So it’s Day Three in the investigation and the abduction case is still top priority for the South Hertfordshire police and the national press, which is positively foaming at the mouth. That will no doubt change in interesting ways when we skip ahead nearly a month for “Episode Three,” but for now, there’s a sense of urgency pressing at everyone involved, though not necessarily to the benefit of those looking to crack the case. While it continues to unfold patiently—perhaps a bit too patiently, really—this episode of Five Days is all about pressure and the myriad (and often self-destructive ways) that people respond to it.
One of my favorite Humphrey Bogart movies, Nicholas Ray’s In A Lonely Place, finds Bogey playing a screenwriter accused of murdering a hat-check girl who he’d been seen with earlier in the evening. His lovely neighbor presents herself as an alibi and the two embark on a romantic relationship. Over the course of the film, she discovers that he has an extraordinary temper and his tirades eventually frighten her to such a degree that it ceases to matter whether or not Bogey killed the hat-check girl. Guilty or no, she doesn’t trust him and can’t abide being with him anymore.
To me, that’s what’s happening with Matt (David Oyelowo), the moody, ill-tempered husband and father to the missing persons. He knows full well that everyone looks to the husband in cases like these, and that he not only has to worry about getting his family back, but succeeding in the court of public opinion as well. Nevertheless, he refuses to participate in the dog-and-pony show; he can’t play the role of the tearful husband pleading for his wife’s return, because for whatever reason it feels false to him. When he finally agrees to participate in a press conference, the results are disastrous: One insensitive question from a reporter (“Was your wife pregnant when she disappeared?”) and he storms out before reading a word of his prepared statement. On two more occasions, Matt lashes out violently: Once at the well-meaning people leaving flowers on the site of his wife’s abduction (his not-unreasonable argument being “she’s not dead”), and later when a man from the pound stops by to check on the family dog and attacks the poor guy in full view of the press. While certain revelations in the episode would seem to exonerate him from any involvement in the kidnapping, he’s a lot like Bogey in In A Lonely Place, guilty no matter where the truth lies.
The good news for everyone is that both children (and the dog) have been found, so now only Leanne is missing. The boy, Ethan, was the first and his discovery ended the first episode with a hell of a kick, and introduced bystander Sarah (Sarah Smart), who up to that point had no discernable purpose at all. Now, she’s one of the most fascinating characters on the show, a sympathetic gadfly who continues involving herself in the case even though she’s not of practical use to anybody. She does has a nice connection to Ethan, who’s very shy and still clearly traumatized, but her motivations for sticking around are not entirely known yet. Does she believe she can help? Is there something ultimately destructive about her attempts to get closer to Matt? The fact that such a tangential character, with no connection to the police or the family outside her dumb fortune in stumbling upon Ethan, could be a major player in this show is definitely intriguing.