When a dragon’s not really a dragon.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The end of “Giants vs. Dwarves” brought a moment I’ve been waiting for all season: Isabella taking charge. This is a return to form — a return to the character we got to know and respect in the first season. It’s long overdue. Wormwood will likely have a role to play in the future, but still, the whole mind control bit was an unnecessary diversion. Robert Lindsay has been an entertaining villain, to be sure, but his plot with Isabella played like a way to pass time in Hortensia.
Thankfully, we should be out of the woods now. Sheridan Smith’s Princess Jubilee said everything the audience has been thinking to Isabella though the actual song and dance was underwhelming. There was an unfinished feel about it. I’d rather Isabella would have figured it out on her own, but I’m ready to look ahead to a brighter and better story for her. She deserves it. She’d better get a triumphant scene where she gets to slap Prince Henry.
Karen David in Galavant
In Valencia, Madalena went through some adjustments too. She’s smitten with Gareth, and it’s cute as can be. In case any of you are thinking it, Madalena having feelings isn’t a weakness. It’s huge growth for her. All this emotion stuff is new to her, and the fact that she’s diving into it rather than shutting down is a bold step. She’s gaining more dimensions, but at the same time, we saw she’s not entirely changing — it wouldn’t ring true. She still ordered the guards to kill Sid. Incidentally, I both like and dislike Gareth not stepping in to save Sid’s skin.
The developments with Madalena and Isabella were solid, but the episode faltered with Galavant and Richard. The comedy series is often skilled beyond belief at making the silly meaningful, humorous, and/or profound, but “My Dragon Pal and Me” landed in a place that didn’t hit any of those beats. It was sort of cute but mostly out of step. We did get the amusing line about clunky exposition so at least there was that.
The battle between the giants and the dwarves fell short, too. Nick Frost delivered, and his name being Andre was perfect. The gag about the giants and dwarves being men of average height was smart, too, and so was the way they made the giants look mythically tall when they first appeared on screen. But the part that probably should have been the most successful didn’t work. The idea of a riff on Sharks vs. Jets is great in theory, but it was lackluster.
When a series is as dependent upon musical numbers as Galavant is, most of the tunes need to be strong. The West Side Story parallels in the giants vs. dwarves battle was amusing but didn’t make an impression, and neither did the other numbers in this episode. However, the character developments across the board helped make up for the lack of showstoppers.
