His Dark Materials season 3, episode 3 recap: The Intention Craft
With Lyra away from her mother’s clutches, the issue of the broken subtle knife and what to do about Lord Asriel’s war has taken center stage. In His Dark Materials season 3 episode 3 “The Intention Craft”, Will and Lyra must make a decision without sacrificing their friendship in the process.
His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 3 recap – Repairing the Subtle Knife
It seems Father Gomez was somehow not killed by Mrs. Coulter and returns to The Magisterium, without any bodily damage, to tell Father President MacPhail the bad news. Hearing this leads to Father President MacPhail to decide that Lyra cannot live.
Lyra, meanwhile, awakes from another dream about Roger and the Land of the Dead. However, when Will awakes and the two begin debating what to do, their friendship gets strained.
Will needs to go to Lord Asriel as his father asked him to before his death. Unable to forgive her father for killing Roger, Lyra becomes enraged and rather go to the Land of the Dead to somehow save her friend.
The fairy creature that Lord Asriel sent to watch Lyra and Will also becomes enraged at the fact that the blade broke. But Lyra has an idea about how to fix the blade.
She remembers that Iorek is skilled and knowledgeable with metals and together they leave to seek his help. Iorek is thrilled to see Lyra again and he helps Will fix the subtle knife.
In the process, we learn the reason it broke was because Will was not focused. He needs to focus his mind on a single task.
His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 3 recap – Lord Asriel and Marisa
In the meantime, Mrs. Coulter and her daemon are Lord Asriel’s prisoners. It is very obvious that their past relationship still affects both of them deeply.
However, their decisions of the present continue to cause a rift between them. This includes Lord Asriel refusing to believe that Lyra is a new world, Eve.
Many, including the witches, are not happy Mrs. Coulter is still alive. Lord Asriel is confident that Mrs. Coulter can be trusted.
They allow her to plead her case, to which she does not tell them about the subtle knife. She does speak the truth about how she loves Lyra and will do anything to protect her.
While Lord Asriel does not share the same sentiment about his own daughter, he knows Mrs. Coulter is telling the truth. However, if she steps out of line, she’s done.
Knowing what we know about Mrs. Coulter, it is only a matter of time before she plays her cards right. Lord Asriel makes the mistake of showing her the Intention Craft and how it works.
This is the strange vehicle Lord Asriel has been using to travel to other worlds with. As he and Mrs. Coulter meet with the captured angel for the last time, audiences discover that the right hand of the Authority is an angel named Metatron.
Using the machine, Lord Asriel essentially kills the angel which gives Mrs. Coulter the opportunity to escape in the Intention Craft. Everyone besides Lord Asriel is angered that she escaped.
However, Lord Asriel knows she’s going to Lyra and it’s best that she stay with her.
His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 3 recap – The Land of the Dead
With the subtle knife fixed, and Will and Lyra’s childish argument over, she agrees to go wherever he wants to. As luck would have it, when Will uses the subtle knife, it leads him to opening a portal to the Land of the Dead itself.
Sandy, windy, and barren, Lyra, and Will move onward following a group of people. However, Pan is worried about where they are going.
Once again, we see a little bit of what Dr. Mary Malone has been up to however not much seems to change. She leaves the young girls and continues her journey, documenting everything in her journal.
His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 3 review
The biggest thing that stands out to me at this point, is Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter’s relationship. While it would be amazing to see the two in a spinoff about how their relationship began, it would be equally amazing if we could learn what happened to them in the fallout.
It’s amazing how the two of them are both on the right and wrong side of the track in different ways. Lord Asriel is right for wanting this war but ever so wrong in the way he treats his own daughter.
Mrs. Coulter loves Lyra with all her heart, but she is the farthest thing from a good person, considering all of the pain and death she has caused unto others. The two could not be more different at this stage in their lives and yet you can tell they cannot stay away from each other.
It would have been wonderful to see what their relationship was like before it fell apart. Aside from that, it’s compelling to see Will and Lyra grow up and slowly begin to realize their friendship is becoming something more.
They are becoming more interested in each other in ways of a young and blossoming romance. Will this affect their decisions moving forward?
What will happen when Mrs. Coulter finds Lyra again? Perhaps most importantly, when will the Authority become aware of the war that is heading his way?
Next. White Lotus creator Mike White alludes to what season 3 could look like. dark
What did you think of the His Dark Materials season 3 episode 3? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
His Dark Materials season 3 episode 4 airs on HBO December 12, 2022.