Mythic Quest: Raven’s BanquetEpisode 8: Brendan is the best episode of the show since Episode 5. And it’s no coincidence that it was mostly drama over comedy. It seems that the concept of the show and the writing just works better with a more serious take instead of humor.
InMythic Quest: Raven’s BanquetEpisode 8, we learn a shocking revelation that ties various themes and plot lines of the previous episodes together. Some may recall the episode where Ian and CW Longbottom were trying to come up with an identity for The Masked Man, only for Longbottom to eventually just rip offStar Warsfor the story. Well, that was some foreshadowing for the big reveal inMythic QuestEpisode 8, where viewers discover early on that Pootie Shoe (the show’sPewDiePieparody), real name Brendan, is actually Ian’s son.
We learn that Ian has been an absent father, providing for Brendan and his mother financially but choosing to stay out of their lives. So the reason why Brendan was streamingMythic Questso much was an attempt to get his father’s attention. Brendan then acted out by switching over to the Cold Alliance Games' sci-fi title and by hacking the Masked Man. Ian and Brendan decide to meet a a diner to discuss things, but it doesn’t go well. Ian is far too self-absorbed and narcissistic, and Brendan is bitter about who he has as a father.
Ian’s narcissism is usually played for laughs inMythic Quest, but this episode instead took it a bit more seriously, as it showed characters becoming genuinely frustrated with him and his behavior. Brendan swears and yells at Ian in the diner, and Poppy blows up on him later in the episode.
Poppy was the source of some more serious drama throughout, as she kept flip-flopping on whether or not she should take the job with Cold Alliance Games. She reconnected with Ian a bit when she rode with him to the diner, but she was then confronted by Brendan’s mom. Brendan’s mom spilled the beans onBrendan/Pootie Shoebeing Ian’s son, and then suggested that his recent nice behavior towards Poppy is just his pattern of behavior. He apparently gets close to people and only starts trying with them again when he feels them slipping away.
Poppy flip-flopping on whether or not to jump ship to Cold Alliance Games eventually blew up in her face. She cussed Ian out about lying to them about Pootie Shoe being his son, and called Cold Alliance to once again accept the Creative Director position. But because of Poppy’s bizarre behavior, Cold Alliance decided to rescind the offer, forcing Poppy to stick with theMythic Questdevelopment team. The episode ended on that note, with Poppy screaming in the parking garage over her frustration.
Other characters were also having troubles, with mostly everyone depressed in one way or another. WhileMythic Questdoes work better as a more serious drama than a straight comedy, havingeveryonedown in the dumps at the same time was a bit much. Really the only character who didn’t have a bad time in this episode was David, which was at least a nice change of pace for him since he’s usually the doom and gloom type.
David is left to cheer up Jo and Brad, the latter of whom is depressed because he realizes his job is meaningless. He makes a super overpriced weapon and puts it on sale as a tactic to keep people playing the game, but someone legitimately buys it. There’s no challenge to his job, and he starts to slip into a depression. Jo, meanwhile, is jealous of Poppy being with Ian, though she is able to find a new purpose for herself by doing her actual job as David’s assistant.
FromEpisode 1: Pilot, Brad has been the least appealing and blandest character, though the last few episodes have started to give him a little more intrigue by suggesting he may very well be a legitimate sociopath. This is territory well worn by Dennis onIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so it’s a little disappointing to see them go back to this well again, but on the other hand, it’s nice for Brad to havesomethingbesides just being money-obsessed.
Mythic QuestEpisode 7: Permadeath is when we got our first hint that Brad may be more sinister than he seems on the surface, as he asked Poppy to put her hair on the line for a bet. Brad insisted that the hair wasn’t for him, but that just made it even creepier. In this episode, we learn that Brad likes watching videos of animals killing each other. At the end of the episode, Brad learns that the person who bought the overpriced item is a poor person living in a trailer park, and so he realizes the challenge to his job as Head of Monetization is to trick the poorest people out of their last penny. This excites him about his work again and essentially cures him of his depression, providing further evidence that he could legitimately be a sociopath.
So far, Brad is the only character in the main cast who hasn’t had a decent amount of character development. Everyone else has had their time to shine, even if it’s just momentarily. CW Longbottom, for example, got over his latest bout of depression, where he was drinking at work and watching cartoons based on the muppet introduced inEpisode 5: A Dark Quiet Death. He is so energized by the real world story of Ian being Brendan’s father mirroring his own pitch for the Masked Man’s identity that he runs through the halls announcing the news to the entire development team.
QA testerRachel and streamer Dana have their own bit of drama to deal with as well. It appears as though someone leaked that Dana is an in-houseMythic Queststreamer and not legitimate, which has caused her chat to be flooded with trolls. It seems likely that Pootie Shoe is behind it somehow as he continues his quest for vengeance against theMythic Questdevelopment team, but that remains to be seen. With only one episode left to go for the first season, hopefully everything comes to a head and offers some satisfying answers.
