His Dark Materials season 1, episode 6, “The Daemon-Cages” will melt even the coldest heart in Bolvangar once the secrets of the General Oblation Board come to light.

Expect to be all up in your feelings with this episode of His Dark Materials season 1, episode 6, “The Daemon-Cages.” I’ve felt a pang in my heart when looking at Pan’s trembling paws in the fishing village. A slight tremble threatens to loosen tears every time that James Cosmos is on the screen. But a tear has yet to escape my eye as I watch this beloved series come to life each week.

I’m always shocked by what will elicit the strongest reaction from me when I watch a series, read a book, or sit through a movie.

That said, I had to pause this week’s His Dark Materials episode to collect myself. Some of response to this comes from the feeling of deep love of reading the events of The Secret Commonwealth earlier in the fall. Some of it from knowing what was to come and the beauty of seeing how the creative team put it together.

But most of it is tied so directly the human-daemon relationship and how precious that is, that even the idea of intercision fills me with dread. We saw in the previous episode what became of Billy Costa when he lost his daemon. His body carried on, but his spirit was gone. Being taken into the facility where that process occurs, meeting the children who are lying in wait, and seeing Lyra navigate the space knowing all too well what is in store lays the groundwork for an episode with a lot riding on it.

Kaisa provides little ease with his description earlier in the pages of the novel, “We don’t know what they do, but there is an air of hatred and fear over the place and for miles around.” You will feel this and so much more.

So, buckle up because Bolvangar is not for the faint of heart.

Before you read on, check out our review of His Dark Materials season 1, episode 5!

‘His Dark Materials’ season 1, episode 6 screener secrets

The human-daemon bond

One thing that I’ve seen being talked about most around the series is the lack of daemon screen time. And while I am firmly planted on the side of Team More Daemons, I understand that crowding every scene with birds, mice, cats, and bats (imagine the type of person who has that daemon) is a fool’s errand.

Keeping the daemons in the moments that matter saves us from becoming distracted (not to mention the production money). It also allows viewers to focus on them when it matters, when something is being revealed about the character they are tied to and we need to understand deeper. Take, for instance, Lyra and Pan in His Dark Materials episode 5. As Lyra approaches the shed shown to her by alethiometer, Pan is there to visibly shake in fear, whisper urgings of retreat and yet follow her bravely into the unknown.

Daphne Keen would have no trouble conveying all of these emotions swirling inside of Lyra and we would understand what she was feeling because, well, we are human. We contain multitudes. But this is Philip Pullman’s world and the basis of episode 6 is to examine what happens when people decide to challenge the structure of that world.

Speaking of…

The return of Mrs. Coulter

At the heart of the operations in Bolvangar is Mrs. Coulter. The ringleader of the General Oblation Board is about to come one step closer to reuniting with her daughter, but not in the way that she expects. Admirable and terrifying, Lyra does inadvertently take some of her emotional cues from her mother. Armed with the knowledge not just about her mother’s identity, but with the memory of seeing what Billy Costa was reduced to under her orders, putting Lyra and Mrs. Coulter together in a room is a time bomb.

There was no word from or sight of Mrs. Coulter in episode 5, but as the Gyptians made their way from Trollesund, it was only a matter of time before she heard of their departure. Just as llamas on the loose makes for a fun afternoon on Twitter in this world, news of an armored bear leaving with a Gyptian group after stealing from the Magisterium is sure to stir up some attention in theirs.

The Magisterium is not completely on her side, she does not have her daughter, and she has a boatful of children at a facility in the North undergoing experiments to separate them from their daemons. All of her interactions with her golden monkey daemon suggest that she has trained herself in a manner to completely disassociate. But children are too fast and loose with their emotions, they are tangled so deeply with their daemon that it is hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.

Enter the silver guillotine. The plans that Lyra found in Mrs. Coulter’s desk depict the daemon and human in separate cages between which the blade would drop, severing their invisible bond.

Found parent check-in

With Lyra being taken at the end of episode 5, you can only imagine how Lord Faa, Farder Coram, Ma Costa, and, of course, Lee Scoresby are doing.

Not Good.

‘His Dark Materials’ season 1, episode 6 spoiler-free review

There is a moment early on in the series where Tom, Lord Boreal’s lacky, asks to see his daemon. Though concealed, Boreal states that it is not common for the daemons to always be on display. They are not show pieces on display. And so, when it comes to daemon display, I relish every moment they are on screen. Going into this episode, however, I did have some pause about whether it would impact the impending depiction of the events of Bolvangar.

The children cast to play the kidnapped sons and daughters are impeccable. These children are alone, they are watching their peers disappear, and they are so far from their families that they are simply counting down the days until they are taken for a second time, never to return.

There is less emphasis on the separate stories happening in parallel worlds as Lyra integrates herself into the camp and uncovers its secrets. But Will Parry is not far from our minds and neither are the group of travelers heading to Lyra’s rescue. But here, His Dark Materials is asking us to get behind Lyra, restore and build our faith in the girl without her alethiometer. And it is an easy task to accomplish with the likes of Daphne Keen in Lyra’s shoes.

For what this episode sets out to accomplish, it delivers ten-fold. Euros Lyn helms this episode as director and tells this story from a very specific angle — that of a child. Moments were shown from lower angles, from behind the actors heads, emphasizing the danger and towering figures and feats these children are facing. It’s a brilliant move and one that is appreciated on much more on rewatches.

There is one shot in particular that will haunt me for a long time, through every future reread, through every future episode.

For book-readers, the events of these chapters will play out in the fashion you imagine they will with entrances and exits that will send you on a rollercoaster. My advice is to put the phone down, pay attention, and get ready to experience these chapters as if for the first time. The tides are changing and the events of this place are going to resonate for quite some time.

The end of the episode will likely rely on the preview for episode 7 to make sense for new viewers and I am certain there will be plenty of questions. But rest assured, the adventure is far from over and we have people to get back to and stories to explore both in this world and elsewhere.

His Dark Materials season 1, episode 6, “The Daemon-Cages,” airs Monday, December 9 at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO.