Galavant 2.10: "The One True King (To Unite Them All)"

“I can’t believe that’s the same guy who cried when he got jelly on his fancy pants!”
-Gareth

The season finale of “Galavant” can best be described as adorable. The actual fighting was wrapped up pretty quickly, and much of the episode was devoted to showing what’s next for all that characters. Especially given the recent shake-up at ABC, it would be a big surprise for “Galavant” to get another season. I’d love to see more adventures with these characters, but if it has to end now, I believe the creative team, unlike last year, ended the story in a satisfying place. Many of our characters have found happiness, although I’m sure if Madalena (and the ABC powers that be) have anything to do with it, she will be interrupting those happy endings as soon as she can! The finale really embraced the quirky sense of humor that has been present throughout the show’s whole run, and that’s really all I can ask for. Timothy Omundson especially was a standout in this one, but when isn’t he really?

I absolutely loved the opening of this episode. We see Gareth and Richard as kids, where Gareth makes the rest of the kids praise and applaud for Richard for every little thing he does. Young Richard, however, realizes that the other kids are just around because he’s going to be King, not because they actually like him. In song, young Richard wonders if he’ll ever become a hero. Just as he starts to really wonder, present-day Richard appears, and he basically tells his younger self that most of the cool stuff he hoped would happen hasn’t happened. Present-day Richard, in some beautiful vocal work by Omundson, then starts to wonder if he still has a chance to be something more. Richard finally comes to his senses, though, and we find out he’s been singing to himself in front of all the Valencians and Hortensians. He brushes them off, saying he was just conversing with his “inner child.”

The zombies seem to be about to break through the castle gate, but there’s a last second reprieve. Galavant starts hearing “Off With His Shirt,” and the music turns out to be coming from Sid leading an army of all of the different groups of people the characters encountered through the second season of the show (although not any of the expensive leads . . . just the extras!). With a “men and women of the second season, attack!” Sid leads the charge, hoping for redemption. Sid and his army join Galavant in the castle, and Galavant plans out the attack. Galavant and Gareth are going to lead the offensive while Isabella and Richard flank them on horseback. Unfortunately, Galavant and Gareth get cornered by zombies thanks to Wormwood’s D’DEW.

Galavant and Gareth may be out of commission, but Richard and Isabella aren’t. Madalena has gone to pick out a weapon, and Isabella confronts her. There’s lots of sparring between the two, as you’d expect, both verbal and physical. Eventually it devolves into a full-on cat fight. Richard and Wormwood do some verbal sparring, too. Wormwood thinks he can disarm Richard using D’DEW, and Richard’s sword goes flying right into a stone, where of course it gets stuck. Wormwood then makes the mistake of tossing Tad Cooper away, and Tad seems to not survive the fall. This awakens a “dragon” in Richard, and Wormwood can’t retrieve the sword from the stone to defend himself.

Richard keeps repeating “you killed my dragon,” and he breaks Wormwood’s magic wand he was using to control the zombies. The wand destroyed, the zombies stop attacking and the castle gate opens (Wormwood had locked it so Galavant and Gareth couldn’t escape). The armies all watch and Wormwood and Richard (who has recovered his sword) fight. Richard eventually deals a (mostly) fatal blow. Isabella takes advantage of the distraction to knock out Madalena. When Madalena comes to, Gareth offers to take her away so they can go be terrible together. Madalena, however, declines. She loves Gareth, but she loves the power of D’DEW even more. She uses the magic to disappear. Richard, for his part, leaves Tad Cooper with Galavant while he goes to run a very important errand. While waiting for Richard’s return, Galavant ends up proposing to Isabella, and the pair sing a song about how now they just want a real life together in a cottage by the sea. With either seven or three children.

Richard, of course, is trying to intercept Roberta before she leaves for Spinster Island. He gets a horseback riding speeding ticket for this trouble, which is kind of hilarious. Roberta is shocked and happy to find out that Richard survived the battle and even killed the bad guy. We then see Galavant and Isabella’s wedding, which is beautiful, of course, and officiated by Weird Al Yankovic and his Monks. Weird Al starts singing us out with an ending montage that shows us where all the characters are now. Galavant and Isabella have their cottage by the sea. Gareth and Sid decide to go on a quest to rescue Madalena. Madalena, however, doesn’t really seem to want to be rescued. When we see her next, he has arrived at the castle of the DEL (the “Dark Evil Lord”). She’s hoping he will make her the most powerful force in the Seven Kingdoms.

The best ending, however, is for Richard. And really, even though the title character is Galavant, this season has all been about Richard’s growth as a person. He went from the sniveling, scared shell of a man we saw last season to a true hero and the One King to Unite them All. He even found love in the process. Anyway, in the final scene of the episode, we see Richard and Roberta in what I presume is their shared home. Roberta reminds Richard that it’s time to feed Tad Cooper, so Richard grabs a sheep and heads outside. We don’t actually see Tad, but from the glow of flames around Richard’s face, it becomes apparent that Tad is, indeed, a dragon. Richard grins and closes out the show by saying “I have a dragon!”