User Reviews

This the best episode of the show, Ending was a perfect. I don't expect asriel and that was really shocked and got a goosebumps 😍

This episode seemed somewhat lacking in substance, but I will say this: it's better than the book. This episode, along with all of season 1 and 2 have not cut so much as added. The characters like Mrs Coulter, John Parry "Jopari," Boreal, and Lord Asriel are far more three-dimensional in the show with more material to work with than in the books. The essence of their characters is the same, but much more developed. I'm happy about the change to Jopari's death. The book did that absolutely no justice, and the person who killed him in the novel was a feeble choice, following a feeble reunion with Will. So, all and all, and can't complain.

I loved this episode its the best so far. Its action packed, has shocking moments and its satisfyingly amazing. The finale bring the dragging series 2 to a satisfying conclusion.

The deaths are very sad, and I didn't expect to happen. Lee Scoresby was my favourite character and even though I knew he dies at the end of the subtle knife I didn't think they would kill him off in the show as lin-manuel Miranda is a brilliant actor and plays Scoresby brilliantly, however his death was sad but also needed. I'm glad they stuck to the source material. The same goes for Andrew Scott's John Parry/Jopari/Stannislaus Grumman. His death was way better than the books, however again as he's not in it a lot (considering andrew scotts appearance would be teased in season one) if series 2 was shorter we would of seen a lot less and it would've felt rushed.

James McAvoy's lord Asriel's return and speech to the angels was so amazing and satisfying and it has extremely hyped me up for the 3rd and final series.

Overall season 2 drags a bit but i'm glad it did because the finale wouldn't off worked.

Series 2 is an 8.3 to me.

The writers have been building up for an entire season for the main casts to finally meet. But the "how" part was surprisingly underwhelming.

• There was a lot of walking. A LOT.
• One of the most emotional moments of the series, Lee's sacrifice, was cut away at least two times, losing momentum and impact.
• Jopari promised Lee to task the Knife Bearer to protect Lyra, he didn't.
• Nor did he deliver the ring.
• Jopari was also supposed to heal Will's wounds in the books. He didn't. Then he died.
• The above three points rendered the entire arc of Lee and Jopari almost pointless.
• The witch responsible for scouting didn't see Lee/Jopari/the Magisterium army nearby, and later fell asleep in broad daylight allowing Mrs. Coulter's ambush to happen.

The writers may yet be able to redeem themselves in season 3 for this mishap with Jopari, because of what was hinted in the post-credit scene. But I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

Still, I enjoyed this show overall for being possibly the most beautiful adaption of the book series. I am relived to hear the show has been renewed for season 3, and I am looking forward to seeing it!

Disclaimer: I've never read the books so went in to this with no idea as to what was going to happen. I did however expect the finale to unite all of our character's journeys until they'd be gathered in the same place, presumably in the midst of a climactic battle between The Magisterium, Mrs Coulter, her army of Spectres & Lyra with Sarafina Pekkala & her clan members; that would've been a natural progression & made coherent sense, connecting all of the different plot threads we've seen throughout series 2 until they'd be tied neatly together, drawing to one precise destination with no loose ends... So you can imagine my surprise when instead, we got this rather subdued affair?

First thing's first, I'm aware this is apparently a faithful adaptation of events depicted in the novel so can't complain it's the fault of writer Jack Thorne. Regardless, that doesn't lessen my disappointment - because the narrative is still splintered & illogical, irrespective of who's to blame.

For instance, when Will's father has demonstrated an impressive ability to conjure storms capable of striking zeppelins down from the sky, why is he suddenly defenceless against a platoon of men on foot? Lee Scoresby also summons Serafina - to help save himself from the encroaching enemy after sustaining severe injuries - & although she manages to find Lyra within minutes of beginning her search in episode 6, can fly at unfathomable speeds, bringing heavily armed aircraft to the ground with minimal effort etc. suddenly she's too late to intervene - & thus, the soldiers kill him & somehow get away? Not to mention, Lee makes John Parry swear to protect Lyra before he dies - ensuring that the knife bearer will wield their power in order to keep her safe... But when Will reunites with his dad, he never even mentions Lyra - so what was the point? He was additionally being pursued by a whole squadron - so where did the rest go? We only saw one shooter - who manages to conveniently assassinate Andrew Scott's character in a clichéd & contrived sequence. If the witch killed the other guards, why was it not shown? Furthermore, when Mrs Coulter ambushes her daughter, how did she manage to prevent her from being able to escape? Lyra has a proven talent for evading capture & Pan has been able to viciously suppress Mrs Coulter by restraining her daemon - so leaving it to the audience to figure out feels contradictory (unless you provide an on screen explanation) because everything we've witnessed prior to this would suggest she shouldn't be capable. The Spectres couldn't assist her in her endeavour either because they can only harm adults, not children - so Lyra is unaffected by their powers. As for the Spectres, they seemed rather useless recruits too; Marisa climbs to the top of the tower to gather her legions in an epic, spectacular scene... And from then on, they do hardly anything of value? It's a waste of time when their contributions are infinitesimal. All of that build up for nothing.

What should've been a showdown to end all showdowns & a culmination of 7 episode's worth of content results in an unnatural fracturing - where protagonists & villains behave in uncharacteristic ways so they can justify diverging once more, making independent journeys away from each other.

