My colleague Ethan Gach and I watched the first season's screeners Legendary Quest: Raven's banquet, a sitcom that first secures Apple's new streaming service on February 7th. Mythic Seeking a work joke about a video game studio. Mixed: The parts of the show are bizarre, some touching, and some parts silly and stupid. Our discussion involves some humble spoilers in the form of in general references to narrative arcs on the show.
Of course, Kotaku gave permission to Mythic Seeking to use the website name and logo in a few episodes. No one had any creative input or involvement with the show, however.
Ethan Gach: Brother, can you imagine what song I'm listening to on Spotify now?
Maddy Myers: I can't …
Ethan: I'm ashamed as much as I can without refusing to admit I played Arcade Fire at "Suburbs" at least three times today. (Mythic Seeking plays this song in its fifth episode.)
Maddy: Mythic Seeking it has some power for the beginning of 2010 on it. Do you know what else I've been thinking about since I finished watching the first season? The forum, Felicia Day web series that appeared in 2007-2013. That's it Mythic Seeking it sounds like, in good and bad ways.
Ethan: Yes, that's right Public, which may not be so surprising because one of its authors, Megan Ganz, also worked on this. I think it is the high fantasy arcs each episode seems to enjoy, as well as the bright colors.
Maddy: I was expecting it Mythic Seeking to feel like The Sun Is In Philadelphia Always, given that actor Rob McElhenney stars in it, as well as his own It's always sunny Co-star Charlie Day is also involved (as producer and writer, if IMDB is correct). But the humor is very close Public and The forum. Unfortunately, I have always been out of this reality Mythic Seeking because of all the features of the show that are probably accurate in real life, but not necessarily.
Going back a little, Mythic Seeking is an eight-episode series set in a game development studio working on a fictional MMORPG. Surprisingly, the game's lead program is female; the interaction between her character Poppy and the self-proclaimed creative director Ian (played by Rob McElhenney) is one of my favorite moments of the show. Most of the show focuses on both of them and their toxic potential. But then there are some little details about how the game works, how it is made – much of it has not been covered.
For example, the first episode involved the lead producer adding a fossil to the game that introduced a new gameplay mechanic (drill holes), and somehow kept this secret from some of the top creative team up to that point. In this same episode, studio workers leave at 5 pm on a Friday, aiming to launch a bigger boat with a new shovel … Monday morning. Wouldn't they be barking at the weekend to end the pond? All the driver information felt confusing and inaccurate. I feel bad that I realized those problems over and over again, because I wanted to ignore them, but it was hard!
Ethan: To be fair, I don't think it's just a nitpicker issue as people spend a lot of time around games. Many of the issues that reduce the characters' conflicts feel over-produced, while the actual issues between the characters in the genre are betrayed, especially between Poppy and Ian.
I came out of these first two episodes very disappointed and disappointed, but I found myself enjoying the second half of the season when I'm already very familiar with the individual frames and can appreciate those small contributions without much structure.
MaddyI'm not sure I don't have a full time job. It felt up and down. There will be times when I thought they were as beautiful and fun as the creators seemed to aim. But there will be times when it feels like they are quickly put together, or confusing, or not liking something that will happen in the movie industry … but like something that will happen in the film or TV industry, that is not sure about the people who made the show so familiar.
There’s an entire episode in the middle of a season about a bunch of characters we’ve never met before and will never see again afterwards. It's a stand-alone story with a completely different game development studio, and set in the 1990s, rather than as modern as the rest of the game. The critical episode is quite, and almost lacking in comedy, and its themes are arguably the same throughout the rest of the show, but it has been difficult. That's the kind of risk to evaluate this show you want to take. But it also wants to be a 25 minute workout about a bunch of wacky nerds working in game dev.
I think I would have liked the show more if it had chosen to lean in some way. Like it could be a short show but sometimes funny, or just be wacky in every way.
Ethan: Hey, you didn't like episode five? Those are the ones that made my investment mark on the show, and why I let Win Butler ring in my ears today, because "Suburbs" is playing this episode.
Maddy: I didn't like it. I was just like… ..what this show wants to do? Or does it want to do something else?
