I'm hoping people give this episode a second watch, as while it's not packed with foreshadowing, there are some nice little details that tee up the ending. Margaret's "Well, you know what I think"; the fact that Catherine is staring at other characters when they get answers wrong; and the fact that the wrong answers they get are weird in themselves. I think my favourite subtle one is Shindu's wrong answer. She's introduced as a software engineer, but her answer to the cube root of 64 is 7. If anyone was going to get a question like that right, it would be a software engineer. In the wide shot, you can see Catherine staring at Shindu before this, which leads me to think that she put the wrong answer in her head (as she does later with David Jason).
Loved this episode and it TOTALLY holds up to rewatching. There's so much in the dialogue (misdirection, foreshadowing, words that stick out as relevant once you know the plot) and backstory. Dedicated production and the acting too is exemplary, from the naturalistic Lee Mack and the normal contestants to the character performances from the Oakwoods. As a reviewer called (I think) Threepennyguignol said, "the episode plays on the sedative quality of daytime television" and the hints are so subtle they're easy to miss first time but surprisingly plentiful. I also found it quite funny, particularly the David Jason references and Fur Q. Margaret's last line is amazing.
Exactly! I keep telling people that this is one to rewatch, because it's not just a last minute reveal - they've been building up to it the entire time, though it is subtle (and, if you're like me, you spent the first watch mostly getting distracted by trying to answer the quiz questions!) Putting the Oakwoods' backstory together is also very interesting to me.
What i adore about inside number 9 is that i will sit down for 30minutes and have no idea what i will see or how i will feel after. Will i laugh? Cry? Be frightened? No idea... its quite the thrill in my dull life haha 😂😂 Also i love that this review is more than double the usual length!!
I’m an absolute sucker for things like this. I love horror where it’s 98% a normal other thing but something about the vibe just makes you feel so uneasy until the reveal hits you in the face. Can’t believe they managed to do that twice now. I definitely caught the Carrie references and I immediately thought it was weird that they talked about a great-grandmother and not a grandmother, as if she wasn’t to be mentioned. Then I realized she was quite literally Rosemary’s Baby…I wouldn’t want to be talking about the devil's spawn if I was descended from them either.
@@CyborgCharlotte To be fair, not many people caught it so either it’s just VERY well hidden or I’m seeing things that aren’t there. The name Rosemary seems deliberate in a female-centric horror-themed episode though. That’s not a name you just pull out of your ass.
As someone who doesn't watch live TV only on demand, I had no idea that there was meant to be a bus episode or that this episode was any different. So I didnt get the full effect of it. But it was still a great episode. The American guy I watch on YT react to British things watched it based on a subscriber request. But the person who requested it didn't tell him it was an inside no9, they just said to watch this new quiz show pilot and not look up anything about it. Half way through the guy was like..." something is off with this but I cant place it, its almost giving my inside no 9 vibes" ... It was great to see a proper reaction to this.
I got my old man to watch this new 3 By 3 quiz show the day after it aired (“I never heard of it before either dad!” 😂😜), he believed it was a genuine quiz show right up until the end even playing along with the questions being asked by Lee Mack- his face was completely nonplussed when the mothers head exploded at the end and stayed that way until after the credits had finished! 😂😂😈
Several people have said this episode won't work on a rewatch - but I've rewatched it multiple times now. It's absolutely my favourite episode of this series & I'd place it in my top 9. It's clever, understated, brilliantly performed & executed (pun intended). Having watched it live, there was more impact...but I twigged immediately it was the actual episode. Not only does 3x3=9, but the set has a great big Number 9 (screen & black swipe set dressing thing) beside Lee Mack! So I lay in bed with the covers up to my chin, anxious as all Hell, waiting for something awful to happen - which it did. And I loved it! Great homage to "Scanners" in the climactic ending, but it was otherwise a slow-motion car crash that drip-dripped hints of something not being right. In my opinion, the best kind of horror is one that sows the seeds of unease for as long as possible before the reveal. My bestie watched it the next day on iPlayer & she initially thought the Oakwoods were robots! That could have been an interesting alternative plot. Thanks, as always, for the review! Just one more episode before it's all over...for this series. Will you do a whole series review again?
This is an excellent summation of why this is such a good episode. I have watched a few times since broadcast and the attention to detail in writing and performances (especially Saskia Wakefield ) is terrific and it is an ingenious way of telling a story
Another great bait and switch on the night :) The fate of the eliminated contestants was my first guess at the secret behind the quiz but then started to pick up on the conversation cues between the Oakwoods and having recently rewatched Carrie it started to fall into place.
@@WeeLin Yes her name and the conversation they all had about whether to buy back the dad with the language about knowing what people were thinking etc really joined the two things together for me :)
I watched it on catch up knowing it was an episode of Inside No 9 and even I thought “okay this is just them doing a regular quiz show” for a bit, until the Matilda reference and then I worked it out. Wonderfully creative episode. Doing authentic quiz show dialogue must be surprisingly difficult!
Loved the Fur-Q easter egg because it identified Steve and Reece as Chris Morris fans, and also suggests that Catherine has been spending time watching obscure comedy shows whilst she's been stuck at home (either that or a. it's simple coincidence, and nothing more than an FU or b. The Inside No. 9 world and Day Today world is a shared universe where Fur-Q actually exists).
Loved this episode. I watched on iPlayer so knew this was a no.9 episode. I did enjoy the tension between the Oakwood family, there was a sense of impending dread the whole way through. Thought Lee Mack was excellent too.
I've watched it quite a few times, and I can't get over how well they played it. Why didn't iPlayer keep the continuity announcement in? Then more people could have been surprised!
Apparently, Lee only wanted to know the contestant's summaries. The rest, he wanted to approach exactly like a Game Show, so had no clue what was happening or where it was heading xxx
This is the most conflicted I have ever been on an episode On the one hand, it’s not the most interesting episode in the world and can feel a bit fillery and absolutely won’t work on a rewatch. However on the other hand, when watching this with my family, we got into the 3 by 3 gameshow and started playing along and had a ton of fun with it. This was honestly the most I’ve had fun with a No. 9 episode in a while
I actually recommend a rewatch. Knowing how it ends, there's a lot of stuff that you will probably only catch the second time around. Put the subtitles on, and keep your eye on Catherine, especially in the wide shots. The twist doesn't come out of nowhere.
I think it works surprisingly well on a rewatch once you start watching the Oakwoods, seeing what they're up to and trying to fit their backstory together. And I agree - as a quiz show, it was really fun! I love quizzes, so I thoroughly enjoyed that part, almost forgetting to watch for clues.
I really enjoyed the rewatch as I was able to pick up on more of the hints about the girl. Like the mother being a research scientist, and like the girl not knowing an answer until one of the other contestants figures it out, then she suddenly knows it.
Interesting, I wasn’t playing along I just felt the tension building as the 30 mins were dwindling away, just waiting for something dramatic to happen although not entirely sure something was going to happen.
Like everyone says, I picked up so much more action on my 2nd watch. I don't usually watch an episode more than once until after the whole series has aired, but I had to go back to this one
It is a tribute to Steve and Reece's genius that they told a complex and dark story via the format. Well done to everyone involved for keeping the surprise. I have rewatched the episode at least twice and am in awe at the attention to detail. It was most certainly a ride (if not a bus ride) on Thursday and a reminder that watching inside no 9 live is always advisable! Spoiler- and given what a brilliant Quiz contestant he is we should not be surprised Steve brought us a quiz episode (and lovely he has won tens of thousands for a child's hospice in his home town)
It's genius how they can think to tell a story like that in a format like this. And yes, was that Celebrity Chase that Steve was on? I remember watching him on a quiz show years ago, being very impressed and thinking it was lovely to donate the prize to a children's hospice. Just a great guy all round is Steve!
Oh, that's so great about him donating to such a good cause and all the work and fundraising that he does for the hospice as everything seems to point to Steve (and Reece as well, I'm sure) being great irl as well as very talented so I really hope that that's the case and I'm so glad that it is, love your vids too. 😀
It was fun to hear your Mitchell and Webb quiz broadcast reference. This episode had the same sinister vibes. Maybe Catherine caused “the event”, massacring Lee Mack, destroying the outside world and forcing David Mitchell to take over? I guess we’ll never know. We really shouldn’t be thinking about the event anyway.
Listen people, let’s just not think about the event, chow down on a protein fudge, take whatever injections are needed in our sectors and remain indoors.
What a bait and switch from Pemberton and Sheersmith, I would still say Dead Line was a much better twist and turn but I enjoyed 3 by 3 as it gives a bit of a breath of fresh air, Pemberton and Sheersmith are the masters at what they do and know how to prank their audience. What a damn shame we will never get that bus episode now and Robin Askwith would of been a great fit of a no 9 episode and also I have to love the reference to Stranger things aswell
Dead Line was incredible, and it's tough to beat what they did with that Hallowe'en special. But what I liked about 3 By 3 was that it came out of nowhere - not a special, just another mid-series episode. Shame about Robin Askwith and the bus that might have been!
I've seen a few of those doing the rounds now, saying the Beeb was "flooded" with complaints. Then you see the article, and it's "a number" of complaints with no source. 1 is a number, 0 is a number... were there any actual complaints? The quiz wasn't announced in the TV guides, so nobody would be sitting up waiting for it, and it was after the watershed (well, it had to be!) where random, sudden violence can happen. But at least they're getting the word out, so maybe more people will start watching No 9!
You signing off with the saying “Bold AF” sums it up wonderfully for me, an amazing tv event that I felt very much part of. This is how it went for me 5 mins, nothing happing 10 mins they can’t keep this going for much longer 15 mins what the hell’s going on, 20 mins my god they are committing to this 25 mins can’t believe this is still going … 28 mins in …. Oh I see … bloody marvellous. In this day and age to pull and episode off like this just incredible. So glad you took the extra time on this one great analysis yet again. 👏
Thanks! And yeah - "Bold AF" is how I sum it up. They knew it would piss off and disappoint people who'd been waiting eagerly for the bus episode, but they knew that would give them a captive audience, maybe about 20% of whom were likely to switch channels, if Dead Line was anything to go by. Even going to the bother of fake photo shoots in costume and messing with the TV guides. And THEN they give a great big long build up (with subtle, very missable hints) before the mindblowing finale! Who else would even consider such a stunt but those two? Genius!
Loved it. This one had me completely fooled! No Reece, no Steve and the TV guide was changed. Unfortunately I missed a lot of it because I was Googling "What has happened to Inside No 9". Looking forward to re-watching it.
I think the line I found most unsettling (in a good way), was when Margaret says about TikTok something like 'the girls in my lab have been talking about this', which given the other implied family dynamics and the other lines can't help but make me wonder what those 'girls' are doing, or rather what is being done to them...
@@WeeLin I think her Dad is immune from her mind powers - which means Catherine can actually have a normal relationship with him. (It looks like her powers don't work on everyone - Catherine seems to get a bit lucky that Bella genuinely can't remember Eddie Murphy's name and she only needs to block Gavin, the only member of the Bigwins who actually knows the answer, and who happens to be very susceptible.)
I was told about this episode by a friend who is a huge Number 9 fan after it aired and I saw it on iPlayer without knowing how it was aired with the whole fake announcement and much like with Deadline, it doesn't hit as hard but it was still very engaging and knowing it was a Number 9 episode gave me the ticking time bomb mentality and I was on edge knowing something was bound to happen yet I was still surprised when Catherine said "And you knew that did you?"
The sudden ramp-up of tension and rage in the last few minutes was marvellous - I loved it! True, the whole circus surrounding 3 By 3 does make you ask how well it actually works as an episode, as Dead Line did for me too, but in both cases I must say they hold up great!
@WeeLin I don't know what other people think but as someone who wasn't there when both Deadline and 3 by 3 aired, I still found them engaging mainly because the idea of a haunted TV set and a game show going wrong are both ideas I really enjoy plus I try my best to imagine what someone would have felt like watching these episodes when aired
Wait did I miss something by waiting until I could watch it on iPlayer because I was live streaming at the time as I tend to on Fridays? Not sure what you mean by 'how it was aired'. Haven't watched this vid yet but it seems to me they either put the wrong preview poster up or the wrong episode up. It happens? Was I supposed to be bouncing between this and Twitter like for Deadline which I also missed live because I didn't know of IN9 at the time?
