The Botanic Garden is the eighth and final episode in the third series as well as the final episode of the TV series as a whole. It was released on 26 December 2022 in the U.S. and was released on 5 February 2023 in the U.K.
Synopsis[]
Lyra and Will finally reunite with Mary and learns that there is something they need to make a sacrifice.
Plot[]
Will and Lyra wake in the mulefa world to find their dæmons gone. They swim in a lake and discuss what they have been through. Lyra tells Will she believes her mother to be dead and discusses her complicated feelings towards her parents.
They meet Atal, who brings them to the mulefa village to see Mary Malone. They discuss Dust and dæmons. Mary tells them the story of how she lost her faith. after meeting and falling in love with a woman at a particle physics conference in Lisbon.
Meanwhile, Father Gomez is still tracking them. He discovers an item of clothing left behind by Mary. Before he can shoot Lyra, Balthamos interrupts. He crushes Gomez's dæmon and dies in the process, saying his lover's name for the last time.
The following morning, Will and Lyra slowly explore their feelings for each other and kiss for the first time, surrounded by Dust. Serafina and Xaphania note the slowing of the flow of Dust following the discovery of young love and that the prophecy has been fulfilled. Serafina finds the children’s dæmons and names Kirjava. She encourages them to return to Will and Lyra, and they reunite.
Xaphania expresses her gratitude to Mary. Unfortunately, she also brings news that every window between the world must be closed to avoid the flow of Dust. She also reveals that using the subtle knife creates Spectres. Will and Lyra come to the heartbreaking conclusion that they cannot be together, as it is not possible to live long term outside of one's own world. The only window that can be left open is the one freeing ghosts from the world of the dead. Lyra also discovers that growing up means she can no longer read the alethiometer by grace - she must study if she wants to regain the ability.
Will and Lyra promise to live full and happy lives and reunite upon death as they leave the window out of the world of the dead. They resolve to spend an hour each year every midsummer on a bench in the Botanic Garden to be close to each other.
Atal and Mary part fondly. In the Botanic Garden in Oxford, Serafina teaches Mary to see her dæmon: an alpine chough. Will and Lyra say their tearful final goodbyes before Lyra returns to her Oxford. Will thinks of his love for her as he cuts for the last time and the knife shatters. Lyra returns to Jordan College and Will reunites with his mother. The angels set about closing the remaining windows.
Years later, Will becomes a surgeon and Lyra begins to learn to reread the alethiometer at St Sophia's College in Oxford. They continue to visit the bench in the Botanic Garden each year.
Release[]
The Botanic Garden is the title of the thirty-eighth and final chapter of The Amber Spyglass.
The end titles of the episode allude to the events of The Secret Commonwealth, suggesting that there may be plans to adapt The Book of Dust for television.[1]
Cast[]
- Main article: His Dark Materials (TV series)
- Val Adams as Josephine
- Chipo Chung as Xaphania
- Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala
- Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Balthamos
- Dafne Keen as Lyra Silvertongue
- Simone Kirby as Mary Malone
- Nina Sosanya as Elaine Parry
- Jamie Ward as Father Gomez
- Amir Wilson as Will Parry
- Patricia Allison as the voice of Kirjava
- Kate Ashfield as the voice of Atal
- Kit Connor as the voice of Pantalaimon
- Tuppence Middleton as the voice of Father Gomez's daemon
Gallery[]
Photos[]
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ His Dark Materials (TV series), Series 3, Episode 8
| His Dark Materials TV episodes | |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Lyra's Jordan • The Idea of North • The Spies • Armour • The Lost Boy • The Daemon-Cages • The Fight to the Death • Betrayal |
| Series 2 | The City of Magpies • The Cave • Theft • Tower of the Angels • The Scholar • Malice • Æsahættr |
| Series 3 | The Enchanted Sleeper • The Break • The Intention Craft • Lyra and Her Death • No Way Out • The Abyss • The Clouded Mountain • The Botanic Garden |
| Other | Making His Dark Materials |