The pilot episode of Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet didn't live up to expectations, but the show has been consistently good since then, with the subsequent two episodes delivering a lot of laughs and entertainment. Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet Episode 4: The Convention keeps the momentum going, proving that while the show didn't necessarily give the best first impression, it's definitely worth sticking with and maybe even worth subscribing to Apple TV+ to watch.

Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet Episode 4 starts with a surprising plot development. The show's PewDiePie parody, Pootie Shoe, has decided to stop streaming the Mythic Quest game, which leads to a crisis at the development studio. Pootie Shoe makes the announcement in a segment that is a clear nod to PewDiePie's PewNews videos, which is a nice touch that should amuse PewDiePie fans and is a testament to Mythic Quest's attention to detail if nothing else.

With Pootie Shoe now dedicating his time to streaming a science-fiction game instead of the high fantasy Mythic Quest, the development team need to woo a new streamer. A real world example of this includes EA paying streamers like Ninja to stream Respawn's Apex Legends, so this is something that is actively happening in gaming/streaming culture. Whether or not it's right or wrong isn't really tackled by the show, which is good as its attempts at "lessons" have not really landed as much as the humor so far.

The quest to find a new Mythic Quest streamer leads Ian, Poppy, and Brad to StreamerCon, an obvious riff on TwitchCon. There they find a blue-haired streamer who is likely a parody of Ninja, though instead of cash, he wants a percentage of Mythic Quest's weapon sales. Brad was taken aback by this, and watching him struggle with the streamer negotiation was the most interesting that his character has been to date. It gave him a little more humanity, whereas before he was painted as a bland, money-obsessed person and was just very one note.

Brad isn't the only character that shined in Mythic Quest Episode 4, though. Poppy also had her best episode to date and some of the funniest moments of the episode, like when she finds a young female streamer, asks her to stream their game, and then immediately abandons her when she finds out that she only has 200 subscribers. Poppy's scenes were funny, but her story was also the source of drama, as she bumped into a developer from their rival game at the convention. He gave Poppy his card and offered her the Creative Director role, and at the end of the episode, Poppy made the call, frustrated by the way she's treated by her male coworkers.

Toxic work environments were another big theme in Mythic Quest Episode 4, particularly when it comes to how male-dominated the video game industry is. Brad and Ian initially shot down the idea of using a female streamer, and at one point had even considered using a sexualized AI streamer instead. At the Mythic Quest development studio, it was made clear that the vast majority of employees are male, with only a handful of female developers.

This male/female dynamic was the center of Mythic Quest Episode 4's B-plot, which saw the organization Girls Can Code visit the studio. Unfortunately, there weren't many female game developers for the girls to talk to, with David desperately trying to find a female staff member. He eventually found himself in the basement, introducing the girls to the unhinged Community Manager Pam, who we met in Mythic Quest Episode 3. Pam's character was more effective here, and it was made clearer that it's not just that she's overly positive, but that she's neurotic and generally disturbed, which makes sense considering she's the sole target of player criticism.

Poppy being away at StreamerCon made it especially difficult for David to find a suitable female role model for the kids to meet. He finally realized that Mythic Quest employs two female QA testers, and he goes to introduce them to the Girls Can Code visitors in a last-ditch effort. However, he finds Rachel and CW Longbottom in the testing area instead, as Dana went to StreamerCon with Ian, Brad, and Poppy. The out of context conversation that the group hears implies that Longbottom and Rachel were showing each other their private parts, though in reality they were sharing each other's passions.

The Longbottom/Rachel C-plot saw Longbottom attempt to explain why he prefers cut-scenes for storytelling versus Rachel showing why she thinks gameplay is better. The argument between gameplay and cut-scenes is a compelling one, and Mythic Quest handled it well. For examples of great storytelling, it pointed to The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Assassin's Creed (it should be noted that the show is produced by Ubisoft's film division), and for gameplay, Rachel simply played with Longbottom. There were some pretty big Red Dead Redemption 2 spoilers in this episode, though, so anyone that has yet to complete Rockstar's western epic should keep that in mind.

As far as in-game images go, Mythic Quest was light on gameplay in this episode. However, what we did see was more close-up shots on characters, and footage that looked like For Honor combat. What's weird is that this art style doesn't necessarily mesh with the look of the game from Episode 3: Dinner Party, which is a bit strange. Maybe it can be explained away by different graphics settings, though.

Regardless, Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet continues to be funny, especially for those who follow the video game industry. It still seems unlikely that someone who isn't a gamer will get all that much enjoyment out of the show, but they're arguably not the target audience anyway. It's definitely one of the better all-around programs available on Apple TV+ so far, and since there's only nine episodes total, fans of Rob McElhenney's past work may want to consider shelling out the $4.99 for a month subscription or taking advantage of any free trial offers that they may have available to them.

Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet is available to stream now, exclusively on Apple TV+.