Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Megan Ganz knows her way around a bottle episode. Before co-creating Apple TV+’s sensational workplace comedy Mythic Quest with her It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia coworkers Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, the prolific TV writer penned the Community episode “Cooperative Calligraphy,” a legendary Season 2 bottle episode that revolves around a missing pen. Ostensible simplicity is often the hallmark of a successful bottle episode. Seinfeld crafted one about waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant. Friends did a bottle episode about the group not being ready to attend Ross’ fancy museum event. An incident doesn’t have to be earth-shattering to be inciting.
Ganz recently stepped behind the camera to direct an episode of Mythic Quest, Season 2’s “Please Sign Here,” a deceptively simple bottle episode about the beleaguered head of Human Resources (Carol, played to perfection by actor/comedy writer Naomi Ekperigin) dutifully trying to convince the Mythic Quest employees to sign the results of a workplace assessment profile. The episode, which was written by Katie McElhenney, is set up in a surgical 50-second cold open which boils down to Carol asking the employees to sign the forms and everyone immediately declining. While “Backstory!” — the extraordinary Season 2 flashback episode that serves as a C.W. Longbottom (F. Murray Abraham) origin story — has received plenty of well-deserved acclaim, my favorite Season 2 episode is “Please Sign Here.”
The main reason I fell head-over-heels in comedy love with this work of art can be summarized in three simple words:
People who appreciate comedy love David Hornsby. From portraying Rickety Cricket on It’s Always Sunny to Boomer on Good Girls to all his behind-the-scenes accolades as a writer/producer, Hornsby is an underappreciated comedy maestro. His performance in this episode is a tour de force of hilarity. Part of that is Hornsby’s innate comedic gusto, but the other half is the choices made by the writing staff (Hornsby is also a writer/executive producer on the show) in regards to the character of David Brittlesbee. If you tell the easily impressionable David that he’s a wolf, he’ll believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, he’s a wolf.
Much like a successful NBA team, comedy is heightened by chemistry and continuity. Rob McElhenney, Ganz, Katie McElhenney, and Hornsby have all previously worked together on It’s Always Sunny (not to mention the Ganz/Pudi Community connection), so everyone knows how to play to one another’s strengths. There’s nothing inherently funny about the line “it’s not in a wolf’s nature to roll over and expose his soft underbelly, especially not to authority,” but Hornsby’s delivery mixed with the staff’s reactions to his delusional behavior combine to make it one of the funniest pieces of dialogue in the episode. Comedy is in the details and giving David a recently-widowed girlfriend who lives far away is such a smart choice. It not only tracks for the character, but it provides him a whole new set of organic obstacles.
I love the above gif because you just know the character of David went home and started looking up wolf terms the second he received his results.
The David Brittlesbee wolf bit isn’t the main plot of the episode. It’s not even the B or C story. It’s just a fun runner that adds levity and counterbalances the hostility of the Ian/Poppy and Brad/Jo quarrels. When it’s revealed that David incorrectly filled out the profile, making him a butterfly as opposed to a wolf, he signs his form and scampers off. But not before an awkward, pitch-perfect button in which he sheepishly waits for the elevator before, eventually, getting trapped in said elevator.
The entire episode reaches its emotional crescendo when a vulnerable Ian finally opens up to Poppy, only to be rebuffed. It’s a tense, evocative moment that reverberates throughout the season. And that’s the beauty and undeniable storytelling splendor of Mythic Quest. It’ll make you laugh, cry, and feel multiple times in 26 minutes. It can be a wolf, butterfly, and everything in between.
New episodes of Mythic Quest premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.
