Why Sam And Max: The Devil's Playhouse was their BEST Adventure | Beyond Pictures 

Let it be known that despite Max seeming psychotically indifferent to blowing up a different version of Sam, he still almost immediately went to the elevator to find another version of Sam He’s literally proving the point of this essay that Max just can’t admit Sam is the most important part of his life

Telltale's dynamic is that they made Sam a FUNCTIONING psychopath. He can interact with society, hold a job.

"I got a COLD" "In heaven??" "WHO SAID I WAS IN HEAVEN?!?!"

"They say that idle hands are the devil's playthings, but an idle mind is the devil's playhouse." Unironically one of my favorite quotes ever.

The fact that Max, after having to blow up Sam, feels so god awful that he goes through timelines just to be with him again sums up all we need to know. In the end, it's not Sam or Max. It's Sam AND Max.

Max: “We’re Sam and Max! Freelance-“ Rat: “ASSASSINS!!” Max: “Well, if you insist.”

In Poker Night 2, Sam & Max occasionally have dialogues where they talk about an ongoing case, and each conversation changes depending on how many tournaments you've won. They are all referencing the plot of The Devil's Playhouse and making fun of each other while the rest of the Poker Night cast looks on in fear and confusion.

17:37 The way Sam says “What the hell are you talking about Max” is immaculate

"Even though we'd be happier If you were dead" JESUS the delivery.

Ah Sam and Max. 'Tis better to burn twice as brightly for half as long. "But really, it's better to burn your house down and collect the insurance money" "You crack me up, little buddy."

Max: grab me by the ears Sam! Sam: you are aware there are children watching?

I had no idea that's how Sam and Max started, but it fits their characters so well. They do sometimes kinda seem like the story line that an older, tired, annoyed sibling would make when being forced to play with the younger, with just the right amount of mocking and imagination that only comes from someone genuinely trying to entertain themselves in a not very entertaining situation.

17:45 Jesus Christ, the joke is so simple and it still gets me EVERY FREAKING TIME!

I legitimately squealed like a fangirl when I first found this video. Not only have I been waiting literal YEARS for someone to talk about the brilliance of the devil's playhouse in a concise manner, but it comes from my favourite content creator! Kudos, B-mask, Kudos

Sam and max are kinda like rocky and bullwinkle. Both duos are products of their time that can still be incredibly funny today. It all depends on the studio's ability to understand what makes them funny In the first place. That being said, Sam and Max are waaay more relatable to today's humor and probably could make a huge comeback in the right hands.

Never played a Sam & Max game. I feel like I have been missing out bad

Sam and Max is the pinnacle of what I myself hope to achieve as a creative one day; Wonderfully weird yet down earth, completely nonsensical yet logical with its through line, devilishly witty with a sometimes juvenile touch, and incredibly absurd characters with a surprising amount of heart. No matter what the iteration whether, its the cartoon, the comics or the games, it a personal favorite franchise of mine and I'm glad to see it being celebrated by fellow fans and hopefully introduced to new ones as well.

You call the Devil's Playhouse their to date final game. Then the next month rolls around and Sam & Max This Time it's Virtual is unveiled at Gamescom. I'm so happy.

Yes, Sam and Max was one of the best series ever, still waiting on a revival

When I finished the final season I bawled my eyes out when Sam walked next to the credits looking all sad. The same fucking game where I was laughing my ass off through all those seasons.

"One way, dead end. Street signs are such wonderful metaphors for the human condition!" Thanks for making this B, I'm glad people still love Sam & Max.

i don't mean to overhype this game to anyone else, but to me, it really is the best point 'n click adventure i've ever played, maybe possibly my favorite story as well. one of the things in particular i always liked about devil's playhouse is its subtle but constant sense of foreboding. like for example, literally the moment you press start and see that flaming max loading screen, you think to yourself, "oh that looks cool", but then after you beat the game and you see that loading screen again, you realize, "OH. from the very beginning, it's been trying to tell me ALL ALONG." and then again and again, the game constantly waves all the stuff that's going to happen right under your nose, and that makes playing it a second time even stronger than the first. this game's just a really brilliant combination of comedy & these surprisingly dark moments that you would never get in the previous seasons. we're probably never gonna get something like this again, and that makes me sad

This was the first game that made me cry. I played it before I was a teen in 2011, yet despite all the mature jokes etc I still laughed often and also felt these characters. The ending was so hard hitting its crazy. It takes talent to take such silly characters and create something so deep

The biggest crime is season 3 not getting an ost. It seriously had the best music of the telltale sam and max games and it sucks you can't support the artist who made it.

