The Third Day

Jude Law finds himself marooned amongst some very odd folk when he crosses a causeway to the island of Osea.

In the 6 part series The Third Day, Law plays parent Sam, who is marking the anniversary of a personal tragedy when he is led to coming to the rescue of teenager Epona (Jessie Ross). Before long he has driven his car over a narrow causeway at low tide to a community preparing to celebrate its “Esus and the Sea” festival.

But high tide will leave him stranded on Osea, with no phone reception and no way out. Like so many outsider-in-small-community tales, this story by Felix Barrett & Dennis Kelly is set to up-end normality for Sam.

“You won’t believe what these people are capable of,” he is told…

At the same time Sam is pressed to get back home to save his business from a critical local planning move and there’s the small concern of the burglary of £40,000 from his business.

But Osea is a trippy, sometimes psychedelic sojourn, especially in the hands of director Marc Munden -the photography is artfully loose with focus and drained of some of its vivid hues. Sam slips further and further down a rabbit hole, losing a grip on reality and facing truths close to home.

He also meets Jess (Katherine Waterston) an American anthropologist, and local publicans played by Paddy Considine & Emily Watson. Beneath themes of crime and cults, there is also a ripple of racism.

Law hits all the paranoia required of the role, and the setting and direction make up for some somewhat familiar tropes. A trip that manages to make the detour worthwhile.

8:30pm Monday on FOX Showcase.