To the writers: please don't repeat GOT's terrible ending because what you did in this episode leads you towards that! You can't make your characters dumb to get where you want fast, this is lazy writing! A character that can control wind and birds shouldn't die this way, witches don't take afternoon nap in the middle of an important mission, they just don't! What you delivered in this episode doesn't make sense. There are lots a holes in the story like how Lyra got into that box? Did her mother carry her all the way back? One GOT is enough for a lifetime so you can't repeat it, you just can't so please don't be lazy and write right in S3.

I was impressed with the second series of His Dark Materials but the finale was just a tad lacklustre.

Of course this was a forced finale. The Covid pandemic meant that an eight standalone episode was scrapped.

Lee Scoresby and John Parry crash land with Scoresby getting involved in a fight to the death with the Magisterium soldiers.

It allows John Parry to be briefly reunited with his son Will. John discovers that his son is the new bearer of the knife and has a destiny.

Mrs Coulter learns from a witch just who her daughter Lyra is. The mother of all.

Somehow it was little stilted. Outside of Lee Scoresby's shootout it was a series of small character moments.

If there was an epicness hinted. It was because it also laid the groundwork for a third series as Lord Asriel makes a brief socially distanced return.

I love this series!! The first season is my absolute favorite. This season was decent However the finale was so anti climatic where I wasn't even really aching for more when it finished. The emotion and the interactions with all the characters this particular episode were very dry, apart from Will and his father. That scene was good but cut short. There was very little action to this episode and as a finale I just wanted more. The show in general gets an 8/10 but this finale was a solid 5.

During last night's live airing, I kept dosing off. I was running on four hours of sleep so I blamed me. I rated it a 7. I just rewatched it on a full night's sleep and still fought off sleep and gave it a 5. Have you ever watched something where everything is happening, but nothing happens at the same time? That is Season 2. It's a dreary buildup to Season 3. Where did Season 1's hope, excitement and adventure go? Marisa can control powerful soul-eating energy yet uses them to kill a mere two witches. You can control malevolent Spectres and you knock off two witches. That's it! It would be like Danerys Targaryen using her dragons to kill two red priestess. Shaman John Parry can manipulate weather and birds and use them as deadly weapons, but doesn't use his powers in the forest against the Magisterium, who's hunting down and shooting to kill him and Lee Scoresby. What in the nonsensical mess is this?? Lyra and Will are mopey. When Marisa shows up to kidnap Lyra, her facial expression is the same as it's been all season. Dafne Keen needs an acting coach. The witches are useless. What does Dr. Mary Malone add? Lord Asriel finally shows up to yell at the sky with an apocalyptic backdrop and some angels. I've missed James McAvoy. While Ruth Wilson is great, McAvoy brings thrill, passion and gravitas to the show. Oh and post-credits, Roger is back and trapped in some dark afterlife land. I may be in the minority, but I'm not a Roger fan. I'll skip Season 3 or wait for the episodes to build up on-demand/HBO Max, and binge-watch.

Disappointing end to the 2nd season which was also not particularly that good as a whole. This season went pretty much nowhere and achieved nothing. Oh wait there are angels.. the end.

The series as a whole is pretty good but several things just annoyed me

• Will's dad and Leigh Scoresby were pointless
• the witches insist on doing dumb stuff constantly
• Will and Lyra insist on refusing help and ignoring her demon
• Leigh can request help from the witch at any point but waits until he's basically dead
• Lyra can check the Altheometer whether she wants but just ... Doesn't
• the witches are supposed to be protecting Lyra instead they all have a nap in the middle of the day
• Ms Coulter can just magically travel cross country and catch up with people in a night when they left days ago

There's probably more but those things left me quite irritated.

What an amazing maze that just took out the worst and anti-thesis for all. Witches lost power and figures travelled far distances in an instant, however of course only the ones you didn't cheer for making this episode cataclystic for the whole series. An utter disgrace.

Greatest question in my mind is: for what did lee died? Its like his whole existence dose not make any sense. Same can be said for john parry. All that buildup for nothing.

Man, the writers fell asleep on these last two episode. Where to begin...

Okay, so we learn that the Specters attack people soon as adulthood kicks in, so all the adults fled the city and left the kids behind because...um...actually, now that I think about it, why didn't the kids evacuate with the adults? The ones still stuck in the city were old enough to know that getting the heck out of the city was a better move than staying in it...especially when we find out that the two girls wind up going to an encampment that was seemingly just up the hill.

The witches are so dumb it's painful to watch. They have all this deft defying power, yet they laze around and make sophomoric mistakes that make little sense given their supernatural talents. Somehow Mrs. Coulter wipes the floor with them like its nothing. This was infuriating to watch.

So the Shamon dude could conjure up lighting storms and flocks of killer birds that could take down military grade zeppelins, but he can't do the same for like 30 men on the ground? All it took was one guy with a gun to kill him? If it were that simple, why send an army in the first place. Why not send a skilled assassin to do the same job.

Boreal's character was pretty much wasted. What was the point of this dude?

Lee had a superhuman witch on speed dial this whole time and he only uses it when he's about to die. He could have summoned her like...I dunno, before dying? Actually, scratched that, Shamon dude could have killed all those soldiers with his powers (which for reasons that aren't explained) stops using once they're on the ground being pursued by the soldiers.

Lyra knows her mother, specters and everything in between are after her and Will, so she decides to sleep in the middle of the day instead of you know, asking the compass a bunch of questions about their current predicament.

How the heck did Mrs. Coulter catch up to the group from the city?? Lyra and Will's group have been walking for days yet Mrs. Coulter finds them in like a few hours and manages to kidnap Lyra with some much ease it's laughable.

I'm not sure I'll continue this show.