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The Third Day | Jude Law in a Wicker Man-esque miniseries from the creator of Utopia | Mondays on HBO

RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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Oct 25, 2017
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The new miniseries 'The Third Day' premieres on Monday, September 14 on HBO in the US and Tuesday, September 15 in the UK on Sky Atlantic and Now TV. The series will consist of 6 episodes and 1 live theatrical broadcast.

Trailer

The Third Day takes place across three stand-alone but interconnected stories set on a remote British island. Taking viewers into a captivating and distorted world where all is not as it seems.

Episodes 1 – 3 (Summer)

Summer sees Sam drawn to an alluring and mysterious island off the British coast. Isolated from the mainland, he finds he is unable to leave the idyllic and dangerously enchanting world he has discovered. As the secretive rituals of its inhabitants force him to grapple with the experiences of loss and trauma hidden in his past, the boundaries between fantasy and reality fragment. His quest to unlock the truth leads to the revelation of a shocking island secret.

Live Theatrical Broadcast (Autumn)

Autumn invites viewers deeper into the suspenseful world of The Third Day. Featuring members of The Third Day cast, viewers will follow the events of a single day in real time broadcast as live from the island. In one continuous and cinematic take, the rituals and traditions of the islanders are further revealed as the line between what is real and what is not increasingly blurs.

Episodes 4 – 6 (Winter)

Winter follows Helen, a headstrong outsider who finds herself inextricably drawn to the island in pursuit of answers. With her family in tow, she is caught between the island's splintered forces and their now fractious battle to decide its fate.
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The series is a reunion of sorts for many in the crew of the cult British series Utopia, including the creator Dennis Kelly, composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and director Marc Munden.
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Cast

Jude Law as Sam
Naomie Harris as Helen
Katherine Waterston as Jess
Emily Watson as Mrs Martin
Paddy Considine as Mr Martin

Reviews

Variety said:
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.
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TV Guide said:
While plenty of series can feel a bit like puzzles that ask for viewers to untangle them, few take that quality quite as far as The Third Day. It's a rich mix of themes and intriguing details intensely played by a remarkable cast. The Third Day makes for a memorably unsettling journey into a dark place, one with an uncomfortable resemblance to the world we already know.
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The Playlist said:
"The Third Day" has a surreal nature that places it in fictional history just east of "Shutter Island" and just west of the setting of "The Wicker Man."
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Blader

Blader

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Oct 27, 2017
26,604
Tbh I tapped out about halfway through...I do plan to finish it today, but I was getting kind of irritated by the level of "why is this guy doing this" choices being made.
 
BeeDog

BeeDog

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Oct 26, 2017
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Just finished the episode, and I quite like it so far. It's splendidly BEAUTIFUL, with some damn fine framing and cinematography. I really like the popping colors and environments contrasting with the nice edge desaturation effect used in some scenes to frame Jude Law's character. I also liked the "slow dread" approach as the poster above described, and the weirdo behavior of most of the characters, it's building up to some interesting stuff though this episode holds many cards close to its chest at the moment. Jude Law is acting his tits off and it's obvious he's all in, and the other actors are good too; always nice seeing these terrific British actors popping up.
 
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metsallica

metsallica

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Oct 27, 2017
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Oh yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous. The setting is amazing too. When they said in the BTS clip on HBO Max that they basically built the show around the setting, you totally get that sense.
 
Arkestry

Arkestry

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Oct 26, 2017
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Got around to watching this last night and really enjoyed it. My only concern is that they won't really have any new ground to cover if it is a Wickerman/Midsomar style story, but hopefully there's more going on than that.

One thing I'm not really sure at is that the colour grading is really obnoxious in places. The black and white river just looked straight up bad, and occasionally it was so aggressively coloured that it was distracting. That said, other times it looked really good, like the shots of the causeway, so it's not all bad.
 
Tremorah

Tremorah

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Dec 3, 2018
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Fucking loved the mix of horror and drama tone this has going for it, also it looks and sounds fucking phenomenal
 
rsfour

rsfour

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Oct 26, 2017
16,744
Been meaning to watch Utopia, finally got around to watching like 2-3 eps last week lol.

Just finished ep 1 of this one and I have no idea wtf is going on, but man, it looks great.
 
spx54

spx54

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Mar 21, 2019
3,273
stars Jude Law and is made by the creator of Utopia? Yeah I think I'm gonna check this out. the trailer looked pretty interesting.
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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Oct 25, 2017
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I liked the hazy, out of focus, dreamlike way it's shot, but it also seemed to cover some pretty familiar territory. The twist wasn't very surprising but the end with him in that Silent Hill room was definitely unsettling.

ngl I lowkey think the people there are like mermaids or something - drinking salt water, that one guy called his wife a "good fish" or something similar.
 
