Galavant 2.05: "Giants vs. Dwarves"

“The perfect pair. A dragon that isn’t a dragon, and a king that isn’t a king.”
-Galavant

The first part of week three of the “five week extravaganza” that is “Galavant” season 2 was extra silly, even for “Galavant,” but I was still entertained. The Richard and Galavant storyline in this one was mostly filler, but if the overall plot goes where I think it’s going, I think the filler is by design. One would think the Galavant and Richard plot would be the one to have the most movement each week, since they’re on a big quest to save Isabella, but given how this episode ended for Isabella, and not quite sure she’s really going to need saving. Girl looks to be on her way to saving herself, thank you very much. Speaking of, there’s quite a bit of movement on Isabella’s plot in this episode, even if it doesn’t really get much screen time. In other news, Madalena and Gareth may actually become a thing, although I’ll be interested to see how that fits into anything else that’s going on right now. And when will Sid and Galavant be reunited? Poor Sid!

Galavant and Richard had a plan to trade the Jewel of Valencia for help from the Giants in Operation: Rescue Isabella. There’s just one problem. Richard traded the Jewel of Valencia for a “dragon” (actually just a lizard) that he has named Tad Cooper. Galavant is furious that Richard has so carelessly bargained away their best chance at rescuing Isabella, and he tells Richard he’s done with him. He’s going to continue the quest on his own. When Galavant leaves, Richard sings a song to Tad Cooper called “My Dragon Pal and Me” about how he believes in Tad Cooper’s dragon abilities. He imagines how they will win great battles in the future. At the end of the song, though, Richard is confronted by some threatening men, who I wrongly assumed at the time were the Giants he and Galavant had been talking about.

After striking out on his own, Galavant soon encounters the giants. Or should I say “Giants.” They’re all men of rather average height who are actually, for the most part, slightly shorter than Galavant himself. Galavant is understandably dubious now that he has met the “Giants.” Regardless of their stature, the Giants offer to help Galavant rescue Isabella if he will help them fight their arch enemy – the Dwarves. The head Giant (who just happens to be played by the awesome Nick Frost) tells Galavant a little of the rivalry’s backstory. At one time, the Giants and Dwarves tried to build a bridge to unite their lands, but the Giant side of the bridge was too high and the Dwarf side was too low. They’ve hated each other ever since. As this story is being told, the Dwarves approach. As you’d probably expect by this point, they are of average height, too. And they are led by Richard, of course. Roberta soon arrives on the scene and tries to get the boys to call off the war, but they are upset with each other at the moment and they are determined to fight.

Meanwhile, in Hortencia, the wedding planning continues. Wormwood says he really wants to finalize the guest list, because he intends to paint personalized mirrors for all the guests. Mind-controlled Isabella, of course, thinks this is the most fabulous idea. The last guest who still needs to RSVP is Princess Jubilee. Anyway, Isabella’s mother is finally starting to put her foot down and question why Isabella is acting so differently. All it gets her, though, is thrown in the dungeon. When we next see Isabella, she’s making a personal visit to Princess Jubilee to see if she’ll be attending the wedding. Princess Jubilee is having none of it. She hates that girly stuff, and she thought Isabella did too. She’s quite a tomboy, and she sings a bawdy (and kind of awesome) song about being a “different kind of Princess.” She benches at the end, and the power of it knocks Isabella’s tiara off her head. The tiara breaks, and Isabella finally wakes up from the mind control.

Sid and Gareth are talking about general running the kingdom stuff when Sid picks up on the fact that Gareth has developed a bit of a thing for Madalena. He got her flowers and everything, which can’t possibly end well. Over a meal, Sid tries to warn Gareth to stay away from Madalena, but Gareth doesn’t want to hear it. He really does have feelings for her and wants to pursue her. Near the end of the episode, we find out that Gareth told Madalena all the things Sid said about her (and some extra nasty things Sid didn’t actually say), and understandably, Madalena is pissed. She orders the guards to kill Sid, but Sid manages to run off before they can get to him. Maybe this is the beginning of his road to being reunited with Galavant? Anyway, once the commotion is over, Madalena tells Gareth that she likes him too. That’s an unholy alliance if I ever saw one.

The Giants vs. Dwarves battle kicks off in snapping, dancing “West Side Story” style as both sides sing a song to prepare for battle. When the battle actually starts, both Galavant and Richard accidentally attack people from their own sides. Galavant realizes the foolishness of this and calls a pause in the fight. Just as they’re about to switch to “shirts and skins” so that everyone can tell who is fighting on which side, Roberta interrupts. She reminds Galavant that Richard is the only person Galavant has gotten to join him on his quest so far. Galavant thanks Richard for being loyal, and he says that “he believes Richard believes” Tad is a dragon. They agree to continue on the quest together. The Giants and Dwarves, however, are going to stay behind to fix their bridge. At the very end of the episode, in the middle of a big musical montage, Isabella, now sans tiara, leaves Princess Jubilee’s kingdom. She’s got a sword, and she’s determined to get revenge on Wormwood. As I said before, I like that it appears she is going to rescue herself. Go Isabella!