I miss these boys 😭 Noir Sam is awesome, it makes me wonder what the Max at the end went through in his universe. I would love another series with them ♥️

YES finally someone judging the telltale version on it's own merits and not just comparing it negatively to hit the road. I think the second season will always be my favorite, if only for introducing me to the franchise, but I agree with most of what you said about the 3rd season.

B-Mask, be honest - When you released this video a month ago, was it because you used *FUTURE VISION* and knew they would announce a new Sam & Max VR game??

You always find a way to sneak in "Fish People " don't you? Lol. Gonna miss Sam and Max

The Devil's Playhouse, in the end, always makes me cry. Too good, too sad.

16:27 it took me a second to realize that was an impression! Good job.

5:35 Sam's a good guy, i swear Seriously though, this series is incredibly important to me. Saying it's made an impact on how I consume and view media would be a massive understatement. Very few video games, movies, tv shows, comics, etc. have been able to capture my attention and appreciation quite like this. It's so unique. Nothing can quite match it. The only things I could come up with that'd be of similar calibre would be TF2 and the Venture Bros. Coincidentally, they've all been featured in Poker Night. Huh.

I just beat Devil’s Playhouse, and holy shit, I cried at the end.

My life is an endless spiral of wishing for more Sam & Max content since the fan base appears to be dying and no new installments in the future and then I see this 40 minutes video in my feed!!! Gonna dive right into it! It will ease the pain for a short amount of time until I'll get back to my life without Sam & Max.

Just saying this, but the story of the cancelled Sam and Max game would end up being used as an ongoing story in Poker Night 2. So we at least know how the games plot would have progressed... it's as crazy as you can imagine.

"Who said I was in H E A V E N ?"

I might be biased but I still feel the Fox Kid cartoon had the definitive voices for the two, specially Sam.

I love that @ 36:50 the ending uses the “Cruisin”/“Soda Poppers” music from season 1, easily the best composition from the series (save for maybe the office theme, which is also there).

Something I'm noticing about the devil's playhouse is that the settings and puzzles now actually serve the purpose of establishing a 3 act structure as opposed to previously, where it was pretty much just a string of problem solving events that eventually amounted to something. For example, "They Stole Max's Brain!" has a clear beginning, middle, and end, each clearly defined by a specific challenge and "location", each a natural progression from the previous: find out what happened to max in noir mode, break up skunkape and paperwaite in the museum, set everything back to normal in the Samunmak word. I love how it keeps things moving and feels like a real story with actual stakes and a well thought out plan the whole time as opposed to just at the end.

16:27 for a moment I thought that was his actual voice actor lol

"You're wrong! Sam & Max: Freelance Police will never be defunded!"

Experiencing this game as it came out in 2010 was a wonderful experience. The speculation on the forums was wild - the Future Vision especially was such a great way to fuel those fires. As much as I would love another Sam & Max game, The Devil's Playhouse is an excellent send-off, and I'll always adore it. Thanks for this video - between this and the Monkey Island video, they've given me a lot to think about in regards to games I've loved for years.

I just love Sam and Max. And to me, I’m glad that Sam and Max is being exposed to more and more people are being exposed to it, and that they’re enjoying it. I love it. And I’m glad that Telltale took something so beloved, and expanded upon it. Gutting us, making us laugh, making us cry, and overall, making us think. Complacency is a thing both the characters and the company were going through, and by taking something so risky, and so utterly real, they got out of their rut twofold, and bringing a story that hits so hard… and honestly, it was enough to make me pause. Pause, and reflect, and internalize. And I think that’s what made this game, the Devil’s Playhouse, my favorite. It was complex, with different takes and doses of realism and comedy, and made it into something better than any “make it *real* “ take ever could. Not cynical for the heck of it, not funny with no feeling, it went the opposite route, and put everything together, and it worked. It bloody worked, and it’s incredible. This is why I love Sam and Max, in all their iterations, and why I really respect Telltale in that; it makes me feel so many things, and I just can’t help but be in awe. As a consumer, as a writer, it’s just inspiring for me, and I hope someday I can come to being half as reflective, half as clever, and half as daring. It’s just amazing.

This is the first time that I actually heeded a spoiler warning in a video, since your delivery and display of the games makes me genuinely want to go and play the games myself. That's gotta say something about the quality of the video. Great stuff!

This is perhaps the best analysis of not just the devil's playhouse, but the series as a whole. Amazing commentary!

