Yes. An entire page dedicated to the web series Video Game High School, my favourite series of all time. Breaking Bad? Amazing. Better Call Saul? 11/10. VGHS? Twisty's favourite. Where do I even begin with this. Season 1? Yeah, Season 1 is a good place to start.

Season 1 of VGHS is a solid 8/10. It's unabashedly cheesy even for its time and that cheese has only ripened with age. Plotwise, it's the simplest of the 3 seasons. New guy gets bullied, overcomes bully and gets the girl. The main selling point of Season 1 was introducing the premise of being in a "Video Game High School" and so a lot of the focus was put on having a gamified high school environment.

It's the weakest of the 3 seasons but that by no means makes it bad, because one thing VGHS has always had in spades across all 3 seasons is HEART. Watching Season 1 gives me the same vibe I get as when I watch Back to the Future or Scott Pilgrim. How can you NOT have fun with it when it looks like every one that made it was having a blast?

Standout performance of course, goes to Brian Firenzi as The Law, who steals the show every time he's on screen. One of my favourite antagonists period.

Not to mention featuring The Protomen, who to this day is still one of my favourite bands. I mean have you HEARD Light Up The Night and Hold Back The Night ??

With such a great start to the show, VGHS could've chosen to play it safe and have more of the same for Season 2, but that's not what they decided to do. Season 2 begins to delve deeper into emotional storytelling and expanding on each main character. There's still plenty of fun video game shenanigans to be had, but the show no longer relies on the "gimmick" of being a video game high school to carry it's interest.

The show had evolved into a full blown high school teen drama (This is a compliment) and it works so god damn well because the impeccable casting and acting made sure every protagonist was extremely likeable. Characters each had their own arcs and grew throughout the season. I feel the comedy got even better this season as well.

As the show producers figured out, people LOVED the Law in Season 1 and gave him so much to do and develop in this season. His performance in Season 1 was great, but Season 2 Law elevated it to the next level. I also love how he literally embodies the "final boss vs final boss after you recruit him meme".

Season 2 was a great follow up to Season 1. What direction would they take with Season 3?

If I could describe what Season 3 of VGHS is about, I would say it's about maturing and letting go. How did we get here from a show about playing video games but in school? This is the season that brought VGHS to top-tier for me. If Season 1 was 70-30 funny gimmicks to story, Season 2 would be 50-50 and Season 3 would be 30-70.

Really, it was the natural evolution considering the characters were approaching their senior year. Each main character had to deal with issues with no easy solutions.

Brian D had to come to terms that he wasn't the most important thing in Jenny Matrix's life; that his relationship they had nurtured for the past 3 years probably wouldn't last, and it doesn't. Similarly, Jenny Matrix realising that to achieve her dreams, she would have to let go of Brian D.

Ki Swan discovering that sometimes, you can do everything right and still fail; that good doesn't always win and sometimes evil just does. Her belief that every problem could be solved if she tried enough was shattered and sends her into a deep depression.

And of course, Ted Wong dealing with the death of his father, which leads me into, in my opinion, the best episode of Video Game High School: Season 3 Episode 4, where every character is in their darkest moment.

Season 3 Episode 4 has no focus on video games at all. It's proof to me that the show doesn't use it as a crutch. You could put these characters in any theme or scenario and the show would've still been fantastic.

This episode also features one of the best depictions of grief I've seen. Jimmy Wong's acting in this is so raw and I tear up every time I come back to rewatch this series. Ted's father was never good to him, and as he grapples with his emotions, Ted sees the truth of it and wonders why he feels so terrible even though he always knew deep down his father never loved him. Put into perspective, every other issue and squabble everyone else was dealing with seemed trivial, and as they help Ted mourn, it strengthened them to return to school and make things right.

After the bombastic finale, the ending of VGHS is bittersweet. Brian D has to return to regular school after failing to get a scholarship. He rides a bike home as fast as he can, a parallel to how he was first introduced in Season 1. As he walks past the living room to his room, he catches Jenny Matrix on the TV. She's joined the pro team of her dreams and is doing an interview on the news. He smiles, happy that she's doing well, but there's obvious melancholy in his expression.

In his room, Ted and Ki were waiting for him so they could all playtest Ki's new game. Brian is no longer in VGHS. He's back to being a nobody (in the regular world, at least) and has broken up with his girlfriend. And yet despite everything, he's smiling and having a good time with his friends over video games.

There's a scene on the night before the final showdown, where the whole school is partying before it gets shut down. Ki says, "After tomorrow, most of us will never see each other again." and that line stuck with me. I think most people don't really comprehend the finality of something ending until long after it happens. When I finished primary school, I knew I wouldn't see most of my classmates again, but I don't think I really knew what that entailed.

In secondary school I was a little better with it. When I was studying for O levels in a McDonalds (also when season 3 was airing), I distinctly remember thinking "I'm gonna miss this" and taking a moment to take in the atmosphere. The sun shining through the wall-tall glass pane windows, the air conditioning evaporating the sweat on my skin, the chatter among other patrons and students taking refuge from the scorching heat.

I thought that if I braced myself for finality, it would hurt less. But it didn't. If anything, remembering might've made it hurt more. The future is terrifying and it feels like I'm losing connection to people and things from my past. How can I prove that it happened? That it mattered? I guess it's part of the reason why I'm writing about a decade old webseries on an old-net website in 2025.

Everyone that worked on VGHS has moved on. FreddieW has stopped making YouTube videos and runs a D&D podcast now. Josh Blaycock and Johanna Braddy (Brian D & Jenny Matrix) even got married to each other and divorced, and each found their own partners afterwards. Considering how their relationship ended in the show, it's pretty poetic isn't it?

Most of the cast have left the internet spotlight with the exception of Jimmy Wong, who is one of the hosts on The Command Zone MtG channel (which I watch occasionally!) He still has the image from Episode 4 above as his Twitter banner, so maybe he still thinks fondly of VGHS too. I hope I can tell him how much this series means to me one day.

Revisiting VGHS is paradoxical to me. When I do, it's because I'm trying to find solace in the past again. Yet, the final arc of the show is about moving on. The irony isn't lost on me. I'm terrified of the future, especially as I'm about to enter a new chapter in my life after a long period of liminality. When I inevitably return here to rest, VGHS reminds me that despite everything, maybe things will be ok. Maybe more people remember the past than I think. Maybe if Brian D and everyone else can handle letting go both in and out of the show, I can too.