Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
214,852
edits
Kings: Difference between revisions
m
added Category:Noughties Drama Series using HotCat
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.Kings 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.Kings, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (added Category:Noughties Drama Series using HotCat) |
||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
[[File:kings-king-silas-david1_4369.jpg|frame]]
Debuting on the [[Genius Bonus|15th of March]], 2009, [[NBC]]'s ''Kings'' is like some bizarre tonal clash of ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' and ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''. It tells the biblical story of King David, but set in another world not unlike the [[Present Day
Canceled due to extraordinary poor ratings (no episode ever placed higher than 4th regardless of which night it aired) and a extraordinary high budget (estimated at $4 million per ''episode'' with the pilot coming in at a staggering $10 million), although [[Word of God|the series creator]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20090731103905/http://www.courthistorian.com/2009/07/the-new-king-part-2.php disputes the second part].
On a side note: the story of David and Saul comes from biblical book of ''1 Samuel'', not ''Kings''.
{{tropelist}}
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Quite a lot of [[Character Development]] for some of the less prominent characters ended up being deleted for time constraints, but their scenes are included on the DVD.
* [[Almighty Mom]]: Jessie Shepherd. Told off ''the king'' and lived to tell the tale.
Line 18 ⟶ 16:
** To a degree, Silas himself.
* [[Alternate Universe]] : Either that, or a particularly enigmatic [[Alternate History]]. It avoids being a [[Never Was This Universe]] thanks to several references clearly linked to our real historical Earth (Franz Liszt apparently existed as a music composer in the show's setting as well, etc.). And there's even a theory that... Well, take a look at the WMG section.
* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: Everybody, sort of. The specifics of religious life in the kingdom aren't addressed, although the line in the episode "Prosperity" wherein Rev. Samuels says to Capt. Shepherd "dreams are a sixtieth part prophecy" is a direct quotation from the Talmud, specifically [http://www.yutorah.org/daf.cfm/6004/Berachot/57/b Berachot 57b].
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Given that the real King David is estimated to have lived in the 11th century BCE, only to be expected with a modern retelling--but a particularly intriguing and possibly deliberate one occurs in the fifth episode (sixth, if you count the two-hour pilot as two). Jack references "cutting babies in half" as a somewhat cynical reference to supposed Solomonic wisdom. The Biblical King Solomon, however, was David's ''son''.
** More typical anachronisms include:
*** [[Hollywood Tactics|21st century]] soldiers with modern gear and modern tanks fighting via [[World War
*** The whole "autocratic hereditary king in modern times" shtick. [[Lampshaded]] in the finale. "Kings ? A monarchy, in this day and age ?"
* [[Animal Motifs]]: Gilboa's heraldric butterfly, [[Chekhov's Gun|Chekhov's pigeons]], the sacrificial deer... the list goes on.
* [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]]: {{spoiler|Rev. Samuels}} after his murder.
* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: Silas ''loves'' to tell that story about the butterflies landing on his head in a perfect circle. Then, at the end of the pilot, {{spoiler|the butterflies throw him over for David.}}
** Subverted in the last episode when {{spoiler|Jack's near crowning is a spartan affair, with him fantasizing about the exuberant crowds he wishes were there, and an ersatz crown.}}
* [[Bastard Understudy]]: Andrew Cross. He's a fast learner.
* [[Battle Butler]]: Thomasina.
Line 33 ⟶ 31:
* [[Blood Knight]]: Abner, to a tee. {{spoiler|Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.}}
* [[Bodyguard Crush]]: Jack has an affair with his bodyguard Stu.
* [[Bomb
* [[Broken Pedestal]]: How David's attitude toward Silas is quickly heading.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Comedy B-plot pigeons.
Line 39 ⟶ 37:
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Rose.
* [[The Chosen One]]: David, obviously.
* [[
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: William Cross; he's willing to prolong the war to keep his company profiting.
