The Problem With ‘Galavant’

**Spoilers from the entire first season of Galavant below**

I think you all know that I’ve been the biggest fan of Galavant for….oh, since they released the teaser trailer last spring. I don’t exactly hide my feelings (unlike that idiot Galavant). And while the show hasn’t been perfect, leaving arcs unexplored–or even just skipping the action altogether as was the case in Isabella and Sid’s pirate rescue–I understand those choices because the show only had eight episodes. It was better to gloss over side stories in favor of the meaty main story rather than go down the side quest rabbit hole and lose viewers. I even understand why they ended the first season on a cliffhanger. (Though, if the show doesn’t get a second season, they are going to feel really silly.)

My biggest problem with the show, however, came in the final two episodes in of the form character blah-sassinations: Isabella and Sid.

Sure, they’re meant to be secondary to Galavant and Richard, but up until the final two episodes they both had their own wit, their own fire and strength that allowed them to call Galavant on his BS. The simple peasant-folk may think Galavant is the shiz, but these two knew better. They certainly didn’t pull punches and wait for the hero to rescue them. I mean, what happened to this girl?

Or even, what happened to the Sid who was loyal but knew Galavant had a serious ego problem?

And yet, instead of Isabella at least ATTEMPTING to get out of the dungeon, or Sid telling Galavant ONCE to get his head out of his behind, the pair instead fawned all over Galavant like he WAS their savior, instead of the inept, mostly okay knight he’d been up until that point. (Which is part of his charm as a viewer!) Don’t get me wrong, I swooned with the rest of us when this happened:

But just because a girl falls in love doesn’t mean she has to lose everything about her that made her what she was in the first place. I mean, Galavant comes back drunk (admittedly, more songs should be sung drunk with King Richard), with the King, and without a way to free them, so she…cuddles him?

“GET UP RIGHT NOW, MAN. EXPLAIN YOURSELF BEFORE I CUT YOU. WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE. WHY ARE YOU WEARING MADALENA’S SHOES.” That’s the Isabella I know. At least scorn him a little bit before you throw your coat over him all cute-like. And don’t even get me started on you walking into that creeptastic room that would make even the Phantom of the Opera go, “Whoa, obsess much?”

Even with my frustration at how these two characters went down at the end of the season, I still adore Galavant. The music has been consistently good, tying in perfectly with the rest of the show. The plot and characters surprised me until the very end. Vinnie Jones plays a likable character! Timothy Omundson sang a ballad! I want to adopt Isabella’s parents! Madalena continues to be hilarious and evil! Let’s hope the cliffhanger angle wasn’t a bubble plot to get a second season. It didn’t work for Joan of Arcadia and let’s face it, Galavant has a niche audience. I can only hope that Joshua Sasse’s tweets were a hopeful sign of seasons to come. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for ’em.