Further Retroactive Thoughts on Kings
Mar. 6th, 2013 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
babydracoEdit: I have a subTumblr for Kings screencaps that I'm pairing with goofy quotes from other shows.
it's here
I just wanted to see it happen on tv, #&R%(! The entire show would've fared better on cable, where people expect stuff that doesn't pull punches (when Jack hits the ground when they're being shot at in "Brotherhood", you can see Sebastian Stan mouthing "fuck!" but he couldn't say it out loud), where seasons are shorter but production values are higher. Eight pm on Sunday nights was the worst scheduling choice, especially since even though The Simpsons are no longer the ratings juggernaut they once were, if Kings hadn't been cancelled they'd be in their fourth season, coming up against megahit Once Upon a Time. They were originally supposed to air on Thursdays at 10 in ER's old slot. Having it not during "the family hour" would've allowed them to tell the story more honestly, plus, most shows that air on Thursday nights on NBC are invincible.
Jack tries to save his sister's reputation by offering up his own secrets to Katrina Ghent, but she blackmails him into marrying her instead. His mother has Ghent murdered offscreen (which is hilarious but I mourn the fantastic chemistry Stan and Bibb had), so Jack marries a girl he really couldn't care less about. Silas is finally proud of him, and promises Jack that he will declare the monarchy a blood dynasty and make Jack his official heir. When Jack excitedly tells his uncle William that they're not going to need to dethrone Silas after all, William smacks him in the face and tells him that they're going through with it anyway.
David bonds with Silas at the king's secret retreat, but fails to disclose his sexual relationship with Michelle. Unfortunately, Michelle chooses the day they come back to confess the relationship to her father. Who is now furious that David lied. Silas sends David on a mission to recapture the Royal Charter of Gilboa, pretty much hoping he gets killed. Silas tells Michelle that David is on "diplomatic training". When David returns in one piece with the charter, Silas is forced to make nice in public, while immediately turning around and having David arrested for treason.
During David's trial, Michelle, who had an alibi for David, promises to take the witness stand and is then too terrified of Silas to show up. Jack (acting as prosecutor) cracks and exposes the plot against David, which causes the nation to turn against Silas. Violently. Yaaay, right?
Of course, Jack betrays everyone again- but that's only after he tries to save David and his father goes to great lengths to humiliate him in front of other people. Basically, after Jack has the gall to call his dad out during David's trial, Silas not only outs him and calls him a gay slur but tries to have him arrested and has David moved to a secret prison. His mother bargains with Silas for him, and Jack goes to Silas to beg for forgiveness (because he doesn't want to be arrested or killed) and Silas humiliates him even more (it crosses the line from “hard on your kid” into straight up abuse). William Cross uses Jack's helpless anger to manipulate him into being an accessory in his father's assassination, although Jack throws himself in front of Silas at the last minute. Silas has survived but no one knows that, so they proceed with the coup. Jack has David rescued from the firing squad because he wants him back in the cabinet because he needs “someone good” to watch his back. He wants to be friends. They hug, it's adorable (Jack lovingly adjusts David's tie). Jack wants peace with Gath, he's clearly really trying to be a good king at first.
But when Jack actually tries to run the country, William Cross tells him to shut up and sit down (when Jack tries to keep talking, William has an armed guard place a firm hand on his shoulder and force him to sit back down). When David sees William bullying Jack (which encourages Jack to start flipping out and killing people), he goes to find Silas (David is the only person who figures out where he is because David is the only person who was shown his secret hiding place) and yells at him to get up out of bed and be a king. Which is a CMOA in of itself, with David and Silas teaming up to take back the country. A scene which includes Silas strolling calmly down the street in the face of William's armed guards, unafraid because he knows something they don't, that David is about to show up with a fleet of frigging tanks. He disrupts Jack's attempted coronation, Jack and William run away, but Jack returns to beg forgiveness and accept the consequences because he understands now that he was never destined to be king in the first place. I think he wanted Silas to kill him. Unfortunately, Silas neither kills him nor shows forgiveness and has Jack taken into custody. David is extremely displeased with this turn of events. Deep down, he honestly believed Silas was a good man, he wasn't trying to save the country from Jack, he was trying to protect the country, and Jack, from William Cross. I'll bring Daddy back, he'll fix everything, not I'll bring Daddy back, he'll make them all pay.
