HBO’s premiere for “The third day” has jude law in “wicker man” mode

By: Keaton Marcus

Jude Law is the latest to fall into The Wicker Man/Midsommar trap in this folk-tale horror series in which he unravels a mystery behind an ominous island that he cannot seem to escape from. This is HBO’s latest, The Third Day, which has debuted its first two episodes now before releasing weekly chapters until its finale on number six. The initial, dubbed “Friday - The Father”, is heavy on dread, mood, and enticing visuals, but has a disappointing lack of insight, or even exposition, to explain what the hell’s going on. Jude Law saves the day, though his compelling performance still isn’t quite enough to offset its flaws.

Clearly, Law’s character Sam hasn’t seen any of those horror movies I’ve just mentioned, hence him actually rescuing one of the island’s residents, Epona (Jessie Ross) from accidentally hanging herself. Sam is a troubled London man who wishes to get back to his family, but the constant seduction of the island keeps him there, albeit with no reception (love those tropes, HBO). This seemingly inescapable place, called Osea, is home to solely 93 odd citizens, at least that’s what Epona explains. It lies on the other end of a length causeway across from the mainland. However, when the tide comes in everyday, it’s impossible to drive across. Why? It’s convenient to the plot. The people are described as “nice” folks, but you know that never ends up being true in cinema, or on television.

After he saves Epona from death, he encounters the grateful, yet strange couple Mr. Martin (Paddy Considine) and his wife (Emily Watson). The two run the local pub, and take in Epona when they meet. Sam’s then given a tantalizing offer, a room to sleep for the night, and drinks on his tab. Being the struggling man he is, he decides to stay the night. Considine and Watson are both suitably over-the-top and reasonably unsettling, an interesting mix when you put them together, although the duo get washed over in familiarity. Each bit of exposition or attempts at explanation for the strange occurrences that are about to come down the line are helpful, but lacking in quantity. The mood-building and overwhelming sense of fear keep you onboard, however.

Sam, who has a few kids of his own, is naturally concerned about Epona’s well-being, health and safety, so he regularly tries to check on her, but it just never happens. His attempts are shot down either by the residents, Epona’s gun-toting dad, or the exploration of an oddity on the island. Whether there’s the mysterious boy in the distance, the bizarre rituals, or decaying animals that casually show up out of nowhere. All the disturbing imagery is the series’ asset, its one true claim-to-fame, especially with those bugs crawling out of another wounded insect, one of my pet peeves. It taps into these little tics of yours and exploits them cleverly. Unfortunately, there’s some bad stuff I’ve got to write about.

Looking behind all the cool visuals, disturbing images, and engaging lead performance, there isn’t any meaning behind them. All the style doesn’t pay off, the pretty production is sometimes only there to fool the viewer into thinking he or she is witnessing brilliance, and it can come off as pretentious. I’ll mention it again that audiences still do not have enough context to understand it all, but I’m hoping that they’ll have better explanations than the damn lore that’s constantly being thrown at is. So besides some ludicrous excuses for plot points, self-indulgence, overlong running time and lack of meaning, The Third Day’s initial hourlong episode succeeds more than it doesn’t.

The final opinion is: HBO’s The Third Day gives Jude Law yet another endearing and engaging performance, and with visual style to spare, the premiere generally works to overcome its messy execution of an original premise. I would say…BROWSE IT

Rated: TV-MA

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror

Runtime: 59 minutes

Director: Marc Munden