His Dark Materials Season 2 (2020) Review

For the last 7 weeks, His Dark Materials second season has been on BBC One and now it has finished so here is my review. The premise of the season sees Lyra and Will come together to attempt to find an object to protect them both from evil forces. 

Main Character

Dafne Keen is back as Lyra and once again she is really good in the role. It is just really easy to root for her and want to see her succeed in her quest and I also think she has matured in the role and showing stronger acting ability. Amir Wilson plays Will and I must admit I didn't warm to him at first, whether that was the first season or this season but he bought me around. I really liked the dynamic between Lyra and Will as the season progressed and I actually believed they had a friendship and that it had been developed throughout the season. 

Supporting Characters

Ruth Wilson plays Mrs Coulter and again she is really good here, her character is well developed and unlike the first season I actually believed she cared about Lyra and despite her own personal goals that plays much heavier in this season which is a nice development here. Lin Manuel Miranda and Andrew Scott are the team-up we never knew we needed, for me they are the most entertaining part of the show and really do a great job in adding some fun tot this show while keeping with the depth. However, the rest of the cast didn't work for me, Simone Kirby's character annoyed the hell out of me, mainly because the part of the plot she was involved in and how it just takes away from the mystique that the show has built up. All the stuff to do with the witches and magisterium starts off alright but falls flat and flatters to deceive and feels like a waste of time. 

Story 

The story had me pretty much shaking my head throughout and felt like a weaker element then in the previous season. Yes the relationships between Lyra and Will is well handled and Lin Manuel Miranda and Andrew Scott are a fun pairing but the way they finished these characters arcs this season really disappointed me. So much that it has me questioning whether I even want to bother with the next season. I would say there is more going on this season that isn't connected to Lyra and it just isn't particularly interesting and it makes some of the mistakes of last season while creating whole new ones. 

Script

The show does have some well written scenes in it for sure mainly between the main characters and that does a good job in making them pretty likeable and well done. But this show suffers from weak circumstantial writing, every show is guilty of it but I thought this show suffered with it more and it bogged down the show for me and made it harder for me to get on board. 

Style

The one thing this show has for it is that it looks fantastic, the world looks great and that continues this season as visually the show does stand out from others. Due to the pandemic this show had 7 episodes instead of 8 and there is not much they could have done about that but to me it did feel like there was parts of the show that was missing and underdeveloped which is a shame considering the world that is built through the two seasons. 

Overall

Overall, the second season is a step down in quality and only represents an average show. I think if you weren't convinced by the first season then this won't do much more for you and if they continue like this I do worry for this shows future. 

Rating - 5/10