Galavant Rewatch 2.6, "About Last Knight"

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For the US Independence Day entry, how the series engages with some of the less fortunate legacies of that nation receives attention--as do a few other things.

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2.6, "About Last Knight"

Written by Scott Weinger, Luan Thomas, Julia Grob, and Joe Piarulli
Directed by Paul Murphy

Synopsis

It's not a good start for him.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Sid flees through Valencia, where he is a wanted man. He attempts to filter unnoticed through the crowds, albeit without success (about which some comments below). He does manage to avert his recapture, however, by arguing the likelihood that the promised reward for his return will not be paid, and he attempts to foment rebellion--to no avail. He flees again.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta are forced to halt in their progress by an unwilling horse. They dismount and recite their recent off-screen hardships (about which some other comments below). They find themselves on the borders of Galavant's father's--his name is Arnold--lands, which Galavant hates, but they appear obliged to call on him, even so.

In Valencia, Madalena throws a surprise party for Gareth. He reacts poorly at first, and is awkward even after, noting the mismatch between himself and the sumptuous surroundings. He asks to get a scar in a bar fight, and Madalena decides to take him out to get one.

This is not a happy person.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Isabella returns in anger to Hortensia (which I have evidently been misspelling previously; mea culpa). She interrupts his scheming, and he notes he cannot be killed save by the "sword of the one true king"--which happens to be in Richard's inept hands. Isabella banishes him; he leaves amid an intermittent monologue.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta arrive at Arnold's home. The knight remains trepidatious, even when events suggest he should not be; Richard and Roberta opt to fill their bellies. Arnold welcomes the group warmly, inviting them in and showing them the school he now runs. His students clearly love him, and Galavant is skeptical.

Gareth and Madalene call on what appears to be an in-castle pub. Gareth explains how events usually unfold, and those in the pub fall over themselves in their submission to him. He leaves in disgust at their unwillingness to confront him.

Wormwood and his assistant, Barry, proceed through a forest--the Forest of Coincidence--away from Hortensia. They encounter Sid, who soon finds himself rearmed and sent on his way back to Galavant; he warns them of Madalena and Gareth, and Wormwood purposes to go there.

Galavant, Richard, and Roberta take some time at Arnold's school. Galavant and Roberta confer about Richard until Galavant is pulled into reminiscing about his own unpleasant childhood. The students refute his assertion and extol Arnold's virtues. Arnold hears Galavant's imprecations.

Isabella's parents are released from imprisonment, and she apologizes to them, citing her ensorcelment. They apologize in turn for their earlier treatment of her. The three are reconciled. They break off the marriage arrangement with Harry.

Arnold and Galavant also reconcile, Arnold noting his record of Galavant's life and acknowledging his own inadequacies as a father. Arnold sends him off with his blessing.

Gareth sulks about his inability to find a birthday fight. Madalena tries to comfort him, introducing Wormwood and the prospect of a war to fight.

Sid returns to Galavant in joy. He reports events, and, in his excitement, he accidentally runs the knight through...

The face of a man who gets the point.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Discussion

It is true that Galavant works in many episodes to avert the medieval-as-white paradigm so unfortunately prevalent in medievalist media and popular understanding of the medieval. That said, the opening minutes of the current episode appear to be treating in that dynamic, with Sid's easy identification as a fugitive seemingly enabled by his being the only person of color among a great many white people. That the scene makes so little use of persons of color among the extras is admittedly unusual, but it is still striking, and it is not to the series's credit.

Of note for a different reason is a comment made early on in the episode by Richard, that noting eating "that family of hobbits." The reference to Tolkien is clear (and makes the episode clearly fit for the Society's attention), especially given the long-known avidity with which Tolkien's estate defends components of Middle-earth. (The long-ago lawsuit against D&D is one of the more famous examples.) How to take the reference (other than a morbid joke that sets up an iteration of a running joke in the season) is less clear. Is it a lampshade (unneeded) that the series is a satire of medievalist fantasy? Is it a repudiation of Tolkien? Is it a biting commentary (I could not help the pun) about the voraciousness of the wealthy?

But on the topic of things the episode gets more correct than many in the presumed audience will realize: the school Arnold runs has clear antecedents in medieval history. One of the commonplaces of mainstream depictions of the medieval is that the period was one of little education outside the church (and damned little within it); learning was not only largely unavailable, but was derided. (It is a commonplace now, as well.) Yet Alfred the Great, in his preface to Cura Pastoralis, asserts that learning will be available to any who may pursue it instead of other occupations, and Charlemagne--the medieval king par excellence--established multiple schools throughout the Holy Roman Empire. They are the most accessible examples, certainly, but not the only ones. They also serve to suggest that schools, while perhaps not on the model of Arnold's, were far more readily available to medieval Europeans than is commonly understood (and higher education, at least, is far less accessible now than many want to realize). The reminder that medieval people were not quite so backward as is usually assumed is a useful one, indeed, even if it is embedded in a problematic context.