{"id":6892,"date":"2018-07-04T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T20:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6892"},"modified":"2018-06-26T13:17:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T20:17:27","slug":"mark-watches-galavant-s01e06-dungeons-and-dragon-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/07\/mark-watches-galavant-s01e06-dungeons-and-dragon-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Galavant’: S01E06 – Dungeons and Dragon Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth episode of the first season of Galavant<\/i>, both Galavant and Richard come to important epiphanies right as Madalena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secret guest arrives. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Galavant<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

None of this is going as I expected! I WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T READY FOR THAT LAST TWIST.<\/p>\n

The Truth<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m noticing that Galavant, particularly<\/i> when it comes to women, has a hard time hearing the truth. (The same is true of Richard, of course.) The opening duet of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dungeons and Dragon Lady\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is beautiful and hilarious, and it also DIRECTLY spells out how Madalena feels about Galavant. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attracted to him, she loves the idea of keeping him around to use when she wants, but she certainly does not love him the way he loves her. She never will! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an opportunist who has gotten a taste for power. Galavant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s idea of love (and how it manifests) is far more romantic and affectionate, and it makes him incompatible with her. And yet, he still held out hope. He does for a significant portion of the episode! He believes that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a chance she will<\/i> reciprocate his affection, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all despite the fact that she literally puts him back in the dungeon. <\/i>Oh, Galavant, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so OBVIOUS.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is precisely what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say about the growing romance between Isabella and Galavant. As funny and silly as this show can be\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlook no further than that decoupaged stool for evidence of that\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also remarkably sweet. I liked that Galavant more or less forgave Isabella because he understood that she betrayed him out of love for her parents. He sees himself in that act! Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he just travel hundreds of miles and overcome some really weird odds in order to try and make a final attempt to win over the woman of his dreams? So he gets it. Love can make you do silly or complicated things. Yet through it all, Isabella did<\/i> support him. For messed up reasons, yes, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a clear contrast here that Madalena points out before their big duet together. Galavant is pining after a woman who rejected him before, who openly opposes him, who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t support or believe in him, and who, in practically every respect, is an antagonist. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Isabella<\/i> who has been all the things he has actually wanted! (I want y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all to know I quietly expected the camera to pan over to Sid right before this reveal because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he fits the bill, too. I SHIP IT.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m real excited to see what comes next for these two.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/b><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Richard gets an epiphany of his own, though it is achieved through much, much sillier means. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not personally a Ricky Gervais fan, but his role here is small and hilarious, and it helped that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on the journey that Chef and Richard did. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve greatly enjoyed how openly anachronistic Galavant<\/i> is, and this is no exception. The show deliberately calls to a hippie, pothead aesthetic here in Xanax, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wizard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who has a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153laboratory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d above his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just dealing drugs that send his buyers on weird trips, and this one, directed by Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s desire to discover why he is the way he is, features some hilarious imagery and reveals Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s initial humiliation.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel compelled to be too<\/i> serious about Galavant<\/i>, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that even in this world, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still the same system of patriarchy and masculinity that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got. Richard suffered from it, too. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as aggressive or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153manly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as his older brother, Kingsley, so from the first moment he was crowned king, his older brother upstaged him and embarrassed him. Thus, he was always second choice, the reject, the odd one out, and it manifests in Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s combination of social awkwardness and desperation for validity. WHICH I UNDERSTAND DEEPLY. Welcome to like the first twenty-odd years of my life??? When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not the center of attention\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand particularly when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got other siblings who are<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really hard to not<\/i> crave external validation. Granted, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grow up to ransack a country and murder 90% of their population. I made some terrible decisions, but nothing that<\/i> bad. So this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exonerate Richard by any means; it just explains<\/i> him. It gives us an idea why he is the way he is, just as he set out to find.<\/p>\n

WHICH MADALENA IMMEDIATELY UNDOES WHEN SHE REVEALS SHE INVITED KINGSLEY TO COME BACK HOME. Oh my god, Rutger Hauer????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME. This is going to be a disaster LIKE SO MANY DISASTERS BEFORE.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dungeons and Dragons Lady\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"