Brianna Ganzon
What do you get when you cross a musical television show and a humorous fairy tale? Not another Disney movie, or Glee, surprisingly enough. You get Galavant, the new ABC miniseries that crosses the random outbursts of humorous singing reminiscent of Monty Python, and the classic Princess Bride fairy tale.
When I saw the first episode, I found myself laughing from the very beginning. It was like watching a parody of all the typical damsel-in-distress fairytales that we grow up reading about or hearing as kids. In the first five minutes, the knight protagonist Galavant (Joshua Sasse) goes to rescue his princess Madalena from being forced to marry the wicked king Richard – only to be rejected for fame and fortune. In essence, this is not your typical fairy tale (which I love).
The actual music of the show is extremely catchy and the lyrics are pretty clever. I find it funny how they reference actual problems realistic to medieval times as well as how they occasionally break the fourth wall (thereby acknowledging the audience) by arguing over who should have the big finish of the song.
Even the songs in the show aren’t your run-of-the-mill “someday my prince will come” serenades. I mean, the main theme song for Galavant describes him with “square jaw and perfect hair – cojones out to there” and warns “mess with him, he’ll disembowel you”. How charming.
However, other than its catchy tunes, Galavant is entertaining on the basis that the characters are both cliche and not cliche. The evil king Richard (Timothy Omundson) is obviously modeled on the traditional villain and looks the part, yet he is a gigantic softie who hates it when he gets gravy on his “tummy flowers”. The beautiful “damsel-in-distress” character Madalena (Mallory Jansen) is really a shallow, selfish shrew who no one can stand. So sets the precedent for the rest of the characters (who really aren’t as cliche as they first seem).
Lastly, Galavant will only have a total of eight episodes, which I think is brilliant in terms of length. After all, we don’t need another great show ruined because it doesn’t know when to end (you could literally binge-watch the whole show within half a day). In addition, each episode features a guest star, including the likes of John Stamos, Weird Al Yankovic, and Ricky Gervais. What more could you ask for?
Overall, Galavant is an extremely entertaining comedy and light-hearted show that appeals to everyone. It’s over-the-top ridiculousness combined with an unusual plot definitely makes it stand out.
