The Day (De Dag) is a Flemish thriller on Walter Presents USA about a pair of criminals who take hostages during a local bank heist. Each of the 12 episodes alternates between the cops, including the hostage negotiators, and the criminals, including the hostages. What initially seems like a straight-forward ransom request is revealed to be a much cleverer plot. The Day excels in how it spools out information to the viewer, by starting with the point of view of the cops, who are as in the dark as we are. Then in the next episode, we rewind events and see them from the point of view of the criminals. Despite excellent writing, flawless performances, and high stakes, this structure can start to drag a bit in the middle. However, it does lend itself to richer viewing, and further invests the audience in the outcome for many characters. Also, the cliffhangers are killer, and the twists are gasp inducing.
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The Cops
High ranking hostage negotiator “Vos” de Vos (Sofie Decleir) is three weeks from leaving the job and moving over to CID, which leads criminal investigations for the federal police, when the call comes in. Her partner, Roeland Wagemans (Willy Thomas), is recovering from an earlier tragedy on the job, so he is taking a support position as Vos trains new guy Ibrahim El Ghazoui (Lukas De Wolf), who calls himself “Bram” to hide his ethnicity from criminals. Ibrahim is nervous, and makes some errors during training, but is thrown into the fire when the call comes in from the bank. The negotiating team works with CID, led by Arne Michiels (Jeroen Perceval), who has a friendly banter with Vos. Heading the entire operation is Ivo De Rouck (Johan Van Assche), a very experienced and competent leader.
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The Robbers (and hostages)
I don’t want to say too much about the criminals, led by Belgian star Titus De Voogdt, because of spoilers, but suffice it to say that they are very organized and have a clever plan, but aren’t as in control as they’d like to be. As for the hostages, only bank personnel were supposed to be captives, but 3 random people get caught in the shuffle. They are bratty teen Noor Hawal (Imani De Caestecker) and her 6-year-old half-brother Basil (Per Janssens), who Noor tries to convince that this is all just a game; and Freya Van Landschoot (Maaike Neuville), adult daughter of powerful industrialist Rolf Van Landschoot (Serge-Henri Valcke), who makes life difficult for the cops. Each hostage gets a little bit of back story to keep it interesting.
Our Take on The Day
The Day is a top-notch series. The characters are realistic, and the tone is tense without ever being melodramatic. My only complaint is the length. They could have shaved 2 or 4 episodes off, and if it got made today, just 6 years later, it would probably clock in at 8 episodes. The writing is outstanding, dropping information long before it’s needed so it never seems like a “set ‘em up, knock ‘em down” red herring kind of structure. Twists and hidden motives are also revealed at just the right time, too. And despite the frustration of going from a cliffhanger in one episode BACK TO THE BEGINNING in the next episode, the show is good enough that you get sucked into that point of view, too. If you want a high quality, nerve-jangling series, The Day is for you.
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