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It’s been a while since we last saw The Gang Makes an MMO: the previous season of Mythic Quest, the workplace comedy about a dysfunctional game studio co-created by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney, aired all the way back in November of 2022.
But after seeing nine of the ten episodes of Mythic Quest Season 4 (the finale was cruelly withheld) I’m happy to report that despite the long delay, the show hasn’t missed a step. Mythic Quest Season 4, which begins January 29 on Apple TV+, proves it’s still a nimble comedy with a lot of heart, packed with enough gaming references to make nerds smile but not so many that it becomes impenetrable to non-gamers.
So, two years later… where are we? Ian Grimm (McElhenney), creative director of fictional MMO Raven’s Banquet, is still a pretentious, self-absorbed twit, though he’s at least trying to respect the boundaries of his creative partner, Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao)—and you know this because Ian is constantly pointing out how he’s respecting Poppy’s boundaries. The creative duo quickly runs into issues as Poppy gets a boyfriend for the first time, meaning she’s less willing to spend 100% of her time at work.
Ian struggles with Poppy’s new relationship not just out of jealousy and insecurity—though there’s plenty of that, too—but because he genuinely cares about her and feels like she may be slipping away. And the tighter he clings to the most important relationship in his life, the further away Poppy wants to flee. It’s a thread that runs through the season, and not just among the show’s two main characters but nearly everyone else: how do you maintain a work-life balance when work is your life and you consider the people you work with your real family?
While Poppy and Ian struggle with the lines drawn between their personal and professional relationships, they’re also trying to put a new expansion for Raven’s Banquet together, though the studio, led by David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby), is more interested in milking money from smash-hit Playpen, a Roblox-like kiddie game which thrives on and profits from user-generated content. Meanwhile, David struggles to maintain control over Cozy Galaxy, another popular game that’s the brainchild of former game tester Dana (Imani Hakim) who has aligned with conniving finance wizard Brad (Danny Pudi) to get the big payday she feels she’s earned.
As we got a hint of in the trailer, Season 4 has fun with a few real-life trends from the gaming industry, even the darker ones. There are several references to the massive layoffs the industry has suffered over the past couple years, mostly from David, who laments the good old days of the “Covid bubble” when the game industry made $60 billion a year instead of a paltry $54 billion. (“Do we know if another global pandemic is coming?” he asks. “I mean, we hope. I mean, not for the death and all that stuff, that’s terrible. But we made so much money.”)
As it did with NFTs and Nazis in previous seasons, Mythic Quest Season 4 does a good job of approaching these types of topics
AI has invaded the gaming space (and everything else) in the past few years, which becomes central to the plot of one episode in which it’s put to use first as a moderation tool for Mythic Quest’s kiddie game, and then as avatars for Ian and Poppy—which allows them to quickly learn just how insufferable they both really are to work with. As it did with NFTs and Nazis in previous seasons, Mythic Quest Season 4 does a good job of approaching these types of topics with a light touch and a few scathing jokes without getting swamped in just how horrifying and destructive they really are to the gaming industry and community.
At the same time, I’m a little disappointed the fictional MMO itself is barely featured in the show this season. We see a couple of testers playing it, and Poppy and Ian collaborate on the expansion but few details are ever shown. I know that videogames in TV shows never look quite right or feel anything close to accurate, but I would have appreciated at least some effort put into depicting this MMO on-screen, as the show did in earlier seasons. Without a laser-focus on the fictional games, Mythic Quest starts to feel like a more general workplace comedy: a good one, but one that could be taking place in just about any field.
But that’s ultimately OK because it’s well-written and performed—by which I mean that even when you can clearly see a joke coming it doesn’t mean it won’t still make you laugh. The creators have also balanced both ends of the sincerity spectrum: the times where it appears to be getting serious but then rug-pulls you with a quick joke, and the times where it genuinely tries to tug at your heartstrings. It can get away with both moves because beneath the biting humor, the semi-slapstick confrontations, and the sudden bursts of profanity, Mythic Quest is really quite sweet, but smart enough not to play the sweetness card too often or for too long.
Like I said, I haven’t seen the finale yet, but unless it seriously biffs it, Mythic Quest Season 4 is the most I’ve enjoyed the show since its first season back in 2020: breezy, funny, and with just the right amount of heart. You can’t quite binge it, though: the first two episodes arrive on Apple TV+ on January 29, and after they arrive weekly on Wednesdays.
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Kurt Indovina
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