Review of NBC Kings

So I caught the debut of NBC’s Kings last night (A day late and dollar short, but that’s the price of not having cable) and was very impressed. I was sold right out of the gate when King Silas went ahead with his dedication of the new capitol without waiting for his spiritual advisor, the Reverend Samuels in a direct parallel to 1 Samuel 13. Relevant gives a good overview and a couple worthwhile reviews can be found at Hollywood Jesus (gotta pimp my links on the right) and All I Have to Give (new blog I found- very appropriate name).

I wasn’t too put off with the creative license taken with many of the Biblical references: Samuels anointing David by wiping grease off his forehead, Goliath being a tank, and David skillfully playing the piano were the obvious ones. I would’ve liked other subtle references like when David was asked what his mom thought of his service answering along the lines of, “she thinks I’m too small” instead of referencing his fallen father. And I wish he would’ve taken out the tank with some stones instead of a hand grenade, but I’ll take it.

What I didn’t like however was the blatant Social Gospel being preached- painting Silas as a king who feels blessed by God because of the strength of his military-industrial complex at the expense of health care. Though David did get in trouble in the Bible for counting his troops, and Saul was ultimately done in by going to battle without first consulting God. And war is unpleasantly central in the books spanning Judges to 2 Chronicles, so I probably shouldn’t read too much into that. Another pet peeve was Jack’s (the show’s version of Jonathan) homosexuality. Actually, I missed it at first because I was busy cooking dinner and had to rewind. I wish the writers hadn’t gone there, but it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t subject. Either you offend the gay-rights community by removing one of their lynchpin arguments that the Bible doesn’t universally condemn homosexuality, or you offend religious conservatives who look at David and Jonathan’s relationship as purely plutonic. It will be interesting to see if a love triangle develops, but it didn’t appear that David swung that way.

Another pet peeve, that Eric Pasco at All I Have to Give rightly points out, is the absence of God in the story. He’s acknowledged, but nowhere do you get the sense that David is a “man after God’s own heart”. In fact, Samuels seems to anoint him because he’s a nice guy, which would go along with our modern-day watered-down religion. There’s also no motive for taking out Goliath, other than to save the hostages. In the Biblical story, David is motivated by the Philistine’s continued mocking of the God of Israel. That’s always been a rallying point for my faith, and a large motivator for this blog. Hopefully we’ll see more of this develop as the show continues.

I loved Silas’ glare as it became clear David was the Lord’s anointed and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here. While it will no doubt appear as a satire on our country’s politics, interviews with the writer seem to say otherwise. Although I don’t think it’s wrong to look at it that way, after all religion has been used lately to both justify war and to justify social programs in this country. And it’s worth it to look back at the Old Testament to see the inherent socio-political dangers of a theocracy.

Sadly, as much as I loved this premiere, not many tuned in to see it. I think the subtle Biblical references (or easter eggs for us religious fanboys) would be lost on the casual viewer, so it would seem the story has a limited audience. I hope that’s not the case as the writer certainly has a grand vision. I’m praying the show continues despite that “talking about God isn’t popular these days.”