something that ’s not always easy to do when you ’re spiel a giant CGI creature . As far as Miranda himself , he ’s kind of a assorted bag for me . His Scoresby is charming and light - hearted with a certain saturation bubbling underneath — not menace , but much like a hare he seems constantly cognizant of his surround . But he still seems to be Lin - Manuel Miranda - ing it up , which is a common trouble in his performances . And Almighty help him , Miranda can not hold up a Texan accent . It ’s perturb to the peak where I would ’ve rather he not tried doing it at all .

Anyway , it turns out Scoresby is n’t the only one who desire to get the bear ’s attention . Lyra finds out about Iorek thanks to a witch consulate , whom she and Farder Coram had sought out to get service from the witch , direct by Coram ’s ex-husband - lover Serafina Pekkala . During their confab , the consulate discovers she has an alethiometer and task her with using it to find a piece of “ cloud pine , ” which is a eccentric of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree the witch employ for flying . She succeeds , and that gets the consulate ’s attention . As we find out , the consulate was secretly testing her . The witches have a vaticination about a extra girl who will change the worldly concern , and it seems they may have determine her . But no time for that , we ’ve get a bear to deliver !

Lyra utilise her wits and accomplishment to recruit Lee and Iorek to their cause , mainly by helping Iorek find his armour that the local townspeople had hidden away so they could force him to keep form for them . Bears do n’t have daemons , but they do craft their own armour out of sky - smoothing iron and treat it as if it ’s part of their soul . A bear without their armour is not a truthful bear . Once Lyra recite Iorek where to find his armour , we get an awesome and intense natural process scene where Iorek rampages through the town , go forth destruction in his wake as Lyra give chase . It ’s only Lyra who ’s able to calm him down long enough to forestall him from killing Harry , and together with Lee , they join the gyptians to head north .

Graphic: Jim Cooke

Maybe don’t try and hug this bear.Photo: HBO

This episode may have still had its fair share of plot trash dump and exposition — particularly during the scene where Farder Coram and Lord Faa talk with Serafina ’s daimon about the come warfare — but overall it managed to slow down things down a number and focus on a very crucial part of its own story . Iorek is such a all-important part of His Dark Materials , you ca n’t skim over his debut . And even if Lee is a little rasping around the edges — not in a sound way — he ’s still a welcome addition to the family and I ’m looking forward to more conniption between Miranda and Keen . The two of them recreate excellently off each other .

But there was one more thing that happened this instalment . Mrs. Coulter ( Ruth Wilson ) has been meddling . She make do to thwart an attempted takeover against her position at the General Oblation Board , and secure passage Second Earl of Guilford because she ’s got something the Magisterium desperately want . Lord Asriel . He ’s being held prisoner by the bear up compass north , led by King Iofur Raknison … who we gather at the end of the instalment , blot out in the shadows . Mrs. Coulter has a gift for manipulate everyone she sets her eyes on , and Iofur is her latest object . you may feel the desire and desperation seething out of him , as he yearns to be accepted as man . It ’ll be interesting to see what comes of that , and how far Mrs. Coulter will go to keep him and Lord Asriel under her mastery .

Random Musings:

Farder Coram telling Lyra about the death of his Logos took a turn for the devastating when he suffocate up at the memory of have to bury his little male child . That break me , and I had to pause the episode for a second to collect myself . It ’s still catgut - wrenching .

We ’ve suffer some more hints about what the Gobblers are up to at “ The Station , ” aka Bolvangar , the place where they ’ve been transporting small fry . A few of the damage mentioned included intercision and child cutters . Both of those sound really , really bad .

BEAR FIGHT .

Photo: HBO