A Treatise on Season Two

Author's Note – this is not a short, basic review of Galavant's second season. It's an in-depth critique of the missteps (there are a few) and successes. It contains some opinions that won't be popular within the fandom.

What's not to love about Galavant? The show is a silly, fun, beautiful bit of escape that brightens up the usually dreary and dreadful month that is January television. It's first season was a show that toyed with breaking the fourth wall and not so subtly played with various fairy tale and fantasy media tropes. It introduced a host of memorable characters, of whom most ended the first season having flipped their expected character arcs in completely unexpected directions. Even when the characters might have been predictable, the show still made viewers laugh, especially at some of the twisted lyrics of their songs. Never had American television seen a show like Galavant and it was fully expected that the short, eight-episode first season would be its only one so it was a huge surprise when ABC renewed it for a slightly longer, ten-episode second season.

Fans were delighted at the news, critics a little less so. A fair assessment was that the first season had some ups-and-downs, it felt a bit thin on plot movement midway, and some of the songs were less memorable than others (a debatable point to be certain since the studied fan consensus is a continued clamoring for ABC to release the half dozen songs that it did not include on the season one soundtrack). But perhaps the biggest complaint was the stunning cliffhanger the show left us with to conclude its first season. Not a single character was in a perfect place with a happy ending. The showrunners seemed to hear these criticisms and responded with a critically-acclaimed second season that went bolder and brasher in its breaking of the fourth wall, its production numbers, and its ability to “punch you in the feels” as Timothy Omundson described the emotional journey taken by this unique, little gem of a television show. Of the shows currently airing on ABC, Galavant ranks as the most critically well-received per RottenTomatoes.com and that reception is not undeserved. All of that love, however, does not mean that Galavant's second season was not without its flaws.

The measured fan and critic consensus is that the weakest character arcs of the second season belonged to Galavant and Isabella. For thoughtful fans it's a major problem to have the show's titular character saddled with a boring story line and zero character development. We saw Galavant undertake a journey to “save his one true love” already in the first season, and this was, humorously, pointed out in the third episode of season two. We didn't need to see it again in the second season, this time replete with ridiculous plot obstacles and an unnecessary love interest for Richard, all of which prevented Galavant from being reunited with Isabella until the penultimate episode. Similarly, Isabella was thwarted at every turn with similarly ridiculous, arguably offensive, plot obstacles, though on a third or fourth watch, her challenges at least had some charm and were focused on her rather than another character entirely. One must also acknowledge that there was limited availability for Darren Evans and Sophie McShera, the actors who portray Chef Vincenzo and Gwynne and that their absence, in all likelihood, impacted the direction the showrunners took in executing Isabella's story line. However, leaving Isabella isolated from the rest of the main cast was not the only, nor was it ultimately the best, choice the showrunners could have made, a fact they openly acknowledge in “Battle of the Three Armies” when Madalena commented, “Looks like we're together again. How lovely. Our story lines have been far too separated.” It is impossible, given the different weaknesses in Galavant and Isabella's individual story lines, to declare one worse than the other. They were equally bad in their own ways.

Silly plot obstacles and a re-tread of his season one journey are not the biggest problem with Galavant's story line in season two. Galavant's own story took a back seat to King Richard's development. The effort the showrunners made to humanize some of the more cartoonish characters from the first season – Richard, Madalena, and Gareth – was one of the biggest successes during the second season. Unfortunately, the focus on Richard occurred at the expense of Galavant. There was no balance in the Richard-Galavant pairing. It was, on balance, about Richard's amazing journey towards a greater self-awareness, heroism, and love. This is not to say that there wasn't any effort put into Galavant's back story but, especially when re-watching the season in a binge marathon, it is presented as an afterthought to Richard's story. There is, obviously, no going back now and changing what was presented to the viewer – show canon is show canon, after all – but it does the show a disservice, especially if the show is renewed for a third season, to not point out where the execution was lacking and offer some theories about why this might have occurred.

It's no secret that Galavant's renewal surprised everyone. One of the biggest criticisms was the cliffhanger ending which had Isabella captive in Hortensia, Madalena & Gareth ruling Valencia with Sid held hostage, and Galavant & Richard sailing off to Richard's own kingdom in an unlikely bromance. As shocking as it was, leaving every character's story line completely up in the air, it almost seemed perfect for a show as off-the-wall as Galavant, and had the show not been renewed, well... Certainly there would have been fanfics written to fill in the blanks of how Richard fared on his journey to becoming a better king, how Galavant & Isabella were reunited, how Madalena destroyed the seven realms, etc. But, instead, Galavant was renewed and the showrunners felt that they owed it to the loyal fanbase to end the second season on a happier, more complete note – as if this was a play in two acts with the eleven-month hiatus merely an extremely long intermission. And therein lies the biggest misstep of the second season – it simply gave Richard too much, the accumulation of riches that felt as unearned as Galavant & Isabella's happy ending was by giving short shrift to their characters' journeys.

