“Inside Edge” Season 3 Review: The Twists and Turns Continue!

Inside Edge season 3 continued to offer numerous twists and turns as it focused on the backstories and families of the main characters.

I was provided with free screeners of the 10-episodes long Inside Edge season 3 for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

Warning: This review of Inside Edge season 3 contains certain spoilers!

I’m not a cricket fan, but Inside Edge has got me hooked! Inside Edge is definitely a series you can’t jump into without watching it from the beginning. I’m glad I decided to binge-watch the previous two seasons before playing the screeners for the third outing because, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to fully appreciate the character arcs and story developments.

Newcomers might be a bit confused over Inside Edge season 3 focusing a lot more on family dynamics instead of the corruption found in the world of cricket, but due to what happened in the past two seasons, the third installment taking a more family-centric route made sense to me. I enjoyed seeing the backstories of some of the characters getting fleshed out and being able to gain a better understanding of the feud between Vikrant Dhawan (Vivek Oberoi) and Yashvardhan Patil (Aamir Bashir). Inside Edge season 3 is about legacy, and you can’t talk about legacy without involving the family.

Vikrant and Yashvardhan, who are revealed to be half-siblings in the third season, try to undermine each other at every step. Vayu’s character arc is about wanting to become captain of the Indian team while trying to address the reality of his parentage that his sister Rohini (Sayani Gupta) reveals. Vayu’s girlfriend, Mantra (Sapna Pabbi), decides to make betting legal in India as a way to stand up to her father, Yashvardhan, but not realizing how much danger she’s in. So, yeah. Lots of family stuff.

This time around, the main cricket match being focused on is the one between India and Pakistan. Of course, politics get involved as well as match-fixing and illegal betting. On a more not-so-serious note, we have petty drama between Vayu (Tanuj Virwani) and Rohit (Akshay Oberoi), as Vayu takes Rohit’s place as captain of the Indian team, complete with taking over Rohits’s previous brand endorsements.

Rohit’s narrative arc got more screentime compared to the queer characters, Hamish and Imtiaz, that showed up in the previous two seasons and had more of an impact on the overall storyline. Due to being a famous cricketer, it wasn’t easy for Rohit to be open about his sexuality like his boyfriend, Allen (Ankur Rathee), wanted. Rohit, understandably, dreaded losing his spot on the team endorsements and fan support if he came out. I just knew him being in the closet was going to cause drama with Allen. And it did!

Fortunately, it all worked out in the end as the writers gave Rohit an impressive moment to showcase his love for Allen and come out publicly to the entire world. The scene reminded me of Zero’s coming out in Hit the Floor.

I’m not sure if Rohit and Allen will continue to appear in the next season, but if they do, I would like to see the consequences of Rohit’s decision. His teammates were supportive. The audience was supportive, too, but that could be attributed to him playing a major role in the Indian team winning the match. I would like to see if some trouble pops up once the crowd’s excitement dies down. Rohit not facing any kind of homophobia after coming out just wouldn’t make any sense in the world of Inside Edge.

I can see some viewers having an issue with the show’s queer representation via Allen coming across as “feminine”, but we have to remember that such queer individuals do exist. And, as far as my opinion goes, Allen’s “femininity” is balanced out with Rohit’s more “masculine” demeanor as well as the similar demeanors of Hamish and Imtiaz before him. So, I’m all for Allen being portrayed in the manner he was especially because there’s no “right way” to be queer. Everyone should be allowed to express themselves the way they want. 

Talking about queer representation in Inside Edge, the third season also included a highly capable genderqueer hacker. It was nice to see that particular character telling Vikrant the proper pronouns to use when talking to them. Vikrant’s a murderer and overall awful person, but at least he’s respectful of pronouns. So, there’s that.

With cricket being a very male-dominated industry, Inside Edge season 3 continued Zarina’s journey to seek the power she wanted – the presidency of India’s Cricket Board. Over the course of the two seasons, we have seen Zarina (Richa Chadda) learning from Vikrant and Yashvardhan. Vikrant wanted to use Zarina as a puppet while Yashvardhan thought of her as his likely successor (but still used her in a way she disliked).

The third season gave Zarina a considerable amount of agency as she conspired against both men who underestimated her. She’s always had the drive to get what she wanted. I liked her backstory involving how she didn’t want to feel helpless like her mother. Zarina’s a quick learner. All she needed was the proper guidance, and that’s what she got from Vikrant and Yashvardhan. I’m looking forward to seeing what she will do next!

Mantra came into her own in the current season, too. She had to quickly adjust from being her father’s lovely daughter to a thorn in his side. Mantra took it upon herself to destroy Yashvardhan’s illegal betting empire after learning the truth about his business dealings. With how the third season ended, she’s definitely in a place of power. Let’s see if she’s smart enough to keep her position. Yashvardhan did a lot of bad things to get where he used to be. It will be interesting to see if Mantra’s moral compass could be corrupted when faced with tough decisions.

Here’s hoping Zarina and Mantra have each other’s backs because facing a terrorist like Hammad won’t be easy. And you know Vikrant’s wife is out for revenge.

I hope Amazon Prime Video decides to greenlight Inside Edge for a fourth season because things got a lot more interesting! The entire 10-episodes long third season of Inside Edge is available right now for you to stream.

Below is my reaction and review video of the season 3 finale. For those wondering, I used the copy on Amazon and not the screener I was sent.

Have you watched Inside Edge season 3? What do you think is going to happen next?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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