Bookklok

"Bookklok" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of Metalocalypse, fifty-fourth overall. It aired on May 27, 2012, on Adult Swim.

Synopsis
Skwisgaar denies Toki a guitar solo one too many times, causing Toki to take revenge and write a tell-all book about their bad relationship. The popularity of the book causes Skwisgaar's stock to plummet and most of his guitar events go to Toki.

Plot
At a concert in Rio the Janeiro, Nathan thanks his audience for being "the best dildos in the world" and introduces Pickles' drum solo. Murderface comments that if anybody in the audience needs to go to the bathroom, now is the time, to which Pickles answers "f*ck you!". Offstage, Toki pleads to Skwisgaar to let him the upcoming guitar solo, saying that he promised "the kitty cats at the hospital" that he would play the solo tonight for them. Skwisgaar comments that Toki never practices the guitar, and Toki gets on his knees and begs. Unswayed, Skwisgaar refuses, saying he's the lead guitarist and the solo is his right and Toki attempts to bribe him with chocolate and pizza. Skwisgaar still refuses, pushing Toki has he enters the stage and delivers a delicious solo as several female fans look up at him adoringly. Toki glares at him, promising to get his revenge for the refusal.

A shocking tell-all
The Dethklok minute reports that Toki has written a tell-all book titled "Skwisgaar is ams dick: the life of Toki the abused guitarist". Toki has been heavily promoting his book and stating that he has been "living in the shadow of an overbearing tyrants" for too long; "he makes me feel inadequates" and "he used to give me compliments! But now he calls me names like tonedeafs and stupidheads!" and "he used to say my hands ams skinny, but now they're putting on weight". Toki is now the top-selling rock n' roll author of all time.

As the Dethklok Minute ends, Charles attempts to start a meeting but Nathan interrupts him and says it's too bad about the book and Skwisgaar, who is looking utterly dejected. To lighten the mood, he shows everyone the defibrillator he just bought off Skymall, mistakenly calling it a "defibrullator". Pickles asks him why he would need one and Nathan says it's for shocking people when they have a heart attack or they're just sleeping; but he didn't buy out of concern for others, he bought it because "it's f*cking awesome!". Nathan asks Murderface to help him use it and Charles interjects that they should not be messing around with medical equipment. Murdeface rudely interrupts him and tells Nathan to ignore Charles and to not let Charles control him like Skwisgaar controls Toki. He quickly shoots a "no offense" to Skwisgaar, who is still looking dejected, and the volunteers to have Nathan shock him. Despite Charles' protests, Nathan uses the device, which makes Murderface urinate on himself without realizing it. Despite the pain, William still thinks that the defibrillator is awesome, but then he becomes enraged when he discovers his soiled pants and demands to know who peed on him. When Pickles points out he peed on himself, Murderface answers "how can I pee on me when I'm standing right here?".

At this point Charles gives up and turns to Skwisgaar, reminding him that he is scheduled to appear in Guitarganza, which kicks off the Ice Festival in Lillihammer. He gets interrupted by Pickles who loudly asks Skwisgaar if he's worried about his career being ruined by Toki's book. Nathan loudly agrees, saying that the book makes him look like an asshole, turning him into the "Ike Turner of guitars". Skwisgaar does not respond, still looking sad and confused.

The new favourite
The Tribunal meets to discuss Toki's new book and Vater Orlaag is asked for his opinion. He says a tell-all book can highlight drunken encounters, showcase abusive behaviour and ultimately prove bandmates to be complete assholes. Crozier comments this could eventually tear the band apart.

Senator Stampinton then introduces a new, more urgent topic: the Revengencers (last seen or heard of in Dethrelease). They have received intel that they are still active, which bodes ill. In a later, secret meeting Crozier discusses the possible whereabouts of the Revengencers with Salacia and Orlaag. After the attack on Mordhaus, they scattered in the woods and soon ran out of food, which forced them to become cannibals to survive. The Man with the Silver Face and a few key others are still not located and Crozier fears they will attack Dethklok before the Tribunal gets a chance to. Salacia says that they must attack soon, and this time the Tribunal has something they were missing before: a man on the inside. He then says that Dethklok must die.

Back at Mordhaus, Murderface, Nathan and Pickles have been shocking each other with the defibrillator and all three have peed their pants as a result. Pickles says that he's becoming bored of it, so they look for other things to shock. They use it on the microwave, a bag of Doritos, Pickles' coffee mug, a bag of popcorn, one of their many cars, a beehive and a dead rotting moose. Nathan thinks the problem with the unresponsive moose is that it's too dead and Pickles asks for something more freshly dead.

