A Beautiful Day In Gilboa

Well, not much difference between the rough cut I saw months and months ago and the aired version of the Kings pilot. Y'know, except the special effects which, yay.

I still contend that the script was one of the most magnificent, enthralling reads I'd have in years. And that the script was intended for an hour-long pilot, but it was extended (by 8 minutes, entirely at the opening with that semi-clunky prologue to the actual story) and somehow made a two-hour pilot, so the two-hour pilot feels more long-winded and pompous than it would've.

Anyway. I'll always take the flawed execution of an ambitious concept over the perfect execution of an unambitious one. It's good to have something that attempts a reach at quality on NBC. We'll see how the ratings are in the morning.

... I still love/hate when McShane's King Silas breaks into the first-person plural. I mean, it's so pompous it's laughable, but, well, that's why it's called "the royal We."

... I also still love/hate that the show exists in an epic world with a romanticist POV (see David's speech near the climax). I mean, really, they don't fire at him? Really?

As the series goes forward, I'm going to pay attention to Jack/David subtext (as apparently some Biblical interpretations puts the future King David in a more-than-friends relationship with King Saul's son Jonathan). Although I'm going to guess it's going to be just that: subtext. Oh well, it's been a while since we've had any decent new HoYay on TV.