As its library grows, Apple TV+ is proving that quality and not quantity is what really matters in the streaming, binge watching landscape.
You can look no further than their latest entries Truth Be Told and Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet.
Mystery thriller Truth Be Told stars Octavia Spencer, who continues to prove why she is one of the most talented actors in the business today. Spencer is Poppy Parnell an investigative reporter who produces her own true-crime podcast. Her partners in crime so to speak are Mekhi Phifer as Markus Knox and Katherine LaNasa as Noa Havilland. Noa is the producer of the podcast and Knox is an investigator too who gathers information and clues for Poppy.
Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad is Warren Cave. As a teenager, Cave was convicted of killing his next door neighbour leaving the family without a father. At the time, Poppy’s reporting was partially responsible for convicting Cave who was tried as an adult and sent to prison.
Poppy uncovers some new evidence which leads her to believe that Cave might have been framed or is protecting someone else after all. Poppy believes she made a horrible, reprehensible mistake and Cave, now an adult, might actually be innocent. Poppy will stop at nothing to ferret out the truth. The clock is ticking on Poppy’s investigation though as Cave’s mother might not have long to live.
Like any good mystery, the story takes some clever red herrings involving possible abuse on multiple fronts as well people not being who they appear to be. In fact, Poppy’s husband (Michael Beach) even discovers some secrets about Poppy herself. Even though that information is unrelated to the Cave case, it is still intriguing as Poppy’s backstory begins to unfold creating a mystery within a mystery.
Lizzy Caplan, who does an exceptional job playing both twins Josie and Lanie Buhrman, joins Spencer, Paul, Elizabeth Perkins and Annabella Sciorra as the series standouts. Lizzy and Josie have distinct personalities and traits. Caplan doesn’t just rely on their fashion sense or hair colour to make the twins stand out as individuals.
A word of warning though. As good as the series is it does deviate from the book substantially including a cliff-hanger ending. There is no word if there will be a second season, which does seem odd.
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet premiered on February 7th and is one of Apple TV+’s best offerings to date created and produced by Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Megan Ganz (Community, Modern Family). Mythic Quest is an off-the-wall look behind the scenes of a video game development studio fronted by ego maniac, Ian Grimm (McElhenney). The studio is responsible for the MMO Mythic Quest which is being expanded with the new Raven’s Banquet add-on.
The series also stars Danny Pudi (Abed Nadir in Community) who is a riot as the head of monetization, Brad Bakshi. Brad would put a surcharge on every weapon found in the game if it meant he could squeeze another nickel out of players.
Weaving in bits of The Office, Code Monkeys and The IT Crowd, Mythic Quest will give gamers many laughs but you don’t need to have an Xbox Live Gold Pass or PlayStation Plus subscription to appreciate the show’s humour.
All that we ask is that Pootie Shoe gets his own spin-off show.
In the next few months, Truth Be Told and Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet will be joined on AppleTV+ by Amazing Stories on March 6th, The Banker on March 20th, Home Before Dark on April 3rd and Defending Jacob on April 24th.
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