WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! hits new heights: Smosh’s two-part special goes all in

Just when I thought WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! had peaked, Smosh dropped not one but two back-to-back episodes, both of which somehow raised the bar. Titled Black Fog (Part 1 & 2), these episodes saw a rewinding of the clock to explore the events that started it all, and introduced a twist in the game of Dread.

Streaming in the early hours of the September 20 (BST), Black Fog: Part 1 served as a prequel, set a few years before the main events of the series. A new rotation of cast members was introduced as four strangers were recruited to investigate a mysterious island off the coast of Maw Meadows.

Chanse McCrary as ‘Caine Venable’ – A mountain survivalist and Instagram influencer, who lives for content and talks about it non-stop.

Arasha Lalani as ‘Professor Tim Flashback’ – A delusional psychology professor, who believes nothing and no one is real. He’s possibly British, though no one is really certain.

Gina Darling as ‘Stevie C. Gull’ – A cool and composed martial arts expert, equipped with deadly nunchucks.

Case Blackwell as ‘Zane Stratt’ – A tech entrepreneur and autodidact, with a CV full of self-started companies.

All of our players were brought together by Jon Matteson’s NPC, ‘Agent Channing’, a mysterious government type who gives them their mission: to find the source of the Black Fog.

She stayed in character through unhinged scenarios with quick-wit improv and incredible dynamics with the other players

From the moment their boat landed on the island, the tension was high. Less than halfway into the game, the first player fell as the Jenga tower collapsed. It was “the fastest death we’ve ever had,” Games Master George Primavera had announced. The loss was definitely a shock, especially as it happened to be one of the group’s most knowledgeable players, thus changing the stakes immediately.

From there, the remaining players scrambled through increasingly risky encounters. Arasha Lalani’s role as ‘Professor Tim Flashback’ was a highlight for me, as she stayed in character through unhinged scenarios with quick-witted improv and incredible dynamics with the other players.

As is becoming quite common in this series, the episode ended with a single survivor. “I know it was my job to keep everyone alive…everybody’s dead,” they admitted to ‘Agent Channing’, a line that couldn’t sum up the series title more perfectly.

And, of course, the audience was once again incorporated into the finale. Four pulls from the Jenga tower in sixty seconds. Did they make it? I’m not spoiling that here.

After the high stakes of Part 1, I figured that Part 2 would have a hard time matching it, let alone topping it. However, being the first episode I actually watched live at midnight, I found that it didn’t just match it – it blew it out of the water.

Streaming on September 21, Black Fog: Part 2 took place after the events of the first part, following a new group that was sent in to find out what really happened – as George put it: “the sequel to a prequel.”

The higher the stakes, the taller the structure

The moment I saw the stage, I knew we were in for something different. Instead of a single Jenga tower, each player had their own. Every time a player performed a risky action, they pulled from their personal tower and stacked it onto a central “finale” tower. The higher the stakes, the taller the structure.

This time, our players were:

Ian Hecox as ‘Gio McPherson’ – Founder of McPherson Labs, a tech developer focused on explosives and robotics.

Tommy Bowe as ‘Milton Reeves’ – Gio’s long-time partner, who died but was revived by having his brain put into a robot body.

Courtney Miller as ‘Tessa De Lorraine’ – A hotshot pilot, recruited by the Lab to fly anything and everything.

Shayne Topp as ‘Reuben’ – The janitor. He wasn’t really supposed to be there, but when things got messy, he got the call.

The highlight of the episode was easily Tommy Bowe as ‘Milton’, the revived robot partner. This was his first time playing Dread – which I still find hard to believe, as his performance was on another level. Not only was he dressed the part, his improv timing, robotic movement, and line delivery were outstanding. His quick thinking not only kept the story moving but gave George some serious competition in the storytelling aspect of the game.

The chosen audience member did something no one could have ever predicted

Once the shared tower was high enough, the individual ones were abandoned. The finale tower, the tallest I’ve seen in the series, became the focus of the second half.

I don’t want to spoil the best episode of the series, so I’ll just say this: as always, the final scene saw George turn to the audience for the finishing move. Three pulls in sixty seconds. Sounds easy, but the tower was a brittle skyscraper at this point, and, watching live, I braced for collapse.

Instead, the chosen audience member did something no one could have ever predicted, something that had George literally shaking their hand and saying: “First person to do that. I’ve been waiting for that for five shows.” No, I’m not telling you what it was.

As one member of the digital audience typed into the chat at 2am, which I promptly wrote down: “This show is actually gonna give me lifelong heart problems.” I 100% agree, and I cannot wait for the next.

Episodes stream at live.smosh.com, where you can still get a season pass to watch Black Fog and everything that came before (or after, depending on the way you look at it). Get ready for the next instalments set for October, November, and the grand finale in December. You won’t want to miss it.