I love this analysis. The Devil's Playhouse was actually my first encounter with Sam and Max and it gave me an incredible first impression that all the other pieces of the franchise lived up to. TDP is probably my favorite entry, or at least close, for that emotional hook you elaborated on, and it's what hooked me on these characters forever. Fantastic work.

I chose Sam and Max to stay here in our time. They’re like family to me.

You crack me up, little buddy!

I like how there was some foreshadowing in the older seasons. Like, for example, Max was immune to all of the hypnosis, while Sam wasn’t. Hugh Bliss said that the only being that could stop was Max. They obviously planned for season three to be about magic from the beginning. It wasn’t like they came up with it as they went. Did they plan to rip our hearts out at the end, only to sloppily shove it back in? Maybe! After all, the loading symbol is Max on fire! (At least, in the remake of season one. I haven’t played the original season one, and I can’t force myself to play season two due to the fact that it doesn’t have my monitor resolution as an option, and everything looks weird. Also I can’t pause in the middle of a cutscene. I hope they remake it) Little side note, “Looks like it’s time to boil the haggis” is so extremely bad•ss _Skun’ka’pe_

"I don't know man it's doing things to him, it's making things... *canonical* " idk why but that was probably the funniest way you could've phrased that

glad we're getting remasters of these.

In all the universe, the only power beyond the mind’s comprehension, is the power to comprehend, THE POWER OF THE MIND. If any one of us could unlock this terrible power would we use it to Explore the Mysteries of the Infinite, or would we use it...to Destroy? - The Narrator.

Great vid sorry I had to dip out at the spoilers but you convinced me to buy the game. I saw you talked about the comics and other games but not the TV show. Its a good place to get more of the sam and max fix.

IS SAM IN DAVROS’ WHEELCHAIR FROM DOCTOR WHO?? Aw hell yeah. (Cracking vid, boss man!)

1:32 "hoping the madness would end" joke's on you, *now it's my special interest*

Thank you so much for this, I've always had trouble articulating how much i love these characters and especially the third season. This is easily the most in depth discussion of their appeal I've ever seen. You've earned yourself a subscriber for life man, well done.

This is the kind of video I could rewatch many times! Thank you for giving old Sam & Max the attention. I should replay the series for old times sake soon... "Well, here we are in the Phillipines!" "Drawn without reference material, apparently!"

The perfect timing of this video became even more perfect with the announcement of season 1 remaster

Historians: They were really good friends

When I heard max saying that past Sam had electromagnetic powers I somehow thought that Sam had to suffer becoming Tetsuo Shima overpowering himself to the point to turn into a flesh monster that max tried everything in his power to save his beloved friend

Very excited for the VR game that was announced recently, but you’ve hit the nail on the head with this video. The Devil’s Playhouse was by far my favourite Sam & Max adventure, one of my favourites of all time too. Having a review copy for this series, and experiencing the ending a few days early, and anticipating the reaction the Telltale forums would have to it was one of my favourite memories from that year.

B-Mask uploads a 40min video in the morning. Wowie my day has been made already.

I’m glad someone else loves this game as much as I do

this was so interesting and really motivated to play the game! thank you

It is said to this day that Sam and Max fans still stay up at night crying thinking about that game .

I think Sal sounds better as the immitation of Warburton than actual Warburton. Not because I don't like Patrick's voice, or that Patrick's voice wouldn't fit the character at all. It's because the imitation provides a unique charm that is very Sam and Max to me. The fact that his voice is hearty, yet buglike, which is quite fitting, since he is a bug...guy.

Damn, the content is a-flowin' in the B-mines!

You know, once I get my big computer set up, I might very well stream the whole Sam and Max series... I mean, I've seen them played, sure, but I've never actually completed them, myself.

And now ANOTHER game I'm gonna have to pick up. Thank you, B ♥️

I think you make an excellent point with the whole "dissecting the frog" metaphor. How do we treat these characters with reverence when, from the very beginning, they've been explicit commentary on the irreverent nature of their medium? Meta narratives have become a sort of "trend" in the late 2010s in an attempt to imitate deep writing, but The Devil's Playhouse did it years before it was popular - directly acknowledging that, yeah, this is all rather ridiculous, but it was always real. It always mattered. It's always Sam & Max. Fantastic video about a fantastic game - hopefully it comes to gamepass someday. You've earned a subscriber!

I don't think I truly realized it until I watched this video, but this is definitely one of my favorite video games of all time. Seeing it all unfold again, my old sentimental reaction to those episodes has been brought right back.