@@Roadent1241 I think a lot of Inside No. 9 can be enjoyed as it airs because there will be a lot of Twitter speculation as the episode airs and before the twist plays out, but these two episodes in specific, because they both play out as if there is a change to the scheduled program (Dead Line because of 'hiccups' in the attempt to play live, Hold on Tight/3x3 because the expected show is 'replaced' by another) and there's continued speculation online as to whether it's a deliberate trick or not. Sadly I missed watching 3x3 live last week, but caught the Halloween special as it aired because it was always going to be a live show, something never attempted before, and they made a big thing of it - the interview that briefly appears in the episode where Steve and Reece say they don't believe in ghosts was from a genuine TV show the night before.
@@simonbrake5072 I'm not with the IN9 crowd on Twitter though, do I have to be? I'll be too focused on the episode to remember to be interacting with the Internet XD
Kudos on the writing and actress herself making Catherine such an interesting character, I kinda wanted to see more of her and her future which is very rare for a -finish up the narrative and character in the same episode they're introduced-. I also really like quiz shows, so does my mother so I think I'm gonna trick her with this.
Update: She clocked that Margaret was weird right away because of her facial expression, wondered how they even got on the show and was genuinely convinced until the end lmao.
This is such a perfect review and narration! I loved the episode and was GUTTED that I didn't get to watch it as it came out on TV or see any of the fake advertising! I thought the actors were brilliant at pretending to be awkward members of the public haha 😂
Thanks, and I'm so sorry you didn't get the full 3 by 3 experience! The actors were great - from the looks of it, some of them haven't even been on TV before, but they nailed it!
@WeeLin I cottoned on straight away because of the "3x3" title but my sister and her partner had to double check that their iPlayer hadn't glitched and were actually watching a game show instead 😆
Ahhhh I wish I'd watched it on air, instead I watched it on iplayer so knew it was still inside no.9 and had the most stressed experience I've ever had watching a game show because I was waiting for something terrible to happen
@Ted Smith Agreed! If they had kept the Hold On Tight thumbnail on iplayer and left the continuity message in, they might have tricked me. But as it is, I just thought there was some issue with the Buses ep and they uploaded the 6th ep of IN9 early.
Sadly the 'trick' didn't work on me because I watch literally everything retrospectively after it has been broadcast. So I went on iplayer, clicked on Inside no. 9 season 8, and there it was, 3x3, so instead I spent the whole episode trying to guess the twist and wondering when Steve and Reece would appear. Also because I don't watch live TV anymore I didn't see the advertisement for the On the Buses episode, so all I knew going in was 'oh, they're doing a quiz themed episode this week'. When I saw people talking about an On the Buses episode on social media I assumed they were referring to a future episode still to be broadcast. So to summarise, modern technology stopped me from getting fooled.
This episode seems to be really divisive. Reminds me of when a normal series does a "musical" episode. It's either the most loved or most hated episode in countdowns depending on if the fan likes musicals in the first place. Looks like a lot of quiz haters in the Ninedom 😅
That's a good comparison, though I will say that musical episodes vary drastically in terms of quality. I love a well-made musical episode myself, but it falls horribly flat if the singers are all bad, the songs are poorly written and have no purpose other than "to have someone sing", and if the only reason they made a musical episode was that the showrunners saw other programmes do it first. But yeah, 3 By 3 is already pretty divisive - people really wanted to see that bus!
I loooooved this episode so much. The acting was some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from the contestants it felt so real. Genuinely creepy and engaging.
My suspicion about the dad is that he may well have nothing to do with the Oakwoods, at least in terms of being Catherine's dad. Maybe Margaret got her to take some bloke and control him so they could have enough contestants for the game show. Would work for how out of it he seems, being puppeted by Catherine, and why they get rid of him quick so she can focus on cheating.
Something noone's mentioned: There does seem to be a genuine connection between Catherine & her dad. At one point he calls her 'Cathy' (a more affectionate abbreviation).
I'm just starting to see theories on this now - thanks for sharing! I'd love to have an Inside Inside No 9 podcast for this one, see if they had any story behind the dad.
@Jon Male That works! But I can also see it being a case of, quite morbidly, being Catherine projecting a little bit of affection for herself. Doesn't seem like Margaret is a very affectionate carer so I could see Cathy using her "fake" dad to have someone be kind to her
That's a shame - I wish they could have found some way to make it work internationally. Still, you can always laugh at the confused Brits on social media!
As s senior person, I thought scanners before stranger things, great review and deep dive. Rosemary was Katherine's great-gran so Margaret's mum was Rosemary's baby? Enjoyed the episode and the journey to the brain-busting end. There'll be another bus along soon. Look forward to the next episode.
Best episode since Season 5 for me, and first time i wanted to rewatch straight away for a few years to find the "clues". I checked my EPG a few hours before it started, and it was showing as a normal IN9 eoisode, then 20 minutes before i checked my EPG again (as was recording the show), and jt just showed 3X3... So for 20 minutes i was thinking Robin Asquith had died or there had been a bad Bus accident and the episode was pulled, i did a few googles and didnt find anything... But i picked up very quickly once it started it was a IN9 episode...but then thought the white lady of the Bigwins team was the dodgy one for a while. Overrall i really ejoyed the episode, but also the whole exoerience of being a bit duped, and was probably the best IN9 "experience" since the glory days of Series 1-4. Not quite Top Tier for me, i think it could maybe have had one or two more "weird" ESP moments, but very enjoyable, and probably in my top ten episodes
That's fascinating - I had no idea the EPG had been changed in advance (and yes, there could be very plausible reasons for this, like you said - I've worked in media and seen all kinds of things pulled or rescheduled at the last minute due to tragic real world events). I was also keeping my eye on the Bigwins - was sure there would end up being a domestic drama before the episode was over!
So happy the bus episode didn't happen, it looked awful! Really loved the bait and switch, repeatedly checked TV listings as it seemed to be going on too long to be a trick - but then the references started to creep in. I think the quiz side without the 'story was a tad too long so this may be why it doesn't quite connect with a second viewing, but once you pay attention to the way the questions develop (not to mention the multiple back references for League-led TV series) its really takes off. Still the most inventive writers on TV by a country mile. Great review and totally agree with your summation.
Thanks! And yes, I'll continue to encourage everyone to watch it again, especially if they thought nothing was happening for the first 28 minutes. The hints may be subtle, but they're definitely there!
Did anyone else notice the Would I Lie to You in-joke? A question about the colour of a Teletubbie? Anyone familiar with Lee's 'system' knows he's green because his name sounds like 'Deep Sea'!
I take some pride in my "psychic" ability to predict Catherine's powers. Her acting was exceptional, and it struck me as peculiar that she consistently provided accurate answers. Perhaps her educational background was meant to serve as a disguise, but it seemed too suspicious. The family captured my attention during their introduction, particularly due to Margaret's commanding behaviour towards Catherine. The words "abusive mind games" sparked to mind, and that's when everything clicked. When the father was eliminated, I interpreted it as symbolic of a divorce or something similar. 🤔 Thanks, @WeeLin, for the backstory for this episode. I didn't realize it was a 'prank'. Initially, I was confused when I saw the artwork, thinking I had clicked on the wrong video. 😅
Well I started the episode . Got confused and switched over as I don’t like quizzes or Lee Mack . My mum said to me the next day if I watched it and I said it wasn’t on . Imagine my surprise . Good episode . Shame I didn’t stick with it the first time but I never even suspected it was a episode . It was refreshing .
It's nice to know they can still trick us after all this time! Had me going too - I twigged the title and remembered what they did with Dead Line, but I was still wondering if I'd been duped into watching the wrong programme!
One first viewing, I had a feeling that I’d seen the actress playing Margaret in something else. It turned out that I hadn’t, but on rewatching the episode and noticing that shot of Catherine rubbing her nose, I realised that it was because Margaret has almost the exact same haircut as Connie Frazer from the first series of Stranger Things. Between the aforementioned nosebleed and the fact that both characters meet their end by having their brain exploded by the telekinetic character that they were formerly keeping prisoner, I’ve got to wonder if that was intentional.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional. I also like that there was a reference to a telekinetic character in the Matilda question, and how "Margaret" was also the name of Carrie's mum.
I'm kicking myself that I took until a day after this aired to finally remember to watch the series, though even then I think this is the best episode of it yet lol - somewhat of a spoiler, but I love when there's the occasional episode where the twist is less a twist and more a slow, creeping reveal, and also the transplanting of one genre into another it's not at all associated with a la the police series ender I forget the name of (sidenote, and definitely spoilers, I love how oblivious Lee is to the obvious cheating, as if the show is that much of just a paycheck that he doesn't care and just wants it to go smoothly lol)
The one you're thinking of is called "The Stakeout" (because "stake" - get it?) And I love that observation that Lee Mack is just letting them cheat as he gets paid either way - hilarious!
I'm on the side of loving this episode, I was completely unaware of the Hold on Tight Marketing. It's definitely my favourite episode of the season so far, it's the one I've rewatched the most, first just as a game show, then to find the hidden story within. I think committing to the gimmick paid off in the immersion, A mostly obscure cast for the contestants, having Lee Mack as the host and no Reece or Steve in any capacity even as themselves as hosts. Having Lee survive also helped with the realism, much like New Nightmare keeping the cast who played themselves alive, while the dark twisted surrealism of that may have been shocking to see, that would've dated the story on rewatch, something that is somewhat true of Deadline and Ghostwatch.
Having that unknown cast was a master stroke, and Lee Mack did brilliantly. You should see the Hold On Tight promo photos - they really committed to the bit! I've rewatched 3 By 3 several times now, I loved it!
@@WeeLin While unlikely, I would love them to maybe do Hold on Tight in s9 or something similar, I love how well they've recreated classical styles of television in the past and making it feel authentic, something that's true of 3 by 3 as well.
I noticed after watching 3 by 3 that some people are thinking that Pemberton and Shearsmith may have been planning On the Buses for Season NINE. We shall have to wait and see as well as how they will close out the last season when it’s released.
How do you wrap up a show like this one? I guess we'll find out. Unless the have the bus in the final episode and do a Young Ones ending (worth looking up if you've never seen it!)
@@WeeLin There have been a lot of people pooh poohing the conspiracy theories that there is actually an On The Buses episode. And it's a good possibility there isn't. But how sick would it be if they promoted some kind of horror tale next series...then 10 minutes in it turns into On The Buses? Like they could show a murder scene, then the murderer just casually boards the no.9 bus. Man, a double prank would be kind of awesome. 🚌
Concerning the grandmother’s age: the girl looks like she’s in her mid twenties and the mother in her fifties, so the grandmother could be anything from 75 - 85, which isn’t extremely old. When my mother was 85, I was 58, and my daughter was 26.
As always an amazing video !! (and a pleasantly lengthy one at that!!) I LOVED this episode. This is one of the first episodes that I rewatched immediately after it aired just because of how subtle and clever it was. My theory is that maybe the Oakwoods aren't a family after all? Apart from the fact that the dad seemed completely spaced out, there's an exchange where the host asks who came up with their team name with Margaret saying "no it wasn't" as if both predicting the question but also denying her making their name up! Because of course she didn't make their name up! It was Catherine! So maybe that suggests that this is just some sort of front they had to create just to get on the show?? Another interesting coincidence i noticed was the question about the Taming of the Shrew which also happens to contain a Katherine as the titular "shrew" !! Both the episode and the play after all are about "taming" these irrepressible women, except Catherine in no 9 is able to break free from those restraints by the end! but that's probably a slightly tenuous link. Looking forward to this week's episode !
Ooh, didn't she say that "We'd like to be known as The Oakwoods", maybe hinting that they're not actually a family or related at all? The plot thickens! And yes, that popped into my mind after recording what the heroine's name was in Taming of the Shrew (I was pleased with myself for getting the quiz question right though!) Looking forward to the next one - I get the feeling it might be a bit of a weepy, but we'll see!
And the important thing about the cricket answer is that she mispronounces the name of the most famous cricketer ever- because she has only “seen” it not heard it
I genuinely think that everyone who says this episode isn’t worth a rewatch is just so salty the bus episode didn’t happen that they either DIDN’T watch this one or didn’t pay attention to it 😭 I think this episode is so so clever even thought I couldn’t see it live
I noticed there were a couple of Covid/lockdown references in this episode which led me to think that the dad had actually died of covid. During the episode I thought this may have been an analogy and/or an afterlife of some sort. However after the reveal I wondered if he had been nothing but a mental image made by Catherine for the show, and that before his death he had been the last restraining influence upon his wife and tried give Catherine some sort of normal life. Anyone else or did I just go too deep into the rabbit hole?