Richard's story line in the second season did not need a love interest. There was plenty there to mine in his journey to self-awareness and heroism, learning how to be a better human being, and the show was on the right track for the first three episodes. The introduction of Roberta added an extra element that was unnecessary. The time spent developing the Richard & Roberta relationship would have been better spent exploring Galavant's growing frustration with Richard and his own insecurities about the future of his romance with Isabella – especially those daddy issues he has due to his father's long, frequent absences during his childhood. Instead, we were treated to snippets of dour-faced Galavant, exasperated with Richard's antics, resorting to, at one point, setting Richard & Roberta up on a “date” in the hopes that they would abandon him on his quest to save Isabella. This led to his one solo of the season – a song that had absolutely nothing to do with him or his own romantic partner but instead a brand-new romantic duo. Do not mistake this as criticism for “Serenade”. It is an hilarious song and the staging is great. None of that lessens the error the showrunners made in placing the focus of Galavant so squarely on Richard that Joshua Sasse's only solo is all about Richard's non-existent skill in wooing a woman. Richard's romantic journey should have been left until the third season (and yes, this writer is choosing to believe there will be a third season – after all, the show shockingly got a second, so why not a third?).

It is easy to comprehend why the showrunners placed so much focus on Richard's journey during the second season. Omundson is a charismatic actor who took what could have been a truly one-dimensional character and gave him a shading and depth that turned Richard into a fan favorite, and that was just in the first season. But, Richard was still a coddled, spoiled man-child at the end of season one. And going from where he was when he and Galavant left Valencia to where he finished at the end of the second season, as “The One True King to Unite Them All” complete with romantic happy ever after and a fully-grown dragon, is not only baffling but it's bad storytelling and it is in deep contrast to what viewers had been conditioned to expect from Galavant. The viewers should have been left hanging, wondering when the curtain dropped on the season two finale if a now-worthy Richard would one day find love.

As it was, Richard getting everything he ever hoped for, while doing little to earn it apart from killing Wormwood, was quite undeserved. The opportunity to kill Wormwood only arose because of Galavant's improvised battle plan, something only achievable when Gareth turned on Madalena after she chose the Dark Dark Evil Way (D'DEW) and Sid's fortunately timed arrival. It's hard to imagine Richard would have even been angry enough to become heroic had Wormwood not mocked Tad Cooper, and let's face it, every character questioned whether or not Tad Cooper was a dragon except Richard. The only reason Tad Cooper even made it to the battlefield was because, once again, everyone surrounding Richard humored him and let him keep his “dragon”. The show itself even seemed confused as to who the true hero of the day was, at times, during the final episode. When Sid arrived with reinforcements, he explained that everyone had joined up when they heard Galavant was in trouble. Richard didn't inspire anyone that he and Galavant encountered through the course of their journey to rescue Isabella, save Roberta, who, we soon learned, was crushing on her childhood playmate. All inspiration was because of Galavant, and Isabella, apparently, since she was the one who met Jubilee's entourage. Is it any wonder that, when all was said and done, Galavant pouted to Tad Cooper, “I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I really thought I was going to be the one true king to unite them all”?

In addition to the show's confusion over who the true hero of its tale should be, it's generally not a good look to have the titular character's final moments of introspection in a season where he was saddled with a spoiled man-child who was on a journey towards greater self-awareness and heroism be filled with that level of melancholy. It also leaves a slightly bitter taste at Galavant & Isabella's own happy ending. Galavant is truly happy to hang up his sword and write poetry? That might have been believable had there been any hint of disillusion with his knight-in-shining-armor lifestyle prior to his reunion with Isabella on the battlefield. The disservice paid to Galavant's own journey, towards the realization that his happy ending would be living by the sea with Isabella, putting quill & ink to paper, is galling given that the opportunity existed and the writers completely ignored it in favor of introducing a love interest for Richard.

