Way back in the days of old, there was a legend told
about a hero known as Galavant!
These lyrics, as well as the rest of this catchy tune, have been stuck in my head for about a week. They also happen to be part of the opening song for ABC's new musical comedy series Galavant. It stars Timothy Omudson, Joshua Sasse, Mallory Jansen, Karen David, Vinnie Jones and Luke Youngblood. It's a mini-series featuring eight episodes that are going to be released two at a time on Sunday nights at 8 pm. Last week I watched the first two episodes, the pilot and "Joust Friends".
I'm going to start out this review out by saying that I loved this show. It's a goofy good time and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants just just sit back and enjoy some nice laughs. It's pretty straightforward, but still has some quirks that make it interesting. I think my mom said it best when she described it as "almost good-old fashioned goofy humor." It's also pretty family friendly in my opinion; there are some jokes for the adults, but nothing too blatant.
This is also a musical, so I have to mention the tunes as well. All the music numbers are catchy and, as I mentioned earlier, tend to get stuck in your head. All of the actors have very nice singing voices too, which is a plus. I personally found the songs very catchy and funny. I liked King Richard's song in the pilot, "She'll Be Mine," where he describes how he wants to kill Galavant so Maddalena will like him and stop talking about the hero. Timothy Omudson is a very good singer and it's just a funny song. Villians always seem to get the best songs in musicals.
All in all, I was happy with the first two episodes and will definitely be tuning in for the next two and most likely the rest of the series.
The basic story, for these episodes, is... (Caution: Spoilers!)
Our hero Galavant was quite happy with his lovely girlfriend Maddalena when the evil King Richard stole her away to force her to marry him. Galavant raced to save his beloved, valiantly fighting castle guards and the like to make it to the ceremony, but then the twist happened: Maddalena chose to marry the evil king anyway (he's got lots of money, you see).
Cut to present day. Galavant is a broken shell of a hero who drinks his time away. A princess, Isabella, seeks him out to get help in saving her invaded kingdom from an evil king (hint, hint). She offers the priceless jewel of Valencia, but Galavant declines, despite the urging of his squire Sid and the pleading of Isabella. Eventually, after realizing he needs money, Galavant lets Isabella tell him her story. Isabella's kingdom had been invaded and, in order to save her and the jewel, her parents hid her in the basement of their castle. From there she witnessed Maddalena, who is revealed to be quite the shrew, nagging her king-ly husband to find the priceless jewel. The royal family of Valencia refused to reveal it's presence so Richard ordered the execution of the king. This forced Isabella out of hiding and put the jewel in Richard's hands. But after another nagging from Maddalena, where she pointed out how inferior Richard is when compared to Galavant, the king told Isabella to find Galavant and lure him to the castle so he can kill the hero. She is to offer him the jewel as payment and, to ensure his involvement, lie and tell him the every night Maddalena cries about how she was wrong. This spurs Galavant in to action and he accepts the job. (End episode one)
The heroic trio sets out on their quest but it becomes apparent, quite quickly, that Galavant is hopelessly out of shape. After realizing that they have no money to pay for a stay at an inn or for food, they decide to join a jousting tournament. Unfortunately, they don't have the money for the entry fee, but after some goading from rival jouster Sir Jean Hamm (who's really that handsome devil John Stamos in disguise), Sid offers the jewel of Valencia as collateral. Isabella, obviously worried for the safety of the jewel, gets Galavant moved to the finals based on his merit and decides to train him herself. After a hearty training montage where it's revealed that Galavant is a afraid of failing, Isabella decides to further increase their odds of winning by getting John Hamm, Galavant's opponent in the finals, drunk on absinthe. The drink does its job but at the joust it is revealed that the earlier training session has caused Galavant's body to be so sore that he can hardly move. This leads to a hilariouly slow joust, wherein both jousters fall from their horses. The announcer declares that the first one to stand wins. After a close struggle, Galavant is the first one to get to his feet, a victory that helps boost his confidence. Isabella also almost admits that she is techincally working for Richard, but is interruppted by Sid before she can.
Meanwhile, Maddalena is getting very annoyed with the sissy nature of her husband, especially his eating habits (like how the castle chef feeds him like a child for example). Richard asks Gareth what he should do. Gareth tells him he needs to "man-up" and offers to help him do so. After a makeover, Richard goes to have dinner with Maddalena, who is quite impressed with the change in her husband's demeanor. They start to have a nice time and share some stories such as Maddalena having to kill her pet goat for food because her family was so poor and how Richard only ever had a servant named Pearl who loved him. Maddalena seems startled at bonding with Richard and lashes out by telling him that Pearl never really loved him, his parents paid her to love him. This obviously upsets Richard, causing him to drop his newly accquired tough-guy attitude. (End episode two.)