In the previous episode of HBO’s His Dark Materials, Will and Lyra met in another world, and Father MacPhail and Mrs. Coulter conspired to kill Cardinal Sturrock. In His Dark Materials Season 2 Episode 2, Will took Lyra to his Oxford, and as the acting Cardinal, MacPhail made moves against the witches.
Dark Matter
Lyra’s motivation for going to Will’s Oxford was to learn about Dust. She discovered quickly that their Oxfords were different after a car nearly ran her over and she discovered that Jordan College didn’t exist there. While Will checked on his mother, Lyra visited a museum where Boreal spoke to her and gave her his card, introducing himself as a collector.
The alethiometer led Lyra to Dr. Malone, a physicist studying dark matter. Lyra explained to Dr. Malone that in her world, the Magisterium hated Dust because it’s original sin. Dr. Malone was patient with her and explained her research on dark matter. She described a computer called the Cave that she uses to observe dark matter. Dr. Malone hooked it up to Lyra. The dark matter arranged themselves and spoke to Lyra in the language of the alethiometer. Lyra realized she was late to meet Will and promised to return the next day. That night, Dr. Malone shared a beer with a colleague and told him about Lyra.
Grandparents
Will could finally charge his phone back in his world and discovered several texts from his mother. He snuck up to his house and texted her. Will saw through the window that she was with his teacher, someone he could trust, and he left. Next, he went to see his father’s lawyer about accessing his trust. She suggested seeing his father’s parents who live in Oxford too. When he got there, his grandfather called a detective inspector, and his grandmother tried to get him to give up his mother’s letters. Will ran away from the house.
When Lyra was late, he was upset with her. He thought she’d been caught. Lyra showed him the alethiometer and explained that his father was alive and that they needed to find him.
Cleansing
Since the Magisterium blamed the witches for the Cardinal’s death, they sent Dr. Lanselius to speak with them. They put him on trial and sentenced him to imprisonment and hard labor. Though MacPhail was acting Cardinal, Father Graves used the trials to challenge MacPhail for the job. Mrs. Coulter convinced MacPhail to authorize bombing the witches’ sacred place. MacPhail was unanimously chosen as the next Cardinal. However, Mrs. Coulter explained that it was a curse for him and asserted the leverage she had over him.
The Magisterium was also holding Thorold captive. Mrs. Coulter asked him about Lyra. He helped her realize that Lyra followed Asriel through the window he’d opened in the world. She left to go after Lyra.
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