His Dark Materials season 3, episode 5 recap: No Way Out

His Dark Materials season 3 episode 5 “No Way Out” answers even more questions than before and truly sets the stage for what will surely be, chaos, in the following episodes. Lyra and Will successfully find Roger and others in the Land of the Dead, while Dr. Mary Malone makes an important discovery!

Just wait until you find out what happens to Mrs. Coulter and the bomb The Magisterium has been working on. Not surprisingly, the Authority isn’t too pleased.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 5 recap – Dr. Mary Malone and the Amber Spyglass

Dr. Mary Malone has decided to live and stay with the strange creatures who speak a language she doesn’t understand. They eat from rounded fruit and then use the fruit to move around as though they are on roller skates.

They live within an open area surrounded by very tall and protective trees. Every day Mary studies the language and movements of the trunks while the creatures speak to her.

Every day she eats the fruit and tries to understand the message the angels had given her about the serpent before departing. One day as she is looking at the water, she notices large pieces of beautiful amber.

She begins collecting and cleaning them with the juice from the fruit. When she picks up a very smooth, flat piece of amber and cleans it, she cannot believe her eyes!

She can see dust! When she shows it to her creature friend and speaks to her in her language, they realize that the dust is actually leaving the large groups of trees that are spread out in the area.

What could this mean?

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 5 recap – Lyra finds Roger

Lyra and Will arrive to the Land of the Dead, however they are on their own. The area is dark and quiet, filled with mountains of items that once belonged to people.

As they begin to meet people who are pale and grey, they realize that they are afraid of these winged, demonic creatures. Very few people will come near Lyra and Will, fearing what the demonic creatures will do.

Some of the dead children recognize that Lyra is from their world where everyone has daemons. The children reflect on their daemons, missing them terribly.

As one girl is brave enough to help Lyra and Will try to find Roger, she quickly becomes scared away by a demonic creature reminding her of a past act she’s been guilty of. Lyra and Will temporarily separate, becoming nearly brainwashed by the demonic creatures.

Lyra feels guilty for abandoning Pan to find Roger, even going as far as hallucinating her daemon. Will feels guilty for leaving his mother behind to search for his father.

The two are able to overpower the ploy of the demonic creatures and find more people including Roger. However, Roger seems emotionless and empty.

It isn’t until Lyra begins reminding him of their friendship and all the trouble they would cause at Jordan College, that he begins to warm up. Color slowly returns to his face and a light glow begins to form.

More people emerge, listening to Lyra’s stories becoming more alive. Of course, the more the people are coming alive, the angrier the demonic creatures become.

One of the dead, an older woman, confesses to Lyra how heartbroken they all are. They were told all their lives to be good people, pray, have faith and they would be rewarded upon death with heaven.

Instead, they have been sent here, with nowhere to go. Lyra offers that everyone should follow her and Will and leave the Land of the Dead.

The only trouble is they don’t know how to leave as the subtle knife doesn’t work and they don’t know what will happen to the dead people upon leaving. The demonic creatures try to scare the people into staying but it doesn’t work.

Lyra shows no fear, even goes as far as asking one for its name. However, it becomes clear that the demonic creatures cannot control the people they leave.

The dead agree that they rather take the chance and leave, then stay there any longer. With that, Lyra and Will begin leading the people through the Land of the Dead.

As luck would have it, Lee Scoresby is also there and has a warm reunion with Lyra.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 5 recap – The Authority reveals itself

Mrs. Coulter remains imprisoned and unsure how she will escape. As she awaits, essentially her death, Father President MacPhail stares at her daemon.

As he attempts to touch it, Father Gomez catches him. When he reminds the Father President that touching another’s daemon is forbidden, he becomes enraged.

Father Gomez later apologizes and asks if he could go and kill Lyra himself. Father President MacPhail allows this.

As Mrs. Coulter is brought into the room with her daemon, she sees Dr. Cooper preparing the machine that they both had worked on. This machine is meant to sever a human from their daemon.

As we’ve seen before, this cut will kill the person. Mrs. Coulter makes multiple attempts to try and sway Dr. Cooper to her side.

As the machine is powered up with Father President MacPhail ready to watch while praying, Dr. Cooper decides to side with Mrs. Coulter. Of course, this results in Father President MacPhail killing her as Mrs. Coulter tries to escape.

Even the fairy/insect possibly gets killed by Father President. As Mrs. Coulter and Father President MacPhail fight, Mrs. Coulter sees that the bomb has identified Lyra’s location.

Willing to sacrifice himself, Father President MacPhail straps himself into the room, ready to set off the bomb. But what both do not realize is that the Authority is making itself known.

The angel whom Lord Asriel killed a few episodes prior, has indeed delivered the message. The Authority is angry and decides to come down and send the bomb anyway to Lyra.

In the process, Father President MacPhail’s connection to his daemon is severed and the bomb is sent to the Land of the Dead. As the bomb explodes the episode comes to a close.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 5 review

I was beginning to wonder when the Authority would discover Lord Asriel’s plans for war. It is a little confusing that the angels were not aware of this already.

Is the show trying to imply that the connection between humans and angels has been severed as well? Or that angels in heaven simply do not care about humans?

It would make sense as those who died do not go to heaven or hell. They are simply stuck in a purgatory of sorts.

Why would the Authority allow this? For that matter, if Lyra is successful in leading the dead out of the Land of the Dead, what happens to death as a whole?

Will her involvement somehow make it so that when people die, they will be sent to heaven? Dr. Mary Malone’s side of the His Dark Materials plot is slowly taking shape, as it seems as though she had found a new world Eden or sorts.

The trees are very large and almost resemble what one would think of as a Tree of Knowledge. It appears as though it is a paradise with the only residents being these strange animals that resemble animals of our world.

The reveal that dust is leaving from the tops of the trees further proves my theory. But does that mean that Dr. Mary Malone’s interference will somehow cause the downfall of this Eden?

She seems to know things the creatures don’t. She seems to reveal things they did not previously know.

Isn’t that what happened to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? They were able to know things they weren’t meant or allowed to, which resulted in their banishment.

It’s hard to pinpoint which religious references play out and where in this series. However, I look forward to what will happen now that the Authority has revealed itself to Lyra’s world and if the bomb is how Lyra, Will, and the dead leave the Land of the Dead.

What did you think of the His Dark Materials season 3 episode 5? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

His Dark Materials season 3 episode 6 airs on HBO December 19, 2022.