It's very hard to get a read on the dad, and I love seeing other people go down the rabbit hole! Maybe this was one of the episodes thought up during Covid, and that's why you can sense that influence?
Great review! I thought this episode was brilliant. I saw a review on here that didn't recommend a second watch, which is a shame because it's only then (or maybe your fourth one) that you appreciate all the nuances and brilliance of RS and SP's work. It's almost as if they start at the conclusion and subsequently work out a backwards chronology. Maybe that's what they do! I noticed that when Margaret says they sometimes play board games etc that Catherine nods in agreement; subtely acknowledging that she is indeed part of it all. Cheers!
Thanks! I'm still getting more out of it every time I watch it, and I love that there's an entire backstory going on with the Oakwoods. Some interesting theories on them in the comments too!
I suspect the viewing experience is much different watching it live on TV rather than watching it weeks later through streaming. Dead Line legitimately tricked me, but since I watched 3 By 3 through streaming, I instantly caught on to the gimmick. I admit, I was a little underwhelmed on first watch, but after a repeat viewing and hearing your analysis, I've come to appreciate it a lot more.
I watched it on iplayer so knew it was inside number 9, but i really enjoyed the episode. I picked up on the weird vibes between the oakwoods but your breakdown of some theories of their relationship were tnings I hadn't even thought of!!
To be fair, I've watched it a bunch of times since, and I kept picking up new things each time. There are theories and connections in the comments to this video that I hadn't even thought of!
One thing I love about this episode is that it draws off of 4 of the most famous psychic power displays in horror 1st- the obvious Carrie motif, which allowed me to surprisingly predict the twist and follow along on first viewing (which also let me catch on to the fact that this wasn't just a rescheduling) 2- stranger things as you mentioned, with Catherine's facial expressions and potential nosebleed, but there's also the pink jumper that looks like the cardigan elle was wearing in the first season 3 - the shining, moreso with the idea that you can place images into the minds of others, and talk without talking 4 -Scanners, with the mind-blowing ending that still got me by surprise despite knowing from early on the Catherine was psychic
"Fur Q" (the wrong answer given to the last question) is a reference to Chris Morris's old skit from the Day Today where he played a rapper of that name. Absolute wonder of a deep cut. Aaaand realized you mentioned that a second after I typed this...
Loved this one, gutted i missed it live. sooo many little details, i caught quite a few and its been wonderful to be pointed out even more. Also the wife from the WWTBAM? scandal is a regular (over the phone) customer at my workplace.
I actually tricked my sister with this episode or Inside Number 9 last Friday night and she literally cried laughing at the end with the head exploding!
When i watched this episode i actually thought this was a real quiz show and it only became apparent that all was not as it seemed later on, i nearly switched over but im glad that i didnt. It was actually my wife that said she thought it was actually Inside No9
I now want EVERYTHING to be a secret No 9! CBeebies? No 9! The news? No 9! Every advert, every continuity announcement and everything in between? ALL No 9s!
@@WeeLin iirc there was a week in the middle of last series when a sports event meant there was no episode - if 3 by 3 had happened before that, I would have sat through that entire thing beginning to end waiting for it to get good!
Something that I loved was that the bus episode was such an inside joke for hardcore fans. People that are casual about watching the show, i.e. people who don't read/listen to interviews or don't pay attention to the marketing, probably wouldn't be aware that there was meant to be a bus episode this series, or that it's something they've joked about for a while now. So to tease it and then rip it away, that was just for us lol.
I thought some of the questions were classic Reece and Steve and their clever not in your face references. Easter eggs at every turn. Some subtle some a bit obscure maybe. David Jason did actually voice a Donkey in a 90s TV series called Dawdle. Matilda (that's hopefully obvious), the Simpsons did an episode were Bart had mind reading powers and turned Homer into a Jack in the Box. The Teletubbies question may have been a reference to Lee Mack on WILTY. Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. All in all I liked the episode and love that Reece and Steve are still surprising us 8 seasons in.
Cheers! I only knew David Jason as Del Boy and the voice of the BFG and thought it was a completely random reference, but that's interesting. I remember that Simpsons episode though - one of the early Treehouse of Horrors, and I think that one also had the section where Homer's brain was cut out and put inside a robot (which freaked me out a kid!)
@@WeeLin I need to correct myself. I had it all mixed up in my head and should have fact checked before posting, blame my elderly millienial excuse for brain. He voiced a different character IN a tv series about a Donkey. Still. Close enough eh? *hangs up detective cap*
For me personally, me and my Dad had switch off to go back to watching a football game that was on at the time, but we turned back just in time to see the ending. I then watched through the episode again afterwards and again the day after.
I didn’t see this episode live, but I still loved it when I watched it - as the show went on, I just felt so uncomfortable, and it was all on the strength of the acting and the sound design (I did notice the eerie humming sound during the double blind round)
God dman it... Had to watch as soon as you said it... And I kind of did guess what was going on by about halfway through, I just did not expect them to follow through the way they did! BRILLIANT!!! LMAO!
@@WeeLin that's the downside of not living in the UK, I guess. It was still a blast watching it online, but I bet the twist feels different with all the stuff around it. Like sitting down to catch the episode on tv, and the announcer saying it's canceled. Also, still one of my favorite episodes from the show in general. But it's honestly hard to pick favorites. The very first episode "Sardines" is one of my favorite memories of watching a new show. It perfectly introduce you to the worlds Steve and Reece write. And that twist! I remember pausing to quietly say "what the fuck?" to myself. And it's far from the most shocking twist in the show, I'm looking at you "The Devil of Christmas". That went a bit long, but yeah. I really love this show, and also really enjoy catching your reviews after watching new episodes.
@@TheMadsC Thanks for saying so! I'm sorry you don't get to watch them on broadcast - I missed Dead Line too, so I know the feeling, but also that it holds up as its own episode too. And yeah, I've yet to see a twist quite as horrible as The Devil of Christmas!
@@WeeLin so I just finished watching the new episode, and um, is it just me, or is that the most horrible twist yet. Even beating The Devil of Christmas! Like not as in bad quality, but shocking and scary. Plus not what I thought would happen at all, so very unexpected. Dang, this series have had good episodes though.
I wasn’t very happy with the episode however, in retrospect I realised it was a number nine episode, but before I realised it was number nine episode I almost write to the BBC thinking they had conned me out of the episode
Fascinating, isn't it? I've linked an article about it in the description (whenever I find something interesting relating to the episode I'm reviewing, I link it as "Special Stuff")
yea i actuly fell for this cus i sore it on i player and thought there had been a mistake so didnt actuly watch it. but then i sore some people talking on twitter about the episode so decided to watch it and i spent 25 mins trying to figure out if it was actuly number 9 or was i being trolled. This really must have been what deadline was like when it went out live but i think this is actuly a bit better cus people are still gonna fall for this years from now cus the effect of seeing lee mack hosting a quiz show will fool anyone into thinking there has been a mistake. I have got to say though as much as the switch is amazing and really shows how creative number 9 can be its not a episode ill be watching again i dont think. ok sure theres all the subbtle hints about her mind powers but it feels a bit too real for me. like atleast in deadline the weird stuff started happening halfway thought the episode this one nothing really strange happens till litraly the last 2 mins up until that point you are just watching a normal quiz show. i mean it makes for a great prank you can pull on your family like you can trick them into watching it thinking its a normal gameshow then they get the explosion at the end. but yea deffently not a episode ill probs find myself rewatching like i can Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room or the bill or hell even deadline. I will say though this is probaly the episode iv most wanted to see your video on cus there is alot to disscuss about this one like deadline got people talking but its effect only worked if you sore it live this one i can see random people watching it for the first time and being super confused. i do kinda like the inside joke we got as well where we can pretend the bus episode was actuly real and pretend that this quiz episode never happened XD
That bus episode is going to be an IN9 in-joke for years to come - I've even just seen it has its own Wikipedia page! You're right - whether you liked it or not, it's got people talking about Inside No 9 (including those of us who can't shut up about it already!) I loved it on rewatch, but some episodes still have to stand the test of time. But what an experience it was!
I kind of feel bad that I couldn't buy in to this one. I recognized the guy playing Niall instantly. I fell for Dead Line hook line and sinker though, because of that I can't believe anything those guys say.
Man, I got such an odd vibe from the Oakwoods family introduction, I def knew something was up. I had no idea how this episode was going to play out, but my anxiety was through the roof the entire time!😆 Great episode👏
Imagine what this was like for someone who never watches TV apart from bits and bobs here and there. I never saw any of the promo or listing info. I just watched it on iplayer a couple of hours after it broadcast like I normally do. So for me it was called 3x3, and what I saw was something indistinguishable from a slightly crap daytime quiz, though with Lee Mack being pretty funny, then a bit of Carrie style shit tacked on the end. It was the most disappointing 9 ever if you didn't see any of the hoax groundwork lol. I knew there was supposed to be an episode involving a bus, but didn't know that was supposed to be this episode. So I knew this was a 9 from the start, and it was obvious the mother had been doing experiments on her daughter re telepathy and stuff, so there was no surprise ending for me sadly. I didn't even view it as a twist, more they had to seed the idea that the mother was planning to keep the daughter under lock and key to continue her experiments to have the door slamming and head exploding make any sense.
I´ve been waiting for the bus and I thought they might start a story-within-the-story after the question of the green underground line 😅I nervously kept an eye on the clock to see how much time was left for this story arc to evolve...
I'm now racking my past London transport knowledge to think of where the No 9 bus service would intersect with the District (green) line... I'm pretty sure it does at some point, but my mind's gone blank!🤣
I watched it the next day on Iplayer, at first I thought when I couldn’t find a new episode I was like ‘oh wasn’t there an episode last night’ came back later and realised that 3x3 was an episode of inside no 9 but all the way though I kept thinking ‘is this inside no 9?’ There was no Reece or Steve but I kept watching and then the end surprised, evem though I didn’t watch it live it still tricked me and kept me thinking, very good episode
Even with the hints, they kept it up long enough for me to think "Is this REALLY a No 9, or have they tricked me into watching a random quiz show looking for a twist?" Mind you, I like quiz shows, so I felt it was a win win for me!
I am grateful that they went with Fur Q instead of JL-B8, the other Chris Morris rapper (from the Brass Eye special). It would have made the episode even darker. Another interesting thing about Fur Q is that in the original Day Today sketch where he appears, he is bragging about how he lit someone on fire (and he says the line the line "You have to kill people in order to respect people" which is not relevant but I always laugh at it). That lighting someone on fire could be seen as a reference to Firestarter, the other Stephen King book about a girl with psychic powers and who actually goes on the run after being subject to experiments
I failed! I sat waiting for "Hold On Tight" to start and was utterly disappointed when the BBC2 announcer said there is a change of program. I switched it off straight away! Gutted. After googling the next day I was so happy I had recorded it and straight away ran to the lounge to watch. What a brilliantly twisted episode. I already knew about Deadline so I really should have known and realized 3x3=9!! They mugged me off those cheeky chaps! Was I the only one?
I'm pretty sure they were banking on a chunk of their audience doing exactly that - it's all part of the story! I only half-caught the announcement, shouted "WHAT?!?", then I remembered what they did with Dead Line and clocked the name "3 By 3". Even then, I wondered if I was being duped into watching a random quiz!
That ending made it worth it. I figured something was wrong with the family (cheating at the game/abuse )but I never thought psychic , but it was hinted at.
Very much agree with your takes here. Would add though that Nottingham isn't even a cricket team. Well, there will be some Nottingham clubs, but he would be a Nottingham*shire* fan if he really was into cricket. Certainly if he knew enough to give the Sunil Gavaskar answer. So I think your idea of him being another experiment of some kind is a pretty good one. Devoid of any personality - Catherine is sympathetic towards him but sees that he won't be any help. Also, I think Catherine really wants to win legitimately and a lot of the episode is her being psychologically manipulated by Margaret. I don't think Margaret is mum - there are other girls at the lab and it makes sense for her to be one of several experiments -specifically ones theat the doctors (at the lab) warned her about. Finally - Catherine having a great grandmother is itself quite believable if there's about 20 years per generation - Rosemary would be 78. But the point is that Margaret looks much older - she's in her 50s, making Rosemary likely well into her 90s or beyond.
Cheers for that info! I have zero knowledge of cricket and no psychic powers, so I had no idea that was a tell. It just seemed a bit odd how he said it - if I was introduced on TV as a rugby fan and all I had to say was "I quite like Scotland" then that'd be weird as well! I hadn't connected Catherine to "the girls at the lab" and thought of them as assistants rather than test subjects, but the idea that Catherine is one of them and that's how she knew about TikTok straight away makes sense. I could be barking up the wrong tree with Rosemary - it is possible for Catherine to have a living great grandmother, but given the age Margaret looks and just how weird the Oakwoods are, it made me wonder. Thanks again for sharing!
