Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet — Season 1 Review
by KJ Proulx
Workplace comedies reached their peak with The Office and I don’t believe any television series will ever reach those heights ever again. I felt the need to clarify that before talking highly about a new one, simply because I believe that show to be fantastic and anything that comes close is very good in my book. Well, after watching the first season of Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, there’s a reason I had to say that first because this is the first workplace/office comedy series that I’ve liked this much since then. Made for the modern era, while also having a very diverse cast of characters, there’s something here for everyone if you can latch onto the concept of the show itself.
This series follows a group of men and women as they currently run the most popular game on the planet, called Mythic Quest. This first season follows the launch of the addition to the game, Raven’s Banquet, and how well it’s going to do with online streamers. In the world of online entertainment, you need to be able to please a very young demographic and this show doesn’t shy away from that, making for some very hilarious moments. Yes, this is a very tech-heavy show and some viewers may find the lingo a little too nerdy, or even dry for that matter, but it really worked for me.
The central character is Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao), as she is the one who makes things happen for this game to remain successful. Rob McElhenney directs many of the episodes, as well as stars as one of the main characters, being the creative lead of the company. Not being able to do anything but have good ideas for the game, he heavily relies on Poppy to complete any and all of his visions. Their dynamic is actually fantastic and it’s what sold the show for me throughout the very first episode of this season, until the very end. With a show that deals with a lot of characters, you need great relationships, romantic or otherwise, in order to sell your story.
I can pinpoint many things that make this show extremely enjoyable, but I’ll narrow it down. Dana (Imani Hakim) and Rachel (Ashly Burch) share some of the best moments of the show together, being the game testers, who work all day to make sure there are no issues to be found by players. I’ve actually only ever seen David Hornsby in the series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but if he can continue to be as funny as he is here, I would love to see his career blow up. There are many elements to like about this series, but it all came down to the fifth episode for me.
This episode is a massive departure from the comedy and even the structure of the rest of the season. It follows an entirely new cast from a different time period and is probably the best episode of the entire series. It almost works as a long short film, as it’s about 40 minutes long. The problem with it is that it really doesn’t connect to the series as a whole. It is referenced later on, but it feels more unnecessary than anything, but the episode on its own was great, so it was kind of a catch-22. So even with its faults, it was still great.
In the end, this first season of Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is incredibly promising and entertaining from start to finish. It’s one of the shows on Apple TV+ that makes the service worth it in my opinion. If this show continues and is anything like this season was, I can’t wait to spend more time with these characters. While it feels very familiar in terms of story structure, it feels fresh in many other areas. I had a blast watching this new series and I feel that many viewers will as well.
Rating for Season One: 4/5
Check out the trailer for Season One below:
