Galavant – Giants vs. Dwarves/About Last Knight

It’s not the strongest episodes of Galavant this week in terms of music, but the plot has advanced several steps. Wormwood and Galavant both end these episodes in very different places, and it sets up an interesting latter half of the season.

Galavant’s frustration with Richard hits a tipping point when the king reveals he has exchanged the jewel of Valencia for a baby dragon. The group splits, and wind up on different warring sides of a clash between giants and dwarves – will Roberta be able to resolve the dispute and set the heroes back on their way? Meanwhile, Gareth tells Sid that he and Madalena have fallen in love, and the young servant is very worried about the match. And the brainwashed Isabella is sent on some wedding errands by the evil Wormwood, but the wedding planner hasn’t reckoned with the damage that a different kind of princess could do to his plot.

The tension between Galavant and Richard has been simmering away for the past few episodes, and it was good to see it form the conflict in ‘Giants vs. Dwarves’. And it plays out beautifully, because the nature of the episode’s conflict is so ludicrous. They wind up in a battle between giants and dwarves, both of whom it turns out are just men of the same height. It’s a wonderful visual joke, and it lands every time. It also leads to fun number that is clearly inspired by West Side Story, although I’d be lying if I said it stayed with me in the way the best songs this season has.

That’s true of another tune in this episode, a rock number sung by guest star Sheridan Smith about being a disgusting princess, but it doesn’t really land. It does, though, advance the plot, with Princess Jubilee accidentally knocking off the mind control tiara and freeing Isabella. Obviously, the best tune is the first one – Richard prances around the countryside, singing a fun number about murdering people to a pet lizard. It’s surreal and it’s genius, and it shows once again that Omundson is one of Galavant’s highlights.

It wasn’t the best week for memorable musical numbers

In our second episode, ‘About Last Knight’, Galavant, Richard and Roberta are lost in the woods, and they wind up somewhere that our hero does not want to be – his childhood home. There, they encounter his father, Sir Arnold Galavant (Greg Wise), who has opened up a young knight training school. Galavant is resentful about being neglected throughout his youth, but the return home threatens to reveal some surprising truths. Meanwhile, back in Hortensia, a freed Isabella expels Wormwood for his nefarious deeds, but the evil wedding planner soon happens upon a new home – the kingdom of Valencia, where he spies some new opportunities to cause trouble.

Exciting news – Sid finally has a song! In a number clearly inspired by Les Mis, he rallies the townsfolks with a rousing tune about how they’ll likely die in battle, and it has exactly the effect you’d imagine. It lands far better, though, than the other new tune, a song called ‘He Was There’ that has a touch of Oliver about it – this is clearly the week for musical parody, more so than usual.

Fortunately, the surrounding elements work well. Galavant more than winks at the audience as Sid and Wormwood wind up in the Forest of Coincidence, which (would you believe) drives the plot forward very coincidentally. On that note, though, it was surprising not to see any reference to the fact that Sir Arnold was played by a different actor last season – it seemed such an obvious target. I will give no details, either, but I want to say that the episode ending is too brilliant.

This time round, it wasn’t the best week for memorable musical numbers, but the plot has been driven forward, set up nicely for the remaining four episodes. On the cliff-hanger we’re left with, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.