The first season of The Guild ended on a note of triumph. Despite their differences, the Knights of Good banded together to "defeat" Zaboo's mother. The Knights of Good had entered Cheezybeards as a guild turmoil, but left it united.
The second season undercuts this sense of triumph in the opening sequence. Codex reveals that Zaboo's mother was a real estate agent who managed to get Codex evicted from her apartment. Even worse, she still has Zaboo living with her, and is still fending off his unwanted advances.
As the season continues, the cohesiveness of the of the Knights of Good continues to erode. Almost all of the knights fall into cycles of self-destructive behavior. This is primarily driven by the selfishness of its members.
Clara is probably the worst offender off the group. When she fails to get the Orb of Nurr, she begins hunting an killing Vork repeatedly in the game. She takes advantage of her husbands good nature, lying to get out of attending her sisters wedding. She takes advantage of Codex's meekness by planning a big party to relive her Sorority glory days. She is even spends some time swapping spit with someone other than her husband. I have to admit, by the end of season two I have lost all sympathy for Clara.
Tink and Bladezz are equally selfish. Tink uses Bladezz to satisfy her materialistic desires by leading Bladezz to believe that she will satisfy his carnal desires. They circle each other with self-destructive behavior and ultimately both suffer the consequences of their actions.
Codex is a bit more sympathetic but, as she eventually realizes, she should have simply been honest with Zaboo about her feelings from the beginning. On the other hand, Zaboo seems trapped in a cycle of falling too hard for women he barely knows.
By the end, Vork has declared that the "Knights of Good" have become nothing more than the "Knaves of Hooliganism". The dream is over and the guild lies in ruins.
So, what did I think? I loved it! If you haven't checked out The Guild, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. After all, at less than 10 minutes an episode, it's not like it will take up a lot of time!
1 comments:
I agree with Rob on almost every point. I too have "lost sympathy" for Clara, though in my case I think it borders on loathing by the end of this season (a tribute to the actress). Tink and Bladezz are both less malodorous to me, due not only to the fact that they are both still essentially kids, but also that their selfishness is largely self destructive, where as by the end, Clara has mistreated her children, sister, husband, and herself in a more or less linear progression.
Zabu gets off comparatively light. While he is selfish, and more than a little creepy, his mother's position as the "big bad" of season one goes a long way towards abrogating ill feelings against him. Similarly, Vork is clearly in need of significant therapy (I think he may potentially turn out to be mildly autistic), but even he can clearly recognize that none of the guild members have been acting as friends should to each other. Also, "Knaves of Hooliganism" struck my funny bone.
Codex is an interesting case. Her lack of social skills is established early in season one, so perhaps her idea of bringing the knights together outside the artificial environment of the game was doomed to fail from the start. As to her actions... she obviously should have stated her true feelings for Zabu outright at first. There is some doubt in my mind if she would have been able to do so even had she thought of it. As the main character of the series, she is all but required to make that kind of mistake in order to advance the plot. I certainly wonder where they will go with the guild next season though... she no longer has the game friends to fall back on when life gets her down as her therapist implied she usually did. Next season will start with an all but destroyed guild, with many members emotionally destroyed, Tink without a character (though I expect a "powerlevel" deal to recreate her, potentially involving Zabu), and hopefully Clara's divorce. Maybe they will banish her from the guild as well, but I doubt that (the "trial" episode would be too much fun for a writer to miss).
Oh, and this is a good show, so watch it like Rob says. :D
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