“Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?”
The plot thickens this week as we get a better look at just who Queen Rose is. It was already clear that she was more than just a figurehead, from what we saw as she put her brother in his place. But it’s so much bigger than that. Not only did Rose design the monarchy, right down to the pattern on the dinnerware, but it would appear that nothing gets by her. Probably not even her unmentioned step son.
The revelations about Rose were an unexpected twist, but a welcome one. She’s turning out to be much more powerful than I initially expected. And I think you could go so far as to say that Rose understands her place in all of this better than anyone. Her explanation to Michelle about what it means to be the royal family, and her maneuvering to uninvite David from “First Night”, go a long way to show that. Rose gets that while they are the monarchy, they exist at the behest of the people. And anyone with the skyrocketing popularity of David can only be bad for that business. She also had what stood out to me as the most recognizable reference to the bible story as well, when talking about under-secretary that requested to be seated by David, “I see Silas commands his thousands while David brings his hundred thousands.”
As to David, I continue to be a little perplexed by the story of David and Jack. Going off of the original story, Jack’s underhanded sabotaging of David is not at all how I expected things to go. That’s not necessarily bad, just different. Either way, it’s still interesting. Similarly, I haven’t quite worked out just how Michelle fits into David’s story either, aside from the googley-eyed obvious. Tonight, the setup with Paul did call to mind Merab being “given unto Adriel the Meholathite.” But I’m still trying to figure out if Michelle is Merab, Michal, or both.
Finally, Silas and his countryside emergency drove home just how religion figures into this whole thing for me. Rose’s political speech about how the monarchy functions left the door open for all the talk of God, and Silas being chosen, to be just so much PR. But that’s clearly not the case. Silas believes it, to the point that he’s willing to sacrifice his relationship with his son. And that should make it all the more interesting as it becomes more apparent that God has chosen David.
Unfortunately, the ratings for Kings have been terrible. I can kind of understand that, I suppose, given the unconventional combination of biblical story and political drama. It doesn’t have the broad appeal of doctors, lawyers, and cops. Still, while it certainly looks like this will be the one and only season of the show, there’s enough going on here to make it one to stick with.
Clacked by Brett Love
on Mar 30, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
