Before I get into anything, I want to preface this post by saying it will be littered with spoilers. This is a synopsis and my opinion of the end of VGHS and I’d hate to ruin the conclusion for anyone.

With that being said, the end of Video Game High School has come, and I say that more literally than I’d like too. The 5th episode of season 3 sets up the finale in a beautiful, but heartbreaking way.

In the beginning, we see a flashback of Shane and Ashley Barnstormer, the rich owners of Napalm Energy, trying to enroll in VGHS as children and being rejected due to only being 12 years old. Once Calhoun (dean of VGHS) denies them, they vow that they are going to take over the school one day.

This is where it gets really cheesy, not that this is something uncommon for VGHS. The Barnstormers start forming their life around taking over VGHS. This is accomplished by Shane enrolling in VGHS under his very clear alias “Shane Pizza”. The whole setup is totally ridiculous, but again that isn’t uncommon for VGHS. In fact, that’s what gives it charm.

The Barnstormers rich mother promised if the boys started a company and got the stock up to $400 a share, she would buy them Video Game High School. Completely insane, but hilarious nonetheless.

During the backstory of the Barnstormers, the development of Brian, Jenny, Ted, and Ki is flourished. Toward the beginning of the episode, we see the return of Ki to VGHS, but instead of an optimist with a sense of morals, we find someone who is torn on the inside, this is due to her cheating to win the election and having been shunned by the other students at VGHS.

With the bleak new outlook, she develops a game in which the main character dies over and over again, and while it was entertaining, the whole idea of Ki seemed really out of place in the episode. I like that there’s a transition of Ki, but had it been more gradual, I feel like it would’ve been more impactful

We also get a glimpse of a struggling Jenny Matrix, who, after being defeated by Ashley Barnstormer, has lost her mojo on the battlefield. Jenny, being torn over the loss of a scholarship and of Brian, performs poorly in class to the point of her oblivious mother noticing. After Jenny ditches class and shuts her mother down, Mary Matrix (Jenny’s mom) reacts positively and instead of shutting Jenny down, takes her to get something to eat, then confessing her guilt on not being there for Jenny. I really enjoyed this addition in the episode, not only was it a great concept, but it was executed perfectly, being a very “real” scene.

While this is happening, Ted is becoming sick of The Drift King and challenges him to a race in which the winner would rightfully take the title of Drift King. After a long and epic race, Ted has a huge lead on every player having eliminated most of them prior to coming in line sight of the finish line. As Ted’s vehicles nears the line though, he stops and shuts down his car, having defeated DK (Drift King) without winning the actual match, something that is perceived as much more respectable in this instance. There’s definitely a change in Ted after his father’s death and it’s refreshing to see his newfound confidence come into play.

Finally, there is a small glimpse into the past of Brian, which is rarely if ever spoken of. This is in the setting of Brian and Jenny talking over the future of their relationship, or if it will even continue at all. Brian talks about never meeting his dad and his mother being so addicted to video games that Brian barely knows her. Jenny responds by kissing Brian, resulting in their reunion which, having the actors being actually married, is a great thing to see.

After all the characters are built, the conclusion comes to the episode that is cringeworthy to say the least. The Barnstormers were responsible for The Law being kicked out of VGHS for hacking. However, this wasn’t to weaken VGHS, but to weaken Jock Juice, one of the many sponsors The Law held, and the biggest competitor to Napalm Energy. With Jock Juice weakened, the stock of Napalm reached $400 a share, and as Mrs. Barnstormer had promised, Shane and Ashley now owned the school.

The signs are taken down and Shane and Ashley planned to turn the school into the Napalm Mega Mall, leaving each student without a home or school.

The set up for the final episode of the whole series is set to make an epic and much needed conclusion to this tale.