'His Dark Materials' Season 1, Episode 6 Recap: "The Daemon-Cages"

Last week's His Dark Materials picked up steam with the addition of Will Parry and a second storyline on our Earth. This week, Will is mostly benched. Despite Boreal's orders to search the house, his minions are perfectly happy to sit outside watching, unnerving Elaine and her kid, rather than go full-scale break-in. It allowed the show to bring the main plot up to the same level, with an episode where Lyra is confronted by adults who lie better than she does.

Not that Lyra isn't a good liar. Upon being processed into Bolvangar, "Lizzie" is moved to the top of the list of children to be cut, since she's practically weeks away from hitting puberty. Not that she's first up, that honor goes to Bridget, a girl in giant glasses with who Lizzie was trying to make friends/start the revolution. But Dr. Cooper and company are all nerves right now, between the malfunctioning fire alarm and the imminent arrival of Mrs. Coulter. The latter is assumed to be coming after the escape of Billy Costa. (Apparently, he was not let go, he wandered off.) But viewers know she's really on her way in hopes of finding Lyra.

The fire alarm is a useful distraction, it gives Lyra and Roger a chance to communicate, and a well-timed snowball fight allows them to sneak off and investigate. If Billy Costa's daemon-less zombie wasn't enough to drive home the horror, being confronted with cages of cut-off daemons, and a roomful of zombie children with shaved heads and slow reactions (including Bridget and her huge glasses) lands with a visceral force. Lyra and Roger vow to get out before it's their turn.