Mythic Quest (Season 3), Episode 8: With its casual detours to the characters’ pasts and its newly formed friendships, ‘Mythic Quest’ manages to keep up its peppy spirit intact. The style of humor derived from the idiosyncrasies of these characters is perhaps the reason why I adore this Apple TV+ show. Since the show started, it had primarily focused on the power dynamic between Ian and Poppy, who were constantly fighting to get the upper hand. The new episode takes us back to the older friendships rekindling in newer forms and presenting amusing and occasionally somber moments.
Mythic Quest (Season 3) Episode 8 Recap
To Catch a Mouse
The new episode titled ‘To Catch a Mouse’ is written by Emma DePaulo Reid and directed by Ashly Burch. Before going out to get a cold drink for herself, Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) sticks a post-it note on one of the walls of Grimpop. Ian (Rob McElhenney) sees it and wonders how it got there so does Dana (Imani Hakim). ‘Haptics’ is written over it, and they both try to speculate its meaning while Ian tries to justify how it does not quite fit in with the ambiance and blocks his vision. That is when Poppy walks in and tells him that it is the way of her new routine where she writes big ideas on such notes instead of a phone or a notepad.
Dana then asks what Haptics means, and Poppy cannot answer it. Then Ian, in his regular snarky way, goes on to make fun of her while she is determined to work on the big ideas that are only her own. While Ian endeavors to connect with Gen Z Dana with her slang, Poppy sticks with her vision. After this discussion, they start fighting about the temperature of their office according to Poppy’s preference, which Ian finds too high for his liking. And unlike every other time when Dana is on Ian’s side, this time, she agrees with Poppy saying that it is freezing.
Meanwhile, in the MQ office, Brad Bakshi (Danny Pudi) meets Jo (Jessie Ennis) in their cafeteria. These two evil soulmates sulk over the terrible nature of their presence, where they have to work for others and feel that they are losing control. Brad is tired of pretending that bringing coffee as per his senior Rachel’s (Ashly Burch) liking is not beneath him. Jo tries to justify that their work serves some purpose and that her job is not entirely worthless since she is able to assist a strong and capable man. And just the next moment, her boss David (David Hornsby) walks out of his room, scared of something.
Like always, David tries to pretend that it is nothing big while being extremely worried about whatever is happening to him. He goes up to Jo and tells her to take care of a rat that is in his office. Since Brad is also present there, he and Jo both that David is speaking about a metaphorical rat, i.e., a person from their office who is engaged in misbehavior. While David keeps making efforts that he is speaking about a literal rat, Jo and Brad keep thinking about the strategies they would work out to catch a metaphorical one. They also think of the motives and goals of a person to take over control and then try to figure out a trap to catch one.
Right after, Jo shouts at every single employee and escorts them out of the office so that they can fulfill their mission. Meanwhile, in Grimpop, Poppy gets pissed at Ian for bringing the temperature much lower to her liking. When she confronts him, he keeps mentioning how the high temperature hinders his vision and, thus, his work. She notes that it is not he, but she is doing the actual work, so it needs to be as per her preference. They ask Dana to be a mediator in their argument about the temperature and the lighting inside the office. While she wants it to be dimmer, he wants it extremely bright. They keep arguing about this trivial matter, and meanwhile, Dana sneaks out of the office.
Dana goes out to meet David and complains about Ian and Poppy’s silly arguments, which are keeping her away from working on Playpen, which is what both of them should ideally be doing as well. Dana and David bond over their dislike for them. When she learns that the MQ office is empty and it has AC on (unlike the childish play at Grimpop), she decides to go there to work. Meanwhile, Jo and Brad are working on their rat trap as if it is a highly secret operation. Brad walks with his janitor trolly, and right when he almost finds the rat, David and Dana walk in and turn the lights on. It makes their plan fail, and seeing their weird mission, and Dana plans to return the way she came in.
Back in Grimpop, Ian keeps making fun of Poppy for drinking very little water while he keeps up with his effort to discover a new invention. He thinks he invented a ‘cubicle’, and Poppy bursts his bubble and insults his artistic intelligence. Meanwhile, at the MQ office, Brad and Jo successfully capture the rat and bring it in a cage to David. They note that the rat was a mother and was about to have babies, which is why they did not kill it. However, David does not want it to breed further in the office and cause a nuisance. He asks Dana, who happens to be in his cabin, to kill the rat. But she does not agree to do so. So, as always, David is left to do this task by himself.
Mythic Quest (Season 3) Episode 8 Ending Explained
What do Ian and Poppy argue about?
On the rooftop terrace, Ian is sitting by himself while contemplating something. Poppy walks in to have a word with him. By now, she has realized that Ian is trying to find one way or the other to distract himself from working on her game which is her vision. She confronts him about it and whether that is, in fact, the case. In a particularly sensitive moment, he accepts that he does not wish to work on her vision and gelled well with the idea of Mythic Quest since it was his creative child. Hera is not his, but Poppy’s.
She gets heartbroken hearing about it. While having worked tirelessly on Mythic Quest for years, she never complained about it not being her vision and still participated in making it better. But Ian is not able to let go of his ego and cannot digest that he is not a creative father anymore. She goes back to the office and gets back to her work. Even when Dana walks in, she notices that something is not quite right with Poppy. But neither speak explicitly about it. In the end, we see tears rolling down her eyes while still working on her computer.
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MYTHIC QUEST (SEASON 3), EPISODE 8 LINKS: IMDB, ROTTEN TOMATOES
MYTHIC QUEST (SEASON 3), EPISODE 8 CAST: ROB MCELHINNEY, CHARLOTTE NICDAO, DANNY PUDI, DAVID HORNSBY, IMANI HAKIM, ASHLY BURCH, JESSIE ENNIS
