#etn3 spoilers

[clarislam]

Escape The Night: Overall Thoughts On All Seasons So Far!!!

Now that Season 4 is over, I think it’s about time I compare all four seasons! 

Please note that this is all my own opinion. If yours differs from mine, that is completely fine. Throwing it all below the cut due to it being a very long post!

Best Era Overall: Season 3.

Season 3 really went all 1970s with the clothing, the town’s aesthetic, etc. I also think the villains really fit in with the Era, too (combining a carnival with 1970s town really worked for them), and I’ll elaborate on that in the best minor villains section. 

Best Location Overall: Season 3.

I do think Season 3 was a really nice change from Seasons 1 and 2 which were giant mansions (they were both very different giant mansions, but still giant mansions) because Season 3 had a whole town. Season 4′s Museum idea is also very creative, and I love the uniqueness of each exhibit, but I still think Season 3 overall had the best edge. 

However, size of the location is not the sole reason why it won this category. I also just think they used the location to its full advantage the best in Season 3. Not only did they use all the different buildings, but they even utilized places like churches and graveyards, and even the sketchy warehouses and carnival attractions like the Ferris Wheel (and I loved that Ferris Wheel!). They worked with the two mansions of Seasons 1 and 2 very well (Season 2 did better here), and though Season 4′s museum was creative, I felt like the whole layout could have been used more than in just the season finale.

Best Main Music Theme Overall: Season 3.

The version of “Sympathy For The Devil” that Season 3 used went perfectly with that season’s edginess, the era, and was absolutely chilling. It went so, so well with Season 3 that I had to give this one the best theme, hands-down. I do think all the other seasons have decent themes for each of their seasons, but none of them fit as seamlessly well as Season 3 did. 

Best Music in General Overall: Seasons 2 and 3!

Yup, they get a tie here. The music for both seasons fit very thematically well with their respective seasons and what was going within those seasons. Seasons 1 and 4 were also decent, but not as good as 2 and 3 for me. 

Best Guests Overall: Seasons 2 and 3.

Season 2 had a lot more comedy and the alliances were awesome, but I also loved the drama of Season 3 and the tight-knit friendships (especially Matpat and Rosanna). For this reason, I give these two a tie.

Best Outfits Overall: Seasons 2 and 3!

The outfits in Seasons 2 and 3 were phenomenal! I think all the outfits from every season were really good, but I just think Seasons 2 and 3 had the best ones out of the lot.

Best Major Villain (The Season’s Big Bad) Overall: The Sorceress, from Season 2. 

I think this is because she was a villain that had a lot of direct communication with the guests. Not that Arthur of Season 1 didn’t (he also doubled as the Helper in the same season), but he also simultaneously concealed the fact that he was the villain up until Season 1 and many of us saw the twist of him being a villain far before then so it wasn’t as effective. Out of all the main villains, the Sorceress is the one villain that directly communicates with the guests the most during their debut season where she’s featured as the big bad (Season 4 was different due to her mostly being a Helper); Episodes 3, 5, and of course 10 (every main villain confronts the guests in Episode 10). 

Comparing the Sorceress with the other Big Bads across the seasons, even the Collector of Season 4 only had some direct interaction with the guests in Episodes 9 and 10 of her season (not counting Episode 1 because that was with Liza, who wasn’t competing this season but had a featured guest role), while the Carnival Master also only had two episodes (Episodes 9 and 10) where he directly addresses the guests in Season 3. 

Also note that the Sorceress also successfully killed Joey during her debut season—she’s literally the only villain that succeeded in killing him, which is a surprise given how Joey usually is a survivor every season otherwise. I’m really glad they brought her back for Season 4 as a Helper of sorts, because the new dynamics she shares with the guests, as a former villain, is pretty fun to watch (other than the way-too-obvious betrayal that I ranted about in my Season 4, Episode 9 reaction post).

Best Minor Villains (Lieutenants/Artifact Guardians/Key Keepers) Overall: Season 3.

