Dungeons & Dealers
3rd episode of the 2nd season of Ted
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"Dungeons & Dealers" is the third episode of the second season of the American fantasy comedy series Ted. Written by Chelsea Davison, and directed by Seth MacFarlane, it premiered on the American streaming service Peacock, along with the rest of season two, on March 5, 2026. The series acts as a precursor to the Ted film franchise, showcasing the childhood lives of the protagonists.
Episode 3
| "Dungeons & Dealers" | |
|---|---|
| Ted episode | |
Brennan Lee Mulligan portrays Chris Bleth (pictured), the Dungeon Master who plays Dungeons & Dragons with the gang in exchange for marijuana. Mulligan assisted both with the writing and directing of the episode, to ensure its accuracy.[1][2] | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Seth MacFarlane |
| Written by | Chelsea Davison |
| Original air date | March 5, 2026 |
| Running time | 31 minutes |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
The series, set in 1994, focuses on John Bennett (Max Burkholder), the series' primary protagonist, an awkward high-school aged boy; along with Ted (MacFarlane), the series' titular anthropomorphic teddy bear. The two live with John's family, Susan (Alanna Ubach), his mild mannered mother, and Matty (Scott Grimes), his conservative father. Also residing with the family is Blaire (Giorgia Whigham), his radically liberal cousin whom often clashes with Matty. In the episode, Ted and John, along with Blaire, must play Dungeons & Dragons with the drug dealer Chris Bleth (Brennan Lee Mulligan) in order to win their promised marijuana, due to a shortage of the drug. But, unaware that there is marijuana involved, Susan and Matty join the game, trying to steer their kids towards family values.
The idea for both the episode and Mulligan's cameo came from Davison and Burkholder, who was a fan of his work, and recalled being "starstruck" while filming scenes with him. An inspiration for MacFarlane in the episode's directing work was The Empire Strikes Back, also working closely with Mulligan—an avid Dungeons & Dragons player—to assure the episode was as accurate to the game as possible. The set design and costumes were heavily scrutinized to ensure they were as accurate as possible, with 25,000 pounds of dirt being flown in for the former. Upon release, the episode received critical acclaim, with praise going particularly towards the humor and cast performances, and for its close depiction of the game.
Plot
Blaire asks Ted and John for some marijuana, on account of her running out, but they realize they're out, too, so they look for Chris Bleth, a classmate of theirs that sells drugs. Susan converses with the mailman about his life, which makes Matty upset, as he reads in a newspaper that several kids around John's age vandalized a church while high, and Matty agrees with Susan that they should push more family values in their house, and that the family should be together that night. Blaire, Ted, and John find Chris angrily playing the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons, and he refuses to sell them marijuana after a poor campaign.
They convince Chris to start a new game with them in exchange for drugs if they win, but Matty and Susan immediately join the campaign to get closer with John. The game begins in a tavern, with the gang in search of a hidden temple filled with gold. A cultist tells a tale of how he helped awaken an otherworldly entity in a temple, and he gives them a map to it. Searching through the woods, a gnome merchant sells them weapons, and the gang soon finds the temple, guarded by an ogre. Ted distracts him with a song recapping the film Philadelphia, and they sneak in. They are soon trapped in a room with four moving statues, all giving them a riddle, but Blaire accidentally steps on a tile that, when pressed, causes the ceiling to grow spikes and slowly descend towards the gang.
They figure out the riddle to be about elements, and each gives their respective element to one of the statues; the traps stop and they are pointed towards another room. In it, they find another cultist who warns them of an invincible demon named Dral'hul, but Matty impulsively kills the cultist before he tells them how to kill Dral'hul. John angrily asks why Matty and Susan are even playing, and Susan says that she wants to keep John away from trouble and drugs, which he expresses gratitude for. Dral'hul comes and kills almost everyone, so Susan talks to Dral'hul about his personal life, eventually getting to him as they gossip together. Moved by her compassion, Dral'hul returns to his realm and leaves them treasure, and everyone celebrates Susan. High with Blaire and John, Ted asserts that perhaps they're the game, and Dungeons & Dragons is real, before the scene cuts to Dral'hul painting a portrait of them.