@@marknewbold2583 I know, but one theory might be that Catherine telepathically for the answer from him. I think that's unlikely because he doesn't actually seem to know anything about it.
Before the episode started I'm sure the announcer said it was a change to to episode being shown rather than a change to the programme all together, am I wrong? Because I knew it was IN9 the whole time. The Halloween one scarred me for life though
This was a replacement for the On The Buses episode of No.9. Shame, as I was looking forward to their take for On The Buses, or at least another No. 9 episode. Instead, we got a rubbish game show. At least show a comedy.
I did feel that the questions probably were easier to answer than usual questions because fans of Inside No. 9 are probably interested in the same sort of trivia as Steve and Reece (or may well have learnt of such things from the show). There were certainly easier than the Sphinx's cryptic crossword clues!
As an American who watches Inside No. 9 solely through streaming, I was missing basically all the context around the episode and went in knowing it was an Inside No. 9 episode. It still worked remarkably well for me, and it works better the second time through once you know that Catherine is telepathic - for example, I didn't notice until the second watch that Catherine blocked the opponent's team from giving the correct answer to the Donkey question and stole the answer from them. I'm also pretty sure that, for the questions where she didn't know the answer after the first round, she was getting answers by connecting telepathically with dad - the football question that dad probably already knew, and the American rapper question that dad could have looked up on his phone. She talks through the Ice T question the way a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire using "phone a friend" does with the friend, which, if I'm right, she was doing telepathically. I wish I could have experienced this blind because I was into the game show as a game show knowing that it was an Inside No. 9 episode, so it must have worked amazingly well for those who went in blind.
I have never rewound a bit of a programme this much since I was a teenager in the 1980s and there was this short film about 2 Scouse lads from the inner city who went to the countryside and nearly kissed! ( I found it very erotic - sue me!) "Scullys Day Out"?? Can't remember if that was the title - it was a long time ago! Anyway even though I watched this on record - I knew it was a No 9 episode coz it said it over the top of 3X3 so I was just puzzled ( no pun intended) as it went on longer and longer as to where the hell they were going with it. The only clue I had early on that something was awry was when the daughter answered a question before it was finished. I like the fact they made the Biggins group have a tangled past leading me to believe it was them to watch ( good red herring there guys!) I was also thinking - why did Rosemary have what looked like a skull cap on? I still don't know the answer to that? But my God - the ending!!!😧 I watched it over and over - I had to pick my chin up off the floor! Absolutely brilliant! All the subtle clues I missed! I've got a lot from comments like the Rosemarys baby clue 👏Lastly Lee Mack was incredible. So glad you did a deep dive on this episode Lynn - you never disappoint 😊✌
Thanks - I'm still in awe at how they put this together, and if were on tape, it'll probably be wearing out from the amount of rewinding on rewatch, with me going "wait... what did she just say?" The Bigwins team red herring worked well - I was watching them, even when they were getting a psychic staredown from the Oakwoods and somehow "forgetting" the right answers. Loved it!
Very weird and loved the episode and if Steve or Reece wanted to do a quiz show this could really work And if anything has told us you can’t trust anything that Steve or Reece do..
I’m really glad that you and many others enjoyed this one and got a lot out of it, and I’ll be honest, my opinion might be biased due to me being fooled and not watching properly, but genuinely, this is the only No.9 episode I flat out disliked and put me in a bad mood. After figuring out what was going on and realising it wasn’t the fact that I’d had a new TV that week, at 10:30 I watched the episode properly knowing it was all an act, and I just did not like it. The sense of realism honestly fell flat for me at times, some of the dialogue like the “let’s put our minds together” felt to me hamfisted, people just saying their thoughts, and certain jokes also broke the illusion, I get Lee Mack can tell some edgy jokes and what not, but the child line joke seemed completely out of place in a quiz show like this. Maybe it’s because I watch The Chase with my family regularly so I’m accustomed to this. The whole story with the Oakwoods really didn’t compel me, and the hints towards the telekinetic stuff to me just seemed like Catherine pulling a stern face sometimes. And it all built up to an ending that just left no impact for me at all, as Unleash The Ghouls put it in his review, it felt like 28 minutes of faff for a 1 minute punchline. That’s all this episode felt like to me, just dead space. Perhaps my biggest annoyance with the episode is, I wasn’t someone really craving a bus episode, it’s definitely got story potential, but if Steve and Reece did it want to do it, then I’d be cool with that. It felt to me like I was robbed of a great story for the sake of subversion and shock value. Blimey that was a long one 😅 Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed it and I do definitely admire risk taking, this one to me just didn’t pay off and more importantly for me, it’s heart wasn’t in the right place. Also I’d love to see some of those fake plot lines for an On The Buses episode 😂 they were quality
That is absolutely fair, and thanks for sharing your opinion and experience with it. I'm sorry you were disappointed by it, but thanks for appreciating that there were other people who really did enjoy it - this one has been extremely divisive. But hey, at least we can all get together and come up with wacky ideas for that imaginary bus episode!
I see a lot of people saying that this episode won't hold up on rewatches but honestly I have the complete opposite opinion! Because the episode relies so much on subtext and reading between the lines to understand the actual narrative beyond what's happening on the quiz show, I'd argue that it doesn't work that well on first viewing and its only once you know what to be looking out for that the episode really comes to life. Its a really risky move to take on its own but ESPECIALLY with the bait and switch angle I really respect the balls it must've taken to pull off, and it definitely feels like a version of Deadline that (for me at least) holds up beyond the shock of that first live viewing experience.
I totally agree, excellent episode. I can't stop thinking and theorising about the backstory. It's not the most subtle twist but it's one that reveals so much that was hidden and points to so much that's still hidden, not just a right angle turn. I actually managed to trick someone into watching it on IPlayer as a real quiz show. He didn't cotton on until it got properly weird towards the end and was genuinely shocked that Catherine brazenly answered the Matthew Hopkins question before it was even articulated. I also think it had more echoes of The Devil of Christmas than it did Deadline. Cliched, safe television turning out to be something horrific.
While the idea of a Kafka-esque parody of On the Buses is an interesting one, I was never quite convinced by it. It's seems a somewhat limited scope for horror-comedy, but I'm sure the lads would have pulled it off if they'd chosen to do it. The inclusion of Robin Askwith in the deception also felt a bit too on-the-nose as well. Of 3 by 3 - which I watched on iPlayer later - I thought it was well observed and a brilliant bait-and-switch. Lee Mack was brilliant and the contestants were brilliantly portrayed. It could be accused of labouring the point by some, but as I was watching knowing what it was, the tension was palpable throughout. It's a masterwork in many ways, but possibly a flawed one if taken at face value. The mention of full frontal nudity brought to mind an idea I had years ago of a woman who tries to get the attention of an unrequited love by wearing progressively skimpier clothes until she's in the altogether. The dark twist being that she eventually begins self-mutilating until only her skeleton remains. A variation of that, called something like Send Nudes, could work in the No. 9 format, I suspect. It'd be a bit grim though. On a lighter note, while 3 by 3 is the first TV episode to not feature Reece and Steve, there's also the online episode The Inventors, which wasn't written by them either. I can't recall if you've shared your thoughts on that episode in the past, but if not is it something you'd be interested in talking about. I think it's still available somewhere.
I haven't seen The Inventors yet, but will definitely check it out sometime and (most likely) share some thoughts on here. I love the concept you've come up with there (and the title is great!) - could work great as a short story if you're a writer at all? Very No 9-esque, but might not sit within their effects budget, even if they have gone a bit gorier this series!
@@WeeLin Thank you! I do write and it is a short story idea that's been around for 25 years or so. I think with the normalisation of sexting and Onlyfans and things like that, that could be way in to the story I hadn't considered before. Genuinely, it's an idea that's only just resurfaced, but it's nice to know it potentially has legs. Looking forward to your thoughts on The Inventors when you get 'round to it.
@@brobrochanel Yes, and I was bloody furious that he got there before I did! However, I feel enough time has passed for it not to be comparable (hopefully).
@@andrewbowman4611 Forget Robbie Williams, there's a musical link here that goes back even further. There's a (very) short story on the album artwork of "Genesis Plays Live" which has a similar theme. Written by Peter Gabriel, I haven't read it for years, but my memory is that it involves someone stripping off until they finally unzip their skin. I'm afraid I can't find the text anywhere, but wikipedia describes it thus: "A surrealistic short story by Peter Gabriel was printed on the back cover of the album. William Friedkin, who directed the film The Exorcist, read the story and was interested in possibly working with Gabriel on a film."
If Inside No 9 has taught me anything over the years, it's that you can never trust the continuity announcer.
I'm hoping people give this episode a second watch, as while it's not packed with foreshadowing, there are some nice little details that tee up the ending. Margaret's "Well, you know what I think"; the fact that Catherine is staring at other characters when they get answers wrong; and the fact that the wrong answers they get are weird in themselves.
I think my favourite subtle one is Shindu's wrong answer. She's introduced as a software engineer, but her answer to the cube root of 64 is 7. If anyone was going to get a question like that right, it would be a software engineer. In the wide shot, you can see Catherine staring at Shindu before this, which leads me to think that she put the wrong answer in her head (as she does later with David Jason).
They're all in on it! Sneaky, sneaky BBC continuity announcers!
The continuity announcer either lies to us or gets killed by ghosts
@@FTZPLTC Ooh, I didn't even notice that one! She was at it with the other team too!
I saw the Scanners ending ....very good.
The scariest thing is when you mentioned that deadline is nearly 5 years old
Nothing is scarier than the inevitable passage of time!
If you add the digits in each final prize they all add up to 9.
I.e £13,500
Less Carry On and more Carrie On. 🤣
👏👏👏
Please can this be a pinned comment 😂
Brilliant comment 😂😂
Loved this episode and it TOTALLY holds up to rewatching. There's so much in the dialogue (misdirection, foreshadowing, words that stick out as relevant once you know the plot) and backstory. Dedicated production and the acting too is exemplary, from the naturalistic Lee Mack and the normal contestants to the character performances from the Oakwoods.
As a reviewer called (I think) Threepennyguignol said, "the episode plays on the sedative quality of daytime television" and the hints are so subtle they're easy to miss first time but surprisingly plentiful.
I also found it quite funny, particularly the David Jason references and Fur Q. Margaret's last line is amazing.
Exactly! I keep telling people that this is one to rewatch, because it's not just a last minute reveal - they've been building up to it the entire time, though it is subtle (and, if you're like me, you spent the first watch mostly getting distracted by trying to answer the quiz questions!) Putting the Oakwoods' backstory together is also very interesting to me.
I feel like the only way it's rewatchable is if you saw it live
What i adore about inside number 9 is that i will sit down for 30minutes and have no idea what i will see or how i will feel after.
Will i laugh? Cry? Be frightened? No idea... its quite the thrill in my dull life haha 😂😂
Also i love that this review is more than double the usual length!!
I’m an absolute sucker for things like this. I love horror where it’s 98% a normal other thing but something about the vibe just makes you feel so uneasy until the reveal hits you in the face. Can’t believe they managed to do that twice now. I definitely caught the Carrie references and I immediately thought it was weird that they talked about a great-grandmother and not a grandmother, as if she wasn’t to be mentioned. Then I realized she was quite literally Rosemary’s Baby…I wouldn’t want to be talking about the devil's spawn if I was descended from them either.
GODDAMN IT! How’d I miss the Rosemary’s Baby reference 😅
@@CyborgCharlotte To be fair, not many people caught it so either it’s just VERY well hidden or I’m seeing things that aren’t there. The name Rosemary seems deliberate in a female-centric horror-themed episode though. That’s not a name you just pull out of your ass.
As someone who doesn't watch live TV only on demand, I had no idea that there was meant to be a bus episode or that this episode was any different. So I didnt get the full effect of it. But it was still a great episode.
The American guy I watch on YT react to British things watched it based on a subscriber request. But the person who requested it didn't tell him it was an inside no9, they just said to watch this new quiz show pilot and not look up anything about it.
Half way through the guy was like..." something is off with this but I cant place it, its almost giving my inside no 9 vibes" ...
It was great to see a proper reaction to this.
Is that After Work Reactions? Love his videos (and I noticed he subscribed to my channel a little while ago!) I'll need to check that out, thanks!
