The Cry episode 3 review ★★★★★
Questions are answered, tensions are raised, and emotions are strong - episode 3 of The Cry is the best one yet
Jenna Coleman in The Cry
After the shocking conclusion of last week’s episode, we demanded answers. Within the first five minutes of episode 3, we got them – and they’re even more horrific than we imagined. So continues The Cry, one of the most intense dramas the BBC has ever produced.
This whole episode is a process of painful enlightenment. Once the truth is unveiled, events are repeated from a completely different mind-set – making us sew the hidden pieces back together and comprehend the enormity of the situation.
As well as Joanna’s (Jenna Coleman) distress and its real reasons, Alistair (Ewen Leslie) morphs into his true self. There’s a scene when him and his ex-wife Alexandra (Asher Keddie) are in a car together, and she says: ‘you’re the world’s best liar. You always have been.’ We’re pushed into looking at things differently, and Alistair is on top of a long list.
It was hard to imagine how the series could be more taxing on the soul, but episode 3 is almost nauseating in its severity. Series writer Jacqueline Perske took a risk in placing the most harrowing scene right at the start, as the narrative shifts again to Joanna and Alistair stopping in their car near an approaching storm. The weight of what really happened that day leads Joanna to run straight towards a moving truck, directed with such emotional force by Glendyn Ivin.
Although the emotions don’t reach as high as the first five minutes, the tensions grow almost unbearable – especially as Alistair starts to lose control of the situation. There’s never a moment when you’re at ease, as if being strangled with grief for 60 minutes. Even more so as Joanna keeps zoning in and out, appearing somewhere and wondering where she is; enduring nightmares of fire and ash, and digging through the dirt of her dreams.
Episode 3 is like wading through heavy emotional snow, or clambering through an aggressive Hell. It’s understandable why people won’t want to put themselves through that viewing experience, especially parents – the characters creep and nest under your skin with their torture. We’re wondering how the fourth and final episode can top it, but we’re also dreading the answer.
This whole episode is a process of painful enlightenment. Once the truth is unveiled, events are repeated from a completely different mind-set – making us sew the hidden pieces back together and comprehend the enormity of the situation.
As well as Joanna’s (Jenna Coleman) distress and its real reasons, Alistair (Ewen Leslie) morphs into his true self. There’s a scene when him and his ex-wife Alexandra (Asher Keddie) are in a car together, and she says: ‘you’re the world’s best liar. You always have been.’ We’re pushed into looking at things differently, and Alistair is on top of a long list.
It was hard to imagine how the series could be more taxing on the soul, but episode 3 is almost nauseating in its severity. Series writer Jacqueline Perske took a risk in placing the most harrowing scene right at the start, as the narrative shifts again to Joanna and Alistair stopping in their car near an approaching storm. The weight of what really happened that day leads Joanna to run straight towards a moving truck, directed with such emotional force by Glendyn Ivin.
Although the emotions don’t reach as high as the first five minutes, the tensions grow almost unbearable – especially as Alistair starts to lose control of the situation. There’s never a moment when you’re at ease, as if being strangled with grief for 60 minutes. Even more so as Joanna keeps zoning in and out, appearing somewhere and wondering where she is; enduring nightmares of fire and ash, and digging through the dirt of her dreams.
Episode 3 is like wading through heavy emotional snow, or clambering through an aggressive Hell. It’s understandable why people won’t want to put themselves through that viewing experience, especially parents – the characters creep and nest under your skin with their torture. We’re wondering how the fourth and final episode can top it, but we’re also dreading the answer.
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| What | The Cry episode 3 review |
| When |
On 14 Oct 18, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM |
| Price | £n/a |
| Website |