The Day (TV)
Even if you take everything you see in the miniseries, “The Day,” at face value, there are little details along the way that point to the larger picture we’re about to see in the next episode. That’s one of its strengths, and why it is compulsively watchable through each of its 12 episodes. It’s a riveting thriller to get immersed in.
The story begins early one morning, as a manager comes to open a bank in the morning. A few employees come in, as well some early customers. There’s something a bit off, though, as cameras are covered, a child’s hat is visible, and a phone is taped to the wall when a police officer rides by. The phone rings- a robbery is in progress, and there are hostages. The police are to make sure the square is clear, and no one tries to come into the bank, as there are explosives throughout the building. The robbers want $1 million euros, and a helicopter to fly them away from the bank. The police set up a team of negotiators (including the relatively green Ibrahim (Lukas De Wolf) and more experienced Vos (Sophie Decleir) as they try to ascertain who all is in there, and how they can prevent violence.
“The Day” is 12 episodes long, but really, it’s six, two-hour movies. The episodes alternate between the police perspective (seen during the odd episodes) and the robber perspective (seen during the even episodes). It’s an intriguing structure on the part of screenwriters Jonas Geirnaert and Julie Mahieu, and it prevents the narrative from getting stale by us just watching the same thing throughout each episode. What also aids in that is how the story unfolds, and how the truth of the situation comes through in each episode, little by little, until we are fully aware of the bigger picture, which isn’t fully revealed until the very last episode. The breadcrumbs throughout paint a picture of a situation more complex, of characters with more layers, than they appear on the surface. The directors, Gilles Coulier and Dries Vos, do a great job of misdirecting us, and of getting performances out of the actors that reveal every emotion we need to feel during this situation. Even through seeing two sides of the same phone call do we begin to recognize how things are not necessarily what they appear. It presents context and character development that we’re able to understand the emotions of everyone from the hostages to the kidnappers to the hostage negotiators. That, and the filmmaking style, keeps us on the edge of our seat the whole way through. This is a top-notch thriller in every way, shape or form, all the way up to the final images, which reveal more surprises in store.
The last four episodes of “The Day” represent some of my favorite television storytelling in recent years. The first eight episodes bring the narrative to a point of conclusion, and it’s left to those four episodes to sift through the aftermath. The way the story goes back and forth between the police and the robbers and hostages gets blurred more than it had been during the standoff at the bank, and it leaves us breathless with suspense as we see only one side of the story in episodes 9 and 11, and then, we see the other side, watching some release, as well as set up for further suspense. It all builds to the final episode, and those last moments, showing that the plans of everyone would not go the way anyone expected, and a way that feels karmic for everyone involved. This is a story about two sides of the same situation, but only one result makes sense in the end. “The Day” sticks that result brilliantly.
