The Guild started as the brain child of actress Felicia Day who has been in nothing that I'm even aware of save for a few episodes of Buffy (blame my ex-girlfriend), an episode of House I haven't seen yet, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog that my little brother won't get off my ass about having not seen yet. The show is in its second season with each episode running three to seven minutes in length. It features Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Vincent Caso, and Robin Thorsen as members of an unspecified MMORPG guild known as The Knights of Good run by Vork (Jeff Lewis). The show takes the main perspective of Codex as played by Felicia Day, and each episode starts with her recording her video blog. The first line of the whole series is laugh-out-loud funny, when Codex says, "I got fired from my job. My therapist...broke up with me." Of course, you find out that through the odd linguistic uses they appear to be using in the show that "broke up with" means that she was dropped as a patient, but it was still funny. All of her problems stem from her gaming addiction despite her desire for a normal life--something I'm sure a lot of us can relate to. The funny starts when her guild-mate Zaboo as played by Sandeep Parikh shows up at her doorstep and proceeds to make himself at home and moving forward in an imaginary romantic relationship he feels he has with Codex.
With each episode being less than ten minutes, there are obviously some episodes that are a little short on laughs. The jokes are hugely oriented towards MMO players or just gamers in general, so if you're not inclined to that kind of humor it will probably be a bit lost on you. The directing done by two no-name directors Jane Morgan and Greg Bensen is pretty good considering it's just an internet program. The acting of the gamers is different for everyone with the only really likable character being Codex. Vork is a loner tight-wad who runs the guild professionally, Tinkerballa as played by Amy Okuda is a huge bitch, Zaboo is a delusional socially awkward kid, Bladezz (Vincent Caso) is a horny asshole who steals the guild's gold and items, and Clara as played by Robin Thorsen is an awful inattentive mother. Then there's Codex, who is socially awkward and spends far too much time behind a computer, but longs for the real life and even tries bringing the guild together in the "material realm."
As a gamer, I appreciate the series and I even find myself eagerly awaiting the third season. However, I do hate MMORPGs and seeing the awkwardness I am so familiar in seeing in my friends on television softens the blow a bit. But the show really is a toss up whether you like it or not. My roommate plays a lot of games but thought the series was god awful and would roll his eyes when he saw me continue watching it. The humor is subjective and the story-lines are kind of silly, but the characters are very human and crazy and flawed which makes for a lot of funny. Plus, since all the episodes are on youtube, the official website, and free downloads on the Xbox Live Marketplace you owe it to yourself to check it out if even for the off chance that you might enjoy it.
-Evan "Dez" O'Connor
No comments:
Post a Comment