Kings

Ever since Deadwood ended on a HBO induced cliff-hanger that will never be resolved Ian McShane has been sorely missed from our television screens, and while Kings doesn’t return him to his former glory it’s a step in the right direction.

Who would have ever thought that NBC, those asshats who brought the world Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, Kath & Kim, My Own Worst Enemy and the on-going travesty that is Heroes would produce the mid-season’s two best non-Joss Whedon related series. First Southland, and now Kings.

For some reason I had the misunderstanding that Kings told the David & Goliath story from the point of view of a young lawyer who joins a big corporation and has to fight battles... legal battles... it turns out I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Where I make some of this shit up in my mind, I’ll never know.

It’s actually about a farm boy named David (strangely enough) played by Chris “Home & Away” Egan. He goes to war, and faces off against a Goliath tank (there’s the biblical reference for you). He gets called a hero and paraded in front of the loyal subjects of King Silas, Ian McShane, one of the ‘Kings’ of the title (guess who the other one is!). Sebastian Stan plays the King’s son Jack, who seems to be channelling Chuck Bass more than any normal human being ever should.

Fictional kingdoms. Kings. Wars. This was not the show I was expecting. It’s so much better than that. A complete left field ‘you don’t see that on TV every day’ kind of program that even after a double episode leaves you wanting more.

Home & Away was really good in the lead, and while at first Ian McShane seemed miscast (he’ll always feel like a filthy bar owner to me, and not his royal highness), the role seemed to fit around his talents.

The show is both cinematic and melodramatic. NBC spared no expensive on the look of the pilot, but forgot to throw a couple of bucks towards the writers who need to clean up a few dodgy lines of dialogue. But really when something aims so high can’t we just excuse its faults... I know I usually don’t but that’s just how much I like Kings.

It made a nice break from a series of ‘quirky detective series’ on the ABC, and I would like to take a moment to applaud any television program that attempts to do something that isn’t about lawyers, or solving crimes, or doctors who have sex with lawyers while solving crimes; whether it succeeds or fails at least it tried.

It’s hard to find a show to compare it too – maybe Rome and The Tudors. If that is the case, well then it’s not Rome (what is though?) but it is freaking miles better than The Tudors.

It’s also the only show since watching the pilot I’ve been sitting around thinking “hmm, I wonder what happens next on Kings.” And that’s always a plus.

Good, Average, Bad or Ugly?
Good.