The Third Day

It's a pity most of these reviews were written by people who didn't finish the series. I don't expect everyone to love confusing, unnerving, slow burns as much as I do. But I am disappointed to see how many people missed the unreliable narrator twist that was done in a way I haven't seen before.

No, the main character's decisions don't seem to make any sense. I wonder if that was done with intention? I wonder if it hints at a reveal?

I guess, if you don't like sticking through a weird story to get a weird ending, that's fair. I do, and I found this series did it very well.

The cast is phenomenal and take the audience through the twisty journey excellently.

It's so hard to rate this, because it's one of the most intense and creative shows I've ever seen. There are some aspects that are really well done, and the cinematic effects (filters/lighting) carry a lot of the weight and accentuate Sam's experiences. Sometimes, though, it's a little overdone, much like my 14 year old self on Instagram with all the effects. And then there's the plot. Again, incredibly creative and intense, but any sort of character motivation is sacrificed to serve plot twist upon plot twist upon plot twist. It makes little sense at the end. The only character whose motivation I can follow somewhat clearly is Sam's, and there are many things in the first episode that should have been answered or referenced in the following parts of the series. Maybe they will be in the coming 'second half'. I really hope the 'Winter' segment is easier to follow, because every single character changing allegiances approximately 4 times per episode is making ME feel like I took LSD at a Celtic festival.

Some people seem to appreciate style over substance according to a lot of reviews. Only second episode in, I've never seen such abnormal, unnatural behaviour in a main character. It doesn't make sense how Jude Law's character reacts to his situation. There is a stellar cast, Jude Law is great, there is oodles of intrigue to keep you hooked. The cinematography is amazing but hopefully it will improve in the story. 4th episode in and Naomie Harris (who I'm not a fan of) is another character introduced whose character reaches higher levels of abnormal behaviour than what Jude Law did. This episode is home literally the most nonsensical, mystifying, stupid writing I have ever seen in what should be a well produced show.

Starts off pretty good. Great to see a UK show without the usual BBC box ticking and overly PC'd. However I felt it didn't quite go far enough in weirdness. It's almost split into 2 three episode sections. I'd suggest just watch the first 3 and call it quits. The fourth episode is ok but from there it gets annoying, the new lead actress does some really dumb things a mother just wouldn't do and from there it leads up to a really stupid ending. A decent ending might have seen it get a 7.5 or even 8 from me.

TIFF 2020 05

The Third Day

Having watched only two episodes of this 6 episode miniseries as part of the festival, I'd say this series is interesting to say the least. It has a top quality cast from some of the best British actors/actresses involved, it's greatly atmospheric and gothic which I really liked and the story seems engaging enough for 6 hours. Also this series is kind of special because a theatrical live episode is going to drop and broadcasted in about a month so I'm really excited to see how this project will shape out.