“We do what we do here out of love. Never forget that”

So says one of the villagers in one of the relatively few scripted moments of this mammoth 12-hour live broadcast from Osea. I think it’s fair to say that goes for some of the people involved too, especially Jude Law. Bridging the gap between the series’ two stories, we follow Law’s Sam as well as numerous others through a single day. The day in question is the annual festival of Esus and the Sea. As the opening captions tell us, this marks the passing into adulthood of the island’s children, and normally one child is chosen to undergo The Path of Esus, a ritual described as being akin to the Christion Stations of the Cross. This year though they have a new Father to anoint, and Sam must undergo the trial himself to determine if he’s fit to lead. If you thought everything had somewhat worked out for Sam at the end of the last episode you’d be wrong; he’s in for a very tough day.

I say Sam, but in truth it’s Jude Law himself who’s in for a rough time and his friendship with co-director and co-writer Felix Barrett must run very deep indeed for him to have agreed to some of this. We occasionally hear actors compare their profession to manual labour and many of us I’m sure roll our eyes and mutter something through our teeth about getting a “proper” job. Here though Jude literally does just that, in the pouring rain, covered in mud, on a chilly October day, without proper gear or being allowed to swear. For an hour.

Yes, almost a twelfth of this “immersive theatrical experience” is spent watching a film star dig. It sounds like watching paint dry, and in reality much of this is, but it’s also weirdly mesmerising, in part astonishingly bold, in part mind-numbing as we watch patiently for something, anything, to break the spell. From time to time something happens that does just that and suddenly we’re off in another direction, the single camera turning away to wander over to film something else. Notably the camera is not meant to represent an actual presence, which I had rather expected since it’s in lieu of a live audience. The illusory quality is enhanced by occasional cuts away to a pre-recorded closeups of Jude, which in fact seem to be this event’s equivalent of “swear bleeps”. Being broadcast pre-watershed with a twenty minute buffer means all of this is safe if unnerving viewing, most of the horror elements being suggested or off-screen. Needless to say Emily Watson’s foul-mouthed Mrs Martin fails to make an appearance on daytime telly.

The events themselves are, unsurprisingly for this series, mainly a succession of pseudo-religious rituals, seemingly steeped in Christian lore but reframed to fit their Esus cult. As I mentioned last time, since almost nothing at all is known about the Gaulish god Esus beyond him supposedly being keen on human sacrifice, it’s mostly a load of guesswork which will seem vaguely familiar to those of a religious bent. Thankfully a few viewers commenting along with the Sky broadcast knew their stuff, without them I’d have been utterly lost at times (there are numerous references to, and reenactments of, events leading up to the Crucifixion for instance). It does rather irritate me though that this series buys into the idea of Esus being some sort of proto-Jesus; not because of any religious inclinations on my part, but because it’s based on disproven 18th century scholarship which is screamingly wrong. Having said that, the community as depicted was founded in Victorian times, so it’s just about plausible within the narrative as long as we assume they’re ignorant, wilfully or otherwise.

Whether this is something you’d enjoy rather depends on personal taste and interests. It’s one thing to have a series about a paganistic doomsday cult, it’s quite another to watch the believers actually carrying out their tedious rituals and spouting a load of made up rubbish for hours on end. That stuff bored the pants off me, but it does in real life so I’m not sure if it’s their fault or mine, and many watching along seemed fascinated by that aspect. Likewise the later eating and dancing sequences, the latter of which made me feel like the only sober person at a rave. Not fun, and of course they go on for ages.

It did have a number of effective moments though, notably a sequence involving Epona’s father, beautifully played by Mark Lewis Jones. A couple of other familiar faces show up, mostly briefly, in order to progress what story there is or provide some colour and background information. A few are notably absent which was strange but of course real-life has impacted on this production. Quite what this would have been like as originally envisaged is anyone’s guess. As it stands much of this is watching people eat, dance and do religion, mostly from a distance, with annoying music and raindrops on the camera lens (an unfortunate side-effect of the horrible weather, which mercifully improved a bit as the day went on).

Was there anything to enjoy? Yes, from time to time, and much of Law’s material I found compelling, as much as anything to see him putting himself through what must have been a hellish experience out of friendship. For me he’s quickly gone from being “that bloke who did the Alfie remake” to an actor I’ve developed a tremendous respect for. I do hope that when this series is released for home media there will be a cut down version featuring just the main plot points and notable moments. While I am glad I experienced this I can’t really say I had very much fun doing so, much of it was far too “ambient” for my taste and really not entertaining or dramatic enough most of the time.

Verdict: A bold experiment under difficult circumstances which deserves applause for even being attempted. Some mesmerizing sequences and startling moments unfortunately don’t make up for the tedious nonsense in between. 5/10

Andy Smith

 

The event is available to stream from Sky or HBO for 30 days from 3rd October