I was certainly obsessed with the telltale series when I first played it. The characters has always been on my mind for the past 10 years. I’m Incredibly overjoyed that the developers revisit this game and remaster it, showing it a lot of love. The jokes and characterization in the game was genius. The violence, perversion, and grammatical sophistication attracted me to the characters. Looking forward to more possible games in the future. But thank you for this immaculate video essay, these two don’t receive enough love from the media

This is my favourite point and click adventure game and finally someone did it justice:) when the ending showed up i cried a bit!!! thank u so much for putting into words why this series is so wonderful

Looking back at my steam library, I've got 2 hours of playtime logged in each episode of season 1. I have 10 hours of playtime in each episode of season 3. It was very good and fun to experience, and I played it over and over again. It's my favorite of Telltale's works; I wasn't really a fan of the Walking Dead style of game. So far as I know, the main downfall of Telltale was that they got overambitious with cranking out games and expanding and didn't check to see that the games were making enough profit to justify the company's expansion, and then it turned out it didn't and the whole thing fell to pieces. Sad, but at least they did manage to inspire others to continue the revival of adventure games.

Not so long ago I did a full playthrough of this game with my friends as a way to show them this story. We had laughs, we had fun, they were on the edge of their feet. While I can understand why some would rank season 2 as the highlight, in my opinion theres really someth9ng S3 that makes this something special and an amazing sendoff to one of my fav niche IPs of all time. ALSO WHERE DID YOU GET THAT DEVELOPER COMMENTARY? I DIDNT KNOW THERE WAS ONE

I hope that they remaster all of the seasons, so the next generation can enjoy them.

I was just binging all your videos, and look, there's a new one I can watch repeatedly

Thank you for giving the series the praise it so dearly deserves

Finally, I saw you referencing it and was wondering when you'd make a video

Your video popped up randomly on my recommendations and you just made me feel overwhelming nostalgia for a franchise that I adored as a teenager and that helped mold my sense of humor. God bless you and all the other Sam and Max fans out there. Subscribed.

You put words to a feeling the had while playing this. In most of the previous episodes and seasons they make references to Max’s weird brain and the lovecraftian elements that become much more prevalent in this season. I got a feeling of impending doom throughout this season to the point where at the end I genuinely got choked up. This is the complete culmination of all their adventures, there is no way to describe how masterful they either just had happy coincidences with those references or if they did actually plan this from the start. Either way it shows Lovecraftian themes of inescapable fate where ever since their first outings where they were put on this crash course.

looking forward to finally seeing the second half of this vid in August

Thank you for making a vid on one of my favourite games!! :D

Insane to think about this series again, been so many years for me. Excellent vid!

Still 50% convinced that they're a power couple

Loved watching this series on youtube as a youngling. Good on you man for making this :)

It’s been almost a decade since I played the Sam and Max games so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I was really put off at the time by Max’s decision in the end to “save Sybil” and sacrifice his life to do so. I thought it was incredibly out of character at the time for Max to sacrifice himself for anyone other than Sam. What did you think about that part? You didn’t really touch on it but I’m assuming you didn’t feel it was as out of character as I did.

"look max,we're in the Philippines" Me,a filipino:..looks like the carnaval me and my brother went to 8 years ago!

Thank you for this video. I’ve been a Sam & Max fan ever since I stumbled on Hit the Road at a Goodwill in the early 90s (it was my first exposure to Lucasarts adventures, before I’d only exclusively played Sierra On-Line). The TellTale Games were a godsend to everyone who wanted a proper sequel, especially after the cancellation of Lucasarts’s adventure department. I found the first two games very fun/funny and serviceable, but Season 3 definitely elevated the series and made me realize that this was the height of the TellTale Games; while The Walking Dead may have had more emotional stakes and I do enjoy The Wolf Among Us (being a Fables fan), Sam & Max is still the best.

I’m happy to know that this game is actually real and not some weird dream I had as a kid.

Really hope they remaster the 2nd and 3rd season too

Thanks for the retrospective, i've always wanted to get into this series. Maybe i'll start now...

i could probably watch/listen to you talk about anything, the way you present/write your essays is entertaining in it's own right to be honest.

I always wanted more TTG Sam & Max, but I agree that they sent it off in the best way they could, whether they intended it or not.

5:35 My Favourite Sam Voice Line.

This video is like taco night at James Earl Jones’ house.

I have lost track of how many times I've watched this video. Amazing work B

Unrelated, but that Skunkape impression was beautiful.

So glad to see someone making such good content about a game I never see enough love for

Awesome video, very well done! This is the first video of yours I've watched and convinced me to sub. Can't wait to watch more of your content!

I'm not even done with the video, but it has me laugh so much that I'm already looking where I can play them myself. Incredible as always, B-Mask.