The Third Day

Sea Salt Of The Earth

The Third Day
2020 UK/USA
Episodes 1-3 - Summer (aired September 2020)
Live 12 hour event - Autumn (aired October 2020)
Episodes 4-5 - Winter (aired October 2020)

Warning: Some spoilers.

I first heard about The Third Day from listening to the Colours Of The Dark podcast during the pandemic and was looking forward to watching it for 2021’s Halloween week reviews, which were dedicated that year to folk horror, in honour of the then upcoming All The Haunts Be Ours folk horror box set from Severin. Alas, once I’d watched it I decided against that because, as far as the main parts of the show are concerned, nothing really supernatural happens which can’t also be explained away scientifically, therefore putting the series into the realm of drama or, at best, thriller. However, something in the live stream, one take, 12 hour real time broadcast bridging episode, airing between the two halves of the series and called Autumn, convinced me that something ‘out of this world’ possibly did happen and so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt as far as the genre goes. Because, at the very least, it does use some of the tropes of the horror film and, like I said, Autumn just about lets people get away with pigeon-holing it into that genre.

Episodes 1 - 3 Summer
The basic plot set up is that Sam, played by Jude Law, is living with grief for his dead son and he is going through a yearly ritual where he throws one of the boy’s t-shirts into the stream in which his body was allegedly found. The stream is near to the small island of Osea in Essex, which is separated from the mainland by a causeway which disappears for many hours in the high tide, thus cutting off the island from the rest of the outside world... via roadworthy vehicles, at least. He has done something bad, probably criminal in his past (which you will find out all about, slowly revealed over the course of the show). He sees someone in the forest, a teenage girl, attempting to kill herself. He rescues her and drives her to her people on Osea but then gets caught up in the local politics of two warring factions on the island, many of whom see him as the new leader of the community, due to a link to the island from his past which Sam is not yet aware of.

Even though he has a wife and two surviving kids, Sam gets accidentally hooked up with Jess, played by Katherine Waterston... and ends up staying in the local inn run by a husband and wife played by Paddy Considine and Emily Watson. However, strange things are afoot on Osea, which sees itself as the heart of the world where, if harmony is lost on the island, it affects the rest of the planet negatively. Which means you get all the folk horror tropes like strange people worshipping a strange religion, unusual religious experiments and the ‘outsider’, meaning Sam in this case (although he’s not as much of an outsider as he thinks he is) not being able to get off the island during the three days he finds himself trapped there (almost like an episode of The Prisoner, in that respect).

And it’s nicely paced, by which I mean it’s slowly paced with long shots full of fluid camera movement and tremendous acting from all the main cast as the mystery of the island unfolds, culminating in a turning point at the end of episode three. For the whole time the ‘possibly supernatural’ moments are kept at arms length by the writers and directors. An example would be an absolutely astonishingly well made moment when Jess is leading Sam away from a village festival and into the forest... as they start walking you can’t help notice that various villagers have started floating in the air and, by the time Sam’s realised this, he too is being guided, floating through the night. However, for every supernatural yin there’s a possible scientific yang... in this case the fact that Sam and Jess just dropped acid before this scene and therefore what we are seeing may not be what is really happening.

Autumn
And then we get to Autumn. This special episode was broadcast live from the island in one take (although they apparently managed to sneak camera changes in there somehow... although how you could do that without using things like travelling mattes is anybody’s guess) and takes place over 12 hours from the morning to the evening. And, it’s an absolute technical marvel as the, now extremely slow moving camera, rambles in and out of various character’s lives throughout the island as Sam has to go through a set of trials similar to the Stations Of The Cross before dying, being buried in a grave (which we spent at least an hour watching Jude Law dig himself in the rain)... and then rising from the dead. And this moment is where, as far as I’m concerned, the show gives itself away as possibly being a horror show as opposed to just straight drama... the supernatural is obviously present unless there’s some way a human can survive that kind of treatment.

And watching this special event episode is a bit of a trial too, it has to be said. I like slow paced movies a lot but this one doesn’t have much in the way of plot and, frankly, it could all have been done in one hour long episode. So while some of it is absolutely gripping, quite a lot of it isn’t. Do I need to see a guy eating a sandwich for quarter of an hour, or Jude Law drag a wooden boat across the island for a couple of hours? Probably not but, while I didn’t need to be watching a close up shot of Jude Law taking a nap for half an hour, he certainly needed the rest... what’s come before this scene and what comes after it is pretty punishing and hugely demanding physically and, I’m pretty sure that’s Jude Law's actual blood seen in certain scenes and not a special effect.

Either way, I’m sure some people will love the bits that I found hard to sit through in this special episode and, vice versa but, either way, it doesn’t detract from this being an absolutely historical achievement in live television, for sure. Most of the mistakes made in it... and I’m sure there must be a fair few... are such that people wouldn’t notice but I am glad a major mistake happens in a festival scene where a guy jumps into a vat of mud, in which the villagers are all getting re-Christened in and absolutely covers the camera lens (much more than the rain does, which only obscures sections of the screen at various points). It is at this moment when we see a hand come out with a succession of cloths to wipe the lens clear so, yeah, that’s a nice moment. Fans of the pop group Florence And The Machine might also like to view this 12 hour episode as Florence Welch is one of the lead actors in this one and she even does a little bit of singing (although I’ve not heard the band myself so I don’t know if her style is at all recognisable here).

Episodes 4 - 6 Winter
And then on to Winter, which at first seems totally unconnected to the previous three episodes, focussing on a new character entering the village... Helen, played by Naomie Harris, who has some pedigree in the horror genre after her early female lead in 28 Days Later but whom most people will remember for her version of Miss Moneypenny from the Daniel Craig era of James Bond films. She turns up with her two daughters to stay in a place she has pre-booked, which she says is for a holiday to celebrate her eldest daughter’s birthday but which, in fact, turns out to be a pretext. But I won’t say why because that really would be a spoiler... admittedly one I figured out early into the fourth episode but the quick reveal at the end of the fourth installment is nicely done and I don’t want to wreck it for you. Let’s just say that the Winter episodes don’t turn out to be totally unconnected to the Summer story arc at all and leave it at that.

Again, this block of episodes uses various folk horror tropes and treats us to visions of a dead and gutted half fish/half squirrel and a crowned sheep sitting on a throne with its uterus sliced open to reveal a human baby doll... but like the first three episodes, always has an alternative explanation implied as to what is really going on. For instance, is a vision seen by Helen in the final episode a real thing or is it because her body is going into hypothermic shock at this stage... who can tell?

What I can tell you is, asides perhaps for the 12 hour single take episode, which doesn’t have too much audible dialogue and is mostly filmed in long shot, I’d have to say that the entire series, with it’s allusions to folk horror spookiness, is pretty intriguing and The Third Day is a nice piece of televisual art, for sure. Certainly one to check out if you are a fan of TV shows of this ilk but not something I could honestly say I could sit through again unless it was given a nice Blu Ray release at some point, which I somehow doubt will be coming, it’s a shame to say.