Better late than never (it’s already had four seasons), recently I took out a four month free trial of Youtube Premium (after buying a Samsung tablet) and have started watching Escape the Night with it.
In it, Youtube Personality Joey Graceffa invites twelve other Youtube Personalities to his newly bequeathed estate for a period costume dinner party. But oh no! The house is supernatural and evil! And to escape they must work together to solve escape room style puzzles and challenges, each episode (usually) ending with one of them, voted into a head-to-head challenge, dying in a ghastly fashion.
I’m eight episodes in. As a format it’s no great shakes (although with some tweaks it could be). Each episode is based around effectively a monster-of-the-week scenario. The first two-thirds of each 24 minute episode is Youtube Personalities emoting their way through some puzzles which ultimately have little consequence other than pushing the narrative along. The final bit of each episode usually consists of a vote for two people to go into a head to head challenge, again of the puzzly variety, only for one to return (with an artifact, or freeing a spirit or whatever). Vote mechanism is mildly interesting – everyone votes for someone then two bits of paper are drawn at random to determine the losers.
Taken as a straight gameshow it’s a bit disappointing. However viewed as a Korean-style variety show (Bother’s Bar’s favourite comparison guide) it’s rather more successful – it doesn’t really matter who wins, it’s mainly about your favourite Youtube Personalities emoting through challenges written with slightly too many instructions (and, in a slightly ridiculous manner, real life confessional cutaways based on effectively fictional situations). As a yarn, it works – the house is a bit of a star with many mysteries and secrets to uncover and so seeing what happens next is compelling. The host’s campness does quite a good job of cutting through some of the pomposity of the writing and (variable) acting. Basically if you quite enjoyed Whodunnit? despite its rather glaring format flaws, or you quite like Busted on Netflix but wishes it wasn’t 90 minutes an episode, this is worth a look.
And it seems like seasons 1-3 are free to watch at time of writing, so fill your boots.
I hate the format personally, there’s a nasty twist at the end of episode 9 that makes the question of who is the traitor pointless (don’t focus on it, it dosent matter, it’s quite worse compared to whodunnit. Though they don’t pull this again in later seasons.) I hate how it changes up the elimination elements sometimes without warning. And the finale is well (Gameplay spoilers: one team all or nothing main puzzle task against the clock. For this season.) a wet fart honestly. I honestly didn’t care about the youtubers, they were obnoxious. What are the tweaks you mention brig?
The traitor has never mattered, because like I said, the challenges are largely consequenceless. Similarly who the ‘winners’ are doesn’t really matter, it’s at no point the focal point of the show.
It’s a pulpy novel made real, scripted unscripted – things have to happen to move the story on so Joey or the staff will push people in the right direction to make The Next Thing happen, it’s a game show in the sense that any could die so they might as well try and stay in the show as long as possible, but who dies and who survives is largely irrelevant to the story they’re trying to tell, featuring YouTubers Doing Stuff. And in that capacity it works.
If they wanted to make it a ‘proper’ game, they need Joey as a ‘proper’ host, the challenges have to influence who gets put up for the vote and therefore need to be genuinely pass or failable therefore earning the win and a prize. But in turning it into a ‘proper’ competition, you’d change the feel completely. The nearest equivalent would probably be any of the Raven spin-offs from about ten years ago.
Starting in season 4, they add a rule where every time a contestant got caught by one of the monsters/fail a puzzle, they add one vote against them as penalty when it came to the elimination. so there’s that. Yes, joey can die in gameplay, but that really hasn’t happened yet. He also doesnt know the solutions to the puzzles, so he’s only a host on “Technicality”. I hope you contuine binging the show…. wanna hear your though’ts on the other seasons. (For non prenium users, Only the first episodes of each season are free, so therese that.)
I absolutely intend to!
How ‘on the level’ was the game aspect of this? Looks like only the first episodes of each season are free, so only saw the first ep of seasons 1 and 4, and, I dunno, it felt kinda too scripted to enjoy as a game. Plus the actual game elements felt either too coincidental, or too glossed over.
The head to head challenges seem on the level (although in the two episodes Joey has been sent in, they have the opportunity to have someone else killed), the rest of it is, as suggested, largely consequenceless – some people might disappear for a bit but they usually return for the next segment.
What I will say halfway through season two is that people looking for things in rooms doesn’t make for great telly – I’m hoping there are some interesting mechanisms to come rather than Do A Thing And A Draw Opens, and also the gameplay delivery in season two comes across a bit weird, with Monsters Of The Week delivering game rules like they were reading an instruction manual rather than otherworldly beings caught up in a malevolent house. The tasks are alright though.
season 2 i feel like they were going for a Trapped! vibe (especially the ever after vibe. “This is not a fairy tale… or is it?”) My review for the first season: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3603135/?ref_=tt_urvlooking back, i was a bit too harsh on the show, probably because i was comparing it to whodunnit way to much. (although you cant blame me, the show presented itself as a murder mystery for season 1, when it really it was a fantasy based competition/ showcase of internet personalities.) my problem with the show is the lack of any consequence for the main puzzle other than you can go onto the vote. Then again, thats not really the point of the show, anint it? If its really to show off the youtuber’s and how they react to the stuff thrown to them as if were actually happening and and that point i question why have the elimination mechancas at all other than “Drama” and “Stakes”. (Say what you want about busted, It didn’t have elimination mechanics and for that i really respect that.) and what is the point of the era specific titles other than what the wear? They are playing pretty much fictionalized version’s of themselves. Yeah, i have some beef with this show.