Summary
“Telephone” is short, snappy, and straight to the point, delivering one of Season 4’s best as David slowly manifests a breakdown.
In Mythic Quest Season 4, Episode 9, David is engulfed in a profound crisis, struggling to keep the company afloat. The company teeters on the edge of a significant upheaval after his public embarrassment at Congress with Rachel.
“Telephone” opens with Poppy ringing Storm and showing him her latest art piece. She’s desperate to visit him and explains that she’s on a leave of absence from MQ. Poppy is unsure if visiting Storm will be a permanent stay or just a visit, which makes the ending of the episode even more critical.
David Is Firefighting
In the corporate world, when you are reacting to many urgent scenarios, we call that “firefighting,” and that’s precisely what David is doing in “Telephone.”
He holds a meeting and addresses the rumors that he’s a weak leader (strange agenda). He announced that the board completely trusted him despite the Congressional disaster and the loss of potential investors. However, there’s a new investor from another foreign country, but he will not say which country, raising suspicions that the investment is entirely unethical.
And his phone will not stop going off in Episode 9, which only worsens his life. When Ian calls him to explain how he’s taking a leave of absence because Poppy is absent, it quickly becomes clear that MQ is in crisis.
David does not even know Poppy has taken a leave of absence, but he becomes more despairful when he learns she’s potentially leaving the country. Both creative directors have left at the same time.
To try and help David, Poppy helps David find the hard drive in her office that holds a copy of the Elysium expansion, but that only angers him further: he told Ian and Poppy to kill the game’s development. At this point in the episode, David is determined to replace her.
At this point, I wasn’t sure if I felt sorry for David. Desperate, he tries to offer Dana the director role, but Jo stands in his way, defending Rachel and Dana from being hired by MQ again after recent shenanigans.
David needs Brad to help negotiate, but he’s too busy enjoying a massage with his Polish lover. It also transpires that Brad’s lover has been skimming the Playpen currency, converting it into crypto to create a wealthy future for them both. She asks Brad to decide: her or MQ. Brad picks her, and to fulfill her wishes, he has to infiltrate the MQ systems.
David’s Breakdown
By this point of “Telephone,” David is so stressed that he cries. He rings Ian and fires him on the spot, claiming the company needs a clean slate. As she slowly loses it, Anthony tells David that the Elysium expansion is incredible. David really wants the expansion to be bad. Why? Well, if it’s good, it means he needs Ian and Poppy to return.
As we reach the end of the episode, David is back to square one. He visits Poppy and begs her not to leave. But as he’s trying to negotiate with her, he gets a notification on his phone: a breaking news article: Ian Grimm has resigned from MQ. His former colleague has gotten ahead of the news to hurt David’s reputation.
David offers Poppy the chance to be creative director solely on her own, without Ian: just her, no compromises. With a baby on the way, it seems Poppy cannot find an escape from her workaholic lifestyle, and once again, her choices in life are intrinsically linked to Ian.
Oh, and just as an extra piece of information from this chapter, Andy finds out that Mikey is having a fling with Carol, and he feels betrayed by his best friend. They end up having a small fight in the middle of the office. The Carol love drama bubbling in the background adds to the entertainment of the episode.
Read More: Mythic Quest Season 4, Episode 8 Recap
