‘Mythic Quest’ Recap: ‘The Year of Phil’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 309 of ‘Mythic Quest’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One particular aspect of the nine to five that we don’t acknowledge all that often, is that it tends to teach us a great deal of lessons about life. For instance, if you’re working in a toxic environment to pay the bills, you learn a lot about what you don’t want to be surrounded by in life and on the flip side of that… a positive working environment can teach us about the standards we should hold ourselves to. To be more like the good people that surround us and lift us up. But even then, there are other lessons that come into play as well, ones that we can sometimes apply to life or only in the workplace, and those particular lessons are top of mind today, because so many of the good people that work at GrimPop and Mythic Quest HQ, went through a learning experience during this week’s episode of Mythic Quest on Apple TV+.
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For instance, Carol came to learn in ‘The Year of Phil’, that one cannot just assume that everything is in hand at work when one has undertaken a major project, and that one must be objective with their goals. Simply because she thought she had finally made Mythic Quest HQ the most diverse gaming studio in the industry and that she could in fact, pump up the fact that she pulled off such a feat, complete with jokes. But it didn’t take for her to discover, that she was so sure she had this in hand, that she forgot to hire workers akin to Phil, i.e., middle aged Caucasian men… and that left her in a tough and worrisome place. Since Phil saw this as discrimination and was ready to prep a class action suit against her. Which taught her the lessons in question and prompted her to correct them, since she hired new testers that fit the Phil mold. Putting an end to his quest to bring down MQ and making Carol a better hiring manager in the process, since she now understood how objectivity and attention to detail would benefit her.

As for others in this tale, well David came to learn that one cannot let their coworkers and others walk all over them if they want to be the boss and push a vision forward. A lesson he came to learn through Jo, while he was getting rolled over by Joe Manganiello and Ian during some mo-cap tests for the upcoming Mythic Quest movie. Because Joe had his vision for how he should play his character and he tapped into Ian’s ego which brought forth the only kind of special disaster that Ian can bring to the table, one that really did make it seem as though David was going to lose control of this. But Jo really did press him to step up and be a leader and take control, and he did. By telling Ian to go home and by sticking to his guns on that decision, and by inadvertently telling Joe (through a brilliant move by Jo) that he needed to turn things down a notch. Which he complied with, giving David back the control, he wanted over the movie, and such moves made him a better leader for certain. 

However, while those were indeed wondrous endings to important lessons, this is a show that keeps its teachings grounded in reality and sadly… Poppy was the person who was forced to learn that sometimes… we fail at work, courtesy of our own accord, and there is little we can do about it but take our lumps when that happens. A lesson that was brought to life, courtesy of a pitch meeting for Playpen. One that Dana worked overtime to help Poppy prepare for to give Poppy the confidence she desperately wanted in life. But alas, despite finding it, she pitched the game to the same investment company that she turned down early on in the season and that meant their answer… was less than savory. Since they made it clear that being disrespected was not tolerated and of course, they weren’t keen on the game either because of what it would require from a user perspective and that left Poppy beside herself because she failed and made mistakes and truly… nothing could be done about that. 

If anything, this was just… a wonderful episode when all is said and done, since it focused on growth. For everyone here found it regardless of the circumstances or the lesson inherent and that is what we crave in storytelling. Because we want to see these folks grow and understand more about life, because we in turn… want to understand more about life be it good or be it bad, and it was just wonderful to see all of those elements here. Because it all speaks to the realism of this series, and the majesty of what we get to learn just by waking up in the morning. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that this show still finds a way to offer those lessons in a hilarious manner. Since the humor here once again was top notch, and well… now that more lessons have been learned and more growth has been achieved, it will be interesting to see what final lessons await us when season three comes to a close, next week. Until then.   

To learn more about the construction of season three of ‘Mythic Quest’, check out our interview with the show’s Co-Creator/Executive Producer, Megan Ganz.

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