EPISODE REVIEW: Kings: “Javelin” (Episode 11)

One of the perils and fun parts about basing a story on one of the best-known tales in all of literature is that virtually everyone knows where the beats are in the story, and what to expect. If you’re doing a half-assed job of it, that works to your disadvantage: the ending is written before the beginning, so what’s the point, after all? But if you’ve got a clue, if you’re a storyteller of some strength, this very same thing works to your advantage. Yeah, everyone knows when to expect the plot twists, everyone knows how it more-or-less ends up, but you can use that knowledge to amp up the tension - is *this* when that happens? Oh, false alarm. Doe *That* detail last week mean that when the big twist comes, thus-and-so won’t survive? The Greeks made an entire dramatic subgenre of telling people plainly how the play would end, and then spending two hours watching the protagonists run headlong in to their fates specifically by trying to avoid it.

So before we get in to tonight’s play by play, I’d like to make a sizeable quote here from the story of David that’s been looming in the future since the first episode:

12 Then Jonathan spoke to David. He said, "I promise you that I'll find out what my father is planning to do. I'll find out by this time the day after tomorrow. The Lord, the God of Israel, is my witness. Suppose my father feels kind toward you. Then I'll send you a message and let you know. 13 But suppose he wants to harm you. And I don't let you know about it. I don't help you get away safely. Then may the Lord punish me greatly. May he be with you, just as he has been with my father. […] 19 Go to the place where you hid when all of this trouble began. Go there the day after tomorrow, when evening is approaching. There's a stone out there called Ezel. 20 Wait by it.

"I'll shoot three arrows to one side of the stone. I'll pretend I'm practicing my shooting. 21 Then I'll send a boy out there. I'll tell him, 'Go and find the arrows.' Suppose I say to him, 'The arrows are on this side of you. Bring them here.' Then come. That will mean you are safe. You won't be in any danger. And that's just as sure as the Lord is alive. 22 But suppose I tell the boy, 'The arrows are far beyond you.' Then go. That will mean the Lord is sending you away.
23 "And remember what we talked about. Remember that the Lord is a witness between you and me forever."
24 So David hid in the field. […] He said, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal? He hasn't been here yesterday or today."
28 Jonathan replied, "David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. […]30 Saul burned with anger against Jonathan.

He said to him, "You are an evil son. You have refused to obey me. I know that you are on the side of Jesse's son. You should be ashamed of that. And your mother should be ashamed of having a son like you. 31 You will never be king