While we’ve only just now hit the halfway point to the year, 2020 is already been pretty damned rough. As of writing this, various American cities are in the grips of massive protests and riots that threaten to shake the very fabric of its society. So, that’s going on and all, but let’s not forget that we’re technically still in the midst of the biggest global pandemic in most of our lifetimes with COVID-19. While some countries have returned to some degree of normalcy, second waves are already hitting places like South Korea, and other places like the United States have been a dumpster fire as the death toll there has risen past 100,000 with a leader and administration who are more than willing to just shrug that off.
So yeah, that’s happening still.
Many people worldwide have lost their jobs, or been forced into remote-work positions. That means the consumption of art and entertainment has skyrocketed. Of course, ironically, COVID-19 has also killed the means to that entertainment by and large. It’s shut down Hollywood almost entirely, and development of video games has slowed as teams are having to now work on complicated processes from home. Delays, cancelations and all sorts of the like plagued just about every inch of mainstream entertainment.
That’s why it was so refreshing to see something new that’s both great and manages to capture this difficult time in history perfectly.
Mystic Quest will easily sit on top of this year’s best surprises of 2020. The initial previews of the show didn’t look all that great, but it already managed to deliver what I’d consider the best single television episode of the year in its freshman season. The show was renewed, with that second season beginning production at some point after the COVID situation is brought under control I imagine (whenever in the name of God that’ll be). In between, we got the surprise drop of a quarantine-themed episode. The show was filmed almost entirely via iPhones and Zoom sessions. We’ve seen this being utilized in various ways since lockdowns began, mostly in the likes of late-night talks shows, or a type of reunion episode of some kind like seen with Parks and Recreation.
The episode was written and directed by star Rob McElhenney, with the whole thing being produced in just three weeks. It’s incredible to think about, considering how well done the episode is. Despite only being thirty minutes, it manages to touch of so many different aspects of this quarantine. Some characters are clearly more comfortable than others, with Ian Grimm, the creative director of the titular video game and one of the main financial beneficiaries of its success basically using the whole thing as a vacation while self-isolating in his compound and making cheesy self-help videos. Meanwhile, the lead engineer of the game, Poppy Li, lives in a small and dark apartment as she does everything she can to distract herself with as much work as possible.
While the tense relationship between Li and Grimm is the central plot of the episode, that ends in a surprisingly heartwarming exchange that took me off guard, it’s filled with several little side stories about everyday life. A younger employee tries teaching an older one how to properly use Zoom, only to give up in frustration after several attempts go comically wrong. The game’s executive producer tries to hustle the head of monetization to giving a large donation to a COVID charity. And two friends do their best to have fun with the borders on their Zoom windows.
Probably my favorite bit of it all, though, is when Grimm calls Carol, the Human Resources worker played by the wonderful Naomi Ekperigin. One of the running gags of the show is that no one understands the purpose of Human Resources and tries to use poor Carol as a glorified psychiatrist. After a frustrating back and forth, she throws up her hands saying she’s done with his crap, because she has kids to take care of on top of whatever work needs to be done.
What I think this episode does better than anything else that’s been made in this manner is show that life didn’t stop with the quarantine. For those who are more well off and could actually afford to lounge around for a few months, or are lucky enough to have a job that translated easily to remote work, it might have been easy to feel like the world did just stand still. You may even think that now, if you’re still in self-isolation. But the truth is life goes on, no matter what, even if it means said lives are stuck in Zoom windows on computers and phones.
Who knows if things will ever go back to “normal”. But one of the best things about any kind of art or entertainment is that it has the ability to capture a moment in time. I can’t think of anything else on television today that managed to capture this moment in such a perfect way, as a time capsule we’ll be able to point back to and show what life was like during a difficult time, while also making us laugh just a little. To show that people still argue, made up, laugh and love even when they forced to stay indoors. Between this, a strong debut season and the standalone Dark Quiet Death episode, Mystic Quest is establishing itself to potentially be one of the best surprise television shows of the new decade.
Image credit: Tookapic