Season 1 had a good concept of all the backstory of how the Cursed Artifacts got hidden away, as well as the owners of the house, but in terms of actual LIeutenants/Artifact Guardians/Key Keepers, I think Season 3 had the most riveting, interesting ones. Season 2 was very fantastical, and I loved that aspect, but Season 3′s minor villains felt more thematically connected with its era. It helps that most of the Artifact Guardians were connected to Everlock in some form initially, before the Carnival Master went and corrupted them all to do his bidding and wreak havoc on the town. Season 4′s Key Keepers and Minor Villains were pretty good, too, but I think Season 3 did a bit better here overall.

Best Helper(s) Overall: Calliope and Mortimer from Season 3. 

Calliope and Mortimer win for me because 1. They had a good developing storyline together that fed into the main plot more and 2. The banter and chemistry they had together just worked really, really well. Also, 3. They had more time spent together overall, which probably helped with 1 and 2 to begin with. Extra points to Calliope for attempting to beat up Lucy at the beginning of Episode 9!

The Sorceress and Mortimer as a pair from Season 4 had a good chance of winning this, but that pair got broken up pretty soon by Episode 6 of their Season, as opposed to Calliope and Mortimer both dying in Episode 9 of Season 3. Also, they didn’t have the same sort of acting chemistry like Calliope and Mortimer had that meshed them so well as partners.

Best Deaths Overall: Season 3.

Season 2 was very close to having the best deaths (with hearts ripped out and betrayals going on), but Season 3 was a bit more creative overall (especially from Episode 5 onwards) in my opinion, which gave it the win. Season 1 was fine, but it wasn’t as creative as Seasons 2 and 3 for me (though Season 1 does have more realistic deaths, I’ll give it that), and Season 4′s actual deaths, though shocking at the beginning, felt a bit lackluster for me from Episode 5 onwards.

Best Storyline Within A Season Overall: Seasons 1 and 3.

I know we have the overarching storyline that connects all the Seasons, but if we look at the individual storylines per season, I argue that Seasons 1 and 3 had the best individual storylines. Season 1 could easily be a standalone story as is. Season 3 was also pretty good standing on its own because the only thing you really need to know is Joey dying from Season 2, and they touch on that immediately in the Season 3 premiere to connect it with Season 3′s main story. Season 4′s storyline relies on knowing the past three seasons well due to it being an All-Stars Season, and Season 2, though also fine as is, wasn’t as strong as Season 1 and 3 for me except for the finale.

Most Shocking Death Per Season  (because an overall is impossible for me):

Season 1: Sierra. I didn’t think she was going to go out the way she did, and it was purely by unfortunate circumstance that Matt didn’t read the note all the way through. I believe he genuinely regretted her death, and so I actually felt bad for him during the episode after her, even if it led to him not helping much and hence his death.

Season 2: Liza. Yes, she lost the death challenge, but I really thought they were going for a no-death that episode when I watched it. I was very wrong. 

Season 3: SAFIYA NYGAARD, THE MOST SHOCKING DEATH OF ALL DEATHS I’VE WATCHED SO FAR. I admit I’m still slightly salty over that Plot Twist. Had it been a fair challenge, I’m almost sure that she wouldn’t be dead until Episode 8 or 9 at earliest, or end up surviving the season.

Season 4: DeStorm. I didn’t expect him to die in Episode 4 of Season 4, especially given how he already died in Episode 4 of Season 2. It did lead to some interesting development on his part, though, becoming more of a team player by topping it with a Heroic Sacrifice.

Favourite Episode Per Season (because an overall is impossible for me):

Season 1: Episode 9, Wicked Hallucinations. For those that read my Escape The Night fanfics, you all know I love Vincent Wells. Also, his reveal to the group that Arthur is the big bad AND the fact that Vincent was the one that warned them back in Episode 2 with the note (it was an inkblot card!) was pretty clever. (Okay, maybe the reveal that the staff was evil was obvious to a lot of viewers at the time, but I still loved how that part of the episode was filmed).

