Galavant wants to be a fairy tale musical, a comedy, and a revenge story all at once. It mostly succeeds at being funny, occasionally succeeds at being musical, and rarely succeeds at being a revenge story. The show follows Prince Galavant, played by Joshua Sasse, as he sets out to get back the woman he loved, Madalena, from the man who took her: the evil King Richard, played by Timothy Omundson. That setup is simple, and the show spends eight episodes of its first season and ten episodes of its second season trying to live up to it.
Trailer, via ABC.
The Setup
Galavant is a knight, down on his luck, determined to reclaim his reputation and his “happily ever after.” He does this by going after King Richard, who ruined everything the moment he kidnapped Madalena, the love of Galavant’s life. Madalena stayed with Richard for his money and power, which changes the stakes of the revenge plot considerably. Galavant gets help from his faithful squire, Sid, played by Luke Youngblood, and the lovely Princess Isabella, played by Karen David, whose kingdom of Valencia has been taken over by Richard.
On the other side, the malevolent but weak-willed Richard tries to win over the scheming Madalena, played by Mallory Jansen. He also gets help from his brawny henchman, Gareth, played by Vinnie Jones, and his chef, Vincenzo. The show follows Galavant’s journeys through musical numbers written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, with Fogelman, Menken and Slater serving as executive producers alongside Chris Koch, Kat Likkel and John Hoberg.
The Musical Numbers
The songs are the strongest part of Galavant. Menken and Slater know how to write a melody that sticks, and the show leans on them heavily. The best moments land because the music carries the emotion that the dialogue often fails to deliver. The worst moments fall flat because the jokes don’t land and the songs just sit there, waiting for a payoff that never comes.
Some highlights stand out:
- A ballad about loss
- A song about travel
- A dark send-up of the genre’s conventions
The Weak Revenge Plot
The problem with Galavant is that the revenge plot is thin. Galavant wants Madalena back, but she doesn’t want him. She stays with Richard for money and power, and the show spends most of its runtime chasing a resolution that the audience already knows isn’t coming. This makes the middle episodes feel like padding between set pieces rather than a coherent narrative arc.
The supporting characters fare better. Sid is a loyal squire who gets the best lines, and his hometown visit is one of the funniest episodes of the series. Isabella is a princess with a kingdom to lose, which gives her more weight than the plot otherwise allows. Gareth is a henchman who refuses to execute prisoners, which makes him surprisingly sympathetic. These characters are more interesting than the central conflict, which is a problem for a show built around that conflict.
The Second Season
The second season tries to fix the revenge plot by giving Richard a new purpose. He attempts to find a new role for himself in life, and he falls in love with Robe, though the show ends before we learn what happens to that relationship. The show also shifts its focus to Isabella and her cousin Harry in Hortensia, where she is locked away until they can marry. Richard and Galavant set sail with pirates to rescue her, and the final stretch of the series is more focused than the first season.
But the shift comes too late. The first season’s meandering middle has already done damage, and the second season feels like a scramble to clean it up. The show ends on a cliffhanger, with Madalena putting Gareth on the throne of Valencia beside her. It’s a bold move, but it leaves the audience wanting more closure than the show delivers.
The Verdict
Galavant is a show with a strong premise and a weaker execution. The songs are memorable, the cast is game, and the show’s attempt to blend genres is ambitious. But the revenge plot is thin, the pacing drags in the middle, and the show never quite settles into what kind of story it wants to be. It’s a mixed bag that’s more fun to watch than it is to recommend.
The show ran for two seasons of eighteen episodes, with the first season premiering on January 4, 2015, and the second season premiering on January 3, 2016. It was canceled on May 12, 2016, after two seasons. The show’s creator, Dan Fogelman, also serves as executive producer, along with Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Chris Koch, Kat Likkel and John Hoberg.
Galavant is a show worth watching for its songs and its cast, but it’s a show that doesn’t quite live up to its promise. It’s a good time, but not a great one.
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