* [[Culture Chop Suey]] / [[Setting Update]] : Gilboa is basically biblical Judea with an outer layer of 21st century North America. The kingdom's main adversary, Gath, is [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|a stand-in for the Phillistine tribes]], but with 20th century [[Commie Land]] attributes and a bit of [[Ruritania]] thrown in for good measure.
* [[David Versus Goliath]]: Oh, you have three guesses and the first two don't count.
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: Assassinations, machinations and politics, oh my.
* [[Deal
* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: Subverted with Jack. He's both gay and a pretty bad guy, but the one thing has nothing to do with the other, and most of his [[Pet the Dog]] moments come when he starts to come to grips with his sexuality.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: Some of David's escapes are a little too lucky to be anything else...but then, this being the story it is, that's only to be expected.
** Deconstructed when David is charged with treason, as he constantly being in the right place at the right time looks awfully suspicious to the court.
* [[Disappeared Dad]]: David's father was killed in combat, {{spoiler|apparently on Silas's orders}}.
** {{spoiler|Or possibly, Rose's.}}
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Putting aside the Biblical stuff for a moment, [[Cold War|Gilboa and Gath]].
** [[Older Than They Think]] Gilboa is actually a mountain in the book of Samuel, and Gath is the city that Goliath came from in the Bible.
* [[Double Standard]]: Brought up in-universe. When racy photos of Michelle are about to leak, the Queen notes that people will attempt to shame her, while others will congratulate David.
* [[The Dragon]]: General Linus Abner, played by Wes Studi. King Silas has him arrange the deaths of anyone who annoys him. Including David in the second episode.
** Although a lampshade is hung on the fact that Thomasina, the king's loyal and incredibly powerful personal secretary, is actually his dragon as well.
* [[Dropped a Bridge
* [[Evil Chancellor]]: Inverted: Perry is the ''good'' chancellor to an evil king.
* [[Evil Mentor]]: Abbadon, to Silas.
Line 61 ⟶ 59:
* [[Gender Flip]]: Jessie Shepherd takes her name from the biblical David's ''father'', Jesse.
* [[General Ripper]]: Abner, who constantly argues in favor of escalation against Gath in any situation and {{spoiler|begins secretly arming terrorists to attack them after Silas signs a peace treaty}}.
* [[Gilded Cage]]: {{spoiler|Jack is confined to his well-appointed bedroom after his unsuccessful coup}}, in stark contrast to the dungeon Abbadon inhabits.
* [[The Good Chancellor]]: Perry
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Silas firmly believes this. God, however, has other ideas.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: Reverend Samuels.
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: There is one character who seems to be white and one who seems to be black, but the rest fall somewhere in between. In the end, not even the Reverend Samuels is completely pure, and even the vile Abbadon has someone he cares enough about to relinquish his hoarded gold.
* [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?]]: Jack, by necessity.
* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]: Jack, {{spoiler|Silas}}.
* [[Hellhole Prison]]: Gehenna, the secret prison complex where Abbadon (and eventually {{spoiler|David}}) is housed in 24-hour-a-day solitary confinement. The name is kind of a tipoff.
Line 82 ⟶ 80:
** Justified, in the Old Testament a sign of God's blessing at various points is to allow a sterile woman to conceive - considering the source material and tone of the series it's less David's awesomeness than God's blessing.
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Abbadon is the Bringer of Death in the [[The Bible|Book of Revelations]]. Belial is a demon mentioned in passing in the Book of Corinthians. Depending how strong the viewer's association is, [[Lord of the Flies|Jack]] might count as well.
* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: {{spoiler|Nice job, Silas, sending David on a suicide mission and succeeding only in giving him the idea to take your crown}}
* [[No Bisexuals]]: Jack has clearly had sexual relationships with women in the past, and at one point comes on heavily to Katrina Ghent, but [[Word of God]] is that he's gay, not bisexual.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: The queen.