Season 2: Episode 5, The Gingerbread Woman. Not only did we have all the sweets and the rescuing of children, but there were some good comedic highlights in this episode and the twist of Liza’s death actually happening was pretty shocking (despite the initial thought that maybe it would be a no-death episode when Sampson helped Tyler and Liza defeat the Gingerbread Woman). 

Season 3: A tie between Episode 6, Twin Dolls, and Episode 7, Funhouse. Though I do think Episode 5 is the funniest out of all the episodes that season, I think the most entertaining overall were Episodes 6 and 7. Episode 6 really brought on the horror (as well as the drama of Colleen’s death), and Episode 7 was very twisty with Matpat’s revival and what most of the fandom calls the Stupid Plot Twist (a.k.a. Safiya’s death). Yes, it was probably an unfair plot twist, but it definitely added an effect to that episode to be entertaining and kept me on my toes.

Season 4: Episode 2, The Museum of Death: Part 2. It’s odd that I think this is the most entertaining episode of the season (as you can see from the previous examples, I often liked the mid-season or later ones), but I think it’s just the fact that we have all the guests from past seasons together here, as well as the twist of the death challenge, that helped push this into the most favourite episode of this season for me. Also, props to Tana for trying to save Justine and refusing to command the Mummy to kill her when she lost!

Least Favourite Episode Per Season:

Season 1: Episode 7, Mermaid Tails. It wasn’t absolutely horrible, but though Matt didn’t contribute much this episode given his accidentally-causing Sierra’s death in Episode 6, I still felt bad that everyone instantly ganged-up on him.

Season 2: Episode 4, A Nation Divided. I liked the team challenge, but DeStorm and Alex’s drama kind of overshadowed it for me. 

Season 3: Episode 3, Venomous Affections. I felt that the Snake Woman could have been utilized more than just poisoning two people prior to the death challenge. That’s the main reason I didn’t enjoy it so much.

Season 4: Episode 9, Prehistoric Evil. This is easily my least favourite episode out of the entire show so far, due to the plot-twist of the Sorceress betraying the group being way too obvious, as well as how the lead-up to Rosanna Pansino’s death developed. I ranted about it enough in my reaction post to Episode 9, so read there for more details if you’d like.

Best Finale Overall: Season 3. 

Season 4 felt a bit lackluster despite having the giant throwback to many of the monsters from the first three seasons (though it does help set up for Season 5), and though Season 2 was close to winning this category due to the shock of Joey’s death happening, Season 3 gave me a bit of an edge overall because who wouldn’t be shocked by Liza randomly showing up in the Crystal and asking for help!?

Best Season Overall: Season 3!!!!!

Just looking through all the other categories before this one, I think it’s fair to say I enjoyed Season 3 the most. The change of location as well as how they utilized it, the amazing cast and minor villains, the music, etc. just really helped me enjoy watching that season overall. It’s the one season I find myself wanting to watch all over again out of all of them, too.

Which season did you enjoy the best, and why? Feel free to let me know!

[escapethenightcrack]

The saddest death from each season

[hotgirltrope]

ETN S3 Ep. 1 Summary

[watchwithme]

.... I cheated

So ... first off ... this one is gonna be spoilers galore for anyone who still hasn’t watched Escape the Night season 3.

Rosanna fully sums up my reaction after watching all the way to episode 5.

I was absolutely NOT PREPARED for Matthew’s death. 

I had somehow convinced myself that he was gonna make it through a strength challenge (yeah right) and was honestly devastated when he was killed. Up until that point, those who had been killed felt pretty justified to me (absolute irony of the second ep’s death challenge included). 

So, I cheated. I looked up in the wikipedia who was gonna win for season three. My poor little heart couldn’t take getting attached to someone else who may or may not die later on. And of course, at that point I found out Matpat is revived. 

As relieved as I was I do really regret it. Knowing how surprised and relieved I was to learn that someone in the show was not only being brought back, but it was also a person I rooted for ... It would have been way more fun/impactful if I didn’t see it coming (when I get to that ep). 

