Returning for a third glorious season, Felicia Day's uproariously funny, knowing net comedy continues to gleefully poke fun at online gaming culture, serving as a benchmark for webisode series and a veritable how-to-guide for net based short filmmaking. Pointed, well observed, and character-driven, The Guild follows the perennial underachievement of The Knights of Good, a dysfunctional family of users, losers, and the socially stunted who fumble and bicker their way along in a fictional, unspecified massive multi-player online role-playing game.
Serving as both writer, producer, and star, much of the series rests of the appeal of Felicia Day, from whose perspective the story unfolds. Luckily, Day was born to recite neurotic, uncomfortable monologues to camera, her mousy cuteness at once both awkward and instantly adorable. As both healer class and mother hen Day's Codex is the heart of the show, charged with harmonizing the volatile needs of her misfit companions; anally retentive Vork (Jeff Lewis), affable stalker Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), neglectful wife and mother Clara (Robin Thorsen), Asian hipster Tinkerballa (Amy Okunda), and smug high-schooler Bladezz (Vincent Caso).
Picking up after the disastrous house party that concluded season two, The Knights of good are a shambles. Vork has resigned as guild leader and now roams the neighborhood in self-imposed exile, living out of his van, on a pilgrimage for free wi-fi, while Clara has been ordered by her long-suffering husband to cut back her gaming hours, having been caught tonguing stuntman Wade at the party. Meanwhile, Bladezz is flipping burgers to pay off his mom's credit card bill, having been scammed out of expensive love tokens by the scheming Tink. Elsewhere Zaboo finds himself trapped in an abusive (quite literally) relationship with Stupid Tall Hot Girl (aka Riley).
Season three also pits Codex and her intrepid band of losers against rival guild Axis of Anarchy, led by the dastardly Fawkes (a wonderfully self-effacing turn by Wil Wheaton), who have seemingly recruited Tink, furious with the guild after a vengeful Bladezz deleted her character. Can Codex take up the mantle of guild leader of The Knights of Good? Will her companions resolve their differences and explore the new expansion together? Is her epic helm ever going to drop?
While the commonalities of our ever-more depersonalized Internet culture mean that anyone can dive into The Guild and enjoy it, you really need to have played some kind of co-operative online video game, preferably for some time, to really reap the maximum enjoyment. A self-confessed recovering World of Warcraft addict, Day knows all the dirty little secrets, notably just how much time and effort are poured down the virtual drain in service to short-term, pixalated triumphs, applauded by people you barely know and would likely never give the time of day to under any other circumstance.
But this is not some pointed social commentary on the dangers of online game addiction (although Clara being one CPS visit away from a lengthy jail term is a constant running gag). No, this is about poking a little bit of fun at a subculture that currently stands in the tens of millions, comprised of everyone from young kids to high-flying executives (no actual chicks though, that's a myth). Short, sharp, and hilariously bittersweet, The Guild forgoes the hectoring tone of many online satires, and at a typical length of six or seven minutes never becomes tiresome in the way of, say, Pure Pwnage. Felicia Day clearly loves these characters and you will to, making this a worthy time sink and a great few minutes of escape from the unending quest for phat lewt and relentless faction grind that is RL.
DVD Bonus Features
Extensive extras make this a bumper package crammed full of value. Extras include; Tips for making a web video, gag reels, and series scripts available in PDF. Optional commentary tracks are available with the entire cast as well as separate tracks featuring Day along with her fellow producers and director. Also included is the music video for Do You Want to Date My Avatar, plus the making-of, along with a Halloween themed short. Finally there is a Vork's Sword mini feature and videos of guild applicant rejects.
"The Guild: Season Three" is on sale May 25, 2010 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by Sean Becker. Written by Felicia Day. Starring Felicia Day, Vincent Caso, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen, Wil Wheaton.
