Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet’ On Apple TV+, A Rob McElhenney-Led Comedy About A Dysfunctional Video Game Company

If you’re looking at the title of Apple TV+‘s newest series, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, and think you’re going to get some sort of weird fantasy series, then look at the trailer above. What you’re actually getting is a workplace comedy that just happens to take place at a video game company. It helps to know that a trio from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia are the executive producers. So, the big question is: Is it funny?

MYTHIC QUEST: RAVEN’S BANQUET: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A promotional video about Mythic Quest, the most popular multi-player video game of all time, that introduces the company’s creative director and visionary Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney), plus his top staff. It’s also there to announce the first major addition to the game: Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet.

The Gist: There are a lot of people who make Mythic Quest go, despite the fact that Ian put a shirtless shot of himself in the video along with putting his name next to people like Spielberg and Lucas. His top staff isn’t as impressed with the “visionary”. Lead engineer Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) is busy trying to get the code for Raven’s Banquet perfect for code lock day and the new game’s release; executive producer David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby) is so busy trying to be friends to the creative, tech and business staffs that he can’t make a decision about anything; Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi), who is head of monetization; and 1973 Nebula Award winning head writer C.W. Longbottom (F. Murray Abraham), who never seems to leave the office.

When she presents the version of the game that will be locked down, Ian sees something that doesn’t quite seem right. Poppy admits she added one thing she added to the game without running it past Ian first: A humble shovel and a digging function. Ian thinks it can be more than that, and wants to “noodle” with it. “No noodling!” says David, knowing that Ian’s noodling usually leads to delays. David’s brand new, and somewhat unhinged, assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis), latches on to Ian and his desire to noodle.

While Ian noodles, including some motion-capture work and a desire to find out the tool’s TTP (time to penis, which is how long it takes the player to “make a dick” with it), Brad gives Poppy an idea: Leak the shovel to a gamer named Pootie Shoe (Elisha Henig), an obnoxious 14-year-old who just happens to have 10 million subscribers to his live gaming videos. When that doesn’t work, Brad comes back with the real play, attach the shovel to a voluptuous nymph, and watch the orders roll in.

In the meantime, two young testers, Dana (Imani Hakim) and Rachel (Ashly Burch) are plugging away at finding bugs, and Rachel is hanging on Dana’s every word and move. It’s obvious Rachel likes Dana, but she’s her co-worker and Dana may not even feel the same way, all of which she says to Carol from HR (Naomi Ekperigin), whom everyone uses as a therapist.

While Carol calls a meeting to tell people she’s not a therapist, the senior staff fight amongst themselves, and David finally gets pushed to make a decision: The code is locked. But then Poppy sees how pained Ian is over the shovel, they talk out how each helps the other, and they work together to make it more awesome and bloody (and make a dick), which helps Raven’s Quest get “4 b-holes” from Pootie Shoe.

Our Take: As soon as you realize that Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is not about the video game but the people who made it, and it comes from the minds of McElhenney, his Always Sunny co-creator Charlie Day, and Megan Ganz (Community, Modern Family, Always Sunny), then you know that there’s going to be a lot of good stuff in each half-hour episode. But, will you get the jokes if you’re not a gamer? Absolutely. After all, it’s more a classic workplace comedy than anything else; it’s just a workplace that has to get approval of their work from 14-year-old “piece of shit” influencers.

Some of the unique aspect of the show is that game company Ubisoft is one of the producers, and were likely the ones to create the graphic Mythic Quest scenes seen as interstitials and work on the characters and situations the Always Sunny trio are creating. It lends some authenticity to the show, and who knows? Maybe MQ:RB will become a game all on its own one day.

Like any workplace comedy, there are some hilarious situations — Poppy changing Ian’s motion capture avatar from a knight to a gnome was a huge laugh — and some that miss. But McElhenny, Day and Ganz are veterans for creating ersatz families and exploring the relationships among them, and their strength is evident in the pilot episode. By the end of that episode, we know who each of the main players represent, we get a cute love story, and we even hear an 80-year-old Oscar winner talk about how, in reference to buttholes, “I took a lover in one once… but four!”

Sex and Skin: Besides Rachel’s desire for Dana, and Longbottom talking about b-holes, there’s nothing.

Parting Shot: After the successful launch, Ian gives a pep talk, and look straight at Poppy when he talks about his “muse.” But she knows what he’s talking about: “Get the shovel,” she says.

Sleeper Star: Ennis steals every scene she’s in as the near-insane Jo. In the second episode, her insanity really comes to the fore when she memes a suicide wish at Pootie Shoe and thinks she’s doing good work.

Most Pilot-y Line: David has a lot of issues with getting parental figures to like and trust him, or so he tells Carol in a “session,” He even calls Poppy “mom” multiple times during the meeting where he finally decides to lock the code. Hornsby is great at playing wishy-washy, but his character feels like one we’ve seen before.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Apple TV+ is on a roll, first with Little America and now Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet. Not only is it funny, but it sets itself up from the first minute as the next great workplace comedy, one that even gamers will like.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet On Apple TV+