[luckbandit]

Dead Man Slims

Summary: where exactly did the guests go when they died? (Sorry, this is long)

***

JC didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the bar. In fact, he didn’t even know how he got there in the first place. He was dead, wasn’t he? The Hippie moved his hand to the side of his chest and felt his own cold blood bleed through his shirt and jacket. But he felt no pain, and when he checked, no pulse. It was true, then. That crazy clown lady actually stabbed him to death. But if JC is dead, how is he here? And what exactly is “here”?

It was then when the Hippie decided to look around. “Here” was apparently a bar. With a place for the bartender and tables and chairs scattered around the place. It looked like any normal bar except for one detail. It was empty. JC was the only living thing in the place. As he walked further in, he spotted the middle table, a big circular one with eight cushioned chairs surrounding it.

‘For eight guests’, JC realized. He approached the table and sat down. He leaned back and looked around the room.

“Alright”, the Hippie said to himself out loud, “I could get used to this. Could use a drink though.”

Just as requested, I bottle of beer appeared on the table in front of him. JC took a sip and smiled. Now he waits.

***

Roi was the next one to stumble in, and unfortunately the JC was not that surprised. The Daredevil wasn’t exactly the most useful to the group, so it was only a matter of time. Roi looked around in confusion before landing his eyes on the Hippie.

“JC?”, he asked in confusion, “How are you-? Where are-? Am I dead?!”

“Apparently so if you’re here”, JC replied nonchalantly. He gestured for Roi to come sit next him. The Daredevil obliged and JC offered him a bottle of beer, which he took hesitantly. Roi took a big sip and continued with the questions.

“So where are we?”

“Honestly, I think we’re in Limbo.”

“Limbo?! Then how do we get out of here?!”

“My guess is that in order to leave, our friends have to defeat the Carnival Master”

“And if they don’t?”

“I-“, JC paused, “I don’t know”

The two dead sat in silence for awhile, then the Hippie noticed two puncture wounds on his friend’s neck with black veins spreading down from it.

“Is- is that a snake bite?”, he asked Roi. The Daredevil’s hand immediately went to his wound.

“Oh. Yeah, it is”, he replied, now trailing the black veins with his fingers, “I guess I should probably catch you up on what you missed, huh?”

JC took a long sip from his drink, “That would be great”

***

The Super Spy walked in next (once again, to no one’s surprise) with bruises all around her neck and green veins all around her face from the poisonous gas. Roi couldn’t help but stare.

“Yeesh, what happened to you?”, he asked.

Teala gave him an unreadable expression as she approached the table, “Do you want the short story or the long one?”

JC tossed her a bottle, “Long please”

Teala caught it with a little smile and sat down, immediately going into her tale. The Super Spy didn’t even ask where she was. It was pretty obvious by now.

***

Doors opened once again and the person who came through was not who they were expecting.

“Matt?!?!”, the trio gasped. The Detective was probably the last person they expected to come here, especially this early. Matt looked at the three and sighed, “I’m dead, aren’t I?”. He was bleeding from his stomach and the side of his head, with bruises along his neck like Teala. The Detective sat down without a word, and told them what they haven’t been alive to witness.

When he finished, Matt looked at the Hippie.

“JC, I am so sorry”

“No worries, it’s fine”

“It’s not fine! You’re dead because I wasn’t fast enough!”

“It’s not your fault that Safiya is a big risk taker. Oh, and I’m not mad that you voted for me either”

“...How did you know that?”

JC chuckled, “I didn’t”

***

By the time Colleen came, it was routine. The latest dead would catch up the others of what happened, and maybe share a drink or two. But the others couldn’t help but cringe at all the holes in the Disco Dancer that were made when the living guests shoved her into the Maiden of Madness. Harshest death by far.

After Colleen finished her recap, the group suddenly heard the sound of a harp.