In a show with just twenty-one minutes and thirty seconds per episode, precious minutes were wasted with a story line that should have been saved for a third season. The second season started with the premise of a bromance between Galavant and Richard, the development of a true friendship, one where they could become each other's equals, or as equal as a former king and a knight in the medieval era would have been, wound up being sadly one-sided with Galavant affirming Richard's growth before they marched into battle. Yes, Richard chose to remain at Galavant's side when Roberta offered him the chance to run away to the Island of Spinster, but that was far more about Richard's own journey towards heroism than it ever was about Galavant's journey. Wouldn't it have been far more poignant and fitting had Richard, instead of telling Galavant to watch Tad Cooper while he rode off to find Roberta, offered brotherly encouragement to a conflicted Galavant, reassuring his friend that the knight had earned his much desired seaside cottage retirement?

Hence the biggest problem with Galavant's second season story line. There was little internal conflict. There was a fair amount of internal conflict for Galavant in the second episode over the quality of the one kiss he and Isabella shared and the lack of romantic moments between them, but there was no focus on Galavant again until the sixth episode. The set-up was there, thanks to the insights offered in the first season, to further explore Galavant's relationship issues, especially as they related to his parents' marriage and his father's frequent absences during Galavant's youth. Yet the show wasted minute after minute with focus placed on Richard's blossoming romance with Roberta.

The showrunners especially did a disservice to Joshua Sasse's strengths in portraying Galavant. His best moments in character come when Galavant is at his most earnest and romantic. It's an inherent part of the character – that desire for a perfect happy ever after is borne out of his parents own broken relationship – and Sasse taps into it brilliantly, which is part of what makes “Serenade” so successful in spite of the fact that the song has nothing to do with his own story arc. It is entirely plausible to believe that Galavant would have become surly and grouchy with Richard but that behavior felt just a little mean and selfish with so little focus on the emotional foundation of the character that gave him such a singular determination to “rescue my one true love” in both seasons. If Galavant had been given this emotional journey, if we'd been allowed to know that all he wanted was to retire to the seaside to write poetry, happy as a husband and a father, then his ending would have been far more satisfying than it was.

Meanwhile, in Hortensia, the show runners gave Isabella zero agency and sent a horrific message to the viewers in the process. The bad amulet connection was awful and devastating for Isabella, yet, by the end of the fifth episode, that was the least of the problems with her story line. The enchanted tiara was a simplistic cop-out. Instead of having Isabella fight through her depression and sorrow over losing Galavant, instead of having her dig deep to find the courage and rise as the leader we've all come to know, to save Hortensia and a prince she doesn't plan on marrying, from impending attack at the hands of Madalena, which would have been an interesting parallel to the first season's set-up with Valencia having been invaded by Richard at Madalena's behest, the choice was made to perk her up through a pretty, drugged bauble.

It is an appalling message that is sent to modern viewers especially all of the young women and girls who have had Isabella held up as an iconic feminist character who deconstructs the stereotypical princess myth. We see Wormwood putting the potion on the combs of the tiara. We see him actively and repeatedly placing Isabella under his control. She gladly does his bidding until the tiara is knocked off her head two episodes later. Isabella has no ability to stand up for herself because she doesn't even know what is happening, which is, frighteningly, not at all unlike what happens when a woman is given a date-rape drug. The violation isn't, thank goodness, physical, as that isn't something that would ever occur on Galavant, which is billed as fun, family fare but the message that it is okay to drug someone in order to bend them to your will is still there. It is inexcusable that Wormwood's punishment for drugging Isabella is merely banishment from Hortensia.

Equally awful, in the execution of that plot, is that the tiara wasn't even knocked off in Hortensia. The viewers were treated to a pointless excursion to Princess Jubilee's castle, met a coarse royal whom we'd never heard of before and suffered through “Different Kind of Princess”, a song that most fans consider to be the worst of the season, not just because it was a one-off meant for a British star in a, so far, failed effort to woo a UK broadcast deal, but also because the song itself doesn't fit in tonally with the rest of the soundtrack. Another analysis of this scene and song, at the previously.tv Galavant forum, and why neither worked astutely suggested that perhaps it would have been less jarring had the show's writers taken the time to set us up for just how different Princess Jubilee was with the King and Queen of Valencia objecting to an invitation even being sent to Jubilee for Isabella & Harry's wedding. Had they said to Wormwood, “Jubilee is the worst!” with Wormwood sending Isabella to visit Jubilee in spite of their protests as well as manipulating Isabella to send them to the dungeon because of those protests, then the subsequent visit to Jubilee would have worked better. The other alternative would have been to have left the Jubilee excursion out entirely and had the tiara knocked off by an on-the-run Sid arriving in Hortensia and hugging Isabella a little too aggressively, with the end result of Isabella being highly pissed off and remembering that she is the “Different Kind of Princess” of Galavant. Of course, neither of those options is as good as never having the horrible enchanted tiara plot in the first place, but at least that resolution would have given Isabella some degree of agency that she never possessed once Wormwood arrived.

