Lights, camera, “Quarantine”

Veronica Lenard argues that when it comes to portrayals of lockdown on screen, ‘Mythic Quest’ has got it right. 

There is something uniquely weird about lockdown. In between the endless video calls, staring at the same walls and the to-do lists that don’t seem to be getting any shorter, it certainly seems that we are experiencing the world through our screens. Living life through our streaming services also produces a disconnect when other places, real and fictional, move towards a post-pandemic future. Understandably, very few pandemic productions have been able to appropriately represent this complexity but can returning to these texts during our ongoing lockdown provide any comfort? 

The first time that I watched the pandemic episode of Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest, I thought it was a refreshing representation of pandemic times, but admittedly we weren’t in lockdown and hadn’t been for quite some time. So I embarked upon a rewatch with the hope that it could bring me joy, and it definitely did that. 

Mythic Quest is a sitcom set in the fictional office of a video game studio. Written by Rob McElhenney, Megan Ganz and David Hornsby, the pandemic-themed episode 'Quarantine' was released as one of two special episodes between seasons one and two. Under the directorial guidance of McElhenney and aided by a well coordinated system of iPhones, AirPods, FaceTime calls (perks of being an Apple TV+ series), the cast and crew created this episode over three weeks. 'Quarantine' follows the team as they try to fix issues with a poorly timed release of an in-game disease and continuing to do their jobs, playing out mostly on their computer screens, in a way that is distinctively fitting for pandemic life.  

The dynamic for the episode is framed in the opening call where executive producer David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby) trying to contact co-creative directors Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney) and Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) over the video-conferencing software Mythic-Com Meetings, who both refuse to join before the other. When Ian joins the call from his hot tub and an exhausted looking Poppy connects from her bedroom, we are shown that the MQ team are all dealing with the pandemic in very different ways.  

This seems to be purposely opposed by the statement shared from video game tester Lou, that “we are all in this together." It's this kind of truism that has been used in a lot of pandemic communication. Of course, we are going through this pandemic together, and yet, it is different in intricate and complicated ways for everyone.  

Some of these varied experiences are explored within the storylines of the characters in the MQ team. Ian's initial response seems reminiscent of the early celebrity reactions to the pandemic, culminating in the production of a series of motivational videos, with almost each of them set in a new room in his compound. But for a supposed guided meditation that includes the instruction to “close your eyes and concentrate on the only thing that matters, the sound of my voice,” the delivery of his potentially well-intended messages misses its point.

As the episode progresses, Ian’s fear of leaving his compound is contrasted with Poppy's experiences as she grapples with living alone in the pandemic. Poppy's initial response is moderately successful as she focuses on her work until it starts to fall apart as she reaches the end of her to-do list. As Ian notices this change and his messages and FaceTime calls continue to go ignored, he resorts to leaving comments in Poppy's code and eventually turns up outside her apartment to hug her (a little pandemic adaptation see Nicdao's husband (Bayden Hine) filling in for McElhenney). Rather than feeling like a pandemic faux-pas, the moment is almost comforting. After watching these two struggling in their own way, there is some kind of solace in watching them be there for each other.

At the same time, the video calls bring the team together and maintain the humour and levity of the episode. An ongoing joke between video game testers Dana and Rachel, where they pass chips to each other over video call, becomes the inspiration for an impressively constructed Rube Goldberg machine sequence at the end of the episode where each member of the team in their square of the video call has an elaborate sequence that connects together. Other story lines are tied together in this moment as the technologically challenged storyteller C.W. Longbottom (F. Murray Abraham) almost ruins the chain reaction.

Mythic Quest explores the bad, the weird and the surprisingly good parts of the pandemic. It lets the characters feel bad without trivialising them and allows them to have fun without putting a caveat on it. The nuance of living in lockdown amidst a global health crisis is often lost in many pandemic plotlines because the very attempt to make something unusual feel normal tends to fail at recognising what makes it unique in the first place. We may be all in this together, but at least partially, we are going through this by ourselves. This feels even more true as much of Australia is in lockdown, whilst other countries continue to move towards a post-pandemic future.

For an episode made with the concern that it would be irrelevant by the time it was released, Mythic Quest’s ‘Quarantine’ episode certainly continues to be relevant.