LeGrandElephant

I have read the books, many times over the years, but I haven’t read the first book recently.

When I read the book, I don’t remember doubting at all that Lord Asriel was Lyra’s uncle, maybe because there was more mention of Lyra having a different last name (Belaqua) and her father having been lord Belaqua. Or maybe just because I was a kid and less experienced in the ways of narrative fiction. Anyway, I didn’t guess he was her father until it was revealed. But my husband, who hasn’t read the books and has only seen episode one of the show, keeps accidentally referring to “Lyra’s father” meaning Lord Asriel. I don’t even think he realizes he guessed anything, it’s just the way the show set it up with him bringing her as a baby etc and he keeps thinking that’s her father. So I don’t think the reveal will be as much of a surprise in the show.

I feel like its a lot easier to explain the whole daemon thing in writing than it is on TV. I'm not sure what I would think of it if I hadn't read the book.

If they can’t put animals in crowd scenes then why are they doing this particular book? It really wouldn’t be that hard, especially in scenes with eg two servants walking across a room - they could have dogs with them. Are we supposed to assume most daemons are tiny animals, or hanging out off to the side together? Not very plausible.

I agree there aren’t enough random daemons in the scenes with random people. There should be more extra birds, dogs, cats, etc, there with the extra people. I suppose with the children we can always assume their daemon is in a small form in their pocket, and that could also be the case for some of the adults, but it can’t be the case for all of them. Other than that, very well done so far. Minor plot changes I’m noticing from the book so far all seem to be well in the spirit of the book. I think it’s actually better so far with the few changes they’ve made than if they’d done a strict scene for scene adaptation. It did bug me that Lyra didn’t even have a small bag or backpack with her when she was leaving on the airship, though.

I’m re-watching the whole series after disliking the new season. I gotta say, I loved Veronica in season 1, but now in season 3 she’s getting closer and closer to the unnecessarily bitchy and nasty Veronica from season 4, and I don’t like her or the show very much anymore. A particular note about this episode: Weevil asks how Veronica could be with Logan after how Logan treated Lilly. But from all the flashbacks we’ve seen, Logan treated Lilly much better than she treated him. Veronica should have said something like “I know you don’t like him but I was friends with him and Lilly for years and we spent a lot of time together, and I can tell you he worshipped her, just like I did”. Why doesn’t she defend him? She lets Weevil get the last word about Logan treating Lilly badly, leaving it to sound like she agrees with him. (Also, weren’t Logan and Weevil most recently working together last season to find out who killed Felix? I know they aren’t exactly friends but I thought they had a grading respect for each other at this point.)

I don’t like seeing her spend years getting a fancy education and then go back to using her high school skill set and not being able to pay the bills. I agreed with Weevil when he pointed out how she has options and she’s wasting them. When I saw her in high school I imagined a better future for her, and this future is just sad and depressing.

I remembered Logan’s bad decision with the tapes, but on rewatch I was more struck by Leo’s character assassination. If he just needed money, why would he steal all copies of the tapes? The tabloids would have paid even if the cops still had another copy in the evidence lockup. The only reason to steal all copies is to hurt the case against Aaron. Why would Leo want to help any murderer, but especially one who tried to kill Veronica? And if his goal is to put his little sister in private school long term, then 50k isn’t enough. Doesn’t make any sense.

Gia explicitly asks Veronica what she thinks of Dick, and Veronica doesn’t warn Gia that Dick has previously attempted to drug girls for date rape.

Keith probably should have had a talk at some point with Veronica about how if he was going to be sherif again, they’d have to start playing by the rules again - no bugging their political opponents.

No honestly I’m just replying to the written comments about the show, I didn’t even look for the podcasts.

I also agree that Duncan isn’t really a nice guy. Ghosting Veronica in the backstory wasn’t cool or nice, he could have made up some excuse to break up with her. The sex at Shelly’s party and ignoring her afterwards wasn’t ok even if you fully believe his side of it. He’s the one who went out his way to pursue Meg, knowing she was friends with Veronica. Then he stalks Veronica, knowing she’s with Logan, and apparently doesn’t talk to Logan at all about the blow that his father had been sleeping with his girlfriend and murdered her. And per last season’s finale, Duncan knew that Aaron had been beating Logan. Duncan definitely does Stand Idly By.

When Logan says “didn’t plug her right the first time” to Duncan, is he referring to the time at Shelly Pomroy’s party? If so, he deserved being punched for it. Though overall I hate seeing Veronica all lovey dovey with Duncan, especially while Logan is suffering.

When Logan says “didn’t plug her right the first time” to Duncan, is he referring to the time at Shelly Pomroy’s party? If so, he deserved being punched for it. Though overall I hate seeing Veronica all lovey dovey with Duncan, especially while Logan is suffering.

I’ll have to rewatch that, it’s been awhile. But why have him in the revival and then not around when his dad is beheaded?

Maybe they could do a reboot where they fix all the problems with Dick’s character or lack thereof.

Does Veronica ever give Madison a heads up that Dick tried to roofie her? He tried it once, he’ll try it again - does Veronica think Madison deserves to be date raped?

Also, if they wanted her involved in big serious cases, they should have suck with the FBI idea. I don’t like seeing her exactly back where she was in high school, wasting her fancy degrees and being more dysfunctional and nasty than she was back when she had more of a reason for it. I would have liked to see her in a job that uses her degrees, like FBI or even criminal defense lawyer, naturally dealing with big cases. They went a little too far with some of the noir tropes maybe.

When Duncan sees Veronica didn’t die, his acting just isn’t up to par. He still seems bland and normal. If it were Logan in that scene the expression would have said so much more.

But they didn’t even show a silhouette or anything. Just based on the angle of her gaze????

At the end of the last episode Veronica left the secret cameras secret cabinet wide open. How would Logan not know that that’s why she bolted? On rewatch just starting this episode and I can’t believe how much still has to happen in 43 minutes!

Does she tell Wallace in this episode or the one before? I forget since I watched them back to back, but that was nice. Presumably she told him about the rape and everything, and she cries, and he was there for her. Important scene even though they cut away from the details.

Never crossed my mind before but totally fits.

I assumed the implication was that she does a lot more than that with the popsicle, that they’re not about to show on TV. Though they could have made that more clear with some dialogue, eg. “I guess that explains that yeast infection, they say sugar can cause them”.