The second season of the BBC adapts the second book of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, “The Subtle Knife”. And it’s this season where we see multiple characters travel across multiple worlds. There is Lyra’s world, Will’s world which is a stand-in for our own, and the world of the seemingly empty city called Cittàgazze. When Lyra & Will meet, they quickly realize they can help each other and work as a team while the Magisterium works to find both kids and the items they possess.

The performances of all characters involved are solid. Dafne Keen continues to play a faithful version of Lyra as well as a realistic kid of her age. Amir Wilson does a good job of portraying Will Parry, a young kid who kills an agent in self defense. The agent in question is one of many working with the Magisterium to find information regarding Will’s father who appears to have found his own way to travel between worlds. But Will himself becomes a target once he comes into possession the subtle knife which can open portals between worlds. While people searching for Lyra are looking to steal the alethiometer – a golden compass that can answer any question – it turns out Lyra herself is somehow integral to the fight between the Magisterium & Asriel with his supporters.

In this season, new yet similar themes are explored. During Lyra’s time on Will’s Earth, she comes across a physicist named Dr. Mary Malone. The golden compass points Lyra towards her because Dr. Malone is researching Dark Matter which Lyra identifies as Dust. And surprisingly enough – all though faithful to what happens in the book – they are able to find a way to communicate with Dust itself. This is the part of the story that introduces the idea of approaching a subject from multiple different viewpoints. The Magisterium only allows their interpretation of Dust to be considered the right one and suppresses any thoughts that contradict that. But here we see that progress does get made when coming at it from a more unbiased perspective. Thus feeding into the established theme of seeking out knowledge and learning to think for yourself instead of what corrupt authority says to think.

We also see the further exploration of the morally gray areas that both sides of this conflict operate in. On the one hand, the Magisterium is valid in the belief that if the truth comes out regarding how the universe truly operates, it could send society into chaos and destruction. And Asriel and his allies will often go to drastic lengths to achieve their goals regardless of whose lives are lost. But while The Church seeks to control everything and hold onto power for selfish reasons, Asriel does seek to have people become independent and free from the control of The Church & The Authority, which is this world’s equivalent of God.

Season two is a strong continuation of the show and does a good job on adapting Pullman’s work. The characters remain enjoyable and interesting to watch with a well written story that explores ideas that most other young adult books/adaptations only vaguely touch upon. Here’s to seeing how season three closes out the story.