Rating: 4/5
Three Word Summary: Role playing genius
Among the many online shows and shows about video games (see: Video Game High School and In Love and Warcraft), The Guild ranks among the best of both. And it does so by embracing the humor and quirkiness of the genres.
Written by and starring Felicia Day, the show details the adventures of a local six-member guild within a fantasy MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) simply called The Game. (Although it’s purposely generic, the Game is obviously based on World of Warcraft.)
Members of the titular guild called the Knights of Good include neurotic Codex (Day), penny-pinching guild-leader Vork, oddball HinJew (half Hindu, half Jew) Zaboo, beautiful, but manipulative Tinkerballa, hilariously terrible mother Clara and high school slacker Bladez.
Much like Community’s Abed, Zaboo is by far the most dynamic character, transforming into a number of different roles, but remaining funny all along. My favorite character was Clara who continues to slack in her maternal duties in favor of the game and treat her despondent husband (who she calls Mr. Wiggly) with no respect.
The format of the show alternates between webcam confessions from Codex, the in real life (IRL) interactions of the guild members and their action online. Each of the six seasons are broken into a dozen or so short episodes. All of these episodes are combined into one long (60-90 minute) compilation on Netflix.
As the seasons progress, the quality of the show improves, in both dialogue and production. The final two seasons, detailing the Guild’s experience at a game convention (Season 5) and Codex’s job at The Game headquarters (Season 6) are by far the best in the show.
Best of all are the occasional cameo appearances by Wil Wheaton (as a rival guild leader), Neil Gaiman, Nathan Filian, Simon Helberg (Howard from the Big Bang Theory) and the great Stan Lee. There are also plenty of pop culture references and satirizations of MMORPG game play.
As someone who doesn’t play online role playing games, I was still able to appreciate these references and the humor used in the show. This accessibility along with the well-developed characters are what give the show it’s mass appeal and make it a pleasure to watch.