Later, Galavant manages to bro-out with King Richard after gossiping with him about Madalena and her hideous feet, and the two put on a drunken number about their super-stealthy mission to kill Kingsley so Richard won’t have to fight Gareth to the death (he optioned himself for the battle, heroically, stupidly) and Galavant and his crew can go free. Of course, they fail spectacularly, and now both of them end up in the dungeon. Remember last week when I said the show managed to not feel stagnant, and in fact grew a bit, in the dingy underworld? Two episodes later, and that stagnation has seeped in.
There’s some fun to be had during that drunk bender in the episode’s middle, though. Especially when Gal glances over at Isabella’s “mommy” and notes, “I’m so excited about Isabella getting older. Way to keep it iron tight.” Otherwise, the jokes are more hit-and-miss, the songs more forced, the humor not as fast-paced, and even the characters feel ready to get on with it all once the final two minutes finally kick everyone out of jail.
There’s some decent teases left in those final moments, though, in terms of character disruptions and geographical displacements amongst them, but the show seems all too ready to keep going – giving none of its main characters a tidy season-ending bow – without any hint from the network as to whether or not another season will happen. Galavant and Richard are sailing with the pirates, Isabella and most everyone else retreats to her cousin’s, and Magdalena perhaps most notably kills Kingsley and names Gareth in his stead.
The good Jester sings us out, of course – “Will Gareth and the queen/Rule the entire scene/Will all the singing/Kill our Nielsen ratings?” – reminding you of the show at its meta-humor best, but it doesn’t quite wipe the preceding hour from memory, either. Galavant, even in its weakest final hour, is still easy to love. The final two episodes aren’t so bad as to taint everything that came before, and though it dumps its best villain (Magdalena) for a lesser one (Kingsley) and repeatedly stumbles on story and musical numbers, a 6/8 episode batting average ain’t so bad. Especially for a show as delightfully experimental as this.
“Sid, the peasants, our entire crew/Will they be back for season two?” I’m not sure, but Galavant provided me with enough emphatically zany moments on a such a dreary modern TV landscape that even though it somewhat fizzled out in the end, I’ll be more than happy to tune in again next time on Gaaaalaaaavaaaant.
Sorry, I had to at least once.
Published: Jan 25, 2015 09:00 pm