#both the brad & jo stuff and the ian & poppy stuff this episode was GREAT and has been set up really well

[johnny-and-dora]

BOTTLE EPISODE!!!!!

#mythic quest #megan ganz wrote cooperative calligraphy so of course it was always going to be great #and goddamn mq really is getting so good at that juicy balance of comedy and drama #both the brad & jo stuff and the ian & poppy stuff this episode was GREAT and has been set up really well #brad ‘i filled in the test randomly’ baskhi definitely actually got mouse btw i’m certain of it #anyway i love bottle episodes and i think it was REALLY well done here all the plot lines of s2 are coming together v nicely #i am consistently suprised bu how good this show is at more dramatic moments it’s so goddamn compelling #shut up sian #can you tell that i have no-one to talk about mq with irl lol #mythic quest season 2 episode 5: the gang gets fursonas

[cavehags]

ty for being the only person to even mention the mounting tension b/w dana and rachel! you're so right abt rachel being a great example of the britta trope. I have a feeing that whatever conflict this leads to will be the end of dana and rachel

lololol thanks, yeah it definitely seems that most people in the tags just wanna talk about brad, whom i love, but the dana/rachel stuff is getting very interesting. orianne @grendelsmilf wrote some wonderful thoughts about them too.

i like what they're doing with rachel because the soapbox sadie trope is nothing new but they're often some kind of straw feminist, written in a way that is, at best, confusingly inconsistent, or at worst, a mean-spirited attempt to undermine feminism altogether. the way rachel was written in "breaking brad" goes in a whole new direction. rachel is aware of real issues that prevent women from advancing at work, and ian agrees with her that those issues exist. that's so important--when ian forcefully agrees that it's "undeniable" that he had special opportunities as a white man, the impact of that moment for the kinds of gamer men who might be watching really impressed me. it acknowledges that rachel isn't inventing these issues; they're real, and she's right to object to them.

but rachel's perspective is also limited. unlike even ian, who evidently has reckoned with his privilege as the head of the company, rachel is getting opportunities that she doesn't even see. she is used to conceiving of herself and dana as a single unit, the lowest-ranked people at the company, #womeningaming fighting a losing battle to be heard. but the ways in which she has been luckier than dana go completely over her head. we have seen in the past few episodes that rachel isn't exactly trying to move up the ranks. while dana is fighting for an opportunity to be mentored by poppy, rachel has to be dragged along by ian at every turn. and while dana has ambition and great ideas, rachel would be happy to just continue playing video games in a room with her. dana would never overlook or squander an opportunity like the ones rachel is resisting with all her might. clearly, rachel's obliviousness, and her willingness to languish in a room with the world's narrowest window instead of building a real career, are shaped by her whiteness, or white-passing-ness. she is working half as hard as dana and getting twice as far. she's getting opportunities she doesn't even want. and she's not even seeing them for what they are.

there was an interesting interview with imani hakim that touches on how dana's race informs the way she's written. in it, she calls dana the most grounded character, and she also mentions that in season two, dana has more confidence than she did before and she's really growing up. rachel, on the other hand, has never lacked for the confidence to speak openly, even embarrassing dana with her outbursts in front of senior staff as early as the pilot. but while dana has evidently moved beyond video games being her entire life and has graduated to wanting to shape the world around her in meatspace, rachel isn't growing up with her. she still just wants safe stories from the comfort of a screen.

to your point, it is easy to imagine that this divide will end their relationship. as dana's growing up, she deserves a partner who both understands what she's going through (instead of asking her what it means to work twice as hard to get half as far) and shows some interest in growing up along with her. i'm not sure if that's exactly how it will go or if the two will reach some kind of understanding, but i'm loving watching it unfold! it adds so much depth to both characters and advances their relationship from cute will-they-or-won't-they territory to something that is truly worth the audience's time. this is a show whose themes explore the creative process, every bit of it. rachel and dana's differences highlight their very different visions of themselves and their futures. and in this season about rifts--between ian and poppy, brad and jo, and now dana and rachel--this is a particularly meaty one. they're really starting to feel like full-fledged characters who thematically fit into the story the show is trying to tell. so i'm really looking forward to following this thread.

#mythic quest