‘The Third Day’: Monday – The Mother

After sitting through a phenomenal 12-hour watch last week, The Third Day returns to more familiar ground as we begin the ‘Winter’ portion of the story (or as familiar as this show gets, at least). We have a new lead and a new creative team, but Osea remains as off-kilter as in ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’, and as watchable as ever.

Helen (Naomie Harris) has taken her daughters Ellie (Nico Parker) and Tallulah (Charlotte Gairdner-Mihell) out of school for a vacation to Osea, ostensibly as an archaeological excursion for Ellie’s birthday. The girls are obviously not too keen of this choice of holiday destination, and the locals don’t seem all that interested in making them welcome. Helen is driven by her own motivations, and bizarrely insists on staying despite all the hostility – however, a tour around the island in search of a room, and the discovery of several horrifying sights, may test her resolve.

Whereas the islanders were all too happy to welcome Sam to Osea, and were always carefully manipulating him to stay, they seem intent on driving Helen away

The main cast is the most obvious overhaul, but they’re far from the only change in the ‘Winter’ section of the story. Philippa Lowthorpe has taken over as director, accompanied by David Chizallet and Dickon Hinchliffe as cinematographer and composer. Even as we revisit the island of Osea, there’s a sense that something is different. It’s certainly not the creepiness and that pervasive sense that something is wrong, but the nature of that menace has changed. Whereas the islanders were all too happy to welcome Sam to Osea, and were always carefully manipulating him to stay, they seem intent on driving Helen away. It’s not a good sign when the only welcoming face is Larry, whose friendliness towards Ellie can only be a bad omen.

‘Monday – The Mother’ offers us a different Osea to that of the ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’ sections – it’s grey and muted, somewhat appropriate for the start of ‘Winter’. Graffiti and trash litter the island, and Mr Martin’s genial demeanour has faded somewhat. It is implied that the island is split after Sam’s succession, something that first cropped up in ‘Autumn’. But some things remain constant too – Mrs Martin is keen to clash with her husband, and there are horrifying visuals everywhere. Helen comes across a tiny statue of the crucified Virgin Mary in a pool of blood, and Ellie finds a disembowelled sheep with a crown of thorns and a baby doll in its abdomen – it’s as horrific as it sounds.

But even more horrifying is what you don’t see, particularly as the Martins employ their ability to explain away every strange encounter and event as if it were nothing. For instance, they tell Helen that a screaming woman brought to an operating theatre in the middle of nowhere is simply in labour, and refuses to go to the mainland (side note – if that woman isn’t Jess, pregnant with Sam’s baby after their one-night stand, I’ll be incredibly surprised). These answers don’t really feel like answers, and that makes it worse. At one point, Helen asks the Martins if she and her children will be safe on Osea – she is told yes, but is clearly not convinced.

The new creative team have recaptured that dark foreboding mood, and I’m looking forward to finding out what Helen’s role in this story is

This brings to me to our new leads. Naomie Harris brings a different kind of energy to The Third Day, but she’s no less compelling – the family dynamic is a new one, especially after Sam’s single adventures around Osea, and it works wonderfully. The final shot reveals (although you probably picked up on it a long time ago) that Helen is Sam’s wife, and she’s also dealing with the psychological scars of Nathan’s supposed death – in a powerful scene, the kids are forced to care for Helen after a panic attack. How she’ll respond if she finds Sam and Nathan, or attempts to escape the island, are questions that linger in the air.

‘Monday – The Mother’ begins the ‘Winter’ chapter of The Third Day with another dose of intrigue – even as it treads some familiar ground, it does so in a totally different way, making this return to Osea a gripping watch once again. The new creative team have recaptured that dark foreboding mood, and I’m looking forward to finding out what Helen’s role in this story is.