His Dark Materials season 3, episode 8 recap: The Botanic Garden

The series finale of His Dark Materials has arrived, and audiences will not be ready for the number of emotions they are about to experience. With the war finally over, Lyra and Will reunite with Dr. Mary Malone and together fulfill the prophecy The Magisterium has been trying to prevent.

Does the compelling HBO series end on a high note? Let’s find out!

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8 recap – Lyra reunites with Dr. Mary Malone

Lyra is understandably unsure how to feel at the current moment. Both of her parents are dead, yet she feels both sadness and relief.

She is confused by their past and present actions and suddenly realizes she’s alone. Will reassures her she is not alone.

The two manage to find Dr. Mary Malone and she shows them around. As beautiful as paradise seems, there is still one problem; dust continues to leave that world, causing groups of trees to die.

Dr. Malone has yet to figure out why this is happening. That evening Lyra and Will ask Dr. Malone about her life and she confesses that she was once a nun.

While she and her sisters were on a retreat, she met and fell in love with another woman and realized how she felt more fulfilled and happy living in a world outside of a nunnery. Her story about love affects both Lyra and Will whom have been flirting with each other often at this point but have yet to address their feelings.

The following day as Lyra and Will get clean, they tip toe on the subject, however, Will isn’t brave enough to confess to Lyra how he really feels. He believes he messed up until later that same day, Lyra takes it upon herself to kiss him.

As the two begin to kiss and confess their love for each other the prophecy is fulfilled as dust begins to fill every world again.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8 recap – Father Gomez

Unfortunately for the group enjoying paradise, Father Gomez arrives undetected. Both he and his daemon begin searching for Lyra while also taking sport in killing an animal or two they deem ungodly.

What he doesn’t know is that there is an angel following him. When Father Gomez spots Lyra and aims to kill her, the angel makes himself known.

It is Balthamos and he is angry that Father Gomez is going to kill an innocent child. Father Gomez is in awe and wishes to act on the angel’s behalf, to kill Lyra and prevent sin.

Balthamos scolds Father Gomez for assuming what sin is and kills his daemon. Father Gomez dies and the act also kills Balthamos who turns to dust.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8 recap – The End

With the last true threat to Lyra dead, everything should be fine now, right? No, His Dark Materials turns the series finale into one big cry fest once it is revealed that all the portals must be closed forever.

Before we get there, Lyra and Will are reunited with their daemons. Will’s daemon, Kirjava, receives her name from Serafina.

Now that everything is coming together, it’s time for it all to fall apart, as the portal must be closed. Which means that Will and Lyra will no longer be together as they cannot live in each other’s world.

Both Xaphania and Serafina break the news to the young couple who are very much in love, even at their age. Both take the news as well as you’d expect.

Even though Will had closed every portal he ever made, those who wielded the subtle knife before him did not. These openings will allow dust to move freely as well as evil.

Only one portal can stay open, however that is the portal Lyra and Will made in the Land of the Dead. As much as they do not and cannot live with each other, they know this must be done, even as unfair and cruel as it is.

Even Dr. Malone is upset for them and herself as she must return home after having a life changing experience. The trio first go to Oxford, where it seems everything is as it was when Lyra left.

There Dr. Malone meets her daemon, a little black bird, for the first time. Lyra and Will sit on a bench in a beautiful botanical garden where they agree once a year, they will sit on this bench and spend time together for an hour.

They also agree that they will never stop trying to find and be with each other again. After a very powerful and intense kiss, Will opens a portal to his and Dr. Malone’s world.

Will closes it and breaks the subtle knife. A whole year later we see Lyra and Will with their daemons meeting at the same bench.

Although they cannot see, touch, nor hear each other, they know this is the best they will get for now. We watch as the two return to the same bench each year before the episode concludes.

Before the credits roll, we learn that Will becomes a medical student and then doctor while Lyra studies to learn the alethiometer as a growing adult and ready for her next adventure with Pan.

His Dark Materials Season 3 Episode 8 review

Who knew two young kids could fall in love so quickly and so deeply. They would put real life couples to shame!

While I had hoped for a happier ending for Lyra, I can’t say I’m at all surprised that she and Will are not together. Yes, they are both experiencing love for the first time and still have many years ahead to grow, I have no doubts that if they could live in the same world, they would still be together.

Even though the story ends with them hoping they’ll be reunited one day, I will hold onto that hope as well. As I also feared, some questions remained unanswered after the series finale.

The biggest question, for me that is, is what happened to The Magisterium? Do they still rule with an iron fist?

Are they under new management? Did they stop existing after the war?

For a show and story to really build up The Magisterium as the ultimate undefeatable bad guys, the finale sure had no trouble acting as if they suddenly didn’t matter anymore. Am I the only one confused by this?

As I mentioned in a previous recap, I knew not every question would be answered as a lot of TV shows follow this habit. But this, not knowing what happened to The Magisterium, is a question that really needed to be answered.

Everything else I could let go, but not that one. Otherwise, the finale was amazing from start to finish and I could hardly stand watching Lyra and Will being forced to be apart.

His Dark Materials was a wild, thought-provoking ride that I am glad I took the time to watch and experience.

What did you think of the His Dark Materials season 3 episode 8? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

You can watch all three seasons of His Dark Materials on HBO.