Dalek

Dalek

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Oct 25, 2017
38,901
I loved every second of that first episode. Great setting and Jude Law is great in anything.
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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Oct 25, 2017
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New episode tonight!

Saturday - The Son

Sam wakes up in a compromising situation and spends the day to know more about the islanders and their beliefs; Sam thinks of a way off Osea with the help of Jess.
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Arkestry

Arkestry

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Oct 26, 2017
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Really enjoyed the second episode. They're treading just on the right side of mysterious without being frustrating, and creepy without being dumb. Still plenty of things left to fuck up, but I'm optimistic that it's going to stick the landing.

And those last five minutes were fucking wild. Loved the imagery.
 
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BeeDog

BeeDog

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Oct 26, 2017
4,549
Damn, this show continues to be beautiful. The acid trip visuals were some of the best ones I've seen on TV since Chernobyl, I think. Jude Law is killing it in the role, and I'm eager to see where the story will lead and conclude. It will stand or fall with its revelations, I believe.
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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Oct 25, 2017
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Okay those fish head people are legit unnerving

that scene where they're slowly walking towards Jude Law in the field?

😨
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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The last Jude Law focused episode is tonight!

Sunday - The Ghost

Sam is shocked to learn the truth about his connection to Osea and the islanders' intentions for his future. Later, in a fight for his life, Sam tries desperately to escape their clutches and make it back to the mainland in one piece.
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Mindwipe

Mindwipe

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Oct 25, 2017
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I've given up.on this. It's slow and pretentious, and it's shot like a Samsung tech demo not a TV show.

I really didn't think it was very good at all.
 
Gogo_ZvC

Gogo_ZvC

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Oct 29, 2017
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I've seen the first episode of the Fall arc and the first episode of the Winter arc at TIFF. It kept my interest enough, will check out the rest.
 
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RatskyWatsky

RatskyWatsky

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Oct 25, 2017
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That was quite an interesting turn of events. It was a tad predictable but not in a bad way. I thought everything came together well in the end and I'm very interested to see where the story goes now...
 
metsallica

metsallica

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Oct 27, 2017
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RatskyWatsky said:
That was quite an interesting turn of events. It was a tad predictable but not in a bad way. I thought everything came together well in the end and I'm very interested to see where the story goes now...
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Yep. Mostly agreed. I'd go very predictable (up from your tad) but very enjoyable. I'm not really happy we won't get to see the live episode. Hoping they edit it down into something later on.
 
Arkestry

Arkestry

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Oct 26, 2017
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I'll join the camp of 'unsurprising but very well done'. There was that feeling of dread and futility that I feel like is at the core of this kind of story, where every attempt to escape is met with impossible barriers. The attempt to cross the tideway was pretty great, although I'm not sure how the lady could have got to him that quickly.

I'm still in two minds about the use of colour and colour grading in the show. Sometimes it's really distracting, but other times I feel like it's really selling the surreal descent into madness and fantasy.
 
Kyonashi

Kyonashi

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Oct 24, 2017
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thecouncil said:
With this upcoming 12-hr "fall" episode not being broadcast in any way in the states, I don't know why I'm watching this show here? I don't get this. Lol.
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metsallica said:
I'm not really happy we won't get to see the live episode. Hoping they edit it down into something later on.
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Vulture says it will be live-streamed on the HBO Facebook page, presumably worldwide: https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/the-third-day-livestream-hbo.html
 
BeeDog

BeeDog

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Oct 26, 2017
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The third episode was quite good. As always, the visuals are mindblowing and the actors really give their roles their all. Plot-wise, all this cult (leader) stuff came slightly out of left-field and wasn't properly fleshed out, i.e. with details on what it means to be the leader, if the old dude really was immortal, etc. But of course, there are three episodes left, or four-ish depending on how you count, but since Jude Law seemingly won't be a part of the remaining regular episodes, I hope the series is able to wrap up the strands left hanging.
 
Strings

Strings

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Oct 27, 2017
31,379
I've absolutely adored the first half of this. Wonder how I'll feel about the next 3 episodes, seeing as they're not by Munden and will have co-writers alongside Kelly (plus Jude Law absolutely fucking killed it).
 
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