The world introduced in His Dark Materials is vastly different from the one fans live in, but there are still shades of similarities to be found, which is part of what makes it so fascinating. Larger than life characters with their souls embodied as their daemon partners populate a landscape of rich mythology and twisting storytelling.
The first season of the series only features eight episodes, but each episode feels like a feature film whether viewers watched it live as it aired, or streamed it after the fact in an HBO Max binge. Not every episode can be the best, and users on the Internet Movie Database have submitted ratings for the episodes in the thousands. After averaging the ratings, this is how the rankings shake out.
Episode 1: Lyra's Jordan (8.0)
The audience gets their introduction to Lyra, daemons, and the heartbreak that is to come in the very first episode of the series. A first episode ranking the lowest isn't unusual as the audience is still getting a feel for the world being built.
Not only does this episode give the audience an idea of all the rules and restrictions that exist in this fantasy world, but it demonstrates Lyra's curious nature and her conflicted relationship with Lord Asriel very well. It even gives the audience a hint at just how cunning Mrs. Coulter is and sets up the season-long mystery of children being kidnapped. It's a lot to pack into the premiere, but it certainly grabs the attention of the viewer.
Episode 3: The Spies (8.1)
Despite featuring a lot of major events, like Lyra taking up residence with the Gyptians, this episode is a little slow-moving, which might explain its place at the bottom of the pack. It's definitely an episode advocating watching on a weekly basis instead of binge-watching.
After escaping Mrs. Coulter, Lyra works with the Gyptians to track down the missing children. She also helps persuade them that they shouldn't stay put, but travel north, since that's where all evidence indicates the children are being taken. Lyra even gets some shocking news - that at least one of her parents is closer than she thinks. It's an episode with a handful of reveals that build to the journey on the way.
Episode 7: The Fight To The Death (8.2)
Interestingly, nearly half of the season clocks in at an 8.2 rating, demonstrating how consistent the storytelling of the show really is in the first season. This is one of the few episodes that splits the story in a lot of different directions.
In it, the audience is treated to Lyra ending up in Svalbard where she has to do the impossible - trick an armored bear. While she's busy with that task (and eventually saved by Iorek), Scoresby teams up with Serafina after his balloon crashes, and Mrs. Coulter heads north with soldiers intent on killing Asriel. Of course, Lyra and Roger end up in Asriel's care, finally making it to his lab, though he's clearly not happy to have them there.
Episode 5: The Lost Boy (8.2)
This particular episode diverges from Lyra's story a little bit as it moves to focus more on Will. Lyra gets permission from the Gyptians' leader to take Iorek on her own trek to an abandoned village, where she ends up finding the missing Billy Costa - without his daemon. After Lyra manages to bring him back to his mother, Lyra ends up kidnapped herself.
In another world, Will Parry's story starts getting fleshed out. The audience gets to know him and his mother. He takes care of her rather than the other way around. Will and his mother find themselves under observation by Boreal, from Lyra's world. Boreal figures out that Will's father also moved between worlds, though Will and his mother have no idea.
Episode 2: The Idea Of North (8.2)
The second episode of the series is actually an interesting one for book fans because it brings several reveals to the audience much earlier than the book that inspires it, The Golden Compass, does. One of those reveals is the existence of another world.
The other big reveal is that Mrs. Coulter isn't the savior Lyra thinks she is. Mrs. Coulter is heavily involved with the Gobblers who are kidnapping children, including Lyra's best friend. Lyra gets a taste of Mrs. Coulter's temper when she sends her own daemon after Pan and reveals in anger that Lord Asriel is Lyra's father.
Episode 8: The Betrayal (8.5)
Season one comes to an end in "The Betrayal," and the title is definitely a fitting one for the hour. Lyra, who might be hurt by Asriel on a regular basis when he leaves her behind, still trusts him, which proves to be Roger's downfall. Asriel severs Roger from his daemon to create enough energy to expand the opening between worlds, creating a bridge. Betrayed and angry, Lyra decides the only way forward is through just as Will finds a gateway to a parallel world in his own.
The season finale narrowly misses out on being the best-ranked episode of the season. It actually ties its rating with the episode taking the number two spot (since it got a few less ratings).
Episode 4: Armour (8.5)
While there is a subplot involving Mrs. Coulter paying a visit to the king of the armored bears, the bulk of the episode is focused on Lyra wheeling and dealing better than the adults around her.
She meets Lee Scoresby on his search for Iorek and makes the decision to hire him on behalf of the Gyptians. Likewise, she manages to convince Iorek to help her as well, and even finds a way for him to get his armor back from the town leaders that tricked him out of it. She does all of this against the will of the Gyptian leaders, who are a little impressed and exasperated with her when she returns to them with an aeronaut and an armored bear. This episode really showcases Lyra's cunning even better than her tricking the wrongful king of the bears.
Episode 6: The Daemon-Cages (8.7)
The bulk of this particular episode is set while Lyra is held at Bolvangar, giving the audience a little more insight into Dust and just what Mrs. Coulter is interested in. It's no wonder that it lands the top-rated spot as it might be the most tension-filled episode of the season, leaving the audience on the edge of their seats.
Lyra pretends her name is Lizzie after she's taken to keep her identity a secret. She learns how the facility works, but her escape plane goes slightly awry when she's selected to have her daemon severed from her. It's only Mrs. Coulter arriving and realizing her own daughter is in the cage that saves her. Lyra manages to trick Mrs. Coulter into trusting her, then leads the children in an escape with the help of Roger, just in time for the Gyptians to arrive to help.