Galavant Season 2 Finale Recap: Long Live the One True King

Galavant season 2 finale recap: Tad Cooper and the One True King

Galavant came and went in the blink of a dragon’s eye. The musical comedy ran only two seasons on ABC, and the season 2 finale, which aired as a double bill on January 31, 2016, turned out to be the end of the series. The two episodes were titled “Battle of the Three Armies” and “The One True King (To Unite Them All)”, and they make the case for the show’s ridiculous, self-aware charm better than any trailer could.

The finale is easiest to follow as three stories. A war between three kingdoms drives the plot. Two romances, one heroic and one villainous, drive the emotion. And one character, Richard, steals nearly every scene. The rest of this recap takes each in turn, then ends on why the finale works as a send-off and what it leaves behind: a handful of earworm songs and a dragon named Tad Cooper.

A word on tone for newcomers. Galavant is hilariously meta, and its habit of quoting itself and winking at the audience is a large part of why viewers want to repeat its lines for weeks after a finale. The musical numbers do the same job: they are catchy enough to survive on their own, which is a hard thing for a sitcom to manage.

For viewers arriving late, the setup is short. Galavant was a fairy-tale musical that mocked the genre it lived in, sending knights, kings and wizards through plots that stopped for a song whenever the mood allowed. The finale keeps that promise to the last minute: a battle is also a punchline, a wedding is also a number, and a coronation is also a chance for one more joke about a dragon.

Three kingdoms go to war

At the start of the final two episodes, three kingdoms are at war: Valencia, Hortensia and Galavant’s own Undeadencia. At the head of Valencia’s army are Madalena, Gareth and the Wedding Planning Wizard. Gareth wants to join the troops and get his manly hands dirty. Madalena points out, with tact, that a viewing area has been built for the occasion.

Then she breaks his heart by betraying her promise not to use dark magic. The betrayal is played for laughs, like everything on the show, and it hurts anyway. That is the trick Galavant pulls off most reliably: a joke and a real emotion in the same scene.

On the Hortensia side, the Jester delivers a recap, and the Galavant theme sounds as good as ever. Isabella gives a rousing speech and leads her peasants into battle. Her story has been the weakest of the season, but in the last few episodes the show returns to her strength, and she looks remarkable in her armor. The battle is also packed with Lord of the Rings references.

The structure helps. Staging the climax as a three-way battle lets every plotline arrive at the same field, so the finale can pay off several arcs at once without feeling like a checklist. Each army carries its own emotional stakes, from Madalena’s dark magic to Isabella’s peasant uprising to Galavant’s reluctant stand, and the war keeps moving while the jokes land.

Madalena and Gareth, the best romance on the show

A case can be made that the villains’ love story is the most successful one in the series. It is over-the-top and absurd, and somehow believable. Gareth gives Madalena a pair of ears, and that small, strange gesture is what wins the audience over. The writers deserve credit for making viewers care about two characters who never seemed like a couple.

That is what makes the break-up in the finale land so hard. It is unusual for fans to be upset when the bad guys part, and yet the scene earns it.

Isabella, Galavant and the reprise of “World’s Best Kiss”

In the middle of the battle, on top of poor Chef’s house, Isabella and Galavant are reunited, and they reprise “World’s Best Kiss” several more times. The song is a good reminder that Alan Menken, who wrote the music for the series, knows how to write a catchy love number.

They profess their love and promise to marry by the sea. The wedding follows, and it is sweet. Still, the romance is the least surprising thing in the finale, and the hour belongs to someone else.

Richard becomes the One True King

Without Timothy Omundson there is no Galavant. As King Richard he steals every scene, has perfect comic timing, and believes in Tad Cooper with total commitment. In the finale Richard slays the dark, evil wizard, saves the girl from the dreaded Spinster Island and becomes the One True King. It is all cliché and silly, and none of that matters, because the performance sells every beat.

He also has a dragon. Tad Cooper, the series’ unlikely fan favorite, is in Richard’s corner for the biggest moment of the finale, and the title of the episode makes the point: long live the One True King.

Part of the joy is that Richard is an unlikely hero. He is vain, loud and certain of himself, and the show has spent two seasons letting the audience laugh at those traits before letting him win. When he finally does, the victory feels earned in the comic sense, which is the only sense Galavant ever promised.

The finale at a glance

• The war. Valencia, Hortensia and Undeadencia fight a three-way battle, with Madalena, Gareth and the Wedding Planning Wizard leading Valencia’s army.
• The betrayal. Madalena breaks her promise not to use dark magic, and Gareth’s heart breaks with it.
• The reunion. Isabella and Galavant find each other mid-battle and reprise “World’s Best Kiss”.
• The hero. Richard slays the evil wizard, saves the girl from Spinster Island and becomes the One True King.
• The dragon. Tad Cooper, Richard’s dragon, is part of the final victory.

Galavant finale review: a satisfying ending after two seasons

The finale left most viewers sad that the show was over, and that is the best compliment a comedy can get. If the series had to end with only two seasons, this is a good way to end it. Unlike the first season, which left its story hanging, the second closes with a satisfying ending for most of the characters, all of them off doing what they love.

What the finale also does well is give the audience a goodbye that does not feel like a funeral. Nobody is left in grief, nothing is blown up for effect, and the last images are of people who have what they wanted. For a series that knew from the start that it might not get a third season, that restraint is a quiet kind of confidence.

There is a case that the series was right to leave when it did. A comedy this dependent on parody and rapid jokes runs a risk of repeating itself, and an ending that lets each character go and do what they love avoids that. The characters are happy, the audience is amused, and nothing important is left dangling.

That choice matters. It is better than trying to pigeonhole an utterly ridiculous show into something it is not for the sake of ratings. Galavant was built on parody, songs and fast jokes, and it ended as exactly that.

The verdict: a strong, funny, warm finale, carried by Omundson and a surprisingly effective villain romance. Viewers who have not seen the series should start at the beginning, and then stay for the earworms. They will be quoting the show for weeks.

A last point for anyone who watched the first season and drifted away: the second is where the show found its stride. The songs are catchier, the jokes land faster, and Richard grows from a comic foil into the center of the series. The finale rewards that growth, and it is the best argument for going back.

Sources

• Galavant, Wikipedia — cast, series run and season two details