Production
Development
"Dungeons & Dealers" was directed by series creator and lead Seth MacFarlane,[3] and written by Chelsea Davison in her first writing credit of the series.[4] In the episode, Brennan Lee Mulligan guest stars as Ted and John's drug dealer and Dungeon Master.[5] MacFarlane noted that the episode is "one you can really only do in a season 2 [or] 3 once you've established your characters", taking inspiration from the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back in his directing and execution of it.[6] In "Dungeons & Dealers", John is not a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, but, in real life, Max Burkholder plays the game with his friends, and takes the role of the Dungeon Master.[7] Burkholder is the one who pitched the idea of an episode based around the game, and also bringing Mulligan in, as he was a fan of his work, such as Mulligan's Worlds Beyond Number podcast. A fan of Mulligan's, Burkholder stated that he had never "been on quiet on set" as when he worked with him, describing himself as "starstruck" on the days he filmed with Mulligan.[8] Davison knew Mulligan personally, which was another factor in securing him for the role. Although MacFarlane was not a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, Davison was, noting that MacFarlane wanted to create an episode with the immense fanbase of the game in mind. He felt that John and Ted were "too cool" to be big fans of the game that already had campaigns set, and so they decided to create a way for them to only play for a single episode that would force them into it without changing their characters. Furthermore, a round of the game was played in the writing room to help better understand the mechanics of it, and aspects of the round—such as a riddle Davison wrote for it—made it into the final episode.[9]
Mulligan, who is famously a frequent player of Dungeons & Dragons, assisted MacFarlane in the episode's directing to ensure it was accurate to the game. MacFarlane asked Mulligan questions on what could and could not be done in the game, and Scott Grimes praised MacFarlane for making the episode accurate, proclaiming himself as a "nerd" and describing the episode as "[something that] all the nerds out there are just going to adore [and] it's his gift to them". Alanna Ubach, despite having experience with Dungeons & Dragons when working on the fantasy television series The Legend of Vox Machina (2022), did not understand the mechanics of the game; she noted that her son was a fan of it, but she still did not understand it, so she tried playing the game behind the scenes of "Dungeons & Dealers". Ubach noted that she only "scratched the surface" of the game during the session. Grimes himself also admitted that he was not a player of the game, trying it once as a child, but ultimately dropping it.[1] Mulligan also helped to write the episode, as he had a chemistry during scenes, according to Grimes, that made MacFarlane give him permission to rewrite whole scenes around his own vision.[2]
Filming
Set design and technology
The sets were built by MacFarlane, and Grimes noted that they filmed the majority of scenes on a sound stage, an unusual way of doing such scenes "nowadays".[1] The idea was for the episode to be made as practically as they could, particularly with the forest scenes and the temple that the family visits.[6] Like the rest of the series, the episode was shot using Viewscreen; MacFarlane was able to act live with the cast as Ted due to Viewscreen, a technology that allows the production crew to visualize what Ted will look like in each scene in real time.[10][11] This technology helped them through the scene where the walls are closing in, particularly as a way to "mix up" the production of the episode, which was mainly done on a large soundstage comprising multiple sets.[6] Burkholder and Giorgia Whigham both praised the episode and it's production, reminiscing on them being able to hang out in the cavern set for longer than usual, with Whigham admitting that she took many behind-the-scenes photos on the sets, which she intended to share.[6] 25,000 pounds of dirt had to be shipped to the set to create the outdoor landscape stages, but inside the dirt was a cricket that repeatedly chirped and disrupted filming, noted Ubach. The four statues that make the family solve a riddle were actually dancers wearing clothing that restricted their movement, eyesight, and ability to hear what was happening around them.[9]
Costumes
Burkholder recalled that the wizard robe he wore was very warm, making wearing it an uncomfortable experience, and he asked the costume designer, Heather Pain, to give the robe as many pockets as she could, trying to make it look as authentic to fantasy aesthetics as possible. Grimes' outfit resembled that of a cleric's, having a "Friar Tuck wig", giving him a bald spot with hair around it. However, Grimes, who has red hair, has pink-ish skin, which made it hard to get the bald spot the correct shade; it took 16 people, according to Grimes, before they were able to get it right. He also called it "humbling" seeing how many freckles and "specks" they put on the bald spot. Pain stated that she wanted for Ubach to wear armor that resembled the sweaters Susan would often wear, along with a 1970s-type "disco chainmail". Ubach enjoyed wearing the outfit, but found its heaviness to be difficult to manage, stating "I need help going to the bathroom, and I'll leave it at that. Wardrobe had to follow me to the bathroom so that I can take off my skirt and my sword and my 700 belts".[9]
Release and reception
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"Dungeons & Dealers" was first released on March 5, 2026, on the American streaming service Peacock, along with the rest of the second season.[12] The episode's Dungeons & Dragons theme and Mulligan's guest role were both revealed in a trailer for the season in January, 2026, two months prior to its release.[13] According to Decider, it was the most anticipated episode of the season for fans.[14]
Nate Richards of Collider described "Dungeons & Dealers" as the season's "most effective episode", praising the way MacFarlane's humor "seamlessly" blends into the world of the game, finding the performances of the entire cast to greatly add to the episode. At the end of his review, Richards hailed the episode as the best of the entire series.[15] Similarly, it was labeled as the season's standout episode by Rachel Weber of IGN, praising the way it is able to be genuine enough to provoke emotion out of the audience, but still parodic to the point of not feeling too "strict", also giving Burkholder and Davison props for creating an accurate portrayal of the game.[16]
CBR writer Joshua M. Patton praised the episode as a good replication of Dungeons & Dragons, something he compared to Stranger Things, which he felt used it "sparingly" in a way that didn't leave an impact. However, Ted creating a whole episode around the game was something that Patton asserted would leave a lasting impression on viewers, and ultimately create an episode revolving around the "goofiness and chaos" of the game that most players like it for.[17] Nick Valdez of ComicBook.com listed "Dungeons & Dealers" as the best television episode to ever cover the game, particularly for its accurate, comical portrayal of the game and its characters, adding as much references and narrative into its short runtime, and correctly showcasing the "screwing around" nature of the game.[18] Separately, Valdez ranked it as the season's second best episode, highlighting it for remaining culturally relevant as "[a way] to put the characters in a fun new world". While he felt it wasn't a perfect recreation of the world of Dungeons & Dragons, Valdez called it the only episode of the season where the plot revolves around the entire family focused on a single goal, ending his review by asserting that it "finds a really fun and sweet way [to] prove how Susan is the best character".[19]