More significantly, Isabella's story line was severely weakened by her prolonged isolation from any of the other main cast members. Yes, Jester, Chef, Gywnne, and her parents are entertaining as recurring characters but because they aren't members of the main cast, the show doesn't, and shouldn't, feature them in every episode. Once the decision was made to leave Isabella isolated in Hortensia the showrunners probably should have utilized some of their guest star budget to up the status of at least one of Jester, Chef, & Gwynne from recurring to main cast. If that wasn't an option, which it might not have been given the known limited availability of Evans and McShera, then reuniting Isabella with at least one of the main cast members should have been the priority, with the obvious option being Sid, especially since he ultimately fled Valencia in search of either one or both of Isabella and Galavant. Any changes, especially if Sid had arrived in Hortensia by the fourth episode, would have certainly altered the way the rest of the season mapped out but it would have been infinitely better than leaving Isabella on her own for seventy percent of the season. Apart from the bad amulet call she shared with Galavant in the second episode, her first interaction with another main cast member did not occur until the truce meeting with Madalena at the start of the eighth episode.

Certainly, Karen David has made no secret of how much, as an actor, she relished the opportunity to explore different emotions during the second season as Isabella, and there was no weakness in that portrayal – one of her finest scenes of the entire season was her heartbreaking reprise of “World's Best Kiss” in the second episode – but her best scenes come when Isabella is interacting with the other protagonists of the show. Whether that was in the first season when she squared off against Richard, struggled with manipulating Galavant into rescuing Madalena and her continued betrayal of a man she grew to admire, respect, and, eventually, love, or in the second season when she had first no idea how to move on from a broken heart, matching wits and weapons with Madalena, and even slapping Galavant when she felt he had wronged her, the fact is, it was a vital mistake in Isabella's story line to keep her separated from Madalena, Richard, and Galavant for the majority of the season.

It is very easy to overlook the deficiencies of Galavant and Isabella's individual story lines when the fans get a beautiful wedding with a, finally, perfect kiss, and retirement in a seaside cottage. Caught up in the moment and emotion of the season finale, it's easy to characterize the the final two episodes as “perfection”. Given the development of the various characters' story lines, the finale was pretty darned perfect. It was really easy, during the last four episodes, to ignore the previous four, because we got to see Sasse at his finest – first realizing, then despairing that Isabella thought he didn't love her, and charging off to be that knight in shining armor that he always will be is one of the emotional high points in a season that was filled with them. It is also extremely easy to disregard the horror that was Isabella's three-episode arc with the enchanted tiara because once it came off, we got back the feisty warrior princess we'd fallen in love with during the first season, the climax coming when Isabella squared off against Madalena, vowing to get her happy ending no matter what Madalena threw at her next. The viewers got some fantastic storytelling but it could, and should, have been better.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to be critical of a show that does so much right. Viewers were intrigued yet skeptical at the news of romance blossoming between Madalena and Gareth yet that story line wound up being the strongest arc the showrunners attempted during the second season, though it's arguable whether Sid served any necessary plot purpose in Valencia after the second or third episode. Similarly, while Richard's story line would have benefited by saving the love interest for a third season, overall the character's development was a rousing success for most viewers. On any other show of Galavant's ilk, the chances of just one of this trio being developed into a character of great depth and humanity would be small enough. The fact that all three were allowed to go well beyond any preconceived stereotypes is remarkable.

Richard's second season arc was well-set up in the first season finale and it certainly lived up to expectations. We also got glimpses of Gareth's code of honor in the first season but no one expected him to fall in love, not especially with Madalena, whose character development was perhaps the most surprising of the three. In the pilot we were introduced to a young woman who broke one man's heart so that she she could live a life of wealth and luxury, all while cuckolding the man who gave her that royally luxurious lifestyle. During the first season we were given minimal insight into Madalena's life prior to Galavant and none of her actions were more than the stereotypical fictional evil queen. Her continued path to fully embracing that evil could have been played strictly for laughs but Galavant's writers chose a far more sophisticated and nuanced story line for Madalena. She was on equal footing with kindred spirit Gareth. Both of them delighted in a wicked style of ruling Valencia.

TBC...  still a work in progress