Excellent mini-series by the creator of Utopia and starring Jude Law. A psychological thriller with elements of Folk Horror in an absorbing visual proposal
What is the plot?
Sam is a man tormented by the death of one of his sons. On one of his visits to the river where his body was found, he becomes the savior of a girl named Epona, who tries to commit suicide. He is a good man and decides to take her to the place where he lives. It is an islet on the British coast, with only one road to travel, with a few specific hours with the road clear. When the tide comes in, the road is covered by the sea and you cannot enter or leave the island of Osea. Sam will have to spend the night in Osea, where he will meet the strange inhabitants of the island, who have religious beliefs and rituals dating back to Celtic times. Unable to communicate with his wife, with shady business financial problems, Sam will wander between the thin line of sanity and madness.
A closed community, with disturbing religious rituals, hostile attitude, strange festivals. The community of Osea has all the characteristics of a cult. Some people behave too kindly, behind those smiles, they hide other kind of intentions. It's a place where I wouldn't trust anyone, but unfortunately Sam trusts several of them.
The mini-series can be difficult to engage the viewer in its early episodes. During the first part of this story, in which the attention falls on Sam, the dreamlike scenes of the protagonist will be constant. The reality, the fantasy, the madness, will be mixed in a succession of scenes, where we will also wonder how much of the reality is what we see.
The story will make us wonder what the hell is going on in the island of Osea. What is the objective? What sectarian madness is it? What does Sam have to do with all this? Why doesn't Sam leave when he can? Why do some people want to kill him? What is all this madness?
Sam is not a very normal character either. Sam suffers the loss of his son Nathan, that's why he always goes to the river where the body was found to leave a piece of clothing. That is his ritual for letting go. But Sam also feels a lot of guilt, his son was with him, on his way to meet someone, when he disappeared and was kidnapped by a murderer. All that trauma is what motivates him to try to protect the Epona girl. He feels that the girl is in danger inside Osea.
The community of Osea seems to be divided after Sam's arrival. Some want him to leave as soon as possible, others seem scared and another group is willing to kill him. While the protagonist observes ancient druid rituals and religious customs that for him, are just superstitions, nonsense.
With the advance of the episodes, Sam will get an answer to everything that torments him, accompanied by incredible revelations. Everything that happens is related, everything is connected to his life, to his tragedy. He has a mission to fulfill within the island, he will have to make the decision to accept that mission or decline it.
The first three episodes manage to immerse us in that mysterious and disturbing environment, where a rural community lives extremely faithful to its religion, which mixes Celtic rituals with Christian customs. A place that they describe as magical, but that the images transmit bad vibrations. The metaphors about death are a constant throughout the mini-series, but with more emphasis on the first three episodes.
From the fourth episode there is a temporary jump of nine months and most of the action falls on three new characters who come to spend a vacation in Osea, to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls. Who is this woman and her two daughters? Why does she want to go to Osea? What has happened on the island?
The story is told in a more linear and conventional way, without dreamlike visions, but also everything is related to what was seen in the first episodes. Although Sam is not present in a part of those episodes, everything will be related to him.
Everything that happens in Osea affects the rest of the world. That's a phrase that some of the characters who seem to be in the story say. And something very bad seems to have happened in Osea. That's what Helen, Talulah and Ellie can see when they enter the island. It seems that the decisions they made unleashed the fury of the gods.
The darkness was always inside Sam, waiting for the moment to come out.
The third day will not please all the public, its creator, Dennis Kelly, is recognized by the successful series Utopia, of which, recently they have made an American remake. Now with The Third Day he ventures into a story that can be catalogued as Folk Horror and has many references to other films with similar plots. One of the most important references would be The Wicker Man, which has been made into a film on several occasions. The mini-series can also remind us of Ari Aster's most recent one, Midsommar.
Dennis Kelly wrote the scripts along with Dean O'Loughlin and Kit de Waal. Marc Munden is the director of the first three episodes and Philippa Lowthorpe is the director of the last three. Munden has more behind-the-scenes experience, was one of the directors of Utopia, as well as many successful series and miniseries. It makes sense that he would be the one in charge of the first episodes. For example, he directed the mini-series The Crimson Petal and The White, National Treasure, both of which were very successful on British television. Lowthorpe's career is shorter, but he has solid works like the Jamaica Inn and Three Girls mini-series.
The entire cast is wonderful, with a selection of extraordinary actors for each of the characters that inhabit this strange story. I can't name them all, I'll just briefly mention the most important ones.
Jude Law , the movie star that everybody knows, plays Sam. That man who suffers the loss of his son and whose arrival in Osea will trigger the events we will see. The first three episodes are entirely about this actor. The actress Naomi Harris plays Helen , she embraces the protagonism of the second part of the story, playing a remarkable role as that woman who seeks answers, wants to find the truth.
Emily Watson and Paddy Considine play the couple who run a bar and rent rooms in Osea, the Martins. Extraordinary characters, who from the first moment we know are hiding many things and everything they say is a lie. I loved both actors in these characters, especially Paddy Considine, as the always smiling and kind Mr. Martins, with his clean clothes and his peculiar movements that the actor added to the character's behavior.
The actress Katherine Waterston, daughter of the famous actor Sam Waterston, plays Jess, an apparent tourist of the island who will meet Sam on the first day, having a sexual relationship that will bring consequences for the future of Osea. The actress does a great job, as another religious fanatic who ends up being part of that community. The actress Freya Allen, who has become famous for being the protagonist of the television adaptation El Brujo, plays Kail, a character that will become important in the second part of the story.
The story may not be as profound as some of her scenes would have us believe. There are some excesses in showing the reigning esotericism in Osea. With some intentions of creating a metaphor between the real world and the fictional world where the plot takes place. It can be a bit pretentious, with so much symbolism and references to the ancient cultures that inhabited those territories. But it is a hypnotic mini-series.
The mini-series is available on HBO.
My Ranking: 3.9/5
Trailer
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