The Guild: Season 3

I really cannot complement this show enough. Because this is Season 3 I will assume you are familiar with the premise of "The Guild." This review will mostly cover the new additions to the cast and, of course, the plotline. What's become clear in this season is that Felicia and Co. have an excellent eye for casting.The third season introduces the "Axis of Anarchy." This collection of laughably goofy X-treme types are all perfect adversaries for The Knights of Good: a wannabe warrior-poet, a 'roided-out cop with rage issues, an angsty goth diva, a "professional" gamer, (complete with gorgeous attendant) and an obviously closeted fabric salesman who never seems to get the cool one-liners quite right. In any other show these misfits would be the heroes struggling against the "jocks" or something, but in "The Guild" they are the cool kids making life for the hapless Knights of Good quite miserable.The actors playing members of the Axis do an excellent job. Wil Wheaton's casting may appear to be fanservice, but he does an excellent job as the Axis frontman, Fawkes. I will be very interested to see if Fawke's overblown bravado ends up being a complete sham or if he'll stay the same in Season 4.It should be said that, as usual, the writing is incredibly solid and the core cast continues to be as loveably flawed as can be. Being partial to Zaboo myself, (sigh...yeah he's the one I relate to) it was hilarious and unexpected to see his manhood crushed and rebuilt in the course of a handful of episodes. Clara's plot was even stronger this year. (why do I feel like Clara really exists somewhere in real life?) Bladezz takes a beating (but I'd really like to see more of his character) and sadly Tink's role is pretty diminished. If I fail to mention the chracters of Vork and Codex it's only because they are their usual hilarious selves. (although Vork's arc takes him out of his comfort zone...and what a small zone that is!)

I. Overview"The Guild" is a comedy web series about online gaming written by Felicia Day, who also stars as the main character, Cyd Sherman/Codex. The title refers to a group of gamers, known in the game as "The Knights of Good," who play an MMORPG together and decide to meet each other in person upon Cyd's suggestion. The remainder of the series follows the Knights of Good and their interactions with each other after, both online and offline. The members of the guild refer to each other by the names of their avatars in the game: Codex (the main character, who plays a priestess), Zaboo (a half-Indian, half-Jewish guy who plays a warlock), Vork (a middle-aged stickler for rules who plays a warrior), Bladezz (a cocky and arrogant teenager who plays a rogue), Clara (a negligent mother who plays a mage), and Tinkerballa (a diva Asian girl who plays a ranger). Other characters are introduced at different points in the series, including a rival guild and several minor characters.II. The ProsSeason I is quite arguably the best season of the entire series. Anyone who has had extensive online gaming experience can relate to the guild and their addictions to the online game they play, which seems to be a fantasy setting similar to that of World of Warcraft (which some members of the cast admit to playing in interviews). Zaboo's infatuation with Codex is amusing and draws sympathy from anyone who has experienced unrequited love. The cast is colorful and there are some truly original moments, as the "boss battle" with Zaboo's mother. All in all, the first season leaves us curious to see what will become of this motley crew of gamers.III. The ConsUnfortunately, subsequent seasons of "The Guild" fail to build upon the great groundwork that is set in the first season. Although there are many directions Felicia Day could have taken to develop her plot, none of the characters experience real growth or change. The result is a stagnant stream of antics where truly amusing moments are few and far between and the underdeveloped characters that surround Codex are little more than one-dimensional caricatures. Zaboo's Steve Urkel-like obsession with Codex borders on nausea, Vork is a hypocrite who professes to do good in the game while committing illegal and unethical acts in reality, Clara makes us wish the police would show up and slap her with cuffs for a disturbingly overt display of child neglect, and Tinkerballa convinces us that the modern woman is a gold-digging, man-eating, potty-mouth lump of vanity.Codex herself turns out to be no more interesting/appealing than the characters with whom she interacts. Supposedly shy and demure, Codex/Cyd: obstinately demoralizes Zaboo, blackmails a fellow guild member, encourages a fight over herself at a party, assumes control of the guild, defeats a rival guild leader, and engages a sexual relationship with a complete stranger. It is not clear whether the inconsistencies in Codex's character - like those of Vork's - are the result of poor acting, poor scripting, or both."The Guild" also projects an overbearing, feminist overtone. Codex openly pursues other relationships with guys while Zaboo grovels for her attention, Zaboo's brief distraction from Codex with a girlfriend ends when she rejects him for another girl, Bladezz is defaced when his mom has a sexual encounter with a rival guild member, Vork is "undateable" and his role as leader is surmounted by Tinkerballa and Clara when they reject his guild hall, and Clara dominates her husband while refusing to interact with the couple's children herself. Clearly, this is a series that lacks any strong male characters. The effect here is an estrogen-saturated view of online gaming that alienates the male audience.Finally, we never see the actual game that is being played until Season IV, and then only briefly. Up until this point, we see interaction between members of the guild only in real-time - typically, with each character sitting at their respective PC, holding conversation through mic and headphones.IV. SummaryAt first glance, "The Guild" appears to be the interesting and untold story of the online gamer's world. Upon deeper inspection, the series does not deliver what it purports to be. Rather, it is a polarized and overreaching attempt to dramatize a popular past-time. Indeed, "The Guild" owes its popularity to online gaming itself, rather than the ingenuity of its script or the quality of its performance.

Being casual gamers, my wife and I stumbled on Season One of The Guild by accident and have been hooked ever since. This is not the season to start watching The guild if you haven't already watched the other two ( The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2 ). Season Three of The Guild picks up soon after the events of Season Two, leaving most of the guild members barely on speaking terms.No spoilers from me; this time around we have Codex (Felicia Day) attempting to rekindle the "Knights of Good" sense of unity by finding a common enemy. Things don't go as planned and it makes for some of the best episodes yet.There are also a lot of extras, my favorite being the "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" music video! Just great!Everyone knows that all of these episones can be found for free elsewhere on the Internet, but buy them here and support these great actors and hopefully they will continue to produce this very enjoyable series. I also like that Amazon included the "On Demand" episodes when you buy the DVD (perhaps for a limited time?). This lets us watch it on our PCs or on our TV via our  Roku HD-XR Player .A very clever and fun series that isn't just for gamers!Highly Recommended!CFH