The Best Show You Aren’t Watching: Mythic Quest

In this installment of The Best Show You Aren’t Watching, our underappreciated series once again comes from AppleTV+ (the streaming service that seems to be hitting it out of the park when it comes to unassuming and quirky shows that lack big name stars – compared to their big, flashy shows that just aren’t quite up to snuff). If you were a fan of the FX/FXX series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, chances are you already knew about Mythic Quest, a smart, savvy, and plain funny half-hour comedy series from three Always Sunny alums – Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney, who also stars as Ian Grimm on the series. But if you’re coming to the series cold (much like me – I wasn’t a big fan of Always Sunny, but I love Mythic Quest), trust that it’s absolutely original and worth your time.

So, what exactly is Mythic Quest? Well, it’s a workplace comedy of sorts, set in the offices of a popular video game (that would be the Mythic Quest of the title), dealing with the day-to-day hijinks that this crazy group of creatives, financiers, and testers gets up to. Unlike a traditional sitcom, the series is serialized in format (meaning that storylines are not resolved within a single episode, but rather continue from episode to episode and even from season to season). The biggest benefit to the serialized nature of the show is that it allows us to watch its excellent cast of characters grow and develop over the course of the show’s two seasons.*

*The series is finishing up its second season on AppleTV+, airing its penultimate episode Friday, June 18, and its finale on the 25^th. I have watched all episodes in both seasons but will not be spoiling anything for the unaired episodes, so don’t worry about that whilst reading this piece.

And what a cast of characters it is. There’s the aforementioned Ian Grimm (played by McElhenney with the perfect blend of obnoxious genius and charming little boy panache), the game’s creative director who has an office situated above his minions in a physical manifestation of how he sees his role in the company and with his colleagues. Poppy Li (the great Charlotte Nicdao, who embodies Poppy’s insecurities as a woman in the gaming world while also showing us her aggressive overcompensation for those insecurities – it’s a hard balance to achieve and she nails it), the game’s lead engineer who brings Ian’s vision to life, but rarely gets the praise he does. There are the star-crossed lovers in the game testing cave, Dana and Rachel (Imani Hakim and Ashly Burch, who steal their scenes and are just plain delightful to watch circling each other, each terrified of making the first move) and the hapless, but so kind David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby, utterly hilarious in every scene), the game’s executive producer. F. Murray Abraham (yes, the F. Murray Abraham) is C.W. Longbottom, the game’s head writer who is given a sensational backstory in a standalone season two episode that ranks among the best I’ve seen on television this year. And then there’s the dynamic duo who bring the chaos to the series: Danny Pudi’s Brad, the head of monetization, and Jessie Ennis as Jo, the Machiavellian personal assistant to David. I would gladly watch a series about any of these characters on their own, but the combination of Brad and Jo would be a dream team for me.

A series isn’t made great by complex and interesting characters – it needs the intersection of strong performances and stellar writing to really knock it out of the park. Luckily for Mythic Quest, it has both elements. While the series is serialized, each season provides us with a flashback standalone episodes that, at first glance, doesn’t really align with the overall season (and series) arc. However, each episode resonates within the rest of the series in small, but important ways (ok, the season two episode is a bit more linked to the series as a whole, but it still feels like a detour from the main thrust of the season arc, even though it provides some sensational character development for C.W. along the way). It’s rare that a show can pull off something like that once. But to do it twice, and do it even better the second time around? That’s a sign that the show’s writing staff knows what it’s doing and can take what worked well the first time around and work to make it stronger and more focused down the line.

But the best part about the series? It’s funny. Like laugh out loud funny. And it does this without veering into cringe humor or relying on potentially offensive tropes. It grounds its storytelling in reality (the gender and race disparity in the world of gaming is a through line throughout the series, the role of streamers in selling games pops up throughout the show, etc.) while still creating a world that is wholly unique to these characters, this work environment, and this story. Each of these characters is flawed (some more than others, naturally), but each is given their chance to shine along with their opportunities to be the butt of the joke (the best comedies know that you can only rag on a character for so long before the audience starts to revile them as much as they see the characters do – and Mythic Quest is careful never to cross that line). It’s a shockingly balanced show from the word go, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with this crazy bunch of characters as they try to churn out the best video game expansions they can (while still managing to keep their sanity).

So, if you’re looking for a binge watch chock full of interesting character and fun interactions (and some genuinely heartbreaking moments along the way – I may have shed a tear or two during season two), Mythic Quest deserves a look. I mean, you all snagged your AppleTV+ subscriptions in preparation for season two of Ted Lasso, right? Between these two shows and the previously covered For All Mankind, there’s a lot of great TV on AppleTV+. Get the subscription. Watch this show. You’ll love it.

Mythic Quest is currently airing its second season on AppleTV+, and all aired episodes are currently streaming.