@@WeeLin It wasnt, it was Taffe316. But Ill have to check out this After Work Reactions now too
I got my old man to watch this new 3 By 3 quiz show the day after it aired (“I never heard of it before either dad!” 😂😜), he believed it was a genuine quiz show right up until the end even playing along with the questions being asked by Lee Mack- his face was completely nonplussed when the mothers head exploded at the end and stayed that way until after the credits had finished! 😂😂😈
Oh my god! It's stories like this that just adds to the whole experience. I can only picture the expression!
Several people have said this episode won't work on a rewatch - but I've rewatched it multiple times now. It's absolutely my favourite episode of this series & I'd place it in my top 9. It's clever, understated, brilliantly performed & executed (pun intended). Having watched it live, there was more impact...but I twigged immediately it was the actual episode. Not only does 3x3=9, but the set has a great big Number 9 (screen & black swipe set dressing thing) beside Lee Mack!
So I lay in bed with the covers up to my chin, anxious as all Hell, waiting for something awful to happen - which it did. And I loved it! Great homage to "Scanners" in the climactic ending, but it was otherwise a slow-motion car crash that drip-dripped hints of something not being right. In my opinion, the best kind of horror is one that sows the seeds of unease for as long as possible before the reveal.
My bestie watched it the next day on iPlayer & she initially thought the Oakwoods were robots! That could have been an interesting alternative plot.
Thanks, as always, for the review! Just one more episode before it's all over...for this series. Will you do a whole series review again?
This is an excellent summation of why this is such a good episode. I have watched a few times since broadcast and the attention to detail in writing and performances (especially Saskia Wakefield ) is terrific and it is an ingenious way of telling a story
Brilliant summary of why this is such a great episode. And yes, I'll be doing a full series wrap-up video as before with awards and rankings!
@@WeeLin hooray!
Another great bait and switch on the night :)
The fate of the eliminated contestants was my first guess at the secret behind the quiz but then started to pick up on the conversation cues between the Oakwoods and having recently rewatched Carrie it started to fall into place.
I'm a huge fan of Carrie, so this was a real treat for me! Did you spot that her mum's name is also Margaret?
@@WeeLin Yes her name and the conversation they all had about whether to buy back the dad with the language about knowing what people were thinking etc really joined the two things together for me :)
Same I thought the quiz show stakes were that when frozen out, you got actually frozen/killed
I watched it on catch up knowing it was an episode of Inside No 9 and even I thought “okay this is just them doing a regular quiz show” for a bit, until the Matilda reference and then I worked it out. Wonderfully creative episode. Doing authentic quiz show dialogue must be surprisingly difficult!
Loved the Fur-Q easter egg because it identified Steve and Reece as Chris Morris fans, and also suggests that Catherine has been spending time watching obscure comedy shows whilst she's been stuck at home (either that or a. it's simple coincidence, and nothing more than an FU or b. The Inside No. 9 world and Day Today world is a shared universe where Fur-Q actually exists).
Uzi-luvva!!!
This is incredibly late but I always took it as Catherine literally telling her mum 'fuck you'. Which would be fairly warranted lmao
Loved this episode. I watched on iPlayer so knew this was a no.9 episode. I did enjoy the tension between the Oakwood family, there was a sense of impending dread the whole way through. Thought Lee Mack was excellent too.
I've watched it quite a few times, and I can't get over how well they played it. Why didn't iPlayer keep the continuity announcement in? Then more people could have been surprised!
@@WeeLin It's a shame, I'm pretty dense when it comes to spotting plot twists so this would have blown my mind!
Apparently, Lee only wanted to know the contestant's summaries. The rest, he wanted to approach exactly like a Game Show, so had no clue what was happening or where it was heading xxx
Inside number 9 fans can never look at buses the same way now
Waving at the No 9 bus with a small tear in our eye, wondering if it's going to turn into a quiz show!
This is the most conflicted I have ever been on an episode
On the one hand, it’s not the most interesting episode in the world and can feel a bit fillery and absolutely won’t work on a rewatch. However on the other hand, when watching this with my family, we got into the 3 by 3 gameshow and started playing along and had a ton of fun with it. This was honestly the most I’ve had fun with a No. 9 episode in a while
I actually recommend a rewatch. Knowing how it ends, there's a lot of stuff that you will probably only catch the second time around. Put the subtitles on, and keep your eye on Catherine, especially in the wide shots. The twist doesn't come out of nowhere.
I think it works surprisingly well on a rewatch once you start watching the Oakwoods, seeing what they're up to and trying to fit their backstory together. And I agree - as a quiz show, it was really fun! I love quizzes, so I thoroughly enjoyed that part, almost forgetting to watch for clues.
I really enjoyed the rewatch as I was able to pick up on more of the hints about the girl. Like the mother being a research scientist, and like the girl not knowing an answer until one of the
other contestants figures it out, then she suddenly knows it.
Interesting, I wasn’t playing along I just felt the tension building as the 30 mins were dwindling away, just waiting for something dramatic to happen although not entirely sure something was going to happen.
Like everyone says, I picked up so much more action on my 2nd watch. I don't usually watch an episode more than once until after the whole series has aired, but I had to go back to this one
It is a tribute to Steve and Reece's genius that they told a complex and dark story via the format. Well done to everyone involved for keeping the surprise. I have rewatched the episode at least twice and am in awe at the attention to detail. It was most certainly a ride (if not a bus ride) on Thursday and a reminder that watching inside no 9 live is always advisable!
Spoiler- and given what a brilliant Quiz contestant he is we should not be surprised Steve brought us a quiz episode (and lovely he has won tens of thousands for a child's hospice in his home town)
It's genius how they can think to tell a story like that in a format like this. And yes, was that Celebrity Chase that Steve was on? I remember watching him on a quiz show years ago, being very impressed and thinking it was lovely to donate the prize to a children's hospice. Just a great guy all round is Steve!
Oh, that's so great about him donating to such a good cause and all the work and fundraising that he does for the hospice as everything seems to point to Steve (and Reece as well, I'm sure) being great irl as well as very talented so I really hope that that's the case and I'm so glad that it is, love your vids too. 😀
It was fun to hear your Mitchell and Webb quiz broadcast reference. This episode had the same sinister vibes. Maybe Catherine caused “the event”, massacring Lee Mack, destroying the outside world and forcing David Mitchell to take over? I guess we’ll never know. We really shouldn’t be thinking about the event anyway.
Maybe Catherine IS the event we've all been too afraid to talk about - either way, stay indoors!
Speaking of other shows, do you think she maybe made friends with Kerry afterwards?
Listen people, let’s just not think about the event, chow down on a protein fudge, take whatever injections are needed in our sectors and remain indoors.
What a bait and switch from Pemberton and Sheersmith, I would still say Dead Line was a much better twist and turn but I enjoyed 3 by 3 as it gives a bit of a breath of fresh air, Pemberton and Sheersmith are the masters at what they do and know how to prank their audience. What a damn shame we will never get that bus episode now and Robin Askwith would of been a great fit of a no 9 episode and also I have to love the reference to Stranger things aswell
Dead Line was incredible, and it's tough to beat what they did with that Hallowe'en special. But what I liked about 3 By 3 was that it came out of nowhere - not a special, just another mid-series episode. Shame about Robin Askwith and the bus that might have been!
I found it really funny that The Lad Bible made a typical clickbait article about how people were outrage about Lee mack new quiz show haha
I've seen a few of those doing the rounds now, saying the Beeb was "flooded" with complaints. Then you see the article, and it's "a number" of complaints with no source. 1 is a number, 0 is a number... were there any actual complaints? The quiz wasn't announced in the TV guides, so nobody would be sitting up waiting for it, and it was after the watershed (well, it had to be!) where random, sudden violence can happen. But at least they're getting the word out, so maybe more people will start watching No 9!
And Catherine only answers questions after Mack has looked at the cards
You signing off with the saying “Bold AF” sums it up wonderfully for me, an amazing tv event that I felt very much part of.
This is how it went for me 5 mins, nothing happing 10 mins they can’t keep this going for much longer 15 mins what the hell’s going on, 20 mins my god they are committing to this 25 mins can’t believe this is still going … 28 mins in …. Oh I see … bloody marvellous.
In this day and age to pull and episode off like this just incredible.
So glad you took the extra time on this one great analysis yet again. 👏
Thanks! And yeah - "Bold AF" is how I sum it up. They knew it would piss off and disappoint people who'd been waiting eagerly for the bus episode, but they knew that would give them a captive audience, maybe about 20% of whom were likely to switch channels, if Dead Line was anything to go by. Even going to the bother of fake photo shoots in costume and messing with the TV guides. And THEN they give a great big long build up (with subtle, very missable hints) before the mindblowing finale! Who else would even consider such a stunt but those two? Genius!
It makes the podcast with Richard herring even funnier, raging about the number 9 bus and fans wanting an episode without either of them.
Loved it. This one had me completely fooled! No Reece, no Steve and the TV guide was changed. Unfortunately I missed a lot of it because I was Googling "What has happened to Inside No 9". Looking forward to re-watching it.
These boys are my heroes when it comes to my script writing. Bless them both.
I watched this on iplayer with my wife who thought this was a real gameshow. This could easily turn into a viral prank...
I think the line I found most unsettling (in a good way), was when Margaret says about TikTok something like 'the girls in my lab have been talking about this', which given the other implied family dynamics and the other lines can't help but make me wonder what those 'girls' are doing, or rather what is being done to them...
I took it that Rosemary deliberately freezed her Dad out of the game to protect him. Dunno though.
I've watched it about 4 or 5 times, and I still can't work out the Dad. She does seem to like him a lot more than her mum though!
@@WeeLin I think her Dad is immune from her mind powers - which means Catherine can actually have a normal relationship with him. (It looks like her powers don't work on everyone - Catherine seems to get a bit lucky that Bella genuinely can't remember Eddie Murphy's name and she only needs to block Gavin, the only member of the Bigwins who actually knows the answer, and who happens to be very susceptible.)
I was told about this episode by a friend who is a huge Number 9 fan after it aired and I saw it on iPlayer without knowing how it was aired with the whole fake announcement and much like with Deadline, it doesn't hit as hard but it was still very engaging and knowing it was a Number 9 episode gave me the ticking time bomb mentality and I was on edge knowing something was bound to happen yet I was still surprised when Catherine said "And you knew that did you?"
The sudden ramp-up of tension and rage in the last few minutes was marvellous - I loved it! True, the whole circus surrounding 3 By 3 does make you ask how well it actually works as an episode, as Dead Line did for me too, but in both cases I must say they hold up great!
@WeeLin I don't know what other people think but as someone who wasn't there when both Deadline and 3 by 3 aired, I still found them engaging mainly because the idea of a haunted TV set and a game show going wrong are both ideas I really enjoy plus I try my best to imagine what someone would have felt like watching these episodes when aired
Wait did I miss something by waiting until I could watch it on iPlayer because I was live streaming at the time as I tend to on Fridays?
Not sure what you mean by 'how it was aired'. Haven't watched this vid yet but it seems to me they either put the wrong preview poster up or the wrong episode up. It happens?
Was I supposed to be bouncing between this and Twitter like for Deadline which I also missed live because I didn't know of IN9 at the time?
@@Roadent1241 I think a lot of Inside No. 9 can be enjoyed as it airs because there will be a lot of Twitter speculation as the episode airs and before the twist plays out, but these two episodes in specific, because they both play out as if there is a change to the scheduled program (Dead Line because of 'hiccups' in the attempt to play live, Hold on Tight/3x3 because the expected show is 'replaced' by another) and there's continued speculation online as to whether it's a deliberate trick or not.
Sadly I missed watching 3x3 live last week, but caught the Halloween special as it aired because it was always going to be a live show, something never attempted before, and they made a big thing of it - the interview that briefly appears in the episode where Steve and Reece say they don't believe in ghosts was from a genuine TV show the night before.
@@simonbrake5072 I'm not with the IN9 crowd on Twitter though, do I have to be? I'll be too focused on the episode to remember to be interacting with the Internet XD
Kudos on the writing and actress herself making Catherine such an interesting character, I kinda wanted to see more of her and her future which is very rare for a -finish up the narrative and character in the same episode they're introduced-.
I also really like quiz shows, so does my mother so I think I'm gonna trick her with this.
Update: She clocked that Margaret was weird right away because of her facial expression, wondered how they even got on the show and was genuinely convinced until the end lmao.
This is such a perfect review and narration! I loved the episode and was GUTTED that I didn't get to watch it as it came out on TV or see any of the fake advertising!