“What was that?”, Teala asked

“Must be the harp of Lazarus”, JC realized, “Colleen did say that they found the second coin”

Roi suddenly gasped and pointed at Matt, “Guys, look!”

They followed the Daredevil’s gaze, and were shocked as well. The Detective’s wounds were healing themselves! The blood started to clot itself up while the bruises on his neck faded. Another sound of the harp and Matt looked at his hands, only to find that he was fading too! But while his friends were scared and freaking out, Matt was calm, relieved even.

“I knew it”, he muttered, loud enough for the others to hear.

“Knew what?!”, Colleen demanded, but it was too late. Because with another sound of the harp, Matt was gone.

***

“So you’re saying that the Lazarus harp had the power to bring one of us back from the dead and you chose Matt?”, Colleen tried to summarize.

Safiya nodded, “Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying”. The Investigative Reporter was another big surprise. She was another strong player, so to see her here left everyone a bit shocked. Sitting in Matt’s old seat, Safiya looked at where Willie stabbed her and said, “That was unfair. I thought I was gonna last longer, maybe even survive”

“We all did”, was Teala’s response, and honestly, the Super Spy spoke for all of them.

***

Ro was always an emotional person. So when she walked in to find all her dead friends sitting there, the Jet Setter couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“I’m sorry”, she choked out”, I’m so so sorry. I- I didn’t want any of this to happen! I-“, she got cut off by a sudden group hug from the others.

“Ro, it’s ok”, Safiya said.

“Yeah, none of this was your fault”, Colleen added.

“You were a fighter, and you still are”, Teala said.

“So don’t drag yourself down just because of something you couldn’t control”, Roi advised.

Ro smiled through her tears and JC patted her back, “Come on”, he said, “Let’s go sit down” they pulled away, and the Jet Setter joined them at the table, trying to get used to the fact that she’s dead, and that the stab wounds the witches gave her will never go away.

***

The entrance to the bar swung open for one last time, revealing one very confused Record Producer.

“The hell?!”, Manny said upon seeing his six dead friends in front of him.

“Hey, Manny!”, Colleen called, “Come join the party!”

Manny hesitantly went over to the table and sat down, “Have you guys been here the entire time?” When Ro nodded, his jaw dropped, “Why didn’t Matt tell us?!”

Safiya shrugged and and Roi asked, “So...status update?”

[quintennyson]

anyway matt’s got such a big history of theatre i want him to be the one that’s corrupted by the evil bc honestly?? he’d play it so well and they could do so much subtle hints!! like how mad matt got in this episode?? could be part of the corruption?? like he got corrupted when he died??

[somewhatm-azing]

ETN S3 ep 5-8

Hey buddies I’m back and I just binge watched 4 episodes of Escape The Night and honeys the TEA!! Let’s just dive right in because these last episodes have been INSANE.

This might be in random order so sorry:

Also SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Joey and Colleen So after Joey reveals (some) of his past Colleen gets really angry and honestly I agree with her. If I had been in her place I would have been furious and I don’t think that her anger warranted her death which was surprising but very Justine-like in nature.

2. MatPat and Ro. I was devastated and shocked that he died so early on in the series. I also knew that the Lazarus box would likely lead to a resurrection because of the name Lazarus (it’s a bible story if you don’t know.) but I don’t know how y’all survived a week without knowing who they were going to bring back! Now with him and Ro together for two more episodes was wonderful but I cried when she was just vomiting and then was about to die and their last conversation was absolutely heartbreaking and was just hard to watch.

3. Mortimer/Corruption. This makes me nervous to be honest y’all. I think it is absolutely important and Mat is smart to remember it and be wary of the possibility of betrayal. I think it will probably be relevant to the finale if I were to guess so I guess we’ll just have to wait for that.

4. Altered Deaths. I don’t know about y’all but these death twists have SNATCHED like Colleen’s death totally got me like that was brutal and unexpected. The CRAZIEST so far is for sure Safiya’s death like I was sure Manny was going to die after Nikita beat him and the fact that it was a 50/50 shot between Safiya and Ro based on their random choice and Safiya’s death was tough and I think started some drama between Mat and Nikita that will last.

