TV Series Review: Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet

When I first signed up for AppleTV+, I was not expecting to find anything worthwhile. I heard it comes free with an Apple Music student plan — you can also get one year free with the purchase of an Apple product. As a primarily comedy guy, I lazily scrolled past the documentaries and dramas, until Mac (Rob McElhenney) from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia caught my eye. McElhenney stars in Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (MQ:RB), a half-hour comedy series written and produced by him, along with Megan Ganz and Charlie Day, some of the other geniuses behind Always Sunny.

The show centres around McElhenney as Ian Grimm, the creative director and self-proclaimed god of the online role-playing game, Mythic Quest. We follow his day-to-day efforts to deal with the game’s Nazi fanbase, battle pubescent streamers, and rule over his team as they work on the game and control his ego. It is one of those shows where all the characters have such different, incompatible personalities, but they are all still hilarious — notably Danny Pudi, who also plays Abed on Community. MQ:RB combines the outrageous and often dark schemes and character-types of Always Sunny with the technology-based lingo and setting of Silicon Valley, two of my favourite shows — it was as if they had a baby and delivered it right to my doorstep.

In order to reach a wider audience, the creators seemed to have learned from some of Always Sunny’s drawbacks, but they have navigated this shift masterfully. There are no homophobic, sexist, racist, or drug-related jokes — there are barely even any swears — but this proves inconsequential, as the show still delivers nonstop gut busters.  In fact, they move in the exact opposite direction by sporting an extremely diverse cast and inserting a tasteful will-they-won’t-they subplot between the two female game testers.

The only bad thing about MQ:RB is that it occasionally tries and fails to tug on your heartstrings, with one exception. The episode “A Dark Quiet Death” gives us a mid-season break from the fast-paced absurdity of the regular cast, and instead follows a couple in the ’90s as they create the series’ titular video game. We get taken on a journey through the tragic rise and fall of their relationship as they chase their dream and slowly grow apart. Aside from this one sneakily heartfelt episode, the show is better off sticking to the clever wit that made me finish the entire season in one day. 

Personally, I count this show as a must-see, especially if you are into video games. But it is best to go in expecting minimal depth, so you can be pleasantly surprised in the instances where it is done effectively.