Business Call

Business Call is the third episode of the first season of Living Free. Written and Directed by star Mike Barkhoff, it features Zach Delfs over a computer screen. It is set to premiere October 1st, 2021.

Plot
Mike Barkhoff and Zach Delfs exchange emails regarding business. Included in these is Mike's disdain for the podcast, as he feels like he's spoken to everyone who would be good on it, Zach's concern for Mike's negative attitude towards the company, Mike's lineup of upcoming works - including his fourth through sixth feature films, which he can't seem to pin conclusively, and Chapters.' fourth season, which he says he needs a gap before doing.

Production
Barkhoff wanted to do an episode showcasing his and Zach's difference of opinions and ideals, and thought of this one. Initially, the two were set to film the scene face-to-face but obliged not to due to COVID advances.

Due to this, Barkhoff got inspired off the nature of films such as "Unfriended" for the concept and way of filming for the episode. The episode was prompted as a "Very Special Boring Episode".

Variant
A variant version of this episode was released as one of the Bonus Features for the first season. The variant was the original edit of the episode, with no keyboard noises.

Reception
The episode received moderate reviews. On IMDb, it holds a little over an 8/10. It was the lowest watched episode yet on YouTube, having only 40 days in a few days, a stark difference to Episode 1's 70 and Episode 2's 60.

The announcement of a fourth season of Chapters., however, was met with excitement. A positively reviewed portion of the episode was that it shows the inner business workings of the outlet, and answers a lot of questions for projects that have seemingly sat vacant, such as the Podcast.

The episode saw an uptick in positive compliments following the release of Episode 4, the next episode, as it allowed the audience and critics to see the change in pace was necessary to get from Point A to Point B, particularly in terms of character development for Mike's fictional self.