VGHS

So since we going to be talking about video games this week, I figured now would be the best time to discuss one of my favorite series. It’s not a video game, but it’s closely related to it: Video Game High School. I’m only going to be talking about season 1 in this blog, as it’s the best season with the most stuff to talk about (maybe I’ll do a blog about seasons 2 and 3 later, but it’s unlikely).

Video Game High School (or VGHS for short) is a live-action web series consisting of nine episodes. It is set in a fictional world where competitive video game playing is a spectator sport, being in popularity the equivalent to football or soccer in the real world. VGHS is a high school where students learn to play video games professionally. 

Okay, so when I originally found out about this series, I did not bother to look into because it looked like a silly comedy that would just have a bunch of dumb video game jokes. But then a friend recommended it to me so I decided to check it out, and I’m glad I did.

What initially impressed me was just how creative the filmmakers were in this. The filmmakers clearly love video games and everything about this series shows it. They’re not afraid to try unconventional things and the world they create for this show is very immersive and interesting. So how this is how this show’s universe works: you’ve got the ‘real’ world, where all the high school stuff happens, and then you’ve got the video game world which happens while the students are playing video games. They do a really good job distinguishing the two worlds. For example, the video game world, anytime someone dies they will turn into a blue or red (depending on what team they’re on) pixelated flash.

There are also plenty of cool references to popular video games, both in the ‘real’ world and the video game one, and they do a good job of making sure they make sense within the context of the universe and the story, like this one (I bet most of you can probably guess what this is a reference to):

While I was glad this did not turn into just a silly comedy-fest, that doesn’t mean that there is some good comedy in this show. The directors, Matthew Arnold, Freddie Wong, and Brandon Laatsch, get how to do really good visual comedy in particular. Characters and objects are always coming on and going off screen in weird and funny ways. They use the camera to their advantage to make scenes comical, using a slight zoom or quick cut to make a gag hit its mark. And thanks to the great cast, the comical lines and banter spoken by the characters is also pretty funny. There are some smartly written lines that you could only ever to ever come from gamers.

Speaking of characters and cast, this show has a lot of fun, intriguing characters and all the actors and actresses do a great job playing their roles. A lot of the characters go by their gamertags instead of their actual names which I thought was a nice touch. Anyways, let’s look into a few of them.

Brian D is the protagonist in VGHS. Played by Josh Blaylock, he’s kind of the average gamer in a lot of ways. There are times he doesn’t always do all the great when playing games, but then there are other times he comes in clutch and is able to take down the competition. He came off as relatable to me because he games the way I used to game back in high school and he has my same unwanted talent of getting himself into troublesome or problematic situations through almost no fault of his own. Brian is the new transfer into VGHS who is accepted into the school by his happenstance killing of The Law in a random game (more on that later). So as the new student, he has a lot of trouble getting used to the school and dealing with the many gamers who view him as an enemy.

Next up, The Law (yes, that’s what he’s actually called in this, as I said before, a lot of characters go by their gamertags in this). The Law is the villain of this show. He’s the best gamer in the school, boasting that he never loses. But once Brian D manages to get a kill on him and gets into the same school as him, he becomes determined to do whatever it takes to show Brian that he is better than him in every way. As a result he bullies Brian and humiliates him in every match that he can. The actor, Brian Firenzi, does a great job playing the part of this bully who always wants his way, being mean and intimidating when he should be, but also being the right amount of silly and ridiculous when he needs to be.

Jenny Matrix is the junior varsity FPS (first person shooter) captain. She’s a tough gamer who’s worked hard to gain her status on the FPS team and in VGHS. She’s the girl Brian’s taken a liking to and he wants to make it on her team. Unfortunately, she’s probably the weakest of the major characters. Although Johanna Braddy does good job acting, her character is only interesting in regards to her interactions with Brian and the Law. On her own, there’s something missing, causing her to not be nearly as interesting of a character as she could be.

Ted Wong is a want-a-be rhythm gamer (guitar hero gamer essentially). Unfortunately, he sucks and has no sense of rhythm. His true talent lies in drift racing, but he is unwilling to see it despite the fact that his friends try to convince him to do that instead. He quickly becomes friends with Brian D, since Brian stands up to (and accidently expels) a student who is picking on him. Played by Jimmy Wong, he gives a very comedic and fun performance. While Ted initially seems over-the-top goofy, you later learn there is a reason for this as he uses his silliness to hide his problems.

Ki Swan is a student who transfers in at the same time Brian does. Her main goal to develop games, but she is also very skilled at playing them. She, Brian, and Ted become the 3 amigos of sorts, as they hang out with each other a lot and try to help each other overcome their problems. Ellary Porterfield gives a great performance.

And finally, I’m going to talk about main thematic idea in this show. This is the thing that impressed me the most about this show, as I didn’t see it coming at all. It actually has something to say about gamers and gets you thinking about how you game. Even if you don’t play video games, if you play any sort of game it will get you thinking. This comes about when Brian first gets in trouble and is in Dean Calhoun’s office. Calhoun asks him what he thinks gaming is all about. Before Brian has a chance to answer, Calhoun points to the plaque on his desk that says, “It’s all about the game.” At first the audience is just as confused as Brian is. Gaming being “all about the game” doesn’t seem to make any sense. But by the end of the story it actually means something. While I’m not much of a video game player anymore, it did get me thinking a lot about how I used to game back in high school. I honestly wish I could have shown this to my high school self, as feel it would have positively changed how I played video games.

While I’ve given this show a lot of praise, there are a few problems in it. As mentioned earlier, Jenny Matrix’s character is kind of weak on her own. Ki Swan, while an interesting and mostly well-written character, lacks a proper character arc like the other characters get. There is some inconsistent cuts at one or two points in the show. There is also one visual effect that looks like it didn’t get rendered properly.

In the end though, Video Game High School is a very good show. I only wish this show had kept its momentum going into seasons 2 and 3. Unfortunately there is a big drop in the quality with the storytelling and characterization after season 1. Still, I have to recommend season 1 of VGHS to any person who enjoys video games. I would probably even recommend it to people who’ve barely ever played video games. So ya, enough of my super long talk, go watch VGHS!