5. Next Death. Based on my memory from the trailers I think that, unfortunately, Manny will be next because of that shot with Joey, Mat, and Nikita running out of the gates.

Those are my overall thoughts but if y’all want to message me to talk about it in more detail please don’t hesitate because this series fascinates me!!

[hotgirltrope]

Tag yourself: I’m the person standing at the kitchen casually making a sandwich as all this chaos occurs.

Joining the Escape the Night fandom halfway through a season:

[crazygreatwords]

Reminder

Fandom: Escape The Night Warnings: characters death mentioned (this is an ETN fic, what did you expect), description of dead bodies (not in too much detail but still) AN: ETN3, spoiler up to episode 5, actual characters au so actual deaths too. Characters: all of them but no one in particular Summary: every time they get out of the arcade they face a grim reminder.

[watchwithme]

Escape the Night Season 3 - Intitial thoughts

So I have a lot of hope for season three. The casting is so exciting, this time with a fair few content creators I was familiar with and even follow, like Matpat and Safiya.

Colleen was surprising. I only know her from that alter ego she got famous for but she is super intense as a person too, just not in a comedic way. She is clearly not here to play. I can totally see her becoming the “bad guy” later on.

Rosanna Pansino will be interesting to watch. She’s so .... soft. I don’t think that the show has had a personality like hers, so it’ll be interesting to see how she interacts with the others and the story.

Like, look at her. If I was in a life or death situation with her, I’d take one look at those doe eyes and probably offer to kill myself to save her.

[hotgirltrope]

*opens mouth to object*

*realizes I agree and that I’m shipping trash*

*slowly nods in agreement*

[watchwithme]

(I didn’t mention it in the last ETN post, but I totally called that Colleen would be a controversy starter)

I have finished Escape the Night Season 3! After, I’m left blown away but the absolute production quality of the show. Obviously one thing Joey and the director love to do is add more monsters and fight scenes each season- and don’t get me wrong, those are cool- it’s the fact that they had this whole makeshift town built and outfitted for this season. By the end of the season, every building was open to the characters to enter and use as they needed for the challenges, which means they put in a lot of effort to making them as real as possible. 

I remember being really impressed with the camera work of the first two seasons, because working in a defined environment (like a pre-built, actually owned by somebody house) can be really difficult normally, doubly so with unscripted characters and movement. I can image the relief at being able to build something that would lend functionality to the cameras. 

Promise, I’m done geeking about production. Of course, I’m happy but unsurprised at the winners.  This season had a really good build up of tension. I definitely felt that they saved the better, scarier villains and situations for the ending episodes (the fun house was wildly entertaining). 

I’m actually pretty conflicted about the ending though. I thought it was cool that they were able to bring back members of the society against evil (horrible name though) to help them fight, but the actual defeat of the main villain was the most anti-climatic one yet. I DID enjoy the foreshadowing for season four. I was curious how they were going to pull off another “night of death” (you’d think the Youtube community would of figured out by now that hanging with Joey = death). I really like the idea of Joey going back to try and save people who have died. Obviously Liza comes back which is A++

Right now, I’m not sure when I’ll get to watch season four. I don’t currently have Youtube Red but have been considering it for awhile ... 

[hotgirltrope]

Nikita: *Literally shoots and kills her own best friend during a challenge*

Matt:

Everyone watching: Matthew, this is not the time to say that oH MY GOD-

[quintennyson]

Anyway gabbies coming back so celebrate by streaming or buying her new song Honestly

[quintennyson]

Ok sure the carnival master killed calliope but like,,,, how did her hand get to the 1920s? What's her connection to the house and the spirit board? Is there a connection or is calliopes hand just a magical enough hand to make it work?? I need more calliope backstory

[quintennyson]

the real question is: when matt gets revived is he gonna come back in his cute lil booty shorts or the normal detective getup