I’m loving the new series of Mythic Quest, which is in its second half now, and features all our favourite characters in new and hilarious circumstances. Rachel Meyee tying herself up in knots in front of Congress in last week’s episode? Perfection.

And actually, Rachel taking centre stage in that episode reminded me of this article from last year that has stuck with me ever since I read it. It talks of the decision to show Rachel’s grey hair on screen in all its glory, alongside the character of Poppy showing silvery strands in her hair too. It’s excellent, obviously, for a bit of grey haired representation, particularly as Ashly Burch looks amazing.

But why I really love it is that it’s entirely character-driven. Poppy would be too wrapped up in coding to pay attention to her hair, and for Rachel:

During the first season, Burch, who is also a writer on Mythic Quest, dyed her hair; she thought that’s just what you do when you’re on TV, but she also felt it made sense for the character at the time: Rachel seemed like the type of person who would play around with coloring her hair and adding streaks of pink.

The decision to let Rachel be as gray as Burch came when the Mythic Quest crew was making a quarantine episode that takes place largely over Zoom. The series’ head of hair had already sent Burch a wig when Mythic Quest showrunner and star Rob McElhenney asked if she would consider a storyline where she had let her hair grow in because she hadn’t been able to get it colored. Burch was game, and the writers put in a line where Rachel’s crush Dana (Imani Hakim) compares Rachel to Storm from the X-Men. “I was like, ‘Oh, well, there’s no world then in which Rachel ever dyes her hair again,’” Burch remembers.

Natural but also not forced, it’s the perfect situation, and a huge thumbs up to Mythic Quest for going down this road.