EPISODE REVIEW: Kings: “Chapter One” (Episode 10)

If last week was all about hope, this episode is about the death thereof. The king, once so open to the future, trusting, and full of promise, has seen his faith betrayed and learned that no matter how he may wrestle with David’s destiny, the future has no place for Silas. Once again closed off, and all the more tragic for it having shown his heir the soul of the man beneath the crown, he seamlessly shifts gears in to defensive mode, protecting what he sees as rightfully his. And as with all megalomaniacs, what the king sees is his is everything…

PLAY BY PLAY

The Charter of the Kingdom of Gilboa is stolen from the national archives by persons unknown. Our friends the two stupid guards show up, though they’re not comedy relief anymore it seems.
“Who could have done such a thing?”
“I don’t know, but whoever it was - I hate them.”
Silas needs to get rid of his chief advisor - David - whom he no longer trusts, so he sends the young captain off on a task that is somewhere between fools errand and suicide mission. David admits he lied to Silas last week, and begs forgiveness. “Prove you’re worth more than the lie,” Silas says, “Retrieve the charter.” He gives David some money, a gun, and a phone, “To call in and admit defeat. But if you come home with empty hands, remember that all we’ll see is the empty hands, not you.” (I paraphrase. Silas said it better. Silas *Always* says it better.)

Jump forward two weeks, and David is in Ekron, on the southern border of Gilboa, looking a bit bedraggled. He’s trying to be inconspicuous, tracking down leads to where the Charter is, but he sticks out like the good thumb on an otherwise sore hand. In a bar, he tries to bribe the barkeep for information, but the man knows who David is somehow, and tells him to go home before he gets hurt. A pretty brunette says she has information about it, and leads him to meet some goons. It’s a setup. They take advantage of the poor rube, shaking him down, kicking the crap out of him, taking his gun and his money. He’s lost nearly everything that Silas gave him, and is now operating almost entirely on his own innate abilities, not the kings. I don’t know how much clearer I can make that metaphor, kids.

He wakes up in the barman’s bed, but no, this is David’s story and not Gay Prince Jack’s, so we know nothing untoward happened. The bartender rescued him because “I couldn’t let you get killed just because you’re an idiot.” An unforeseen aspect of this show’s reliance on signs, symbols, and omens from God that are all real is that I’m perfectly willing to accept astounding coincidences here, whereas in any other show they’d make me scream “Oh, come on!” in my best Tom Hanks voice. Of course we’ve got an astounding coincidence here - or is it the will of God moving the pieces on the chessboard? The barman was in the Gilboan army back in the day, same unit as David’s daddy. He says some bad things about Silas, and some good things about David, including the *true* story of his father’s death!