A new Dethklok Minute episode reports that Skwisgaar's popularity has plummeted while Toki's soars. In interviews, fans say they connect with Toki because they have bullies in their lives as well, one of them giving the example of his mother's boyfriend who has sex with his mom and eats their food. Several big companies are dropping their sponsorships and endorsement deals with Skwisgaar in what the Dethklok Minute calls the Skwisgaar Skwigelf Endorsement Deal Deth Watch. Among the products dropped are: Guitaraid, an energy drink for guitarists, the Shredder 6.66 disposable razor and Skwoactiv anti-acne skincare cream. The same companies have given Toki new contracts to promote the same products, the only difference is that Skwoactiv is now called Toactiv. The Dethklok Minute host says "horrible abuser Skwigelf" must be thanking his lucky stars that he still is the headliner for Guitarganza.

Skwisgaar is watching this Dethklok Minute, completely horrified and burying his face in his hands. Nathan, Pickles, and Murderface find him like this and Nathan greets him quite cheerily. They start commenting on how Guitarganza is the only thing that he has left and attempt to sympathize with him but come off as extremely insensitive. Charles comes in and announces that Skwisgaar has been kicked out of the Ice Festival in favour of Toki. Skwisgaar doesn't say anything but he looks aghast. Nathan leans close to his shoulder and asks him several times if he heard that he was replaced by Toki. When Skwisgaar doesn't respond Nathan shocks him with the defibrillator, which causes Skwisgaar to lose bladder control. Nathan comments casually "Skwisgaar, it appears someone has peed your pants."

In another room in Mordhaus, Toki is giving frantic orders to the Klokateers, saying that he needs to move his 10 o'clock appointment to 10:30, his 10:30 to 11, his 11 to noon, and his noon to next week so he can have ten minutes for lunch. He is quite frazzled and he chugs a bottle of Pepto Bismol as he barks orders. Skwisgaar walks in and asks if he can talk to him. Toki is not impressed and tells his assistant to pencil Skwisgaar in for next week. Skwisgaar demands to be seen right away, and he asks to have the guitar solo at the Ice Festival. Toki mocks him and comments on how the tables have turned, since last time it was Toki begging to have the solo. He yells at Skwisgaar for laughing at him back then, which Skwisgaar quietly denies. Toki says he is now empowered and doesn't have to do anything Skwisgaar says and that Skwisgaar should get used to be the feeling of being ripped on the inside. Skwisgaar gets angry and gives a warning "be careful what you wish fors. The audience ams a fickles mistress, Toki".

Lead guitar at last
At the Guitarganza, Nathan introduces Toki as the amazing abused guitarist as their lead guitarist. Toki, dressed in a purple sparkly shirt, quite enjoys his moment in the spotlight until he accidentally steps on his guitar cable and disconnects his Flying V. The audience boos at this mistake, making him panic while he tries to plug it in again. Eventually, he plugs it, but he is distressed now and he makes the same mistake again and he gets more heckling. He remembers Skwisgaar's warning and says that the audience is turning on him and that Skwisgaar was right. His left arm feels numb and his chest feels tight and he screams that he is having a panic attack.

Offstage, Nathan, Murderface, and Pickles calmly comment that they think Toki is having a heart attack, but despite having the defibrillator with them, they don't move to help him. They keep commenting that he is having a heart attack and that he seems too "fibrillated" and he should be "defibrillated", all the while Toki screams he's having a panic attack, not a heart attack. Skwisgaar appears, saying that he will take care of the situation and he grabs the defibrillator and begins shocking Toki, who still insists he is not having a heart attack. Skwisgaar ignores him, and looking quite distressed, attempts to "revive" him while yelling "comes backs to me goddammit!" Eventually, Toki slaps away the defibrillator, which has a short circuit and causes the gigantic stage made of ice to melt and kill several people with pointy ice guitar sculptures. Eventually, the whole stage collapses, taking several victims.

Trivia

 * Toki's throne room appears to be a parody of The Iron Throne of Westeros from Game of Thrones, being adorned with several guitars, rather than swords. It is one of very few references to other series within Metalocalypse.
 * The cover of Skwisgaar is ams Dick is a reference to the poster cover of the movie What's Love got to do with it, a biographical film about famous rock singer Tina Turner. The reference would place Toki as Tina and Skwisgaar as Ike (Ike Turner in the movie is portrayed as emotionally and physically violent towards Tina). Skwisgaar receives immediate public backlash when the book is published, much like Ike Turner in 1993 when the movie was released. Nathan even mentions this directly in the episode.
 * Skymall is a flight publication magazine that offers a range of odd products, it recently filed for bankruptcy in April 2015 and was bought out. They do not actually sell defibrillators.
 * Nathan apologizes both to Charles and Skwisgaar without any trouble, but it could be because he's saying "sorry" as a form of sympathy rather than an admission he did anything wrong (which he really struggles at the end of the season).
 * Toki was born and raised in Lillihammer, Norway, where the Guitarganza is held. Curiously, there's little mention of how he reacts in coming back to his homeland (last time did not go so well for him).
 * What Toki suffered from was most likely hyperpneic syndrome, usually called hyperventilation. If one breathes too much too quickly, the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood decreases, and an attack occurs.