Saturday ended with our hero loaded on acid and knocked out by John Dagleish’s Larry after being supposedly led to safety by Mrs Martin. We pick up the story soon after and it’s safe to say that Sam is not in a good way and things are going to get a whole lot worse before the day is over.

Last time I mentioned that I thought I’d worked out one or two of the mysteries and am glad to say I was roughly correct; it’s fair to say that if you’ve guessed what’s going on you’re probably right too. Quite early on we discover Sam’s connection to the island and by the end we reach something of a resolution. There’s still plenty of the usual weirdness along the way and a few shocks, one of which is particularly gut-wrenching. While it’s usually a given for horror that the genre itself doesn’t exist in the world we’re seeing, there’s one moment which is so obviously coming that it makes the oblivious Sam seem particularly dense. We find out more about his visions too, which seem to relate to his mental health, something that’s been vaguely referred to before. Oddly what isn’t resolved is why he “stole” the £40k bribe he now keeps in a ratty carrier bag; I suspect that subplot is there to just indicate Sam’s impulsiveness and instability, and that he’s got himself into a bit of a mess. Whether we find out more remains to be seen.

We also get more information about the islanders’ religious beliefs. I’m no expert but my attempts to make some sense of this have led me to the conclusion that it’s essentially based around a number of baseless myths about early Christianity – the upside-down cross as a symbol for Satan worship (it isn’t) and the similarity between the names of Jesus and the Gaulish god Esus (just a coincidence), with a dash of end-of-days apocalypse cultism. As Sam says, “All of this, everything you believe in, is f***ing nonsense; magic and pixies and fake gods” and he has a point. It certainly lacks the cohesive feel of the far-too-similar-to-ignore The Wicker Man, with its overtly sexualised pagan rites and beliefs. There the islanders are so cut off from the mainland their isolation is somewhat believable, but here it’s slightly absurd that everyone doesn’t know about the weird cult on Osea.

Emily Watson as Mrs Martin really comes into her own this week, and her constant f-bombs effectively remind us that as odd as Osea is, we’re still firmly in Essex. We’re also properly introduced to the mysterious and really quite disturbing looking Old Man, played by Richard Bremmer (the flashback Voldemort in the first Harry Potter film, and you can see why they cast him, even if his face was hidden). On the whole this wraps up the first part of the story quite well, although the eventual outcome seems a little pat; certainly the mechanics of what the villagers have been up to seems to stretch credulity. I suspect going into this as a piece of straight, albeit weird, drama (as I did) is the wrong approach. Viewed as a folk-horror survival story it probably works much better, and the odd cliche and genre trope would seem less out of place. I certainly want to watch it again in one sitting to see if I pick up on anything I may have missed. I suspect there’s plenty of foreshadowing going on throughout and it’d be interesting to rewatch the scenes where Sam was supposedly trying to get the bribe paid, knowing what we now know.

If you’ve come this far it’s likely that you’re aware of what’s to come. Saturday 3rd October sees Autumn, a 12-hour live immersive experience from Osea, with many of the main cast taking part. Developed by the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, this was originally envisaged as a public event but obviously circumstances changed that (not only COVID, it was found that the causeway wouldn’t take the strain of so many visitors turning up at once). It’s been rejigged as a more low-key, socially distanced affair which will be continually streamed in one long take, something of a world first for drama. It’s been made clear that it’s not necessary to watch this to follow the rest of the series but it may be worth giving up some of your Saturday for.

Verdict: Predictable moments aside, a neat semi-resolution for what has been an engaging if head-scratching experience that may deserve a repeat viewing. 8/10

Andy Smith

 

“Autumn” will be broadcast on Sky Arts in the UK and streamed on HBO’s Facebook page, from 9.30am UK time (4.30am EST) on Saturday 3rd October