It has been some time since we final noticed The Gang Makes an MMO: the earlier season of Mythic Quest, the office comedy a few dysfunctional sport studio co-created by It is All the time Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney, aired all the way in which again in November of 2022.
However after seeing 9 of the ten episodes of Mythic Quest Season 4 (the finale was cruelly withheld) I am joyful to report that regardless of the lengthy delay, the present hasn’t missed a step. Mythic Quest Season 4, which begins January 29 on Apple TV+, proves it is nonetheless a nimble comedy with a whole lot of coronary heart, full of sufficient gaming references to make nerds smile however not so many who it turns into impenetrable to non-gamers.
So, two years later… the place are we? Ian Grimm (McElhenney), artistic director of fictional MMO Raven’s Banquet, continues to be a pretentious, self-absorbed twit, although he is at the very least attempting to respect the boundaries of his artistic companion, Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao)—and you understand this as a result of Ian is continually declaring how he is respecting Poppy’s boundaries. The artistic duo shortly runs into points as Poppy will get a boyfriend for the primary time, that means she’s much less keen to spend 100% of her time at work.
Ian struggles with Poppy’s new relationship not simply out of jealousy and insecurity—although there’s loads of that, too—however as a result of he genuinely cares about her and appears like she could also be slipping away. And the tighter he clings to crucial relationship in his life, the additional away Poppy needs to flee. It is a thread that runs by way of the season, and never simply among the many present’s two foremost characters however almost everybody else: how do you preserve a work-life steadiness when work is your life and also you take into account the folks you’re employed together with your actual household?
Whereas Poppy and Ian battle with the strains drawn between their private {and professional} relationships, they’re additionally attempting to place a brand new enlargement for Raven’s Banquet collectively, although the studio, led by David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby), is extra curious about milking cash from smash-hit Playpen, a Roblox-like kiddie sport which thrives on and earnings from user-generated content material. In the meantime, David struggles to take care of management over Cozy Galaxy, one other standard sport that is the brainchild of former sport tester Dana (Imani Hakim) who has aligned with conniving finance wizard Brad (Danny Pudi) to get the large payday she feels she’s earned.
As we acquired a touch of within the trailer, Season 4 has enjoyable with just a few real-life developments from the gaming business, even the darker ones. There are a number of references to the large layoffs the business has suffered over the previous couple years, largely from David, who laments the great previous days of the “Covid bubble” when the sport business made $60 billion a yr as an alternative of a paltry $54 billion. (“Do we all know if one other international pandemic is coming?” he asks. “I imply, we hope. I imply, not for the dying and all that stuff, that is horrible. However we made a lot cash.”)
Because it did with NFTs and Nazis in earlier seasons, Mythic Quest Season 4 does job of approaching a lot of these matters
AI has invaded the gaming area (and every part else) previously few years, which turns into central to the plot of 1 episode by which it is put to make use of first as a moderation device for Mythic Quest’s kiddie sport, after which as avatars for Ian and Poppy—which permits them to shortly be taught simply how unbearable they each actually are to work with. Because it did with NFTs and Nazis in earlier seasons, Mythic Quest Season 4 does job of approaching a lot of these matters with a light-weight contact and some scathing jokes with out getting swamped in simply how horrifying and harmful they are surely to the gaming business and group.
On the similar time, I am somewhat disenchanted the fictional MMO itself is barely featured within the present this season. We see a few testers enjoying it, and Poppy and Ian collaborate on the enlargement however few particulars are ever proven. I do know that videogames in TV exhibits by no means look fairly proper or really feel something near correct, however I’d have appreciated at the very least some effort put into depicting this MMO on-screen, because the present did in earlier seasons. And not using a laser-focus on the fictional video games, Mythic Quest begins to really feel like a extra common office comedy: one, however one which may very well be happening in nearly any discipline.
However that is finally OK as a result of it is well-written and carried out—by which I imply that even when you’ll be able to clearly see a joke coming it doesn’t suggest it will not nonetheless make you snort. The creators have additionally balanced each ends of the sincerity spectrum: the instances the place it seems to be getting severe however then rug-pulls you with a fast joke, and the instances the place it genuinely tries to tug at your heartstrings. It could possibly get away with each strikes as a result of beneath the biting humor, the semi-slapstick confrontations, and the sudden bursts of profanity, Mythic Quest is admittedly fairly candy, however good sufficient to not play the sweetness card too usually or for too lengthy.
Like I mentioned, I have not seen the finale but, however except it critically biffs it, Mythic Quest Season 4 is essentially the most I’ve loved the present since its first season again in 2020: breezy, humorous, and with simply the correct amount of coronary heart. You may’t fairly binge it, although: the primary two episodes arrive on Apple TV+ on January 29, and after they arrive weekly on Wednesdays.