** Subverted by the queen on a few occasions, too. She's surprisingly controlling at times.
* [[One
* [[Politically
* [[Preacher Man]]: Reverend Samuels, who certainly knows what he's doing.
* [[Prophetic Dreams]]: "Don't go!"
* [[Puss in Boots]]: Andrew Cross. {{spoiler|He studies his father's doings, then throws him under the bus in order to ingratiate himself to Silas and Rose.}}
* [[Rags to Royalty]]: Silas, who started as a foot soldier. {{spoiler|And presumably David, some time in the future.}}
* [[Rebellious Princess]]: Michelle. Although she keeps her rebellion within the system.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Reverend Samuels.}}
* [[Retired Monster]]: Vesper Abbadon.
Line 98 ⟶ 96:
* [[Sadistic Choice]]: {{spoiler|Katrina Ghent}} forces Rose to choose whether Jack or Michelle is publicly humiliated in "Pilgrimage".
* [[Screw Destiny]]: Silas tries this to save his own ass, then [[Deus Ex Machina|God]] shows up and explicitly tells him [[You Can't Fight Fate|he can't fight fate]].
* [[Screwed
* [[Secret Other Family]]: Silas' wife and son in the countryside.
* [[Secret Relationship]]: Michelle and David, Jack and Joseph.
Line 104 ⟶ 102:
* [[The Sociopath]]: Andrew Cross. After he {{spoiler|arranges for pictures humiliating to Michelle to be publicly aired}} in order to hurt Silas, he describes what he did as "I broke his favorite thing," indicating that he sees her as an object, rather than a person.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: [[Don't Explain the Joke|Yes, they are monarch butterflies.]]
* [[
* [[Tank Goodness]] : Gath's [[Meaningful Name|Goliath]] tanks ([[Awesome Yet Practical|though, yeah, they're clearly Russian T-55s in all but name]]). David becomes a celebrated war hero after rescuing the crown prince and [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|taking down one of the tanks single-handedly]].
** [[Don't Explain the Joke|Makes you wonder whether the rocket launcher he used was named]] [[Fun
* [[Those Two Guys]]: The palace guards.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Though informed somewhat by {{spoiler|the revelation that she has vowed to do God's work regardless of the cost to herself}}, Princess Michelle falls into this trope with such stunning regularity that it's amazing she survives a season. One episode she's {{spoiler|deliberately exposing herself to an incurable plague}}, the next she can't come up with any potential downside to {{spoiler|David to have naked pictures of her}}.
Line 113 ⟶ 111:
* [[Unequal Pairing]]: Michelle and David.
** Also, Tomasina and the palace guard.
* [[The Un
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: As hinted by Andrew Cross, and revealed in the final episode, "exile" actually means indefinite solitary confinement.
* [[The Uriah Gambit]]: Silas sends David on a solo mission to recover the stolen National Charter of Gilboa, armed only with a pistol and an envelope of cash, in the hopes that he will either be killed or refuse to return after failing.
Line 119 ⟶ 117:
* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: Belial practically uses these exact words when questioned by Jack on his plan to bring down both Gath and Gilboa, ushering in a new order.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: William Cross has a bit of one after {{spoiler|it turns out Silas is alive}}. And Silas has the full monty when {{spoiler|God tells him that David is now his favorite}}, and a less extreme but more public one when {{spoiler|Jack turns against him and accuses him of orchestrating the [[Kangaroo Court]] against David}}.
* [[War for Fun
* [[What You Are in
* [[Why Are You Not My Son?]]: Oh, ''guess''.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Abbadon has fallen pretty far, but he can still tell a fine wine's maker and vintage from a single sip.
* [[Writer Revolt]]: The series' creator, Michael Green, was asked specifically not to use the phrase "King David," [[Fridge Logic|as that might let viewers in on the fact that the story is religious]]. Instead, he included the phrase "David Shepherd, Son of Jesse, son of Judah." Hmmm...technically correct.
Line 129 ⟶ 127:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Short Runners]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
| |||