The Great Escape: Season 3 (2020)

The best one yet

Hats off to the Great Escape team. Another great season all around. The scale of the show is amazing, but it works because they got the best cast together. The episodes were so well balanced and varied that everyone got their moment. I especially liked that they developed the world of the show a lot, but it still remains a show that you can get straight into without seeing the prior seasons (they explain the context or provide enough of new plot, that you don't miss the past story).

The production and creativity for this season is a whole new level. Every time I get around to watching a new season of the Great Escape, I am in awe of how the production team is capable of coming up with new incredible sets and stories that the cast, and the viewers alike, get totally sucked into the episodes. This season especially, I would like to praise how the production team steps it up to developing abilities of the cast. They got to know them quite well in the past two seasons and are starting to use the advantage of their weaknesses (like English, for example) to make challenging concepts and riddles.

The cast also leveled up. When I think back on how they got stuck for hours in that small room in the first episode of the first season, I laugh out loud. Now they are like small bulldogs in turning the sets upside down when looking for clues, they developed a system of assigning certain people to certain types of riddles/tasks and work collectively so well. They are in fact, one giant brain at this point.

Once again, I would like to point out that my favourite thing about this cast is that they don't play heroes, or are mean to each other in scary situations. They really do work well together, congratulate each other on everything solved and when faced with a difficult situation, they find a solution (or who to send in first) after lengthy discussions and overall satisfaction of everyone included.

This season though, I would like to point out Yoo Byung Jae's involvement - damn, he's so smart and quick on his feet. I would not be surprised if in the next season they would keep him separately from the rest of the cast in one of the episodes, and everyone would just enjoy the mess that this would cause. But seriously, he is the soul of the team, the most trusted member and rightly so. He also makes perfect pair with Shin Dong - those two together can crack almost anything.

Strangely, this season, the brains are often joined by Kim Jong Min who had an excellent run. He randomly cracked difficult puzzles or discovered something incredible. He was simply at the right place at the right time this season. He was praised by others often and he was the centre of this season's funniest running jokes, including the ridiculous nicknames that he got. If you root him, like I do, you will not be disappointed this season.

As always, the heart of the team is Kang Ho Dong and rightfully so. He has this excellent quality of supporting his younger brothers, he roots for them and is always ready to take one for the team or to do the difficult stuff. Kim Dong Hyun is supposed to be the muscle of the team but he often panics in intense moments. My favourite moment of this season was when in the ghost episode he spotted the stray cat that randomly entered the set and he lost his marbles. PO is the sweet member, he always helps his hyungs and has good ideas.

This season also features spectacular plots and ideas. The introduction of the new plot line is very refreshing and the revisiting of the old ones is still highly entertaining. Even in the last two episodes, when they featured a repeated element and the cast was like "this again", they managed to make one of the highlights of the show - they were spectacular and highly emotional, the cast was in awe. This element (I am really trying no to spoil it here) also opens wide possibilities for the upcoming seasons.

The editing in season 3 is very swift, you don't feel the length of the episodes. This season has a nice tempo and is really playful. They often lead you to believe that the members will crack a puzzle and progress and it's a fail. This makes the show very entertaining and makes you feel for the cast, as well as builds a direct relationship with you, as you try to figure out the solution along with them.

A great season all around, I am so excited for the next. This series is exceptional, give it a go.

PS - I would very much like to thank the people who did the subtitles for this season, although I know that they won't read this. Such tricky translations, you guys rock!

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