User Reviews

We haven't learned much, but am still left intrigued. A man witnesses a suicide attempt, travels to an island cutoff from the mainland during high tide, then experiences weird events and people. He's been the victim of a huge burglary - or has he? I found the pacing to be perfect. If the series unscrambles in good order, this will be brilliant.

The Third Day is a surprisingly ethereal & dreamlike series - which debuts with this incredibly intriguing first episode.

Many mysterious, inexplicable peculiarities are featured throughout & writer / creator Dennis Kelly is obviously keen to keep the audience guessing so early on in its progression but considering his demonstrable ability to satisfy viewers with fulfilling conclusions (just watch his previous, recommendable show "UTOPIA"), I've no doubt our patience will inevitably be rewarded by the end of the 6th installment, despite the current ambiguity.

Additionally, Kelly's frequent collaborator & outstanding director Marc Munden (who gained acclaim for his work on the aforementioned Channel 4 series) also returns to helm this pilot & true to form, unsurprisingly wastes no time in launching the HBO original with an astonishing quality of filmmaking; boasting noticeably strong performances, masterful editing, stunning cinematography (shot by up-and-coming director of photography Benjamin Kracun) as well as a relentlessly unnerving, understated soundtrack crafted by the insanely talented composer Cristobal Tapia De Veer - who intentionally creates a constant, haunting atmosphere of absolute dread with his music; it all works flawlessly to culminate in something sumptuously fascinating & yet equally dark & nightmarish.

A good start indeed, could have been much better, Jude Law's performance as well as bg music was absolutely amazing. Can't wait for the next episode.

1 out of 5 stars.

The first episode is slow with Sam meeting a girl who is troubled. And she takes him to an island community where things seem off.

The writing and direction is dull. The characters are dull. And boring. It was hard trying to sit through.

I personally found the editing very distracting. Will have to wait what comes next and if the weird pacing and overall mood will have some sort of revelation

The director needs to get his act together and fix the pacing of the show. Every scene is drawn out as if its supposed to add a sense of drama and tension, but when everything is dramatically slow, nothing stands out. There is never a sense of normalcy to ground the viewer, just constant, slow-moving and largely-ineffective attempts to build tension upon tension upon tension.

Acting is good and premise has promise, which is the only reason I'm giving it an all too generous 5/10, despite disliking the direction so intensely.