'Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet' Season 1 Episode 2: When the gaming industry is obsessed with monetization
Having laid the premise and groundwork in the first episode, 'Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet' kicks it up a notch with satire and sharp comedy in the second, titled 'Casino'. As the title suggests, the episode portrays the gaming industry's constant obsession with microtransactions and monetization.
Money-minded Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi) is insistent that a casino should be added to the game, as he feels it is 'the infusion of art and commerce'. However, the creative heads are against it. Lead engineer Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) doesn't mince her words when she slams Brad in the beginning, calling him a soulless money suck. Ouch. That's the beauty of Poppy's character. She might have her crazy quirks and oddities, but she doesn't hold back from putting a mansplainer in his place.
While this storyline is fun for sure, the B subplot involving the mystery of 'The Masked Man' is much sharper. Mythic Quest has a masked man, and nobody knows his identity. Who is he? The fans don't know either, and neither do the creative leads. They start facing the heat from social media icon Pootie Shoe, (an obvious parody of Pewdie Pie). Pootie is a bratty fourteen-year-old gamer and commands strong influence over gamers.
While in the first episode, there was a little too much of him, there wasn't too much of him in the second one. Between all the fun and games, there's also a complicated story of a father and son, which will probably come more to the fore in the upcoming episodes.
As predicted, Ian's (Rob McElhenney) assistant Jo is (Jessie Ennis) far more devious than she actually appears. She attacks Pootie by cyber-bullying him with a meme that tells him to kill himself. Ian and Jo's interactions are one of the highlights of the episode, and have a 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia' feel to it. The romance brewing between the video game testers Rachel (Ashly Burch) and Dana (Imani Hakim) radiates some sweet high-school romance vibes. Here, the two are forced to work for an overnight shift to test out the casino. It also represents how video game testers are actually treated in the industry.
With its impeccable dialogue delivery, character dynamics, this episode was fun to watch.
'Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet' airs on Apple TV+.