The Guild Season 3 Episode 7: Coping and Stuff

By WorldofHiglet

There were more shenanigans and revelations in the latest episode from Felicia Day and The Guild as the feud with the ‘Asses of Anarchy’ heats up. Felicia has written about this episode on her blog and you see the episode below or on MSN Video, on Xbox (in HD) or on Zune.

The episode starts with Codex ranting about the ‘Asses of Anarchy’ and their latest prank on Bladezz. His locker was filled with:

Codex: “…5 pairs of nunchucks, a pink pack of ladies’ razors and a kitchen blowtorch…”

But she still has time to feel sorry for herself about how old she is. Good to know some things never change (except she is getting older, so that is chang…nevermind! Plus, why do we call them nunchucks? I mean – I’ve been taught by nuns and although they are apt to throw stuff at you it was usually smaller stuff like chalk and board-dusters they were chucking at you. Okay. Back to the review).

Bladezz is naturally upset about this turn of events, especially as it appears that the person who planted the stuff (or who caused a diversion so it could be planted) was Venom, who totally fooled his friends.

Vork is pragmatic: “Attractive women in wheelchairs have lifetime immunity.”

Everyone is clear that something must be done. Except George. Mister Wiggly is too busy wondering what ‘experience points’ are and looking for praise for doing two hours of swimming in the ocean to ‘build muscle’.

Everyone is equally clear that George is stuck firmly in N00bland 101 and makes no efforts to hide it. Clara has to dismiss him so she can deal with the situation.

Clara: “Okay, if we’re going to make fun of my husband can we make sure it’s behind his back?”

Vork voices his ultimate concern about Wiggly’s lack of skills – that as a Guild they will become the worst thing possible – casual gamers! This tips the fragile Bladezz over the edge and his breaks down, crying that he wants things to be like they were before…

Codex takes charge: “Bladezz, turn the CAPS lock off. I have an idea…”

Oooh, this is good. Very good! Bladezz becomes teacher to Mister Wiggly. This gets him out of the house and could even mean that George might possibly start to grasp some (any) of the basics. It isn’t looking too promising, though.

George: “Oh! I’m a hunter!” (Makes notes)

The lack of progress is hard for Clara, too, because she is offline while Bladezz is schooling, forcing her to turn to the whipped cream.

But Bladezz does see the upside for him. He is charging $25 (cash) per hour and it looks like it’s going to take a whole lot of hours.

The other half of Codex’s plan is that she takes on Dena, who has been trying to practice her bass next to Bladezz in the garage. Contrary to appearances, it appears that she wasn’t just doing it to annoy Bladezz and actually is trying to learn. Codex deals with her the way she usually deals with things – gets her set up and then ignores her because she is trying to do Guild stuff.

And what is she up to? More outreach to the AoA. Apparently she has no insight into the fact that she cannot bargain, threaten or even converse with them and hope to win. They are as happy as ever to have an interloper in their chat. She tells them that they can’t keep attacking Bladezz.

Faulks: “Can’t? ‘Can’t’ translates in Anarchy-speak as should. Nay! Must…”

Codex carries on, ignoring the fact that she is only apparently making things worse.

Valkyrie: “We don’t do anything half-assed. We Anarchists use both cheeks.”

And then Bruiser drops another bombshell. Venom is now a substitute teacher at Bladezz school. Codex is amazed that Venom is a teacher and questions whether she is.

Venom: “[In] Art! I like to give kids an outlet for their pain and misery.”

All the while Faulks is consulting a huge tome and then poof! Codex is block’d. She takes it out on Dena, who casually asks for constructive criticism. Slightly chastened Codex helps her out as Zaboo wonders in. To his ex-crush’s bedroom. As you do.

Zaboo is bursting with information. He has Tink’s contact details and has found out she is a pre-med student, something none of us could have foreseen, given her general demeanour and hatred of her fellow man. Zaboo also has some other, slightly more complicated news. After assuring Codex that the collar and tag around his neck is a gift from Riley and definitely for humans, he has some, er, well, er…um. Riley really likes Codex and….after beating around the bush and confusing Codex, Dena puts it succinctly:

“He’s asking you for a three-way.”

Codex is surprised and doesn’t say no, but instead tells Zaboo that she thinks his relationship with Riley isn’t healthy. Zaboo interprets this as jealousy on Codex’s part but when she tells him this is not the correct response he then starts to beat himself up (metaphorically this time), searching for reasons why Riley needs more and he leaves in torment.

Codex is taken aback by his response but resolves that she is not involved so turns back to her more pressing concerns – where is Vork?!?

Vork, as we see, is actually having problems of his own trying to secure a good wi-fi signal. Parked on the side of a lawn he is attempting to converse with someone in Spanish. As he mangles the language we hear (via subtitles) that his quest to find out why he is seemingly ineffective continues by asking random strangers what they think of when they see him.

His question is literally blown off. With a leaf blower. Time for him to move on, and that obviously means he has to hit another garbage can (very nice touch).

And now we need to catch up with Bladezz – and how better to transition into this than using the old ‘spinning head’ trick! Any smile you may have from that is quickly lost, however.

Guess who’s come to dinner? ‘Officer’ Bruiser, in police uniform, is poking around in Bladezz’ garage and swaggers out full of menace. After calling Bladezz “delinquent” and passing on greetings from the AoA, he gets up close and personal. He smiles coldly and delivers some chilling, awful news…

Job done, he saunters off whistling a jaunty tune, leaving Bladezz aghast….

What can you possibly say about this episode? It was funny, moving and ended with a bombshell that never, in my most feverish nightmares, would I have imagined.

The funny bits were many. George’s lack of skills but seeming happy enjoyment of the game was hilarious. Although…the way things are working out I’m not so sure he is as innocent or inept as we think he is.

Vork’s quest continues to thrill and confound in a very pleasing way. Dena is always a pleasure to see, and she really adds another dimension to the action, being way more savvy and quick than any of the adults that surround her.

The ‘Batman-like’ spinning transition was unexpected and awesome. Andrew Gleason (who allowed filming at the apartment complex season 3 and season 2) was a big fan of this (as his Tweet shows), and Felicia confirms on her blog that it came from director Sean Becker (also on Twitter).

(Sidenote: Another funny thing for me is that I’m dog-sitting for the moment and I had to get a new tag for her collar. I nearly chose that same tag Zaboo has, but my little girl wanted the pink heart instead. Petsmart’d!).

I was moved by Zaboo (again) with his unwillingness to attribute character failings to anyone except himself in his relationships. He really believes that if he tries hard enough, Riley will treat him right.

And the ending. That, Ms Day, was a “Holy crap – I don’t believe it!” moment. Ugh! It twisted my guts in an uncomfortable way. It was acted to perfection and was truly a horrible moment. That’s not to say I don’t admire the vision or the writing. But – yeah. Things just got a whole lot more serious.

WorldofHiglet is the online persona of writer Mary R. Higgins, a born-again geek reclaiming her heritage bit by bit. A youth filled with sci-fi, horror and adventure fare (TV, films, computer games and books) was crushed by years of office grind. Buffy brought her back into the fold after years of denial. Discovering Firefly sealed the deal. Now she geeks fulltime on her blog ‘the last geek bus home’ and her first novel ‘Turning left at Albuquerque” is currently looking for a home in publishing-land.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Episode 4 is UP! (feliciaday.com)
• On-Set: The Comic Misadventures of ‘The Guild’ Continue With Season Three (laist.com)
• I wanna date Felicia Day’s avatar (unrealityshout.com)