Ethan: I think this episode really helped explain the second half of the season, both of the consequences of letting the working relationship get into a toxic environment, as well as letting the organization's processes and interests continue to push for anything of interest. as a result of the project. Although I agree with the conclusion of this time of year it does not seem that we did not take the lessons for episode 5.
We can talk about the guy from Deals being on the show for a moment?
Maddy: Yes. Please.
Ethan: I don't know why Fur Murray Abraham wanted to be in the 2020 reboot of The forum
Maddy: I loved her. His character is so bizarre that a recent, brilliant award-winning genius has somehow made his way into the theater industry. I have never worked in sports, but I have completely met the boys with this power in my life, so I think this one is accurate. If not, at least it's funny.
Ethan: I think her scene and the actress Rachel watched the cutscenes together is one of my favorites and that was a lot of fun. I was throwing uncontrollably in my bed yesterday watching them burst into tears in a video game saying hello to his dying horse, both because of how the incident used to cast Abraham's talent as the only living Nebula award winner to make backstories no one cares, and also because it looks as the worst kind of video reduction moment.
Maddy: The incident was a big one, as well as the one where he attended a "Ethics Ethics" meeting and assumed that it was talked about (he may have been on another "ethics committee" before). There are some basic moments of comedy work in this show that I found to be funny, most of which makes it clear just how white and masculine the sports industry is.
That said, there were some moments in those lines that didn't work for me at all. Imani Hakim plays Dana, the role of another playwright in the office (and their love-will-they-won't-see-love of Rachel's character). I really liked her stories, but there were a few interesting moments of "ra ra feminism" in this show that didn't feel logical or human enough to me. There is little when Rachel tells Dana that she looks better with her glasses, which goes to strange places. Then Dana gives a talk to a group of young girls who are part of the “Girl Who Code” category. Young girls who have just been given an office tour have said they are filled with dark humor about how difficult their tasks will be if they get into technology. The show tries to conclude that this is a story by allowing Dana to bring in girls' memorial logs that, in fact, working in sports is the coldest job in the world. I think there was a way to make that moment work, but that wasn't it. Especially compared to how the preceding examples felt, at least to me.
Ethan: I totally agree. The show is more effective in its darker conditions (or should I say Sunnier times). And sometimes it did a good job of breaking through any of the episode's victories that led to the fact that the gaming industry, like many, has strong references that work to hold certain people in order and exploit them.
Maddy: Yes. The show felt real and was set to me when it was dark, which says a lot about my experiences in the games, I think. I was looking for an additional social media actor who continues to trample people online (even if told to not do it), and a 14-year-old inventor named "Pootie" whom all studio staff call a "piece of cremation. "A lot of It's always sunny vibe, basically. But the show looked like it was scared to find the black one, instead choosing to wrap up several news articles “it's okay now because these actors have seen that they really care. Which, in most cases, they do!
I'm not really sure if I would recommend this show or not. I laughed at parts of it, sighing at other parts. I'm not sure I would have bothered to look at it all the way had I not planned to have this conversation with you. But it was awful, and it was kind of cool to see a show trying to tell a story about a topic I spent all my working day riding on. What do you think? Is it worth it for viewers to get an Apple TV + subscription (or whatever the heck) to watch this Apple Original?
You may be eligible for a free seven-day trial. Apple obviously has one of those. I looked up.
Ethan: It was really a place I enjoyed spending time in the end, and under 30 minutes each was easy to get in and out of. I think if I was in college or high school, it would be a great show to do in the background while working from home (which is also what I used for shows like Public and The forum in). Apple has a rep for demanding that its content be family-friendly, and I almost wondered what the dark effects of the show were prevented by one of the many relevant words that helped fund and produce.
In the end, I would definitely start with just a few of Abraham's computers. His demonization of the AI server, went down the hall just a minute after his religion was restored to the news, or his complete behavior when it was not known that the studio apologized to the players of the game for having the Nazis on its servers or the Nazis themselves for banning the game.
Maddy: "We apologize to the Nazis, or did they do it to us?" Maybe the show is good. Made for that one joke.
I think I should also note that my girlfriend, who is out of work and only occasionally plays, enjoys the show more than I do, because obviously not one thing was bothering her and she could only view it as a lighthearted place at work. So maybe this show is actually not for gaming and that would be great, too.