David confronts Silas about his tyrannical behavior but Silas physically attacks him instead. Since David is younger and not recovering from being shot in the chest, you can imagine how this ends up. David flees. Silas is treated for his injuries but at this point, even his wife doesn't want to be around him - he's left sitting alone in the living room, a crazed smile on his face. Jack has been put on house arrest, locked in a bedroom with his fiance* until they produce a royal heir. Silas is impressed with the way Creepy Andrew didn't flee with Cross and appears to be choosing Andrew as a substitute for his own disappointing children.
David, in the final scene, jogs across the Gath border...
If they followed the original story, David would then become a famous bandit in Gath, and build up an army, then come back for Michelle, but they fail to recapture their teenage love and end up miserable together. Jack would attempt to remain loyal to both his father and David (although in this 'verse it's hard to believe he could remain loyal to Silas at this point- a lot of fics have him escaping and defecting to David's faction) and he and Silas would be brutally slaughtered by the enemy.
**Notes on said royal succession: Silas thinks there is no royal heir, but Michelle has been removed to an undisclosed location in order to give birth to David's secret baby. And they were secretly married before he fled, so the baby's legit. This did not happen in the original, but they were never going to have a chance to do storylines where David gets an heir from anyone else. And the original reason why the text claims Michal is barren is totally misogynistic so letting her have a baby in this 'verse is only fair. In the original, it's his midlife crisis wife Bathsheba who produces his ultimate heir, the legendary Solomon (he has other sons but they kill each other over the fact that one of them is a rapist and the other one strongly disapproves of that).
In the original, Jonathan actually does produce an heir with his wife, the boy is physically disabled. On the tv show, I can see Silas having many demeaning things to say about how his son has once again failed him and he'd probably say it right in front of his grandson. Jonathan's son is five when his father is murdered by Philistines. David tracks him down and adopts him when he's older. In book as well as tv show, Saul/Silas has a bastard son, Ishbaal in the text, Seth on tv, who grows up to challenge David's throne and is royally smacked down for it. This becomes a Genius Bonus when Silas sees David bonding with little Seth and remarks that he's "found a new friend". In the text, because it's a polygamous world, Ishbaal is publicly acknowledged and lives in the palace. On the show, David is the only member of Silas's family who knows Seth exists...not something you'd want your rival for the crown to know.
it's here
I just wanted to see it happen on tv, #&R%(! The entire show would've fared better on cable, where people expect stuff that doesn't pull punches (when Jack hits the ground when they're being shot at in "Brotherhood", you can see Sebastian Stan mouthing "fuck!" but he couldn't say it out loud), where seasons are shorter but production values are higher. Eight pm on Sunday nights was the worst scheduling choice, especially since even though The Simpsons are no longer the ratings juggernaut they once were, if Kings hadn't been cancelled they'd be in their fourth season, coming up against megahit Once Upon a Time. They were originally supposed to air on Thursdays at 10 in ER's old slot. Having it not during "the family hour" would've allowed them to tell the story more honestly, plus, most shows that air on Thursday nights on NBC are invincible.
Jack tries to save his sister's reputation by offering up his own secrets to Katrina Ghent, but she blackmails him into marrying her instead. His mother has Ghent murdered offscreen (which is hilarious but I mourn the fantastic chemistry Stan and Bibb had), so Jack marries a girl he really couldn't care less about. Silas is finally proud of him, and promises Jack that he will declare the monarchy a blood dynasty and make Jack his official heir. When Jack excitedly tells his uncle William that they're not going to need to dethrone Silas after all, William smacks him in the face and tells him that they're going through with it anyway.
David bonds with Silas at the king's secret retreat, but fails to disclose his sexual relationship with Michelle. Unfortunately, Michelle chooses the day they come back to confess the relationship to her father. Who is now furious that David lied. Silas sends David on a mission to recapture the Royal Charter of Gilboa, pretty much hoping he gets killed. Silas tells Michelle that David is on "diplomatic training". When David returns in one piece with the charter, Silas is forced to make nice in public, while immediately turning around and having David arrested for treason.
During David's trial, Michelle, who had an alibi for David, promises to take the witness stand and is then too terrified of Silas to show up. Jack (acting as prosecutor) cracks and exposes the plot against David, which causes the nation to turn against Silas. Violently. Yaaay, right?
