The Third Day

“The Third Day” runs haywire in so many directions the fear is it might pull a “Lost” and amount to nothing. But by the third episode it’s clear that’s not the case; writer Dennis Kelly ties it all together in wondrous fashion and then lets the firestorm burn on. It’s glorious stuff.

Few but the most dedicated of Jude Law fans will have the time or inclination to sit through all of that, but on the basis of this intriguing episode I’d say it’s worth a look.

The show shouldn’t work, but the foggy excess of the setting provides a sort of counterweight for performances that burn with crispness. If where we tend to end up — that, for these characters, the end of the world isn’t so very hard to distinguish from the grief they’re already feeling — isn’t wholly novel, the staging and its rawness here make you feel it anew, and provide a strong argument for giving “The Third Day” your time.

The conceit is executed well; we don’t feel manipulated by Barrett, Kelly and their writers deliberately hiding things or throwing us red herrings. But we’re not 100 percent engaged by Sam’s story, either. ... The performances of Law and Waterson, as well as the chemistry between Watson and Considine as the weirdly gruff and cheery Martins are keeping us interested.

The Third Day works best when it’s not teasing out this or that secret about Osea and its cagey inhabitants. A strong undercurrent in which characters wrestle with their grief keeps wrenching the story away from its somewhat ambling mystery plot.

It’s a puzzle show, buoyed by some good acting and cinematography, but there’s not much there there.

The problem is that the uncanny Wiccan hamlet, full of people in animal masks and weaponised Morris dancers, is a cliche that has already been flogged to death (and really cannot be presented with a straight face in the wake of League of Gentlemen). Law’s character, meanwhile, is too dull for us to care what he’s secretly up to. Fireworks may follow further down the line as the pagan festival kicks off in Osea. For now, though, this isn’t so much Burning Man in Essex as a prestige TV damp squib.

This miniseries is a reminder of why what HBO does is a far cry from what Netflix or other services produce. Perhaps in the end, it did not live up to the expectations it created, especially with the spectacular 12-hour special that divides the Summer and Winter parts but I still like it. Summer was an incredibly psychedelic journey. It was like horror and mystery at the same time, mixed with a persistent oppressive atmosphere that made it clear that something was very wrong on that island. Jude Law owns that part and did a great job. Winter still holds the mystery, but those last three episodes are faster paced and feel more like a thriller. That second part is starred by Naomie Harris. Again, in the end, the mystery may not be as enigmatic as it seemed at the beginning and frankly it's not really satisfying either, but the overall work was interesting enough to make me go all the way to the end. *If you decide to watch it, it's not necessary to see the 12-hour special. It does expands much of the thematic of the series, but is not crucial to the development of the 6 episodes.

The Third Day goes through weird elements until it arrives in an interestingly exploitable narrative. The care of placing each character in a certain space-time was crucial for the construction of the narrative, which without this would let its notable flaws prevail.

The Third Day is a new series from HBO. He has an excellent British cast, starring Jude Lowe. An interesting plot and the most refined ending. And although the miniseries is divided into 2 parts both plot and stylistically. 2 part completely destroys the series. It is shot much worse, nothing really happens in it, no character development. The first 2 episodes are the best thing in the series. Perhaps the winter period of the series looked interesting if the author Autumn added to the series, and would not stage a play.

This is indeed a truly mesmerizing selection of visuals, but the story is kind of lame. Jude Law is great as a grieving father, but Katherine Waterston's character can't stand of its own. 'Summer,' the first three chapters establish an intriguing atmosphere, but the plot's development is disappointing.

A series that doesn't really kick into gear until it's second half and even then it remains disappointing. It builds the atmosphere nicely, but the plot comes across as a second rate Wickerman and leaves too many questions unanswered. One of the most disappointing shows of 2020.