TV is the New Reading

NBC’s “Kings” is an epic show

I haven’t pulled up my Old Testament in awhile – and clearly there are more skyscrapers, tanks, cell phones and Liszt references in this production than there probably were in ancient Judea – but quite a few elements of NBC’s new drama “Kings” bear striking parallels to the adventures of Saul and David on the eve of their power struggle.

The wonderful thing about “Kings,” however, is how comfortably this storyline is updated for an alternate modern-day kingdom.

Ian McShane is frankly brilliant as King Silas Benjamin, the king of Gilboa, ruling from the newly established capital city of Shiloh. It’s not just a presidency by another name. The king wields regal authority – within a structure of family influence and military-industrial realpolitik – and it’s good to be the king. He has a charming wife in Queen Rose, a beautiful socially minded daughter and a feckless son whose libertine nature when not on the front lines of Gilboa’s endless war with Gath is becoming an issue.

In fact, King Silas’ discomfort with Prince Jack’s increasingly open homosexual indiscretions has moved him to sire an illegitimate heir to the throne with a consort elsewhere in the city. Jack is safe while the child is young, but Silas might not be as Jack becomes more resentful.

David
The argument between Silas and Jack blows up in the wake of Jack’s capture at the front lines and his rescue by commoner foot soldier David Shepherd, played by Chris Egan. Shepherd becomes a national hero with Jack’s rescue and the king responds accordingly. King Silas’s deference to Shepherd is born of obligation at first, but as he comes to know the young man, he realizes how he can manipulate him for his purposes.

Shepherd, however, proves a difficult pawn. He and Princess Michelle fall in love at first sight, for one thing. Also, Shepherd is uncomfortable with being celebrated. He just wants to get back to his front-line deployment, but the king has in mind to make him his military spokesman.

Flowing as undercurrents through the storyline are the king’s brother-in-law and military adviser, William Cross, head of CrossGen, a munitions firm. The company is heavily invested in the war between Gilboa and Gath and Cross needs King Silas to hold off on any peace accords with Gath for at least a year. His majesty’s truculence in the matter is not appreciated and grave repercussions are indicated.

Also, more mystically, King Silas established Shiloh as the seat of his kingdom 15 years before, rebuilding the city from the destruction of war, based on God’s countenance of his kingship as signified by a living crown of butterflies that he, Silas, should be king and this should be his kingdom, here risen from the ashes.

Sadly for Silas, his spiritual adviser, Ephram Samuels, confronts him in his arrogance and prophesies that God has in fact withdrawn his support of his kingdom, and no longer king, Silas is now merely a man in a king’s position.

Silas dismisses this – a man in a king’s position is, after all, still pretty powerful. But in the final scene, when he sees Shepherd on the palace grounds crowned with butterflies – the symbol of his kingdom and the touchstone of his divine authority – the name of the series – “Kings” – is borne out in a flash of light.

As alternate realities go, this one is delightfully fresh and new – an intriguing perspective on ancient storylines in an epic setting – and it seems like it’s off to a great start. “Kings” airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on NBC.

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