ABC’s ‘The Quest’ episode 2 review: A great hour (and a shocking dinner party)

The second episode of “The Quest” aired on ABC Thursday night, and now that we understand more of what’s going on with the story, we were able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show … and enjoy we truly did.

This episode was a ton of fun for the first 58 minutes or so, beginning mostly with Ansgar (who is basically the angry Gordon Ramsay of Everealm) being put in his place by the Queen over living accommodations. We transferred over to the latest challenge not long after that, but not before Leticia suffered a serious faux pas in dropping her Sun Spear piece. What would’ve happened had Ansgar not found it? Would the entire quest be over? We’re surprised she wasn’t locked up in a dungeon somewhere.

This challenge was all about target practice while on horseback, and produced a series of super-entertaining moments.

• Jasmine, despite being so small that the helmet nearly eats her alive, managing to do a very good job with a high score.
• Christian, despite seemingly know what he is doing with archery, scoring a low score and having to face the Fates for the second straight week.
• Bonnie’s horse nearly taking off with her on it at one point, and claiming that she has wanted to basically bash skulls all her life. Wait, what?
• Andrew doing well, but then botching it all by calling the Queen “m’lady” afterwards.
• Shondo winning, but someone needs to tell this guy to get into the character of Everealm more. In this word, it’s not all about “the dubs.”

Ashley, Christian, and Jim were the lowest-ranking paladins, and this brings us back to another meeting with the Fates. We were surprised that this was coming at the 35-minute mark, when there was a whole lot more of the episode still to air.

The challenge awaiting these three was basically all about horseshoes and hammers, and probably not the most exciting challenge in the world … even though there was still some fun in seeing Christian further prove himself to be the Tim “The Toolman” Taylor of “The Quest.” Jim defeated the others, and this led to an interesting decision: Ashley feels like more of a team player, while we’re not entirely sure Christian is a hero so much as he is a Littlefinger or a Varys, who just wants to play the game.

Honestly, we were surprised that Christian stuck around, given the edit made it feel almost like his journey was over. Character-wise, we’re glad he did; the experience seemed to make him more humble, and he has a personality that pops off the screen. We’re sad for Ashley, though, given that she seemed nice enough … though we’re not sure about anything with her other than that she and LJ from “Survivor” share the same profession.

It is those final two minutes that were not-so-fun, mostly because it was sad to see the Queen go, seemingly via poison at the dinner party. Who’s in charge of Sanctum now? Would power go to Ansgar’s head if he is chosen? How would this Queen feel about having the same end as (“Game of Thrones” spoiler alert!) King Joffrey? So many questions, and so few answers.

In the end, we really enjoyed this episode as a whole! The Queen’s death was a big surprise, we’re pretty sure that Shondo is entertainment gold (calling Jim “Jimbo Slice”), and we’ve got that rush of excitement when this comes on (possibly because we’re jealous since this is basically the greatest LARP ever). There are still some things that can be worked on with challenges, but with so much going well, you still have to be hopeful for these paladins’ future. Grade: A-.

What did you think about “The Quest” this week? Share your thoughts below.