Mythic Quest’s ability to spin some of the gaming industry’s ugliest aspects into genuinely funny comedy was what made it such a surprising delight when it first hit Apple TV Plus back in 2020. Even when it was joking about chaotic streamers or Nazi server takeovers, you could feel the respect Mythic Quest’s creative team has for video games as an art form. And by keeping its focus on the lives of people who actually dream up and build games, the series put itself in a position to tell poignant stories about the costs that come with chasing one’s dreams.
Mythic Quest’s new fourth season still gets in its fair share of solid digs at gaming culture. But the show feels like even more of a character-driven narrative that’s trying to show you how every member of the MQ crew is evolving as they move deeper into their careers. Mythic Quest has always had a knack for switching up its relationships and power dynamics just enough to keep its office drama element feeling fresh, yet familiar. This time around, though, the shuffling is all in service of giving everyone at Mythic Quest HQ a new (but not necessarily healthier) work-life balance.
While an unhealthy amount of dysfunction has always been part of Ian Grimm’s (Rob McElhenney) creative process, Mythic Quest’s fourth season finds him trying to be a better colleague and friend to all of the people who have helped bring his ideas to life. It’s still a little hard for Ian to remember that Poppy Li’s (Charlotte Nicdao) return to Mythic Quest Studios with him hinged on his respecting her personal boundaries and acknowledging her as an equal in their professional relationship. Ian also can’t stand how much time Poppy wants to spend with her new artist boyfriend Storm (Chase Yi). But everyone working on Mythic Quest (the fictional game) can feel how, after years of blowing up at one another, Poppy and Ian are in a new headspace where they can genuinely appreciate how they make each other stronger.
With Mythic Quest gearing up to launch a new Playpen update giving players the ability to create their own in-game content, executive producer David Hornsby (David Brittlesbee) and monetization head Rachel Meyee (Ashly Burch) are all too happy to have Ian and Poppy on-board cooking up ideas to make the feature shine. As the creator of Cozy Galaxy, the most popular game on the Playpen platform, former-tester-turned-developer Dana Bryant (Imani Hakim) can’t help feeling ticked at the way she’s being cut out of all the revenue Mythic Quest is raking in. But to money shark Brad Bakshi (Dani Pudi) and cutthroat assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis), Dana’s feelings about working at Mythic Quest Studios are a sign that it’s time for them to reconsider whose team they want to play for.
Like previous seasons, Mythic Quest’s new episodes use the fictional, in-show game to dunk on uglier aspects of the real world gaming industry with a specificity that makes it feel like the writers room has been keeping up with the news. Playpen’s popularity is a financial boon to the Mythic Quest team because of how it presents an opportunity to roll out more in-game currencies. It also raises serious questions about whether platforms like Playpen are built with the intention of capitalizing on child labor.
Those questions become even thornier as players start coming up with ways to bring sex in their Playpen creations. But even though this season of Mythic Quest gets its dunks in on the larger gaming industry, the show spends more time focusing on the growing pains that come when interpersonal relationships start to change for the better.
You can see it most clearly in Ian and Poppy’s arc this season as the two turn to AI assistants to help work through their complicated feelings about one another, but it’s also highlighted in some of the season’s episodes — one of which is an excellent Clue riff — that take you outside of the Mythic Quest office. We see more of what David gets up to in his free time, and how the evolution of Dana and Rachel’s careers has brought new tensions into their romance. And with so many of his colleagues (who are really his only friends) pairing off, this season underscores how Ian’s prickliness with other people stems from the fact that he doesn’t have anyone to come home to.
Though digging deeper into everyone’s personal lives and easing up on the workplace shenanigans doesn’t quite move Mythic Quest into straight dramatic territory, it does make this season feel like you’re meant to appreciate how far these characters (and a few other surprise cameos) have come since we first met them. This season’s video game jokes aren’t quite as scathing as some viewers might like, but they reinforce how Mythic Quest (the game) has become something much more than another fantasy MMORPG for both its players and creators — just as Apple seems intent on growing the show in similar ways.
Mythic Quest also stars Naomi Ekperigin, Andrew Friedman, and Michael Naughton. Season four hits Apple TV Plus on January 29th.
