'His Dark Materials' Episode 7 teaser shows Lyra all alone in Svalbard and Iorek-Iofur showdown in land of bears
In the last horrifying moments of episode 6 Lyra (Dafne Keen) fell from Lee Scoresby's (Lin Miranda Manuel) hot air balloon after an attack by cliff-ghasts. From the very beginning, while Lyra has always had some form of support, be it the Gyptians, the witches or Iorek Byrnison, she always finds herself isolated and having to fight back from the brink.
It happened when she was locked in Mrs. Coulter's flat and in the last episode in The Station in Bolvangar. But each time, she has used her wits and her ability to read people and situations to get out of harm's way.
As the promo for Episode 7 shows, Lyra is now increasingly relying on the alethiometer to keep herself informed and prepared for what is to come. It shows her in Svalbard, the land of the bears, where Iorek originally hailed from before he was exiled by Iofur.
She is taken prisoner and she looks in distaste and horror at the steps of the bear palace covered in blood-soaked snow before she is locked in a dungeon cell. Pan urges her to use the alethiometer to find out if anyone is coming to rescue them.
The answer is an affirmative -- Iorek is on his way since her friends have already pinpointed where she fell and have seen the cages the bears have put out to capture intruders. She wishes she was a witch, but another prisoner in the cell with her points out she is not.
Lyra curls up and asks "Who are you?" when she realizes she's not the only prisoner. Since the episode is called 'The Fight to the Death', it will feature the clash between Iofur and Iorek -- a fight that Lyra orchestrates so that Iorek can regain his throne.
The promotional pictures and trailer show Lyra meeting Iofur and telling him Iorek is coming. When Iorek arrives, she tells him to show Iofur "that he is nothing". Once Iorek handles Iofur, Lyra will finally see Lord Asriel again.
Here's hoping we'll see some James McAvoy goodness on our screens this week. However, the official synopsis of episode 7 also says, "Mrs. Coulter plots her next move".
The destruction of the Station is not slowing her down apparently. In the trailer, even though the Magisterium official says "her project has failed", Mrs. Coulter looks like she doesn't give a flying fig about their opinion.
When the official says they have to make sure to kill Lord Asriel, she smirks and asks, "you're quite scared of him, aren't you?". The Magisterium also seems to be preparing for a war in the North, unloading crates of weapons.
The encounter with the cliff-ghasts, thankfully, hasn't left Lee Scoresby any worse for the wear, with Serafina Pekala giving him a bit of advice about the coming war and handing him back his trusty revolver which he lost in the mid-air scuffle last episode.
Bears fighting would alone be worth the price of admission, but we also catch up with Will Parry (Amir Wilson) in our world and timeline trying to calm his mother down. She is certain that the house is being watched and tells Will that it involves something "dangerous".
Later, she faces Lord Boreal and tells him she has nothing that will help him track down Colonel John Parry, who Boreal knows as Doctor Stanislaus Grumman, the explorer of the North, who the Magisterium is trying to track.
'His Dark Materials' airs every Monday at 9 p.m. on HBO.
