There's this new series called Kings, starring Ian McShane of Deadwood fame, and some other people. It is set in an alternate reality, in a small, fictional, and by all appearances pretty much absolute monarchy located on the eastern coast of North America (its capital is a NYC lookalike called Shiloh). Sounds pretty nifty, right? And it is. Unfortunately, it is also offensively stupid. In freezeframe it's resplendent, but the moment the subject comes back to life, there's gurgling, and drool, and quite possibly feces. And the setup was so promising. The visual tone of the show is pretty spectacular - the city seems quite otherworldly, even though it's obviously New York. A little dab of mysticism nicely rounds up the "dark fable" feel, and there's high politics and court intrigue aplenty. But the actual story...
*spoilers ahead*
The kingdom's embroiled in a positional war (how that's even possible with current technology - no idea, but whatever) with its military superior. The word "outgunned" makes several appearances in the pilot episode. But then it somehow forces its opponent into an armstice by way of a grand symbol - the destruction of one of its invincible Goliath tanks. A wee bit mythical, but fine. Then, the kingdom - for pretty plausible reasons I won't go into - executes a sneak attack against said miltarily superior nation, breaking the truce it just achieved. Fine. And then the kid who blew up their tank before, charges at the enemy lines with a bloody sheet (his brother just died, y'know), and delivers a mindbogglingly ridiculous speech about his nagging deathwish, which convinces them to sign a peace treaty.
Let me translate this into our reality for a moment. It's 1938. Poland, for some reason, invades Germany, and gets its ass handed to it on what used to be its silver platter. Then, a young,Slavic boy is spotted on the battlefield, brandishing a bloody rag. He spews gibberish. Hitler gives peace a chance.
That's not all. There is also a state luncheon scene, in which our young miracle worker of simple origins is addressed directly by a foreign head of state and - would you believe it? - deftly finds just the right response. Which involves saying his brother just died, while sporting an aw-shucks smirk*. I shit you not. And a scene in which the peace treaty doesn't get signed based on some technicality, AFTER which the boy wonder grabs the departing foreign head of state by their arm... and somehow that becomes why the treaty wasn't signed. And, finally, the king ordering the kid murdered, and then changing his mind because the episode is almost over and the writers haven't figured out a good reason for him to change his mind. I'm not sure if that explanation actually made its way into the dialogue, but neither did any other one, so...
Damn. And I really wanted to like it.
* which, granted, is an acting WTF, and shouldn't be blamed on the writers, unless the script actually instructed the guy to grin like an idiot
*spoilers ahead*
The kingdom's embroiled in a positional war (how that's even possible with current technology - no idea, but whatever) with its military superior. The word "outgunned" makes several appearances in the pilot episode. But then it somehow forces its opponent into an armstice by way of a grand symbol - the destruction of one of its invincible Goliath tanks. A wee bit mythical, but fine. Then, the kingdom - for pretty plausible reasons I won't go into - executes a sneak attack against said miltarily superior nation, breaking the truce it just achieved. Fine. And then the kid who blew up their tank before, charges at the enemy lines with a bloody sheet (his brother just died, y'know), and delivers a mindbogglingly ridiculous speech about his nagging deathwish, which convinces them to sign a peace treaty.
Let me translate this into our reality for a moment. It's 1938. Poland, for some reason, invades Germany, and gets its ass handed to it on what used to be its silver platter. Then, a young,Slavic boy is spotted on the battlefield, brandishing a bloody rag. He spews gibberish. Hitler gives peace a chance.
That's not all. There is also a state luncheon scene, in which our young miracle worker of simple origins is addressed directly by a foreign head of state and - would you believe it? - deftly finds just the right response. Which involves saying his brother just died, while sporting an aw-shucks smirk*. I shit you not. And a scene in which the peace treaty doesn't get signed based on some technicality, AFTER which the boy wonder grabs the departing foreign head of state by their arm... and somehow that becomes why the treaty wasn't signed. And, finally, the king ordering the kid murdered, and then changing his mind because the episode is almost over and the writers haven't figured out a good reason for him to change his mind. I'm not sure if that explanation actually made its way into the dialogue, but neither did any other one, so...
Damn. And I really wanted to like it.
* which, granted, is an acting WTF, and shouldn't be blamed on the writers, unless the script actually instructed the guy to grin like an idiot
1 comment:
weeee! that post was fun, I'm going to read it again :-)
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