I thought the actors were brilliant at pretending to be awkward members of the public haha 😂
Thanks, and I'm so sorry you didn't get the full 3 by 3 experience! The actors were great - from the looks of it, some of them haven't even been on TV before, but they nailed it!
@WeeLin I cottoned on straight away because of the "3x3" title but my sister and her partner had to double check that their iPlayer hadn't glitched and were actually watching a game show instead 😆
Ahhhh I wish I'd watched it on air, instead I watched it on iplayer so knew it was still inside no.9 and had the most stressed experience I've ever had watching a game show because I was waiting for something terrible to happen
Exactly what happened to me, and I usually watch live.
They really should have kept the continuity announcement in there for iPlayer - it's not the same without it.
@@WeeLin If they had kept it as Hold on Tight on Iplayer as well :(
@Ted Smith Agreed! If they had kept the Hold On Tight thumbnail on iplayer and left the continuity message in, they might have tricked me. But as it is, I just thought there was some issue with the Buses ep and they uploaded the 6th ep of IN9 early.
This and deadline will probably be my biggest regrets not seeing something live 😢
Sadly the 'trick' didn't work on me because I watch literally everything retrospectively after it has been broadcast. So I went on iplayer, clicked on Inside no. 9 season 8, and there it was, 3x3, so instead I spent the whole episode trying to guess the twist and wondering when Steve and Reece would appear. Also because I don't watch live TV anymore I didn't see the advertisement for the On the Buses episode, so all I knew going in was 'oh, they're doing a quiz themed episode this week'. When I saw people talking about an On the Buses episode on social media I assumed they were referring to a future episode still to be broadcast. So to summarise, modern technology stopped me from getting fooled.
This episode seems to be really divisive. Reminds me of when a normal series does a "musical" episode. It's either the most loved or most hated episode in countdowns depending on if the fan likes musicals in the first place. Looks like a lot of quiz haters in the Ninedom 😅
That's a good comparison, though I will say that musical episodes vary drastically in terms of quality. I love a well-made musical episode myself, but it falls horribly flat if the singers are all bad, the songs are poorly written and have no purpose other than "to have someone sing", and if the only reason they made a musical episode was that the showrunners saw other programmes do it first. But yeah, 3 By 3 is already pretty divisive - people really wanted to see that bus!
I loooooved this episode so much. The acting was some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from the contestants it felt so real. Genuinely creepy and engaging.
My suspicion about the dad is that he may well have nothing to do with the Oakwoods, at least in terms of being Catherine's dad. Maybe Margaret got her to take some bloke and control him so they could have enough contestants for the game show. Would work for how out of it he seems, being puppeted by Catherine, and why they get rid of him quick so she can focus on cheating.
Something noone's mentioned: There does seem to be a genuine connection between Catherine & her dad. At one point he calls her 'Cathy' (a more affectionate abbreviation).
I'm just starting to see theories on this now - thanks for sharing! I'd love to have an Inside Inside No 9 podcast for this one, see if they had any story behind the dad.
Yeah, the "Dad" is an odd character, something going on there
@@WeeLin yeah, really missing the companion podcast for this series.
@Jon Male That works! But I can also see it being a case of, quite morbidly, being Catherine projecting a little bit of affection for herself. Doesn't seem like Margaret is a very affectionate carer so I could see Cathy using her "fake" dad to have someone be kind to her
I hate the fact that I don't live in the UK and can't experience this things as they should be :( It was a great episode either way.
That's a shame - I wish they could have found some way to make it work internationally. Still, you can always laugh at the confused Brits on social media!
As s senior person, I thought scanners before stranger things, great review and deep dive. Rosemary was Katherine's great-gran so Margaret's mum was Rosemary's baby? Enjoyed the episode and the journey to the brain-busting end. There'll be another bus along soon. Look forward to the next episode.
Rosemary's Baby - I can't believe I didn't think of that!
Yeah I thought scanners not stranger things (old bugger as well 😂)
Rosemary's baby is a great spot, and I bet this is exactly why Rees and Steve named her as such. Brilliant.
I thought of Carrie, especially with the mum and daughter relationship!
Best episode since Season 5 for me, and first time i wanted to rewatch straight away for a few years to find the "clues".
I checked my EPG a few hours before it started, and it was showing as a normal IN9 eoisode, then 20 minutes before i checked my EPG again (as was recording the show), and jt just showed 3X3... So for 20 minutes i was thinking Robin Asquith had died or there had been a bad Bus accident and the episode was pulled, i did a few googles and didnt find anything...
But i picked up very quickly once it started it was a IN9 episode...but then thought the white lady of the Bigwins team was the dodgy one for a while.
Overrall i really ejoyed the episode, but also the whole exoerience of being a bit duped, and was probably the best IN9 "experience" since the glory days of Series 1-4.
Not quite Top Tier for me, i think it could maybe have had one or two more "weird" ESP moments, but very enjoyable, and probably in my top ten episodes
That's fascinating - I had no idea the EPG had been changed in advance (and yes, there could be very plausible reasons for this, like you said - I've worked in media and seen all kinds of things pulled or rescheduled at the last minute due to tragic real world events). I was also keeping my eye on the Bigwins - was sure there would end up being a domestic drama before the episode was over!
So happy the bus episode didn't happen, it looked awful! Really loved the bait and switch, repeatedly checked TV listings as it seemed to be going on too long to be a trick - but then the references started to creep in. I think the quiz side without the 'story was a tad too long so this may be why it doesn't quite connect with a second viewing, but once you pay attention to the way the questions develop (not to mention the multiple back references for League-led TV series) its really takes off. Still the most inventive writers on TV by a country mile.
Great review and totally agree with your summation.
Thanks! And yes, I'll continue to encourage everyone to watch it again, especially if they thought nothing was happening for the first 28 minutes. The hints may be subtle, but they're definitely there!
Did anyone else notice the Would I Lie to You in-joke? A question about the colour of a Teletubbie? Anyone familiar with Lee's 'system' knows he's green because his name sounds like 'Deep Sea'!
I had no idea! He asked about the "green" tube line as well, if I remember!
I take some pride in my "psychic" ability to predict Catherine's powers. Her acting was exceptional, and it struck me as peculiar that she consistently provided accurate answers. Perhaps her educational background was meant to serve as a disguise, but it seemed too suspicious. The family captured my attention during their introduction, particularly due to Margaret's commanding behaviour towards Catherine. The words "abusive mind games" sparked to mind, and that's when everything clicked. When the father was eliminated, I interpreted it as symbolic of a divorce or something similar. 🤔
Thanks, @WeeLin, for the backstory for this episode. I didn't realize it was a 'prank'. Initially, I was confused when I saw the artwork, thinking I had clicked on the wrong video. 😅
Well I started the episode . Got confused and switched over as I don’t like quizzes or Lee Mack .
My mum said to me the next day if I watched it and I said it wasn’t on .
Imagine my surprise . Good episode . Shame I didn’t stick with it the first time but I never even suspected it was a episode .
It was refreshing .
It's nice to know they can still trick us after all this time! Had me going too - I twigged the title and remembered what they did with Dead Line, but I was still wondering if I'd been duped into watching the wrong programme!
One first viewing, I had a feeling that I’d seen the actress playing Margaret in something else.
It turned out that I hadn’t, but on rewatching the episode and noticing that shot of Catherine rubbing her nose, I realised that it was because Margaret has almost the exact same haircut as Connie Frazer from the first series of Stranger Things.
Between the aforementioned nosebleed and the fact that both characters meet their end by having their brain exploded by the telekinetic character that they were formerly keeping prisoner, I’ve got to wonder if that was intentional.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional. I also like that there was a reference to a telekinetic character in the Matilda question, and how "Margaret" was also the name of Carrie's mum.
I'm kicking myself that I took until a day after this aired to finally remember to watch the series, though even then I think this is the best episode of it yet lol - somewhat of a spoiler, but I love when there's the occasional episode where the twist is less a twist and more a slow, creeping reveal, and also the transplanting of one genre into another it's not at all associated with a la the police series ender I forget the name of (sidenote, and definitely spoilers, I love how oblivious Lee is to the obvious cheating, as if the show is that much of just a paycheck that he doesn't care and just wants it to go smoothly lol)
The one you're thinking of is called "The Stakeout" (because "stake" - get it?) And I love that observation that Lee Mack is just letting them cheat as he gets paid either way - hilarious!
I'm on the side of loving this episode, I was completely unaware of the Hold on Tight Marketing. It's definitely my favourite episode of the season so far, it's the one I've rewatched the most, first just as a game show, then to find the hidden story within. I think committing to the gimmick paid off in the immersion, A mostly obscure cast for the contestants, having Lee Mack as the host and no Reece or Steve in any capacity even as themselves as hosts. Having Lee survive also helped with the realism, much like New Nightmare keeping the cast who played themselves alive, while the dark twisted surrealism of that may have been shocking to see, that would've dated the story on rewatch, something that is somewhat true of Deadline and Ghostwatch.
Having that unknown cast was a master stroke, and Lee Mack did brilliantly. You should see the Hold On Tight promo photos - they really committed to the bit! I've rewatched 3 By 3 several times now, I loved it!
@@WeeLin While unlikely, I would love them to maybe do Hold on Tight in s9 or something similar, I love how well they've recreated classical styles of television in the past and making it feel authentic, something that's true of 3 by 3 as well.
I noticed after watching 3 by 3 that some people are thinking that Pemberton and Shearsmith may have been planning On the Buses for Season NINE.
We shall have to wait and see as well as how they will close out the last season when it’s released.
How do you wrap up a show like this one? I guess we'll find out. Unless the have the bus in the final episode and do a Young Ones ending (worth looking up if you've never seen it!)
Watched on iPlayer next day and was surprised that the bus episode wasn't on, but really enjoyed 3x3. Bet it's on series 9. Hopefully.
You just never know with them two! Maybe it'll be another episode, and a bus will suddenly come crashing in.
@@WeeLin There have been a lot of people pooh poohing the conspiracy theories that there is actually an On The Buses episode. And it's a good possibility there isn't. But how sick would it be if they promoted some kind of horror tale next series...then 10 minutes in it turns into On The Buses? Like they could show a murder scene, then the murderer just casually boards the no.9 bus. Man, a double prank would be kind of awesome. 🚌
Concerning the grandmother’s age: the girl looks like she’s in her mid twenties and the mother in her fifties, so the grandmother could be anything from 75 - 85, which isn’t extremely old. When my mother was 85, I was 58, and my daughter was 26.
As always an amazing video !! (and a pleasantly lengthy one at that!!) I LOVED this episode. This is one of the first episodes that I rewatched immediately after it aired just because of how subtle and clever it was. My theory is that maybe the Oakwoods aren't a family after all? Apart from the fact that the dad seemed completely spaced out, there's an exchange where the host asks who came up with their team name with Margaret saying "no it wasn't" as if both predicting the question but also denying her making their name up! Because of course she didn't make their name up! It was Catherine! So maybe that suggests that this is just some sort of front they had to create just to get on the show?? Another interesting coincidence i noticed was the question about the Taming of the Shrew which also happens to contain a Katherine as the titular "shrew" !! Both the episode and the play after all are about "taming" these irrepressible women, except Catherine in no 9 is able to break free from those restraints by the end! but that's probably a slightly tenuous link. Looking forward to this week's episode !
Ooh, didn't she say that "We'd like to be known as The Oakwoods", maybe hinting that they're not actually a family or related at all? The plot thickens! And yes, that popped into my mind after recording what the heroine's name was in Taming of the Shrew (I was pleased with myself for getting the quiz question right though!) Looking forward to the next one - I get the feeling it might be a bit of a weepy, but we'll see!
And the important thing about the cricket answer is that she mispronounces the name of the most famous cricketer ever- because she has only “seen” it not heard it
Not the most famous cricketer
Best episode for a while, loved it, just disappointed I didn't watch it live
I watched it live but turned it off thinking it was a quiz show 🥲
I genuinely think that everyone who says this episode isn’t worth a rewatch is just so salty the bus episode didn’t happen that they either DIDN’T watch this one or didn’t pay attention to it 😭 I think this episode is so so clever even thought I couldn’t see it live
( 6:58 ) Also one answer was *Fur Q* which is a reference to Chris Morris on The Day Today! 👍🏻
The Oakwoods = The Awkwards
Ahhhh... Sneaky
I never twigged that, but it fits perfectly!
In your accent Oakwood and Awkward sound near identical, so I should thank you really!
