The Guild - Season One - Region 0 DVD

But what happens when gamers come out from behind their avatars? That winning concept is what gives The Guild its sweet and guilty pleasure. One of Codex's guild members, Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), "goes missing" (from the web) for 39 hours, and the rest of the gang chimes in via voice-web and IM how worried they are. But they needn't have been. Zaboo shows up on Codex's actual doorstep to continue the "relationship" he's convinced they developed online. The characters are believable and subtly hilarious, especially the two leads, but also including Robin Thorson as Clara, a mother of three unwashed, un-diapered tots. "I don't want to say Clara's neglectful, cuz that's harsh," says Thorson in an interview on the disc. "But she is," she concludes merrily. As Codex and her Scooby gang try to navigate their friendships offline, real emotions fight with online personas, in ways that everyone can relate to. Day is truly captivating, and is as talented a writer as she is an actress, and the rest of the cast is believable, sympathetic, and more than a little weird. The splendid first-season disc contains 10 webisodes and a wealth of extras, including commentary from the cast and from the director; gag reels for every single episode (bonus!); cast interviews, which may be the set's true highlight; the first-episode script, and more. The first season of The Guild is as bountiful as the web itself, and no avatar is necessary for its full enjoyment. --A.T. Hurley