Like any good thriller, “56 Days” hooks you in from the very first frame. Fade into foreboding music followed by an unknown intruder entering an apartment at night where no one is home. The intruder quickly sees what looks like a body in a bathtub filled with foul-smelling liquid. A few phone-camera clicks, a broken fire alarm, then police yellow tape indicating a crime scene with two hard-charging detectives arriving to investigate.
Adapted from the 2021 book by Irish author Catherine Ryan Howard, Prime Video’s eight-episode series shifts the setting from Dublin to Boston, dropping the book’s COVID-era malaise for the present, where the main characters are driven solely by half-truths, guilt and revenge.
Ciara (Dove Cameron) and Oliver (Avan Jogia) literally bump into each other at a mini-market, get coffee and enjoy a little get-to-know-each other witty banter before agreeing to meet for a date. Ciara works in tech while Oliver is an architect. An erotic, passionate relationship starts soon after that first date, and while both appear to be into each other, it’s evident that more is going on under the surface. Pretty soon, it’s obvious that both have secrets they would rather not share. Both are trying to escape from their past and make a better life. The question becomes how damaging are those secrets to their relationship and if there’s this much subterfuge, is it really a relationship at all? And what about the bathtub in the apartment? These and other questions are slowly answered throughout the series because, like the book, TV writers and producers Karyn Usher and Lisa Zwerling juxtapose between past and present, starting from the day Ciara and Oliver meet to the day of the murder, aka day 56. In doing so, the complexity of the couple, as well as those in their lives, is revealed like dangling a carrot.
Ciara’s mother (Jennifer Ferrin) and sister (Megan Peta Hill) are small beach town, working-class people with money problems since the husband/father left, while Oliver’s father is dead and his mom is uber-wealthy and emotionally unavailable. Oliver has mentors and family friends who seemingly look out for his welfare. Ciara has her hard-knock-earned wits and her sister.
Meanwhile, the detectives working the murder case have their problems too. Detective Carl Connelly (Dorian Missick) is a skilled policeman suffering from career burnout and his fairly recent divorce. International actress Karla Souza, who is probably best remembered in the US for her role in “How to Get Away With Murder,” plays detective Lee Reardon, whose stressful job and loneliness lead her to get involved with a suspect. Missick and Sousza play off each other well and have such great chemistry that one wishes they could report to HR and just begin a relationship.
Still, “56 Days” has a few blips of implausibility that can take the audience out of the suspense. Fifteen days after they meet, Oliver believes he has reason enough to invite Ciara to move in with him. He quickly reveals he has a hard time sleeping and uses a powerful intravenous sedative in front of her. Ciara uses number combinations that she’s made up in a notebook to try to break into his home safe and later one of his online bank accounts. Guess what? The numbers work! However, Oliver somehow never misses the money.
He has a therapist (Patch Darragh) who has been with him for years but acts more like a guardian and Oliver never questions him. A journalist (Kira Guloien) is heavy on his trail. Turns out she’s been stalking him, turning up in Boston hoping he will at last open up about his past and give her the career-making interview she’s been seeking. Yet she already has enough money to live in his high-priced apartment building and work out at his sleek gym. That’s a heck of an expense account! After Oliver, in frustration, bashes her car window and threatens her, she still shows up at a restaurant frequented by his boss, Raymond (Michael Gordin Shaw), in plain sight.
Look for a really good supporting performance by Jesse James Keitel as Raymond’s frustrated wife, Alison. She takes a smaller role and livens it by giving Alison a lot of sass. Some may remember Keitel as Jerrie Kennedy on “Big Sky.” or as Dr. Aspen on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”
Overall, for a twisty thriller, “56 Days,” is quite entertaining. The lead actors are solid. Cameron and Jogia nail Cira and Oliver’s neurosis and vulnerability while never imbuing them with too good or too bad traits, just as two imperfect people trying to find a way to survive and love.
“56 Days” premieres Wednesday on Prime Video.