In the fifth episode of the first season of Galavant, I DID NOT EXPECT THIS… even though I said I knew something horrible was going to happen??? JUST NOT LIKE THIS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Galavant.
HOLY SHIT, what???Â
Before I talk about what Madalena has done (EVERYTHING, SHE’S DONE EVERYTHING), I wanted to address how the other plot leads perfectly to that twist. I wrote in the last review how this felt inevitable. I suppose I’m not wrong, but I’m also not right, per se. Galavant was barreling to his disastrous future, but here, Isabella pumps the breaks and tries to stop the inevitable from happening. To her credit, she did confess the truth in its entirety to Galavant at the end of the previous episode, but he wasn’t paying attention because… well, that’s what he does. So, the direct route didn’t work. How about a passive-aggressive, guilt-fueled attempt to get Galavant to believe what he’s about to do is a bad idea?
Because lord, there’s a lot of guilt on display here. And who can blame Isabella for feeling this way? Up until this point, reaching Valencia was just an idea, but now they’ve made it! The reality of Isabella’s choice is real, and it’s happening, so she funnels Galavant to a monastery, both to distract him AND to consult one of the monks about what she should do. I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t freak out about one of the monks being WEIRD AL YANKOVIC, which was a beautiful cameo. I also love that the show wrote his song so that it sounded like something he’d do. (It’s possible he wrote his own piece; I would totally believe that!) The monks are ridiculous and mostly exist for the show to stage a musical number that is both harmonious and deliberately annoying, which… is kind of Weird Al’s whole thing? Again, brilliant. Brilliant!
But it’s Isabella’s guilt that is center stage here. It’s clear that she has feelings for Galavant, that she is intensely regretting what she’s done, and that she’s aware that he is an unstoppable force. She was too good at manipulating him, too skilled at getting him to believe in himself, and too talented as she trained him back into who he used to be. How can she take that away from him? How can she ask him to stop being himself?Â
Look, she tries. She fails, but she tries to stop this whole thing! Once it’s set in motion, though, another variable makes it impossible to stop. Y’all, I fully did not expect Madalena to be the one to take control of the situation. I suppose I should have, given how impatient she had become with King Richard. That opening song of hers, aside from being a hell of a lot of fun, was the foreshadowing I needed. She was ready to take charge, to stop waiting for all the incompetent people around her to help her out. Why wait when you can do shit yourself? So she sets out to discover why her husband is throwing a secretive celebration, and y’all, it snowballs. Badly. I’m still reeling by how Madalena manipulated the Chef AND her handmaiden AND how the episode itself manipulated me??? SHE TRICKED THE CHEF INTO MAKING HER AN EXQUISITE MEAL SO THAT SHE COULD MAKE IT SEEM LIKE SHE HAD IT PREPARED FOR GALAVANT.Â
Even worse, I’m now plainly aware of how vulnerable he is. She knows that, doesn’t she? He JUST found out Isabella betrayed him, and he’s desperate for confirmation that there’s food in the world. Gods, she’s gonna play him again, isn’t she??? Except I don’t know who she wrote to. I don’t know what sort of chaos she’s about to bring to Valencia. This twist is the first real moment in the series that’s made me invested in the arc of the season, y’all! I’ve enjoyed the show so far, but this has me aching for the next episode. What has Madalena done? HOW WILL RICHARD REACT NOW THAT HE KNOWS HE HAS BEEN PLAYED AS WELL??? Oh god, I’m hooked, HERE WE GO.Â
The video for “Completely Mad…Alena†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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