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I understand why they changed it to Billy Costa in the adaptation (it was a random kid in the book) but they robbed the whole sequence of a ton of emotion.

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I was a little surprised they didnt have him holding a dead fish or some other animal. I actually had my wife come in and watch that scene before it happened (she doesnt watch the show) bc while I was reading the book I would tell her about it and that was one of the more tragic moments.

But I think it being Billy, not a random kid, and having Ma Costa have to say goodbye to him made up for the emotional aspect of the sequence overall. But you're right, it took away from Lyra's feelings quite a bit.

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Loved the scene between Seraphina and Coram.

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Lord Commander Mormont is a great actor. First thing I thought when they showed them in ep1 was that Salladhor Saan and the Lord Commander are the gyptian leaders

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I’m hoping the plot moves forward a good bit with this most recent episode.

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I understand if you have some mild frustration as literally half the season (4 of 8 episodes) was dedicated to character introductions and worldbuilding, with a lot of exposition done on the fly.

If the full season encompasses the entirety of the first novel, episodes 6 and 8 will be jam-packed with action.

Okay, I watched last night and I was good until the end. Where is she now and why did they knock Lyra out? Are these people from the magisterium?

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You want to believe your own beliefs? Have at it. But to try and influence young teens without stating as such? Snake-in-the-grass garbage human being.

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I bet you have no issue if the writer supports your views.

Have we discussed how bad Lin Manuel Miranda is? Excellent show otherwise but this dude overacts like he’s still on Broadway. His fight scene was laughable as well.

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Lord Commander Mormont is a great actor.

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Campbell from Braveheart says hi. It was his breakout role.

My favorite lines.

No one has ever stopped a calvary charge of heavy horses.

We will.

How?

:::::::::long pause::::::: We'll make spears. Long ones.

Some spears are longer than others.

I see your mother's been telling stories about me again boy.

Everyone laughs.

I also liked, when they pulled the arrow out of him.

"That'll wake you up in the mornin'."

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One thing I missed ... where did she hide her Golden Compass?

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As I recall from the novel, she puts it in a leather pouch that she wears around her neck all the time, possibly after Mrs Coulter's daemon almost steals it.

It either got left behind at the Gyptian camp or is being stored with her other belongings at the facility. Billy was sent back out to the village with his old clothes, so they don't dispose of them.

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I’m enjoying the show, but I’m watching because I read the book like 15 years ago or something like that. I’ve tried to get my gf to watch, some other friends and my parents and they all couldn’t get through an episode.

The tone definitely isn’t registering with people I know that are 25-30 years old that aren’t familiar with the source material.

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It's very difficult material to adapt due to both (1) budget constraints - Iorek, daemons, not even touching on the stuff we'll see later and (2) it is an adolescent narrative about very adult material, which requires either dumbing down the plot or including material that is less appealing to an adult audience just to form a coherent identity for the show.

The adolescent reader is probably hooked by characters having talking animal sidekicks and going on adventures.

The adult reader is probably hooked by parallels to current events, the philosophical and theological ideas that are introduced, and the emotional conclusion to the two main story arcs (that's what got me anyway, I first read it in my early 20s about 10 years ago).

Either of those ideas alone makes a decent show, but the two don't necessarily mesh well.

I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to introduce the Will Parry storyline in Season 1, especially so early. Too much time and dramatic tension has been pulled from Lyra and the Gyptians.