Re: Kings *spoilers*

I watched it, and didn't think much of it either.

I sat through all two hours, and a few things baffled me:

1. Why set the story in a mythical 'kingdom'? Why not just set it in
corporate America, and have Silas be the head of a big company that
David takes over? That way everything wouldn't have had that
unsettling unreality to it. Is this story set on Earth? It looks like
it. The fantasy setting is unnecessary and distracting.

2. Like the poster above, I rolled my eyes the cloying lack of
subtlety. The names are hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-sledgehammer
obvious; there isn't a hint of nuance in the acting (except for
McShane). And after the "I was standing in a field and a swarm of
butterflies landed on my head like a crown" story gets repeated over
and over by McShane as his sign from God that he was meant to take the
throne, guess what happens in the opener's last shot?

If you guessed, "David Shepherd is standing on a balcony and a swarm
of butterflies lands on his head like a crown", you win. I mean, it
isn't even subtle: he gets a circlet of monarchs on his noggin sitting
there in a PERFECT CIRCLE. I would have been happy with ONE butterfly
lighting on his finger (which is what happens at the beginning of the
shot), but I guess the writers didn't think we'd get the point that
he's the anointed one, despite the fact that he was literally anointed
in the film's first ten minutes.

3. I also wonder why the writers decided to be faithful to the story
of David, except when it came to one of its best-known aspects: his
friendship with the king's son, Jonathan. In this incarnation
Jonathan is "Jack", and by the end of the opener we know he's A. evil
and B. gay. I guess the writers decided it would be more interesting
to make "Jonathan" a bad guy, but they're going to have to be very
careful so he doesn't turn into a cliche, and offend people. Unless,
of course, they're planning on having him reform at some point and he
and David become lovers (the Biblical David DID write a love song to
Jonathan, after all, and many scholars have speculated that they were
gay), but this is network television. I reeeeeeeeeeeeally doubt it. I
also doubt the series is going to last long enough for us to find out.

In short, it wasn't horrible, but I think it would have been a hell of
a lot better if they'd ditched the whole "mythical kingdom" idea, set
it in corporate America, and let the story play out on a stage viewers
are familiar with. Gilboa looks like a glossy bore.
.