Galavant, S2 Ep9 – Battle of the Three Armies

The penultimate episode of Galavant was an action-packed event filled with surprisingly epic battle scenes, important character interactions, and more catchy songs. As Sid spoiled during the season premiere, the three armies come together in a massive battle scene as warriors, civilians, and zombies fight alongside our heroes and villains.

The episode begins with an awesome recap song performed by the Jester, who belts out each note with gusto. This number shows how criminally underused the Jester’s talent has been all season. And it’s a pretty fantastic song, cleverly summarizing the whole season with humorous lyrics and an awesome rhyme scheme. The Jester deserves the applause he gets at the end of the number.

Then the fight begins, as Isabella’s motley army faces off against Gareth and Madalena’s fully-equipped and well-trained soldiers. It’s nowhere near a fair fight, but Isabella is not one to be daunted by challenges. The battle takes place during a rousing song number, “A Good Day to Die,” that manages to be both uplifting and, in true Galavant fashion, humorously morbid at the same time.

And because they have terrible luck, Chef and Gwynn are literally caught in the crossfire. They were living peacefully in a cottage right in the middle of the battlefield. But they are resigned to their fate and as the armies close in on them, they retreat to an underground shelter grateful they made it to age 25.

Galavant and Richard arrive with their zombie army and the tables are turned on the Valencians. Galavant chooses to wear a helmet for a dramatic reveal because that is the way he is, and so he and Isabella meet in the middle of a fight. He dramatically reveals himself but gets a slap in the face. He hastily clears up the misunderstanding they had over the magical long-distance call, and the two reconcile in the midst of the fighting. It’s a sweet moment and one we have been waiting for all season. But there isn’t much time for the lovers to speak because they are in the middle of a war and everything.

Another pair who reunite and reconcile during the fight are Richard and Gareth, who prove that their friendship endured despite everything else that came between them. With the fight going in Isabella’s favour, Madalena and Wormwood decide to turn the tables with the use of some dark, dark evil magic.

In a delightfully lively tune, “Do the D’DEW,” reminiscent of “Bibidi bobbidi boo” from Cinderella but way more morbid, Wormwood shows Madalena how to harness the powers of the Dark, Dark, Evil Way and to use this magic against her enemies. The queen does so with sinister glee, and Gareth finally realizes that she lied to him about not using magic. But Madalena is too drunk on her newfound powers to consider that she is losing someone who truly loves her.

Madalena uses her powers to control all the soldiers, especially the zombie army, and so our heroes are forced to retreat behind the protective walls of Hortensia since all their soldiers have turned against them. Even Gareth joins the group as he no longer agrees with Madalena’s actions, and is also eager to support Richard.

Madalena calls off the troops for a moment and shows up at the gates, offering the heroes a chance to surrender. But of course, none of them will. She asks Gareth to come with her but he refuses, even though he isn’t happy about doing so.

In a painful scene, Madalena thanks each of the heroes for their contribution to her rise to power (Isabella for the throne, Galavant for the adventure, and Gareth for the love.) But she has always craved power and now that she has it, she is unwilling to let it go, even if it means she will never be truly happy.

After the queen leaves, the heroes rally themselves and in a dark reprise of “A Good Day to Die”, they sing about all the things they won’t get to do if they die (Isabella wants seven children but Galavant only wants three, Richard wants to be a good king and marry Roberta.)

Then the episode ends with these brilliant lines, sung by the Jester: