#mq spoilers

[queenhawke]

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[trophywifemac]

MYTHIC QUEST 4.04 • The Villain's Feast

[laz-kay]

“I read an article about how men in their 40’s struggle to make friends. Lowers their life expectancy”

“Hmm. You read a lot of articles”

Mythic Quest, The Villain’s Feast (S4: E4)

[leafatlaw]

I sorta kinda hate (/light hearted) this episode, because this is the first time we've like really been in Brad's head, right ? This episode shows us his thought process and inner monologue in a way we've never seen before, and in that way its almost a more illuminating episode than Breaking Brad.

Brad's thought process is almost like a heist movie, or other sort of movie. Its very silly almost, youd expect him based on how he acts, to be just as cold in his own thoughts but thats not true. Hes constantly surprised (when David offers him a spot at poker night) hes so vulnerable(admitting this is his biggest lost).

ANd like ignoring even all that- Hes silly ! I dont mean it lightly I mean he acts genuinely childish. He acts like the main character of his own noir thriller where hes cool and suave and always five months ahead. But then he loses and childishly he choses to blame someone else(dana). This episode hurts because it shows that Brads not this evil mastermind with vulnerabilities, hes just a kid playing heroes and villains on the playground.

[araindropshallfall]

caught myself being like “awwe Ian wishes Pootie a happy birthday every year” and damn we really do celebrate mediocre white men for doing the bare minimum eh

[armandslestat]

Rachel gurl you are so getting fired

[rainbowplussome]

tbh i don’t actually care if they give brad a female love interest on account of the following:

1. “female love interest” does not a straight man make

2. literally so what if he is straight in canon. i have straight friends

3. i just want more brad-centric stuff! as long as his characterization holds true i see no issue in any of this. #lovewins

[boyfeelxo]

holy shit pootie shoe is woke??? thats so funny what

[milogoestogreendale]

okay fish and a whale thoughts now because i have so many things to say

this felt so much like an episode of community and im glad im not the only one who felt that way, love the danny pudi narration

brad reading the “how to play poker” book as part of his plot to get david to invite him is such a cartoonish scheme, also love that it’s unnecessary bc david immediately invites him

brad and david being casual buddies is awesome im screaming. the way they played poker together for months??? yeah it wasn’t just a scheme they’re straight up frienemies now

the tension between them in the “shut up and deal bitch” scene. bro i would kill to see outtakes. the eye contact. the dialogue. so in character

“you don’t like it?” with the eyebrow raise?? david is BOLD dude he’s getting more confident

the way brad banters back about their closeness but doesn’t step away or avert eye contact… he’s trying so hard to maintain control after david turned the tables on him

i need someone to make a gifset of that scene immediately the aggressive eye contact is killing me

genuinely feel bad for ian here s4 has honestly turned him into the underdog?? it’s nice to see david thriving socially for once though

im so glad they followed up on poppy’s relationship with her sister and her friends standing up for her was so sweet?? i genuinely think poppy’s gonna be a really good mom too, she’s a bit all over the place but im rooting for her

i loved jo in this episode especially her having poppy’s back was great

in general enjoying how david and brad’s arcs continue to mirror each other

okay that’s it for now

[themathmusician]

I know a lot of people hate the pregnancy storyline with Poppy, and like, I get that, but also it’s a really creative way to highlight how untraditionally traditional Poppy’s and Ian’s relationship and love for each other are. 

By “untraditionally traditional”, what I mean is that the show takes the traditional family structure (i.e., two parents bonded out of love for each other and their baby) and executes it in an extremely untraditional manner: the parents, Ian and Poppy, are in love, but have no romantic or sexual attraction for each other, and their baby is a video game, not a human person. Poppy and Ian and their relationship are weird, everyone can see it, but what makes it especially strange is how … familial it is. Their relationship is a “traditional family” in the most untraditional way possible. 

What makes this especially great from a story perspective is that so many of their arguments essentially come down to common parent fighting. With Hera, it’s the deadbeat dad trope, where Ian doesn’t help at all, or when he tries it’s misplaced, and Poppy does all the work “raising” the baby. The co-creative directors storyline from season 2 mirrors the home conflicts of traditional gender roles, with the two parents are now “equal”, but instead of them sharing the workload, they try to do the same role, separately, and to no avail. (TBH David really isn’t that off base by associating them with fighting parents).  

However, the presence of a baby flips this structure: it takes the traditional manifestation of two people's love for each other, i.e., a pregnancy conceived through romantic and sexual attraction between two people, and forces it into Poppy’s and Ian’s “traditional” relationship. The fetus, who after it’s born will be a physical human baby (not a video game lol), isn’t a direct manifestation of the parent’s (Ian’s and Poppy’s) love for each other; it’s an unplanned child that is effectively from an “affair” in their relationship. 

In other words, from society’s perspective, a baby should be the manifestation of their love; but Poppy already has a baby (MQ) with a man she loves (Ian, platonically). The human baby doesn’t fit. And for all Ian’s “we’ll do it together” talk, I can't believe he'll deliver on that; “over promise and under deliver”, as Poppy said. 

From a story perspective, I think there are two options: break the traditional structure of their relationship (i.e., instead of two parents married with their child conceived together, bring a “bastard” child into their family, making the family structure now untraditional), OR maintain the structure by giving the baby away and keeping the family (Poppy + Ian + MQ), though slightly damaged, in tact. In the latter scenario, Poppy and Ian come out stronger together, likely more in tune with each other, and are able to conceive more children (expansions). In the former … I think they break. MQ is their baby, not this actual human child. 

TL;DR: I think Poppy gives the baby away at the end of the season.

[lgbtqiads9]

omg that's subway at the poker game in this new mq episode omfg

[laz-kay]

If I had a nickel

DANNY PUDI as ABED NADIR and BRAD BAKSHI

COMMUNITY (2009) and MYTHIC QUEST (2020)

[whatsaterrarium]

anyways i apologize for everything ive ever said to braddavid shippers. i'll give yall this one

[queenhawke]

well. i knew it was coming bc they spoiled it in that one interview but im still :\ about a poppy pregnancy plot. like ok charlotte nicdao was pregnant but u don't gotta do something with that. u can just cover it up with baggy clothes and clever camera angles like tv shows have done since time immemorial

sigh.

anyway.

we'll see what happens i guess

[araindropshallfall]

lost my shit over the baby in the frying pan not gonna lie

[thekylemeredith]

"It felt like we were making a secret web series that nobody was watching"

Danny Pudi on Mythic Quest, Community: The Movie, and the Art of Controlled Chaos