Steve and Reece do enjoy a good punny name after all.
I noticed there were a couple of Covid/lockdown references in this episode which led me to think that the dad had actually died of covid. During the episode I thought this may have been an analogy and/or an afterlife of some sort. However after the reveal I wondered if he had been nothing but a mental image made by Catherine for the show, and that before his death he had been the last restraining influence upon his wife and tried give Catherine some sort of normal life. Anyone else or did I just go too deep into the rabbit hole?
It's very hard to get a read on the dad, and I love seeing other people go down the rabbit hole! Maybe this was one of the episodes thought up during Covid, and that's why you can sense that influence?
@@WeeLin That would explain it, honestly even even one or two off hand lines on this show can send us all over the place. Awesome video as always.
@@Meglomaniaforever Thanks so much!
Great review! I thought this episode was brilliant. I saw a review on here that didn't recommend a second watch, which is a shame because it's only then (or maybe your fourth one) that you appreciate all the nuances and brilliance of RS and SP's work. It's almost as if they start at the conclusion and subsequently work out a backwards chronology. Maybe that's what they do! I noticed that when Margaret says they sometimes play board games etc that Catherine nods in agreement; subtely acknowledging that she is indeed part of it all. Cheers!
Thanks! I'm still getting more out of it every time I watch it, and I love that there's an entire backstory going on with the Oakwoods. Some interesting theories on them in the comments too!
I suspect the viewing experience is much different watching it live on TV rather than watching it weeks later through streaming. Dead Line legitimately tricked me, but since I watched 3 By 3 through streaming, I instantly caught on to the gimmick. I admit, I was a little underwhelmed on first watch, but after a repeat viewing and hearing your analysis, I've come to appreciate it a lot more.
I watched it on iplayer so knew it was inside number 9, but i really enjoyed the episode. I picked up on the weird vibes between the oakwoods but your breakdown of some theories of their relationship were tnings I hadn't even thought of!!
To be fair, I've watched it a bunch of times since, and I kept picking up new things each time. There are theories and connections in the comments to this video that I hadn't even thought of!
One thing I love about this episode is that it draws off of 4 of the most famous psychic power displays in horror
1st- the obvious Carrie motif, which allowed me to surprisingly predict the twist and follow along on first viewing (which also let me catch on to the fact that this wasn't just a rescheduling)
2- stranger things as you mentioned, with Catherine's facial expressions and potential nosebleed, but there's also the pink jumper that looks like the cardigan elle was wearing in the first season
3 - the shining, moreso with the idea that you can place images into the minds of others, and talk without talking
4 -Scanners, with the mind-blowing ending that still got me by surprise despite knowing from early on the Catherine was psychic
"Fur Q" (the wrong answer given to the last question) is a reference to Chris Morris's old skit from the Day Today where he played a rapper of that name. Absolute wonder of a deep cut. Aaaand realized you mentioned that a second after I typed this...
To be fair, someone else mentioned it to me on Twitter. I love Chris Morris, but I'd never seen that sketch before!
Doing blackface
Loved this one, gutted i missed it live. sooo many little details, i caught quite a few and its been wonderful to be pointed out even more. Also the wife from the WWTBAM? scandal is a regular (over the phone) customer at my workplace.
No way! And are you tempted to say "final answer?" every time she calls with a query?
@@WeeLin Absolutely!🤣🤣
I actually tricked my sister with this episode or Inside Number 9 last Friday night and she literally cried laughing at the end with the head exploding!
When i watched this episode i actually thought this was a real quiz show and it only became apparent that all was not as it seemed later on, i nearly switched over but im glad that i didnt. It was actually my wife that said she thought it was actually Inside No9
I wonder how many people switched over during 3 by 3? The writers seemed quite proud that 20% of their audience switched over during Dead Line!
@@WeeLin I think the Carrie reference was spot on as well, definitely inspired by that film
Cheers, Steve and Reece, now I'll never be able to watch anything on TV ever again without the nagging feeling that it might actually be Inside No 9.
I now want EVERYTHING to be a secret No 9! CBeebies? No 9! The news? No 9! Every advert, every continuity announcement and everything in between? ALL No 9s!
@@WeeLin iirc there was a week in the middle of last series when a sports event meant there was no episode - if 3 by 3 had happened before that, I would have sat through that entire thing beginning to end waiting for it to get good!
Something that I loved was that the bus episode was such an inside joke for hardcore fans. People that are casual about watching the show, i.e. people who don't read/listen to interviews or don't pay attention to the marketing, probably wouldn't be aware that there was meant to be a bus episode this series, or that it's something they've joked about for a while now. So to tease it and then rip it away, that was just for us lol.
I thought some of the questions were classic Reece and Steve and their clever not in your face references. Easter eggs at every turn. Some subtle some a bit obscure maybe. David Jason did actually voice a Donkey in a 90s TV series called Dawdle. Matilda (that's hopefully obvious), the Simpsons did an episode were Bart had mind reading powers and turned Homer into a Jack in the Box. The Teletubbies question may have been a reference to Lee Mack on WILTY. Those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. All in all I liked the episode and love that Reece and Steve are still surprising us 8 seasons in.
Great connection between David Jason and the donkey. 👍
Cheers! I only knew David Jason as Del Boy and the voice of the BFG and thought it was a completely random reference, but that's interesting. I remember that Simpsons episode though - one of the early Treehouse of Horrors, and I think that one also had the section where Homer's brain was cut out and put inside a robot (which freaked me out a kid!)
@@WeeLin I need to correct myself. I had it all mixed up in my head and should have fact checked before posting, blame my elderly millienial excuse for brain. He voiced a different character IN a tv series about a Donkey. Still. Close enough eh? *hangs up detective cap*
@@catbhoy Yeah sorry I got it slightly wrong. He was a voice in a series not THE voice of a Donkey. Eh we cant win em all, right.
@@haitchbee3320 😂 good try all the same
Such a clever episode. Nods to Scanners. Carrie etc. and the last few moments. Far q? Very clever.
For me personally, me and my Dad had switch off to go back to watching a football game that was on at the time, but we turned back just in time to see the ending. I then watched through the episode again afterwards and again the day after.
That's a shame - the build up during the episode really works too. But at least it holds up on rewatch!
I think this might be my favourite episode!
Also I could see something similar to 3 by 3 being aired in place of tipping point or pointless :)
I thought it was actually quite decent as a quiz show, but they might have to clean up the booth if they want to make any more!
@@WeeLin yeah... that would be a problem!
I didn’t see this episode live, but I still loved it when I watched it - as the show went on, I just felt so uncomfortable, and it was all on the strength of the acting and the sound design (I did notice the eerie humming sound during the double blind round)
Eerie humming sound? I missed that - looks like I'll have to watch it again!
What about the first clue? In round 1 when Margaret mutters “No you didn’t” …
I missed that! Brb, gonna watch it again :)
Since I live in the US , I never saw this Ad. They sure tricked me.
I look forward to your take on every episode. I give up 😅 clever clever locals lol😢 i watched it 3 times so i could play the game.
Thank you! It's good to be local :)
God dman it... Had to watch as soon as you said it... And I kind of did guess what was going on by about halfway through, I just did not expect them to follow through the way they did! BRILLIANT!!! LMAO!
Oh what i wouldn’t do to be able to catch these live 😔
I wish you could've seen this one in particular - it took us all by surprise!
@@WeeLin that's the downside of not living in the UK, I guess. It was still a blast watching it online, but I bet the twist feels different with all the stuff around it. Like sitting down to catch the episode on tv, and the announcer saying it's canceled.
Also, still one of my favorite episodes from the show in general. But it's honestly hard to pick favorites. The very first episode "Sardines" is one of my favorite memories of watching a new show. It perfectly introduce you to the worlds Steve and Reece write. And that twist! I remember pausing to quietly say "what the fuck?" to myself. And it's far from the most shocking twist in the show, I'm looking at you "The Devil of Christmas".
That went a bit long, but yeah. I really love this show, and also really enjoy catching your reviews after watching new episodes.
@@TheMadsC Thanks for saying so! I'm sorry you don't get to watch them on broadcast - I missed Dead Line too, so I know the feeling, but also that it holds up as its own episode too. And yeah, I've yet to see a twist quite as horrible as The Devil of Christmas!
@@WeeLin so I just finished watching the new episode, and um, is it just me, or is that the most horrible twist yet. Even beating The Devil of Christmas! Like not as in bad quality, but shocking and scary. Plus not what I thought would happen at all, so very unexpected. Dang, this series have had good episodes though.
I wasn’t very happy with the episode however, in retrospect I realised it was a number nine episode, but before I realised it was number nine episode I almost write to the BBC thinking they had conned me out of the episode
If they actually cancelled No 9 for no reason, the Beeb will have me to answer to!
I don't think it'll be re commisioned
@@philjones45 Season 9 next year
As a PS I just found out the entire set apart from small podiums was a virtual green screen set.
Fascinating, isn't it? I've linked an article about it in the description (whenever I find something interesting relating to the episode I'm reviewing, I link it as "Special Stuff")
yea i actuly fell for this cus i sore it on i player and thought there had been a mistake so didnt actuly watch it. but then i sore some people talking on twitter about the episode so decided to watch it and i spent 25 mins trying to figure out if it was actuly number 9 or was i being trolled.
This really must have been what deadline was like when it went out live but i think this is actuly a bit better cus people are still gonna fall for this years from now cus the effect of seeing lee mack hosting a quiz show will fool anyone into thinking there has been a mistake.
I have got to say though as much as the switch is amazing and really shows how creative number 9 can be its not a episode ill be watching again i dont think. ok sure theres all the subbtle hints about her mind powers but it feels a bit too real for me. like atleast in deadline the weird stuff started happening halfway thought the episode this one nothing really strange happens till litraly the last 2 mins up until that point you are just watching a normal quiz show. i mean it makes for a great prank you can pull on your family like you can trick them into watching it thinking its a normal gameshow then they get the explosion at the end. but yea deffently not a episode ill probs find myself rewatching like i can Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room or the bill or hell even deadline.
I will say though this is probaly the episode iv most wanted to see your video on cus there is alot to disscuss about this one like deadline got people talking but its effect only worked if you sore it live this one i can see random people watching it for the first time and being super confused. i do kinda like the inside joke we got as well where we can pretend the bus episode was actuly real and pretend that this quiz episode never happened XD
That bus episode is going to be an IN9 in-joke for years to come - I've even just seen it has its own Wikipedia page! You're right - whether you liked it or not, it's got people talking about Inside No 9 (including those of us who can't shut up about it already!) I loved it on rewatch, but some episodes still have to stand the test of time. But what an experience it was!
I kind of feel bad that I couldn't buy in to this one. I recognized the guy playing Niall instantly. I fell for Dead Line hook line and sinker though, because of that I can't believe anything those guys say.
Ah, that's a shame! I didn't recognise any of them, thankfully.
Man, I got such an odd vibe from the Oakwoods family introduction, I def knew something was up. I had no idea how this episode was going to play out, but my anxiety was through the roof the entire time!😆
Great episode👏
Imagine what this was like for someone who never watches TV apart from bits and bobs here and there. I never saw any of the promo or listing info. I just watched it on iplayer a couple of hours after it broadcast like I normally do. So for me it was called 3x3, and what I saw was something indistinguishable from a slightly crap daytime quiz, though with Lee Mack being pretty funny, then a bit of Carrie style shit tacked on the end. It was the most disappointing 9 ever if you didn't see any of the hoax groundwork lol. I knew there was supposed to be an episode involving a bus, but didn't know that was supposed to be this episode. So I knew this was a 9 from the start, and it was obvious the mother had been doing experiments on her daughter re telepathy and stuff, so there was no surprise ending for me sadly. I didn't even view it as a twist, more they had to seed the idea that the mother was planning to keep the daughter under lock and key to continue her experiments to have the door slamming and head exploding make any sense.
Seriously, it's a lot of fun on rewatch if you keep an eye on the Oakwoods and try piecing together their backstory - that's what I enjoyed the most!
I´ve been waiting for the bus and I thought they might start a story-within-the-story after the question of the green underground line 😅I nervously kept an eye on the clock to see how much time was left for this story arc to evolve...
I'm now racking my past London transport knowledge to think of where the No 9 bus service would intersect with the District (green) line... I'm pretty sure it does at some point, but my mind's gone blank!🤣
Where was David´s and Maureen´s place?
@@annieo9654 Wood Green, if I remember Psychoville correctly. Hang on... "green!"
