Plot: A man and a woman make separate journeys to a mysterious island off the British coast.
Review: The Third Day is a difficult series to review. Originally set to air earlier this year and pushed due to post-production delays caused by COVID-19, this mini-series is split into three chapters. Set over three days, the sections play like three-hour films with narratives that connect in unconventional ways. While North American audiences get "Summer" starring Jude Law and "Winter" led by Naomie Harris, UK audiences get a stage production called "Autumn" which ties the two together ("Autumn" will be available to stream online as well). Taken as a whole, The Third Day evokes films like THE WICKER MAN and Ari Aster's MIDSOMMAR with a sense of paranoia and cultish horror that ultimately doesn't amount to as much as it should.
The first chapter, "Summer", centers on Sam (Jude Law) who is suffering from multiple emotional issues in his life. He finds himself drawn to the island community of Osea which is connected to the mainland by an ancient Roman causeway that is flooded for most of each day. Cut off from cell phone reception, Sam is welcomed to Osea by The Martins. Played by Paddy Considine and Emily Watson, The Martins are the most welcoming residents on the island yet are still guarded about the nature of this isolated village. Like similar British folk horror stories, Osea has bizarre customs and festivals taking place and a history that is parsed out bit by bit. Sam begins to unravel some of these secrets that connect him to Osea.
The other chapter, "Winter", features Considine and Watson as well as Katherine Waterston's character, Jess, an American studying the customs of Osea. The main characters here are Helen (Naomie Harris), a mother struggling to support her family who takes her daughters to Osea for a brief vacation. Her eldest daughter Ellie (Nico Parker) becomes involved in the story which changes the stakes from the first episodes where Jude Law's Sam had to endure his discoveries on the island by himself. Here, Helen's children put her into a protective stance as they unravel their discoveries on the island.
There are connections between the two chapters that I will not spoil here, but the style of the two tales are approached in very different ways. Both deal with the concept of parenthood and legacy. Both Law and Harris are top tier actors, Jude Law's episodes deliver more of a twist simply because they air first. Each chapter was written and directed by different teams that lend a distinct tone to each one. Writer Dennis Kelly and director Marc Munden evoke much more of THE WICKER MAN in their episodes with extreme close-ups of Jude Law's face and hallucinogenic visuals to enhance the already surreal atmosphere of Osea. For "Winter", Kelly is joined by Kit de Waal and Dean O'Loughlin while the three episodes are helmed by Philippa Lowthorpe whose work is much more grounded than Munden's. The second story also takes advantage of the seasonal change which alters the viewer's perception of Osea.
The first five episodes of the six-episode series were made available for review. Excluded were the final chapter of "Winter" as well as the stage performance that bridges the two sections together. But, I can say with certainty that the payoff for this series is a bit underwhelming. Each hour-long episode is designed with an ending teasing a major reveal. Unfortunately, these twists are not as profound as they are meant to be and come after almost sixty minutes of characters walking around. Every episode spends more time on characters trying and failing to reach the perpetually flooded causeway, the only means of escape from the island, as it does telling the main characters what time the causeway will flood.
The Third Day has an intriguing premise and does some world-building based on ancient Saxon, Celtic, and Christian mythology to aid in the mystery at the core of the story, but it never dives into the bizarre things we see in each episode quite enough. There are also backstories for Jude Law, Naomie Harris, and Katherine Waterston that hint at what brought them to the island but it is never developed beyond serving as a reason for them to have ventured to Osea. As a six/seven-episode commitment, The Third Day doesn't require you to turn over a full season worth of your time, but I can see many being a bit let down waiting a month and a half to find out the answers to what the series is all about. This may have worked better as a pair of feature films as the visual execution is dripping with atmosphere even if the story itself is underdeveloped.
The Third Day premieres September 14th on HBO.