Apple TV+’s “Mythic Quest” has been one of the streaming company’s best comedies, an underrated examination of the increasingly difficult work/life balance, and how easy that can be thrown off in creative fields like video game development. Co-created by and starring Rob McElhenney of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” fame,and developed in part with the gaming company of Ubisoft (“Assassin’s Creed”), “Mythic Quest” is a smart comedy that works from character instead of sitcom set-ups. And each of its four seasons have included a memorable standalone episode, one that usually features at best a cameo from a regular cast member, often filling in character details with extended flashbacks.
The first time they did this in season one’s “A Dark Quiet Death” felt like a bolt of lightning. Starring Jake Johnson and Cristin Milioti, this standalone episode is a great short film in its own right. So it makes perfect sense that “Mythic Quest” would spin-off its own anthology series of standalone episodes connected only by the titular game being included somehow in the lives of the people profiled. The bad news is that none of the four chapters of “Side Quest” get anywhere near “A Dark Quiet Death” (or season two’s “Backstory!”), even if the final one is worth a look and all four go down quickly enough for “Mythic” completists to pound this one out before the weekend.
To be fair, the premiere does include familiar faces, centering “Mythic Quest” art director Phil (Derek Waters of “Drunk History” fame), who is on vacation with his potential fiancé (Anna Konkle) but is being constantly harassed for work product from Ian (McElhenney). It has its moments but just isn’t as funny or sharp as the best of “MQ.”
The same can be said for the repetitive second chapter which moves to a store with customers fighting over a single copy of a “Mythic Quest” comic book that they all know will be spoiled if they don’t read it first. “Mythic Quest” has smartly unpacked how communities build up around properties like this fictional game, and this episode uses that as a foundation without building much new on it (although the presence of “Abbott Elementary” scene-stealer William Stanford Davis is always welcome).
The third episode centers an orchestra, led by Esai Morales, that’s traveling the world playing music from “Mythic Quest”. Annamarie Kasper plays a cellist who was inspired as a young girl by the troupe but will learn the hard way that it’s a job as much as a passion. This one feels hollow and forgettable.
The final chapter of “Side Quest” is easily the best, taking place almost entirely in the world of “Mythic Quest.” Like “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” it centers how connections can form and break and form again even with people who aren’t physically sharing the same space.
“Side Quest” is an easy watch, but a forgettable one. As “Mythic Quest” continues to grow, I love the idea that it has enough power to create its own universe, but every gamer knows a simple truth: The side quests are never quite as good as the story ones.
Whole season screened for review. Now on Apple TV+.
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