In a rather busy week for the Indian entertainment industry (there were two major film releases, one returning web series, and one new one), Escaype Live promised more novelty than all its ‘competitors’. The star-studded web series focuses on the perils of social media and what happens when content creators cross all boundaries to ‘win’. But alas, the show is unable to deal with such relatable and poignant concept smartly. In the end, despite some good performances and a promising storyline, the show ends up being guilty of trying too hard and achieving too little. Also read: Escaype Live trailer: Siddharth, Jaaved Jaaferi-starrer web series brings forth the dark side of social media. WatchThe premise of Escaype Live is quite simple. A Chinese video-sharing app has come to India (remember TikTok?) and has started a competition for all its users. Whoever gets the most ‘diamonds’ (a kind of super like) on their videos in a month wins ₹3 crore. The story features a bunch of content creators, with different paths but one goal – to produce viral content to emerge victorious in the life-changing competition. Then the story follows how these diverse creators–ranging from an 11-year-old in Rajasthan to a prankster in Delhi, and a parkour artiste in Mumbai–risk their lives, health, and sanity just to win.Escaype Live Season 1 Download
Seven of the show’s nine episodes began streaming on May 20 on Disney+ Hotstar and this review is based on those. There is hope that a good finale salvages the show, which had begun to lag severely by the seventh episode. But based on how the show has progressed so far, it looks unlikely. The two remaining episodes are supposed to release ‘soon’ and we will only see how the entirety of the show (or season) turns out once they release.