“Insurrection”

Greetings.

Of course, right after posting the weird thing of the day, I realized I had forgotten to comment on last night’s episode of Kings, “Insurrection” (episode 5).

As this show goes on, it moves farther and farther away from the narrative of Samuel and increasingly becomes something in its own right.

• Jack/Yonathan seems no closer to becoming a friend of David/Dawidh, but has taken to scheming to put himself in line to be the next king.
• Silas/Sha’ul has decided to transfer to Gath all land his forces have taken from them in war, which includes David’s family’s farm.  In contrast, Dawidh’s home town, Bethlehem is close to Jerusalem and never was under the control of the Pelishtim (Philistines).  Intuition suggests the writers are copying off the current Arab-Israeli War, in which land-for-peace is constantly pushed as a solution under the (false) hypothesis that all the Arabs really want is land which they claim they owned before 1948.  (In reality, before then the land was under the control of the British, and before the British, the Turks.)  Since Bethlehem is currently “disputed”, it only makes sense for David’s family’s farm to fall into territory to be given back to Gath.  Given Reverend Samuel’s religious opposition to the giveback, combined with sympathetic treatment of the popular opposition (Silas treats them contemptuously and mercilessly), the writers seem to be on the Israeli side.
• They introduced a new, immoral schemer into the show.  I have no clue who she is supposed to be.
• Michelle/Mikhal continues to be a strong character, getting involved with protesters and trying to interfere with her father’s scheming.  Her relationship with David/Dawidh is moving much slower than I expected.  Given that Mikhal married Dawidh before he became king and episodes 13 and 14 are supposed to be suggestively titled “The New King” (according to Wikipedia), my guess is that the marriage will take place around episode 10.
• I feel more confident predicting that Samuels/Shemuel probably dies in episode 11, with Silas/Sha’ul using a psychic to contact him and his subsequent death in episode 12.  Though with the divergences between the show and the original text, I could be very, very wrong.

Aaron