I was expecting Kings to suck because it's been the pattern over the past decade that even the very best shows have a horrible first episode. This usually happens because the creators have good, innovative, original ideas and then network executives come in with ever so helpful suggestions like, "How about we take your police procedural and make it about an elite crime fighting unit made up of former strippers?" or, "Would it be possible for one of the characters to be a cigar smoking chimp?" Often a show has to get decent ratings before the showrunners can say, "We're doing it my way now," and then a show can really take off. Even TV legend Joss Whedon, when making his new show Dollhouse, had conflicts with people who thought they knew better than the guy who had two hit series under his belt. I'm not sure how this happened but Kings has managed to avoid all this and present a first episode that, while not perfect, was interesting from the get-go.
The story is set in the fictional kingdom of Gilboa and its capitol city of Shiloh. Gilboa is more or less supposed to be what the United States would be if it were a monarchy. It's very much a modern U.S. City in which a mostly Caucasian population speaks English with American accents. It opens as King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane*) publicly celebrates the rebuilding of Shiloh after a war several years earlier. Watching the festivities on television is David Shephard, a character apparently named by a new program called Microsoft Totally Unsubtle Television Character Name Generator 2009. David's name is not unusual. The show is filled with symbolism and foreshadowing like that. The country's most prominent religious leader, Reverend Samuels (Eammon Walker), happens to pull into the gas station run by the Shepherd family and that's where he meets David. I'm not sure if Samuels holds an official position akin to that of the Archbishop of Canterbury but he at least wields a great deal of influence with the public and it's revealed that he is the one who, as the Archbishop does, officially lays the crown on the head of the King while declaring the procedure to be chock full of Godly goodness. Thus, it is significant that he seems to sense something special in this quiet, unassuming gas station attendant in some nameless small town.
Jumping ahead two years, we see that all that, "peace in our time," crap they were talking about has fallen by the wayside as they are now at war with Gath, Gilboa's northern neighbor. David and his brother are serving on the front lines when they here that Gath has ambushed one of their companies and taken the only two survivors as hostages. They're told there will be no rescue attempt made, something that doesn't sit well with David which leads to the premiere episode's only truly dumb moment. David figures out that his fellow soldiers are being held very close to the front lines near where the enemy keeps its tanks. This means if there is an airstrike on the tanks, the hostages who are so very precious to the Gathians will be blown up. David easily sneaks into the enemy camp as Gath doesn't see the necessity in surrounding its front line camps with trenches, barbed wire, land mines, guard dogs or sentries equipped with night vision goggles. They also don't bother to post any guards in or around the tent in which the two men are being held. This makes me wonder why the hell Gilboa is having so much trouble with Gath, but no matter as David manages to successfully rescue the men and discovers that one of them is Jack Benjamin, son of Gilboan King Silas Benjamin. This is where the show kicks into gear.
In addition to his legitimate gratitude for saving the life of his son, the King sees David's status as a national hero as something that can be used to his own advantage. This thrusts David into the intrigue and politics of the King's Court and his life becomes an opera plot. Jack, the King's rescued son, turns out to be an ungrateful douchebag when he grows jealous of the favor the King shows toward David, the guy who risked everything to save his life. That and the fact that Jack and his father don't get along too well (for reasons made clear in the second hour) serve as a breeding ground for a possible betrayal on Jack's part.
David is out of his depth in his new role as Military Liaison to the press but gets by on his fame and small town charm. He really only stays around because of his attraction to Michelle Benjamin (Allison Miller), the King's daughter. The attraction is mutual which draws the King's ire, especially when David grows openly angry with the King's decision to end the truce with Gath. King Silas' mood wasn't helped any by the fact that he was blackmailed by a powerful defense contractor to restart the war with Gath. It will, after a tragic event, take yet another insane act of bravery on David's part to shut this whole war down again.
Kings has made by one of the same people who created Heroes which explains why the show looks so promising. I can see this whole thing falling apart very easily. At best, it will turn out to be a sophisticated drama about complex characters, especially King Silas who is mildly corrupt yet cares deeply about his people and his country. Still, the two hour premiere is probably the best thing NBC has made since the first season of Heroes so I'll be tuning in, at least until they add a wisecracking precocious kid who has a habit of making inappropriately sexual remarks. Or maybe they'll just go all out and add a talking car or turn Jack into a super villain who eats the brains and absorbs the powers of his enemies. Until then, I'll be tuning in.
*Star of the HBO's Deadwood, I show that I absolutely loved even though I never saw it.
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