'His Dark Materials' Season 1 Episode 3 Recap: "The Spies"

Last week's His Dark Materials ended with Lyra's capture by the gobbler goons, unaware the child they collected was the last one Mrs. Coulter ever wanted to see go North for experimentation. In other circumstances, this might have been the worst thing to happen. Since these goons work for Coulter, this is a direct path to Lyra going right back to the prison apartment. But a lucky break strikes instead. Tony Costa and the Gyptian toughs have steaked out where the kids used to be held and are there to attack when the truck pulls up. Still, it's hard to tell who is more shocked when they open the back of thevan — Lyra to see Tony or the Gyptians to see her.

I've been skirting the Gyptian issue so far in my recaps because they are probably the most problematic part of the original story. In 1995, when The Northern Lights was published, the word "gypsy" was still a stone's throw from being commonly used to refer to the Roma. In a show less intent on a slavishly precise adaptation, those involved might have been able to take a step back, recognize that a quarter-century on, this one particular choice hasn't aged well, and noodled it into something a little more 21st-century appropriate. But sadly, no.

That's not to say the Gyptians, a Romany-like people who live on boats rather than in wagons, and who refer to everyone else as "landlubbers" are terrible. Everyone works very hard to make Pullman's unfortunate stereotype feel like a fully-realized people. And it should not be lost on anyone that these working-class people are the ones losing their children at a disproportionate rate to everyone else, a reminder the rich always prey on those they see as unable to fight back. But this episode is also hampered by the show's need to get all the plot exposition out of the way before the end of the hour, so that everyone can sail Northwards with clear eyes, full hearts, and a will not to lose.