I watched it the next day on Iplayer, at first I thought when I couldn’t find a new episode I was like ‘oh wasn’t there an episode last night’ came back later and realised that 3x3 was an episode of inside no 9 but all the way though I kept thinking ‘is this inside no 9?’ There was no Reece or Steve but I kept watching and then the end surprised, evem though I didn’t watch it live it still tricked me and kept me thinking, very good episode
Even with the hints, they kept it up long enough for me to think "Is this REALLY a No 9, or have they tricked me into watching a random quiz show looking for a twist?" Mind you, I like quiz shows, so I felt it was a win win for me!
I am grateful that they went with Fur Q instead of JL-B8, the other Chris Morris rapper (from the Brass Eye special). It would have made the episode even darker. Another interesting thing about Fur Q is that in the original Day Today sketch where he appears, he is bragging about how he lit someone on fire (and he says the line the line "You have to kill people in order to respect people" which is not relevant but I always laugh at it). That lighting someone on fire could be seen as a reference to Firestarter, the other Stephen King book about a girl with psychic powers and who actually goes on the run after being subject to experiments
I failed! I sat waiting for "Hold On Tight" to start and was utterly disappointed when the BBC2 announcer said there is a change of program. I switched it off straight away! Gutted. After googling the next day I was so happy I had recorded it and straight away ran to the lounge to watch. What a brilliantly twisted episode. I already knew about Deadline so I really should have known and realized 3x3=9!! They mugged me off those cheeky chaps! Was I the only one?
I'm pretty sure they were banking on a chunk of their audience doing exactly that - it's all part of the story! I only half-caught the announcement, shouted "WHAT?!?", then I remembered what they did with Dead Line and clocked the name "3 By 3". Even then, I wondered if I was being duped into watching a random quiz!
That ending made it worth it. I figured something was wrong with the family (cheating at the game/abuse )but I never thought psychic , but it was hinted at.
Very much agree with your takes here.
Would add though that Nottingham isn't even a cricket team. Well, there will be some Nottingham clubs, but he would be a Nottingham*shire* fan if he really was into cricket. Certainly if he knew enough to give the Sunil Gavaskar answer.
So I think your idea of him being another experiment of some kind is a pretty good one. Devoid of any personality - Catherine is sympathetic towards him but sees that he won't be any help.
Also, I think Catherine really wants to win legitimately and a lot of the episode is her being psychologically manipulated by Margaret. I don't think Margaret is mum - there are other girls at the lab and it makes sense for her to be one of several experiments -specifically ones theat the doctors (at the lab) warned her about.
Finally - Catherine having a great grandmother is itself quite believable if there's about 20 years per generation - Rosemary would be 78. But the point is that Margaret looks much older - she's in her 50s, making Rosemary likely well into her 90s or beyond.
Cheers for that info! I have zero knowledge of cricket and no psychic powers, so I had no idea that was a tell. It just seemed a bit odd how he said it - if I was introduced on TV as a rugby fan and all I had to say was "I quite like Scotland" then that'd be weird as well! I hadn't connected Catherine to "the girls at the lab" and thought of them as assistants rather than test subjects, but the idea that Catherine is one of them and that's how she knew about TikTok straight away makes sense. I could be barking up the wrong tree with Rosemary - it is possible for Catherine to have a living great grandmother, but given the age Margaret looks and just how weird the Oakwoods are, it made me wonder. Thanks again for sharing!
He didn't give the Sunil Gavaskar answer
@@marknewbold2583 I know, but one theory might be that Catherine telepathically for the answer from him. I think that's unlikely because he doesn't actually seem to know anything about it.
Woooo it's here🎉🎉
My review or the bus? 🤣
@@WeeLin what if your review is the bus 🤔🤔
Before the episode started I'm sure the announcer said it was a change to to episode being shown rather than a change to the programme all together, am I wrong? Because I knew it was IN9 the whole time. The Halloween one scarred me for life though
I'm really enjoying how the autocaption keeps calling the Oakwoods "the Awkwards."
They're not wrong! 🤣
This was a replacement for the On The Buses episode of No.9. Shame, as I was looking forward to their take for On The Buses, or at least another No. 9 episode. Instead, we got a rubbish game show. At least show a comedy.
I can't even tell if you're joking!
@@WeeLin Ain't joking, they really did replace an episode of No.9 with some crappy 3x3x3/3 game show.
I did feel that the questions probably were easier to answer than usual questions because fans of Inside No. 9 are probably interested in the same sort of trivia as Steve and Reece (or may well have learnt of such things from the show). There were certainly easier than the Sphinx's cryptic crossword clues!
Love your videos on inside no.9 Have you ever thought about going back to the beginning and doing your reviews on all the episodes?
As an American who watches Inside No. 9 solely through streaming, I was missing basically all the context around the episode and went in knowing it was an Inside No. 9 episode. It still worked remarkably well for me, and it works better the second time through once you know that Catherine is telepathic - for example, I didn't notice until the second watch that Catherine blocked the opponent's team from giving the correct answer to the Donkey question and stole the answer from them. I'm also pretty sure that, for the questions where she didn't know the answer after the first round, she was getting answers by connecting telepathically with dad - the football question that dad probably already knew, and the American rapper question that dad could have looked up on his phone. She talks through the Ice T question the way a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire using "phone a friend" does with the friend, which, if I'm right, she was doing telepathically.
I wish I could have experienced this blind because I was into the game show as a game show knowing that it was an Inside No. 9 episode, so it must have worked amazingly well for those who went in blind.
I have never rewound a bit of a programme this much since I was a teenager in the 1980s and there was this short film about 2 Scouse lads from the inner city who went to the countryside and nearly kissed! ( I found it very erotic - sue me!) "Scullys Day Out"?? Can't remember if that was the title - it was a long time ago!
Anyway even though I watched this on record - I knew it was a No 9 episode coz it said it over the top of 3X3 so I was just puzzled ( no pun intended) as it went on longer and longer as to where the hell they were going with it. The only clue I had early on that something was awry was when the daughter answered a question before it was finished. I like the fact they made the Biggins group have a tangled past leading me to believe it was them to watch ( good red herring there guys!) I was also thinking - why did Rosemary have what looked like a skull cap on? I still don't know the answer to that? But my God - the ending!!!😧 I watched it over and over - I had to pick my chin up off the floor! Absolutely brilliant! All the subtle clues I missed! I've got a lot from comments like the Rosemarys baby clue 👏Lastly Lee Mack was incredible. So glad you did a deep dive on this episode Lynn - you never disappoint 😊✌
Thanks - I'm still in awe at how they put this together, and if were on tape, it'll probably be wearing out from the amount of rewinding on rewatch, with me going "wait... what did she just say?" The Bigwins team red herring worked well - I was watching them, even when they were getting a psychic staredown from the Oakwoods and somehow "forgetting" the right answers. Loved it!
Think the two scousers thing you're referring to was called One Summer. Seem to remember it was a series though rather than a film.
Very weird and loved the episode and if Steve or Reece wanted to do a quiz show this could really work
And if anything has told us you can’t trust anything that Steve or Reece do..
I’m really glad that you and many others enjoyed this one and got a lot out of it, and I’ll be honest, my opinion might be biased due to me being fooled and not watching properly, but genuinely, this is the only No.9 episode I flat out disliked and put me in a bad mood.
After figuring out what was going on and realising it wasn’t the fact that I’d had a new TV that week, at 10:30 I watched the episode properly knowing it was all an act, and I just did not like it. The sense of realism honestly fell flat for me at times, some of the dialogue like the “let’s put our minds together” felt to me hamfisted, people just saying their thoughts, and certain jokes also broke the illusion, I get Lee Mack can tell some edgy jokes and what not, but the child line joke seemed completely out of place in a quiz show like this. Maybe it’s because I watch The Chase with my family regularly so I’m accustomed to this. The whole story with the Oakwoods really didn’t compel me, and the hints towards the telekinetic stuff to me just seemed like Catherine pulling a stern face sometimes. And it all built up to an ending that just left no impact for me at all, as Unleash The Ghouls put it in his review, it felt like 28 minutes of faff for a 1 minute punchline. That’s all this episode felt like to me, just dead space.
Perhaps my biggest annoyance with the episode is, I wasn’t someone really craving a bus episode, it’s definitely got story potential, but if Steve and Reece did it want to do it, then I’d be cool with that. It felt to me like I was robbed of a great story for the sake of subversion and shock value.
Blimey that was a long one 😅
Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed it and I do definitely admire risk taking, this one to me just didn’t pay off and more importantly for me, it’s heart wasn’t in the right place.
Also I’d love to see some of those fake plot lines for an On The Buses episode 😂 they were quality
That is absolutely fair, and thanks for sharing your opinion and experience with it. I'm sorry you were disappointed by it, but thanks for appreciating that there were other people who really did enjoy it - this one has been extremely divisive. But hey, at least we can all get together and come up with wacky ideas for that imaginary bus episode!
I see a lot of people saying that this episode won't hold up on rewatches but honestly I have the complete opposite opinion!
Because the episode relies so much on subtext and reading between the lines to understand the actual narrative beyond what's happening on the quiz show, I'd argue that it doesn't work that well on first viewing and its only once you know what to be looking out for that the episode really comes to life. Its a really risky move to take on its own but ESPECIALLY with the bait and switch angle I really respect the balls it must've taken to pull off, and it definitely feels like a version of Deadline that (for me at least) holds up beyond the shock of that first live viewing experience.
I totally agree, excellent episode. I can't stop thinking and theorising about the backstory. It's not the most subtle twist but it's one that reveals so much that was hidden and points to so much that's still hidden, not just a right angle turn.
I actually managed to trick someone into watching it on IPlayer as a real quiz show. He didn't cotton on until it got properly weird towards the end and was genuinely shocked that Catherine brazenly answered the Matthew Hopkins question before it was even articulated.
I also think it had more echoes of The Devil of Christmas than it did Deadline. Cliched, safe television turning out to be something horrific.
While the idea of a Kafka-esque parody of On the Buses is an interesting one, I was never quite convinced by it. It's seems a somewhat limited scope for horror-comedy, but I'm sure the lads would have pulled it off if they'd chosen to do it. The inclusion of Robin Askwith in the deception also felt a bit too on-the-nose as well.
Of 3 by 3 - which I watched on iPlayer later - I thought it was well observed and a brilliant bait-and-switch. Lee Mack was brilliant and the contestants were brilliantly portrayed. It could be accused of labouring the point by some, but as I was watching knowing what it was, the tension was palpable throughout. It's a masterwork in many ways, but possibly a flawed one if taken at face value.
The mention of full frontal nudity brought to mind an idea I had years ago of a woman who tries to get the attention of an unrequited love by wearing progressively skimpier clothes until she's in the altogether. The dark twist being that she eventually begins self-mutilating until only her skeleton remains. A variation of that, called something like Send Nudes, could work in the No. 9 format, I suspect. It'd be a bit grim though.
On a lighter note, while 3 by 3 is the first TV episode to not feature Reece and Steve, there's also the online episode The Inventors, which wasn't written by them either. I can't recall if you've shared your thoughts on that episode in the past, but if not is it something you'd be interested in talking about. I think it's still available somewhere.
I haven't seen The Inventors yet, but will definitely check it out sometime and (most likely) share some thoughts on here. I love the concept you've come up with there (and the title is great!) - could work great as a short story if you're a writer at all? Very No 9-esque, but might not sit within their effects budget, even if they have gone a bit gorier this series!
@@WeeLin Thank you! I do write and it is a short story idea that's been around for 25 years or so. I think with the normalisation of sexting and Onlyfans and things like that, that could be way in to the story I hadn't considered before. Genuinely, it's an idea that's only just resurfaced, but it's nice to know it potentially has legs.
Looking forward to your thoughts on The Inventors when you get 'round to it.
Have you ever seen Robbie Williams's video for Rock DJ? It has some similarities to your idea there.
@@brobrochanel Yes, and I was bloody furious that he got there before I did! However, I feel enough time has passed for it not to be comparable (hopefully).
@@andrewbowman4611 Forget Robbie Williams, there's a musical link here that goes back even further. There's a (very) short story on the album artwork of "Genesis Plays Live" which has a similar theme. Written by Peter Gabriel, I haven't read it for years, but my memory is that it involves someone stripping off until they finally unzip their skin. I'm afraid I can't find the text anywhere, but wikipedia describes it thus: "A surrealistic short story by Peter Gabriel was printed on the back cover of the album. William Friedkin, who directed the film The Exorcist, read the story and was interested in possibly working with Gabriel on a film."