‘Mythic Quest’ season 2 episode 5 review: Emotional confrontations and hard truths

Who on Mythic Quest is a shark, lion, otter, and butterfly?

May 28, 2021

The video game studio in Mythic Quest, is like any other company where they are concerned with their employees and finding ways to develop their talent. In “Please Sign Here,” they create a “fun” test for the workers that assigns them an animal based off of their responses. However, it’s more a way to identify individual’s strengths and weaknesses. As you can expect, there are a few people not too happy with their results.

The bottle episode contains much of the comedy the series is known for. It continues the entertaining but playfully quarrelsome dynamic between Ian and Rachel. How the former calls out the latter on her identity and love life exposes Rachel’s hypocrisy and shallowness. The crew find a hilarious, albeit creepy, solution to make C.W. more human as he continues to telecommute. Through it all, you can’t help but feel sympathy for Carol from HR seeing all the over-the-top personalities and foolishness she deals with.

Midway through, “ another dimension is added to “Please Sign Here” as it builds upon some of the key pairings of the season. For example, off the heels of Zack’s visit, Brad and Jo are approaching a breaking point in their relationship. Jo doesn’t respect her boss anymore now that she learns he’s not the “alpha” she thought he was. The animals they received — shark and mouse for Jo and Brad respectively – serve as the perfect jumping off point for the two’s differences now that the truth is out there.

An old pairing with a new twist for Mythic Quest, is the romantic one between Rachel and Dana. Though they started dating at the start of the season, both have recently concentrated on their careers working under the co-creative directors. Dana is upset with her animal, an otter, not because it isn’t representative of her now, but because its description doesn’t match with what she wants to be. Her strong desire to become a programmer could throw a wrench into their future together. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be since Rachel comes off as smothering and trying too hard in the episode.

The most significant emotional beats involve the co-creative directors. This has been a confrontation brewing since Montreal started giving Poppy additional perks. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Ian reveals his true fears and insecurities but Poppy’s dismissive response is insulting. Maybe she froze under the pressure or is really buying into her own hype. When she finally reciprocates and opens up, it’s too late and the damage is done. Ian’s scathing parting shot is the one that hurts the most and really puts into question the leadership at the studio.

“Please Sign Here” lures you in with the fun and games of a bottle episode but delivers a surprisingly emotional episode that further develops the character conflicts that have been building all season.