The opening of “Buffalo Chicken Pizza†cuts between three different scenes of people experiencing failure. In one, Poppy lies on the floor, defeated after her pitch for VC funding got rejected. In another, David learns that the project he has been excited for all season is dead. And in the last, Brad’s successful redemption perversely disappoints him because he feels as if he has lost the challenge of the hunt.
The montage is a clear parallel to the opening of the season-three premiere, when Poppy, David, and Brad were all experiencing the opposite of their current circumstances: Poppy successfully pitched her game, David got the MQ movie, and Brad got out of jail, one step closer to regaining power. It’s a smart bit of symmetry, but when I watched it a second time, I wondered if it was a little forced. The symmetry implies three distinct arcs: These people began the season at the top, and now they’re at the bottom. But I’m not sure, in retrospect, that any of these character journeys was as focused and coherent as that, especially knowing how they end.
I don’t mean to sound too harsh, because I really enjoyed watching this season of Mythic Quest, and most of my issues with it have occurred to me after the first watch. I think it’s basically as funny as it’s ever been. It still feels as though the longer the show goes on, the better it understands its characters and their various dynamics. I remain gratified by the willingness to change things up with creative character groupings. But I also think there has been a bit of a looseness to the character arcs this year compared to season two, and in some ways this finale feels like a regression. It certainly feels less bold and ambitious than “TBD.â€
For one, everything here is pretty rushed, overly concerned with tying everything up and setting up season four. It might actually be most egregious in David’s corner of the story, which is disappointing considering his movie-producer arc has been pretty enjoyable this year. But right there in the opening, David finds out the MQ movie is canceled. Apparently it’s because the game itself isn’t doing well; with no expansion this year, players are getting restless, so a potential MQ movie isn’t a sure thing, box office–wise.
It’s a weirdly abrupt development, even if David does manage to win back his audience and revive the movie next season. MQ’s money troubles haven’t been a consistent conflict throughout this season, so it comes a bit out of nowhere, like a big event that’s there because the finale needs a big event. The scene in which Jo asks David to fire her is even more rushed and strange, even if their relationship is still one of my favorites. Her logic, I guess, is that David will need to be feared to create something new that will bring back the players, and he can only truly solidify his newfound “mystique of power†by terminating her. Maybe this would track if Jo actively hated her job and wanted to make up a reason to leave, but that’s not how Jessie Ennis plays it; instead, it feels contrived, like there needed to be a reason for Jo to leave and start some new adventure.
Dana’s choice to leave GrimPop, on the other hand, feels a lot more motivated. She has been watching her girlfriend unexpectedly flourish at her new job while Dana isn’t accomplishing much at GrimPop besides settling feuds between two narcissists. She wants to work for herself — and she’s going to do that by starting her own studio with Brad and Jo as her first hires. Brad’s decision to leave MQ and hop to Dana’s side makes sense too, even if his arc this season has been repetitive compared to season two. Having conquered life on “hard mode,†he needs a real challenge, a shake to the system — and it makes sense that he’d steer hard into villainy once again with his taunt about helping Dana crush Rachel and Mythic Quest.
I’m not sure how exactly Dana can start her own studio and hire people like Brad, and I do think season three could’ve spent a little more time setting this up, but I’m definitely intrigued by the new character grouping. It would be natural to feature a little more direct competition between studios, and Dana and Rachel could end up on opposite sides with Rachel’s temporary financial support adding to the complexity of their dynamic. In fact, it’s easy to imagine a season structured around three game studios facing off, with our main cast split among them, somehow all managing to share the same building.
But, alas, it seems GrimPop Studios really is no more. There’s a lot to say here, but let’s start with the initial reconciliation between Ian and Poppy. It’s pretty lovely, even if its ultimate conclusion is a little easy and not that different from previous reconciliations the two have had. Essentially, Ian proposes that they stop trying to fix their relationship because “it is what it is.†They should each embrace what they’re good at: Ian is the macro, and Poppy is the micro. Despite how messy their partnership can be, there’s some essential part of each of them that fits effortlessly together, that works. And even more important, they love each other. It’s impossible for either to imagine working on something without the other.
It’s a little pat, maybe, a pause on their issues instead of a full stop. But there’s still something simple and beautiful about the idea, and there’s a real (platonic) romance to lines like “I love you, you love me, and everything else is semantics†and “I want to keep trying to meet you halfway.†It’s touching to see Poppy’s surprised reaction to Ian using the word love and her quick willingness to return the sentiment. And what better way for Ian to prove his new intentions than by force-feeding himself dairy-rich, gluten-filled Buffalo-chicken pizza from the gas station?
But while Ian and Poppy’s reconciliation works for me on an emotional level, I found myself disappointed that it resulted in the two going back to Mythic Quest instead of, say, Ian swooping in to save Playpen with some big-picture idea. I guess the idea is that going back to MQ is Ian’s big-picture idea to save Playpen, but it can’t help but feel like a regression. For one, I’m a little reluctant to embrace the idea that Poppy can truly excel only at the nitty-gritty. A lot of Mythic Quest has been about both Ian and Poppy allowing themselves to believe that Poppy could be a brilliant and famous game creator in her own right. As much as I like his monologue, I’m not sure I agree with Ian’s insistence that Poppy’s ego is the only thing making her feel subservient to him when she takes on a “micro†role. I wanted to see Poppy do macro, and I don’t know how I feel about the ultimate conclusion that she can’t.
Ian and Poppy returning to MQ to work on a new expansion also feels like a repeat of the previous two seasons, especially last year’s. The idea is that Ian and Poppy have a cutting-edge game with no audience, meanwhile David has a built-in audience that’s specifically craving something new. But wasn’t that the idea with season two? Poppy wanted to adapt her own visionary ideas as Hera, a new expansion, and the season ended with the takeaway that she would need to build something new to make her ideas work. In my recap of “TBD,†I wrote, “They’ve realized Raven’s Banquet was the end of the story for them; they spent all these months on expansion ideas that failed because Ian wasn’t ambitious enough and Poppy’s ambitions exceeded Mythic Quest’s capabilities … After a season in which his ego has been challenged more than ever, Ian’s fully ready to let Poppy take the reins on this one.â€
With that in mind, MQ’s money problems feel like a hastily contrived writerly solution, there just to allow Poppy and Ian a way back in — and their choice to come back feels like as much of a creative regression for them as it does for the show. As a result, I’m ending season three less excited for what’s next than I was at this point last year; the vision for season four is less immediately gripping than the vision for season three. I don’t want to be too down on this show, because there’s still plenty to look forward to and I still have a lot of fun watching it. But to keep improving on itself and churning out interpersonal stories as emotional as stand-alone episodes like “A Dark Quiet Death†and “Sarian,†Mythic Quest needs to start sticking to its guns again. We’ve seen it happen before.
Level Rewards
• I do think this capitalist character arc is interesting and oddly believable for Rachel, even if we’ve hardly gotten the chance to see her actually spend time with her girlfriend this season. The beat with her guiltily browsing cashmere loungewear was a nice touch.
• The montage of various employees pitching their ideas to David is pretty funny, with all of them sounding either unoriginal or far too blatantly based on their own traumas: “It’ll be like nothing you’ve ever seen before but also kind of like Halo.â€
• No Phil, so I guess “The Year of Phil†was the end of his story for now.
• Thanks to everyone for reading along this season! Very curious to hear if this conclusion worked better for you guys than it did for me.