Mythic Quest Season 4 Episode 5, “Second Skeleton,” Poppy grapples with the prospect of motherhood while Ian tries to help her work through her reservations as only Ian can (or, rather, can’t). Dana runs into unexpected competition, and Rachel persuades David to kill the MQ expansion. It’s not quite as strong as last week’s fare, but it’s still a solid outing, complete with a wonderful performance from Charlotte Nicdao, more Brad lore and more narrative seeds planted for the second half of the season.
RELATED: Read our recap of the previous Mythic Quest episode, “The Villain’s Feast”
Mythic Quest, “Second Skeleton”
We open with Poppy (Nicdao) informing Ian (Rob McElhenney) that she’s pregnant. She took 25 pregnancy tests and pissed into a Big Gulp, and all tests came back positive. She’s got a bun in the oven. Ian vows to help Poppy through this. He supports her regardless of what she decides to do. Poppy admits she wants to keep the baby. She confesses she’s terrified but also excited for the future. Ever the engineer, Poppy contemplates “building” a child in her womb.
Ian wants to get to the root of Poppy’s fears. She tearfully asks if she’ll be a bad mum. Poppy claims she can’t take care of herself. How can she take care of a baby? Ian has a solution to help Poppy navigate this specific question. Poppy wonders if Ian has a spare baby she can “f*ck up.” The idea of Ian having a cache of babies at the ready is pretty funny.
It’s Bidness Time
Meanwhile, David (David Hornsby) calls Rachel (Ashly Burch) into his office. Rachel’s mind is on purchasing a cool old lady ring for Dana, her fiancée. Aww. David’s all about “bidness,” though. He tells her that Montreal’s getting interest from very wealthy foreign investors. David tasks Rachel with making our titular game studio look as profitable as possible. This means trimming the monetary fat where necessary.
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He also wants Rachel to insert ads into their most popular games in Playpen, including Cozy Galaxy. Rachel panics, realizing Dana will kill her. This game is Dana’s baby. In fact, she’s been nominated for the Game of the Year Award at the Apex Gaming Awards. She’s at the ceremony now. Rachel vows to find other ways to pretty up MQ from a profitable perspective.
Next, Jo (Jessie Ennis) snaps a pic of Dana (Imani Hakim) as she poses in front of the banner for Cozy Galaxy. Brad (Danny Pudi) wants to get dirt on the competition, while Jo suggests planting false “intel” to get Dana’s competitors disqualified. Dana orders her team to stand down. After all, this day is about celebrating Dana’s achievements and her nomination.
Sea of Destiny
Dana runs into Yara (Sophia Adele Saux), who was part of the Girls Can Code group that toured MQ. I love that we’re revisiting this piece of show history from Season 1 (“The Convention”). Yara gushes about Dana and Cozy Galaxy, declaring that the latter inspired her to create her own game. As it turns out, Yara is behind Sea of Destiny, which has also been nominated for Game of the Year. Dana’s face falls.
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Meanwhile, Brad reunites with an old friend — Anna (Karolina Szymczak). After some flirting, they head off to Brad’s hotel suite. Side note: I love it when Danny Pudi gets to speak Polish.
At MQ, Ian introduces Poppy to a few VR games he tweaked with motherhood elements to help Poppy work through her fears. The first simulation is a restaurant game. In it, Poppy must fry and flip her baby promptly while cooking the remainder of the restaurant menu. Oh, and while angry customers wait for her. Naturally, Poppy spirals. After this, Ian and Poppy run into Shannon (Alanna Ubach), whose VR character boasts torpedo boobs. Apparently, she and Ian like to bang in virtual reality. You know, normal VR stuff.
Don’t Sweat It
Then, Jo shares with Dana intel she gathered about Yara. Sea of Destiny is her second game. She has private equity. Jo adds that Yara owns her IP outright. Dana claims she’s not sweating it, but her face gives her away. She’s in bona fide panic mode.
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Next, Ian’s second sim is a Taken situation, where a band of thieves steal Poppy’s baby from the crib. What transpires next is a car chase and shootout as Poppy tries to save her child. At one point, even the baby has a gun. Ian swoops to Pop’s rescue but blows up the thieves’ van … and the baby.
Poppy admits this isn’t working. Ian believes they should pivot to working on the expansion, which is Poppy’s first baby. Poppy isn’t a fan of Ian equating her unborn child to a game. She walks out. Meanwhile, Brad and Anna bask in that postcoital glow in Brad’s hotel suite. They chat in Polish about their new creative proteges.
Breaking Brad (and David)
Like Brad for Dana, Anna is Yara’s Head of Monetization. Anna thought Brad hated artists. Brad can change his mind, though. He also admits there’s a rush to being this exposed — figuratively and literally. He claims he hasn’t felt this alive in a long time, not since Kate (his pig — see “Breaking Brad”). I like seeing this side of Brad.
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Next, Rachel returns to David’s office at Mythic Quest with a proposal to reduce expenses and make the company appear more profitable. What if they kill Ian and Poppy’s expansion? Rachel rattles off the expenses for said expansion, including having Joe Manganiello on retainer and a ranch in Wyoming. Rachel urges David to cut it. Initially, David hesitates. After all, he’s growing closer to Ian, and it’s hard to make friends as a man in your 40s. However, he realizes Rachel’s right.
Later, Poppy meets Shannon in person at the local diner. Shannon believes Ian is the father of Poppy’s child. Well, until Poppy insists up and down that she’d claw the baby out of her womb if it were Ian’s. Poppy asks Shannon if she’ll be a good mother. Shannon offers the unvarnished truth: She’ll sometimes be a horrible mom. Making mistakes is inevitable.
Everyone Makes Mistakes
Shannon tells the story of Brendan breaking into her dresser and eating her edibles. He was high for two days. Regardless, Poppy will f*ck up horribly, but she’ll learn from her mistakes and grow. Shannon pivots to Ian and how, while his intentions are pure, he’s essentially useless. However, his mommy issues come in handy in the bedroom. Poppy doesn’t want to hear about that, though.
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Next, the ceremony begins. We get to the Game of the Year category. After the presenter reads through the nominees, Yara is crowned the winner. Yara delivers a speech, thanking Anna (of course) and Dana. For the latter, Yara names Dana as her inspiration for pursuing a career in games, calling Dana her “games industry mama.” Dana doesn’t look thrilled about that.
Afterward, Dana confronts Yara. She puts Yara in her place, claiming the 17-year-old wouldn’t be where she is without Dana paving the way. Dana storms off and regroups with Brad and Jo. She orders them to go full scorched earth on Yara. Brad hesitates, glancing at Anna. This would make her his enemy. However, he tells Dana he doesn’t have a problem with this.
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Let’s Kill God
Later, Poppy finally tells Storm (Chase Yi) about her pregnancy. He looks equal parts bewildered and taken aback. He asks Poppy how she feels about it. Poppy admits she’s excited but scared. Storm reveals it took him two years to secure his upcoming commission in the Netherlands. Poppy insists it’s fine if he leaves for his extended project. For her, work will also come first. However, she tries to conceal her disappointment.
After this, Poppy storms into her and Ian’s office at Mythic Quest, declaring, “Let’s kill God.” At the beginning of the episode, Ian proposes they kill God for the expansion as a major final boss. Ian discloses the news: David killed the expansion. Poppy chooses to ignore this, though. They should keep going. After all, the expansion is their baby. Ian congratulates Poppy on tapping into her maternal instincts.
RELATED: Read our Mythic Quest recaps
Mythic Quest drops new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV+.
Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: RACHEL
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
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