{"id":6894,"date":"2018-07-06T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6894"},"modified":"2018-06-26T13:24:08","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T20:24:08","slug":"mark-watches-galavant-s01e08-its-all-in-the-executions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/07\/mark-watches-galavant-s01e08-its-all-in-the-executions\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Galavant’: S01E08 – It’s All in the Executions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth and final episode of the first season of Galavant<\/i>, the final battle between Gareth and Richard approaches, and Galavant is certain he knows exactly how to exploit it and save everyone. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Galavant<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that was odd. I liked parts of this finale, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s All in the Executions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is incredibly clever in the way it subverts a ton of tropes and expectations. At the same time, this finale was remarkably uneven. At times, it felt like it was drifting in directions solely because they were funny, and thus, the story suffers as a result of it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m intrigued by the ending, as I tend to like finales\/cliffhangers where characters are dramatically torn apart and flung to distant locales. Indeed, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something particularly disturbing in how Isabella\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s storyline ends this season, but what comes before this is a little odd. Given how short episodes of Galavant<\/i> are, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much room to explore subplots, so I felt confused by the devotion of nearly half of this episode to Galavant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drunken bonding with Richard. I blame that partly on expectations. Galavant announces to everyone that he has a bold plan to exploit Richard through wit and guile, and then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 he just gets drunk with him? Why did he need to get Richard drunk to convince him to murder his brother? I imagine that part of this is so that we get the humor of the two of them parading through the castle, singing quite loudly about their plans to murder Kingsley, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense in any other context. Did Galavant know Richard well enough to assume he would go for assassination unless<\/i> Richard was drunk? If so, why did he get drunk himself? Honestly, I thought Galavant was faking it the entire time! If he got the king drunk but stayed sober himself, he could have gotten Richard to take him directly to Kinglsey.<\/p>\n

Honestly, the only way this truly works for me\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go with this interpretation as the intent of the writers\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis if this was meant to show us that in the end, Galavant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ego always gets the best of him. Instead of utilizing any<\/i> of his friends or Isabella\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents to his benefit, Galavant believes that he can save everyone all by himself. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in direct contradiction to what he learned in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Comedy Gold,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where he realized that he worked best with<\/i> Sid and Isabella at his side. So, in that sense, this is a character arc that ends in failure and disappointment. He didn’t<\/i> learn the important lesson of the season, and it gets him banished to Richard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kingdom WITH RICHARD. And I have predictions for that<\/i>, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll save them for Monday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post. But I know this is one of the reasons that this episode felt so uneven to me. After everything, Galavant didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t learn that he is a better hero when his friends are at his side. And because of that, look what happened! Two characters were banished, another group fled their home to shack up with a SERIOUSLY creepy child king, and then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord.<\/p>\n

I was initially surprised by Madalena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s betrayal of Kingsley, but once I gave it one second<\/i> of thought, it was obvious that she was going to dispense of Kingsley as soon as he no longer served her interests. He was a means to an end. With Richard gone, she can finally seize the power she always wanted. She probably has the most fascinating arc in the show because I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go so far to be the villain. And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unapologetic about it, too! It felt refreshing because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what I expected, and now that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in power, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do next. She has everything she wants, right?<\/p>\n

Of course, that leads me to wonder what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on with Gareth. He frees everyone<\/i> in this episode as a way to secretly spite Madalena (sort of?), but he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem discouraged by being Madalena\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right-hand-man. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that he does’t<\/i> feel a great deal of affection for Richard, which is why he sends him back to his kingdom. Does he also believe Richard can change? Does he want<\/i> Richard to change? Or does he have his own plans now that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a lot more power?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposite can be said of Isabella, who returns to her cousin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s palace, and lord, I AM FRIGHTENED? This is absolutely not where I expected this show to go, but holy shit, her ending is terrifying<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad enough that her marriage to her own cousin was arranged long before, but what the fuck<\/i> does he have planned? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supposed to stay in that room the whole time? With a TERRIFYING doll representation of herself??? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T LIKE DOLLS, CANCEL ALL OF THIS PLEASE. What the fuck???<\/p>\n

So, a totally interesting cliffhanger with a weird path that leads to it. Galavant<\/i> is an odd show, but I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of potential for new storylines in season two. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll talk about that more in my predictions, so until then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what the HELL.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s All in the Executions\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":"