'Mythic Quest' Faces a New Gaming World in Season 4

When it began, Mythic Quest represented a specific type of popular (and lucrative) gaming: the massive multiplayer online role-playing game (the MMORPG or MMO). Think World of Warcraft in terms of scope, longevity, and influence. However, even when the show premiered in 2020, this was a somewhat dated form of the MMO. Shooters, particularly battle royales and hero shooters, were all the rage; think titles like PUBG: Battlegrounds or Fortnite. It’s not that these types of games have gone away or aren’t very well-loved, but their heydays are likely behind them (though Fortnite continues to be very popular). In the years since the gaming landscape has shifted again to favor content-creation platforms like Roblox where users (children) purchase and use available assets to make games for which they are dubiously compensated. There’s also the stultifying presence of AI and all its many demons growing in greater numbers. As with many creative industries, the video game space is sweating underneath the machinery of capitalism and it’s into this very fertile ground comes the fourth season of Mythic Quest that’s now streaming on AppleTV+.

The new season picks up around the place where season three left off: vainglorious bro Ian (Rob McElhenney) and game developer goblin Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) have returned to Mythic Quest after their venture GrimPop fell apart when the Roblox-alike Playpen failed to get venture capitalist funding. They bring along Dana (Imani Hakim), who is Playpen’s main creative force, and with her return, corporate terminator Brad (Danny Pudi) and the manically devoted Jo (Jessie Ennis). David (David Hornsby) is as wishy-washy as ever, but possesses a greater appetite for corporate chicanery and also has a longer hairstyle that no one thinks he’s pulling off. David’s ability to juggle his fiduciary duties, Poppy and Ian’s egos, and human decency are immediately put to the test. Dana’s games are attracting a million users per day, but David doesn’t want to tell her about that because then she could ask for compensation, citing giving her a platform as payment enough. This puts the new head of monetization Rachel (Ashly Burch) in a difficult spot as Dana is very much her girlfriend. Jo characteristically oversteps as Dana’s assistant and involves herself in their relationship to a comedically frightening degree and Brad is set loose as Dana’s attack dog with the mission of getting her a new contract that pays more. The divide between management and creative talent seems to be the driving conflict, at least for the start of the season.

All of that said, Mythic Quest is ultimately a character-driven show, so of course we get lots of lovely sitcom drama. Ashly and Dana struggle to find where their relationship fits with them on either side of the management/talent divide which in turn emphasizes their difference in pay. Ashly, with her executive salary, wants to check out the new French spot to feed her addiction to foie gras while Dana’s feeling the financial burn with her “rookie contract” pay and broken-down car. They’re not the only couple struggling this season. Poppy and Ian expected a greater hero’s welcome when they returned and are frustrated that David doesn’t give them as much deference as before. With Dana ascending, Poppy and Ian aren’t the only heavy hitters at MQ. This drives the pair to work on a new Mythic Quest expansion called Elysium, a Heaven-like map that’s unlocked only when a player dies honorably. A preoccupied David gives Poppy and Ian no time constraints, but they’re distracted. Or rather, Poppy is distracted by a new relationship with a hot artist named Storm (Chase Yi) and Ian is jealous. Though their relationship is platonic, Poppy and Ian are co-dependent partners, so if one’s focus isn’t on their shared project, it causes ripples. I’m split on whether the series is attempting to turn them into a romantic coupling; on the one hand, the characters have historically functioned as best friends but on the other, characters keep pointedly asking if they’re attracted to one another. Maybe I’m making something out of nothing. For myself, I would love to see it remain a friendship. Men and women can, in fact, work together and be friends without it becoming sexual. More friend representation!

Aside from the pairs in crisis, Mythic Quest checks back in with some delightful supporting characters. Middle-aged game testers Andy (Andrew Friedman) and Mikey (Michael Naughton) function as an adorable Greek chorus of sorts; they wonder aloud whether they need TV when there’s so much interpersonal drama to watch at work. Painfully chipper community manager Sue (Caitlin McGee) has a new co-worker in her equally smiley church friend Jackie (Britanny Ross) and both of these loons have to combat the rising tide of sex games flooding Playpen. They’d also love a window! I might think Mythic Quest has a thing for pairs, but for the singularly hilarious presence of Carol (Naomi Ekperigin), the head of HR who is having a time. Between paying alimony to an ex-husband in pastry school, managing her kids, and managing MQ’s bullshit, she’s more than earned the night out she needs.

Mythic Quest returns to us in many ways the same. We have mostly the same characters as when the series started, their foibles and quirks are mostly the same, and the sitcom tenor is very much the same as it ever was, but the series has changed things up in some exciting ways. The struggle between art and commerce isn’t new to the series, but this Roblox-flavored angle very much is and familiar character dynamics are being challenged in new ways. It helps too that the cast is just stellar. Pudi and Ennis are distinct flavors of office ghoul, McElhenney is blessed with as much beauty as comedic chops, and Nicdao is my queen who can step on me if she really wants to. Mythic Quest is a great kick of a sitcom that’s ready to take on the new gaming world.