Of course, Jack betrays everyone again- but that's only after he tries to save David and his father goes to great lengths to humiliate him in front of other people. Basically, after Jack has the gall to call his dad out during David's trial, Silas not only outs him and calls him a gay slur but tries to have him arrested and has David moved to a secret prison. His mother bargains with Silas for him, and Jack goes to Silas to beg for forgiveness (because he doesn't want to be arrested or killed) and Silas humiliates him even more (it crosses the line from “hard on your kid” into straight up abuse). William Cross uses Jack's helpless anger to manipulate him into being an accessory in his father's assassination, although Jack throws himself in front of Silas at the last minute. Silas has survived but no one knows that, so they proceed with the coup. Jack has David rescued from the firing squad because he wants him back in the cabinet because he needs “someone good” to watch his back. He wants to be friends. They hug, it's adorable (Jack lovingly adjusts David's tie). Jack wants peace with Gath, he's clearly really trying to be a good king at first.
But when Jack actually tries to run the country, William Cross tells him to shut up and sit down (when Jack tries to keep talking, William has an armed guard place a firm hand on his shoulder and force him to sit back down). When David sees William bullying Jack (which encourages Jack to start flipping out and killing people), he goes to find Silas (David is the only person who figures out where he is because David is the only person who was shown his secret hiding place) and yells at him to get up out of bed and be a king. Which is a CMOA in of itself, with David and Silas teaming up to take back the country. A scene which includes Silas strolling calmly down the street in the face of William's armed guards, unafraid because he knows something they don't, that David is about to show up with a fleet of frigging tanks. He disrupts Jack's attempted coronation, Jack and William run away, but Jack returns to beg forgiveness and accept the consequences because he understands now that he was never destined to be king in the first place. I think he wanted Silas to kill him. Unfortunately, Silas neither kills him nor shows forgiveness and has Jack taken into custody. David is extremely displeased with this turn of events. Deep down, he honestly believed Silas was a good man, he wasn't trying to save the country from Jack, he was trying to protect the country, and Jack, from William Cross. I'll bring Daddy back, he'll fix everything, not I'll bring Daddy back, he'll make them all pay.
David confronts Silas about his tyrannical behavior but Silas physically attacks him instead. Since David is younger and not recovering from being shot in the chest, you can imagine how this ends up. David flees. Silas is treated for his injuries but at this point, even his wife doesn't want to be around him - he's left sitting alone in the living room, a crazed smile on his face. Jack has been put on house arrest, locked in a bedroom with his fiance* until they produce a royal heir. Silas is impressed with the way Creepy Andrew didn't flee with Cross and appears to be choosing Andrew as a substitute for his own disappointing children.
David, in the final scene, jogs across the Gath border...
If they followed the original story, David would then become a famous bandit in Gath, and build up an army, then come back for Michelle, but they fail to recapture their teenage love and end up miserable together. Jack would attempt to remain loyal to both his father and David (although in this 'verse it's hard to believe he could remain loyal to Silas at this point- a lot of fics have him escaping and defecting to David's faction) and he and Silas would be brutally slaughtered by the enemy.
**Notes on said royal succession: Silas thinks there is no royal heir, but Michelle has been removed to an undisclosed location in order to give birth to David's secret baby. And they were secretly married before he fled, so the baby's legit. This did not happen in the original, but they were never going to have a chance to do storylines where David gets an heir from anyone else. And the original reason why the text claims Michal is barren is totally misogynistic so letting her have a baby in this 'verse is only fair. In the original, it's his midlife crisis wife Bathsheba who produces his ultimate heir, the legendary Solomon (he has other sons but they kill each other over the fact that one of them is a rapist and the other one strongly disapproves of that).
In the original, Jonathan actually does produce an heir with his wife, the boy is physically disabled. On the tv show, I can see Silas having many demeaning things to say about how his son has once again failed him and he'd probably say it right in front of his grandson. Jonathan's son is five when his father is murdered by Philistines. David tracks him down and adopts him when he's older. In book as well as tv show, Saul/Silas has a bastard son, Ishbaal in the text, Seth on tv, who grows up to challenge David's throne and is royally smacked down for it. This becomes a Genius Bonus when Silas sees David bonding with little Seth and remarks that he's "found a new friend". In the text, because it's a polygamous world, Ishbaal is publicly acknowledged and lives in the palace. On the show, David is the only member of Silas's family who knows Seth exists...not something you'd want your rival for the crown to know.
