Aditi AgrawalThe Third Day Review- The Third day Is the latest HBO miniseries is an ambiguous psychological thriller about a mysterious island and what happens when a visitor encounters this piece of land.
Creators: Dennis Kelly, Felix Barrett
Main cast: Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Emily Watson
RT score: 77%
IMDb rate: 6.5
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Network: HBO
Where to watch: Disney + Hotstar
The Third Day miniseries is about the lives of a man and a woman who lands on a mysterious island but at different times. This miniseries is divided into two interconnected parts titled differently and which portrays the lives of Sam and Helen played by Jude Law and Naomi Harris.
This series is all about faith and hope and to what extent people can patiently watch the entire 2 hours’ worth of the initial two episodes. The first three episodes are titled “Summer” whose main focus is on one of the main characters Sam (played by Jude law). Later, he meets a young teenage girl named Epona whom he saved from killing herself with the help of a curly-hair boy who runs away in the forest. The next three episodes are titled Winter, which focuses on the life of a woman named Helen (played by Naomi Harris) on the same island but ina different time.
The Third Day Review: Did you know Osea island is a real place?
The Osea island in the series portrays as a mysterious place with people with creepy religious beliefs which makes this anthology miniseries creepier and a perfect place to shoot. The Oseaisland was built by Romanians which later became a British navy camp and then an ecological site for research. The only way to reach this island is by boat. Sam in the series could easily drive to the island, but when the tide hits, he is trapped.
In the very first episode, Jude Law is seen to be making frantic phone calls about him being robbed of forty thousand dollars. Later, he is seen washing a child’s t-shirt by the creek to perform some ritual. Huh? The initial episodes are potentially tough to take in since the viewers have no clue what is going on?
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Then how does Sam gets trapped in mystery island? It started right after he saved the girl from killing herself in the forest and dropping her off at her home, which is on a remote island. Along with that ride, he also learned the backstory about this mysterious island and how scary they are people living there.
Most of the scenes are unclear in the beginning making the viewers lose interest or making some intrigued. The Osea island is a place with people conducting cultic rituals and celebrating ancient festivals which Sam does not seem to notice since he is going through the grief of his child’s death which we learn in episode 3 of the series.
The Third day is a copy of The Wicker Man.
The Third day review is finally here and honestly, it has affected most of the viewers with mixed emotions. Most of the reviews state how painful it was to watch The Third-day initial episodes. Most of the scenes would be Jude Law running around the island with no aim whatsoever. The Character Sam being delusional and possibly suffering from mental health issues is totally confusing the audience as to what to believe.
If one could sit through 2 hours in completing two episodes of “Summer”, then you are in for a treat. The third and the final episode of the “Summer” answers most of the questions. Sam, in the first episode, has seen with a child’s T-shirt, was his late child, later the audience is left with the dilemma of the curly-haired boy might be his son.
The third day being a copy of The Wicker Man is all around the news. The Wicker Man is a 1970 movie that also has similar events like the latest British miniseries The Third day. The Third day is based on an island with superstitious rituals and spooky festivals where butchering of people and animals is considered as a part of their tradition. The Wicker man movie also had similar scenery with being filmed on an island and the people involved in a cult. The head of the cult in the movie also performed rituals like animal/ people butchering in the belief of the crops on the island would grow.
However, The Wicker Man was not so intense, and pushing the superstitious ritual to an extent that becomes difficult for the audience to watch. On the other hand, The Third Day Reviews also comprise some part of the audience who found the series intriguing and immediately hooked to the story. Even though it being slow and confusing, some find it to be the best latest series from HBO.
The final three episodes were much better than the episodes in the beginning.
The final three episodes were the second interconnected part of this miniseries titled “Winter”. This final part focused on the character Helen’s journey on the same island but at a different time. Helen was on the island in the hope of finding his husband, Sam. Sam’s claim of starting afresh start on the island turned out to be scary and confusing. These episodes are relatively faster and sensible as compared to the first three episodes since we come to learn about Sam’s obsession with his son Nathan after a lot of confusing events happened in the past episodes.
Also, the fact that Jess (Katherine Waterson) is now the mother of Sam’s daughter, and after a lot of bloody revolts, Sam is an official resident of the island as The Father. The Third Day review claims to yell while watching the final episodes of Winter because of the plot twist and for missing those details from Summer. Naomi Harris’s amazing performance portraying Helen was wonderful for the audience to watch.
The first episode of Winter started with Helen learning about the creepy island and finding a place to stay along with her older daughter Ellie. Soon after, she finds a place to stay and heads back to her car, and her car was gone by then. Who saw that one coming? Wait. Actually, everyone did.
The main part viewers were waiting for was Helen’s reaction to Sam being The Father of the island, and Sam’s reaction to his wife being alive. There were many characters introduced in this second interconnected part, but the viewers were still mad about the fact that most of the characters did not have much of a backstory. Could that be a backlash for the series? Maybe.
The third episode of the Winter had answered all of the viewers’ questions and confusion. Some of them were hooked on there being a second season of the miniseries and some being totally judgmental about the fact Helen not being hypothermic since she swam all the way from the mainland to the island dragging her children on the boat. Nevertheless, the very first scene where Helen finally meets Sam at the edge of the shore was indeed a beginning to the end.
Will there be a second season of The Third Day?
All questions have been answered; this psychological thriller miniseries has come to an end. (Is it?). The final episode of Winter concluded with blood, rifle, and horror. Helen recognized Nathan is not her son, but that ended up Sam being in Denial. The purpose of Helen coming to the creepy island was to find his husband, who was crowned as The Father of the famous Osea island.
To escape Helen, his wife, and his two daughters, Sam was pumped with adrenaline at the end of the episode. When Jason was on his way to chase Helen and her daughters, she handed over a knife to Sam, and everyone’s horror, he stabbed Jason over and over again. The Third day Season, 1 review was flooded by the amazing performance by Jude Law and Naomi Harris. The season-ending has already made a mark on the viewer’s memory. The intense, dark humor series was indeed short-lived.
Sam’s obsession with Nathan has turned the entire ending upside down. When he finally got the chance to escape the horrendous island with his family once and for all, he decided to stay back with Nathan. Wait? Why? After discovering Nathan is not his true son, he still wanted to be with him. Sam was known with the fact that if he stayed back and if Jess learns the truth about Nathan, he could lose everything but Sam was ready to take any risk if that means he could stay with Nathan.
As for my ‘The Third Day Review’, I find it intriguing, intense, and bits of scenes with dark humor did attract me. Although there were some times, I wanted to give up because of not understanding the plot. But as the story went forward, everything was piling up incorrect order.
The Third Day review went from negative to positive throughout the six episodes. The night of the escape, Helen may have shown some growth after hearing Nathan’s last words to her. Helen, not believing in any religious belief, may have taken a different turn after hearing Nathan’s final words.
The decision of Sam staying back on the island with his son Nathan is questionable by all the viewers around the world. What will happen to Sam and Nathan under the dictatorship of Jess? Will Jess still care about Sam like she used to? I guess we will never know. (Unless, second season)
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Baishaly Roy
