7 hours Ago By mliss1578
While it seems that the producers of recent biblical epics want their shows to be a religious version of Game Of Thrones , they almost never go far enough to make these familiar characters into intriguing ones that would drive a modern TV series. The Chosen is one of the few that has managed to accomplish this. Now, Amazon is partnering with The Wonder Project to create an adventure epic around the story of the rise of King David.
HOUSE OF DAVID : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: “KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, 1000 BC.” As we see a young man walking on rocks along the water, we hear a female narrator say, “Can one stone change the course of history? Can one act of defiance create a legend?” The young man picks up a stone out of the water. The Gist: House Of David is a retelling of the Old Testament story of King David, one of the most celebrated kings of Israel.
As we all know, David (Michael Iskander) killed the Philistine giant Goliath (Martyn Ford) in a duel, using only a slingshot with a stone in it. We see him challenge Goliath, who has defeated all comers, and get grazed by a spear before he can fire off his stone. Then we go back a year, where David is as a young shepherd, the only one of his father’s sons who hasn’t been drafted to fight in the army of the current king of Israel, Saul (Ali Suliman).
King Saul was put in place by the “great seer” Samuel (Stephen Lang), who got word direct from God. But of late, Saul has been ignoring God’s commands, keeping the spoils of war after defeating enemies like the Amalekites. Saul and his son Jonathan (Ethan Kai) defeated the Amalekites and were commanded to kill their cannibalistic king, Agag (Jeremy Xido).
But they indeed took property and kept Agag alive, chaining him up and putting him on display. After the battle, Jonathan is sent to investigate an attack on a border village, which includes a giant handprint left on a water tank. In the meantime, David sees that a wayward lion has been threatening and killing his flock, and he’s determined to use his slingshot to kill it.
But his father, who sees a lot of David’s late mother in his son, begs him not to. As Saul asserts his power, becoming more popular, Samuel finds the need to put him in his place. On instruction from God, Samuel makes Saul go mad, much to the distress of his family, including Queen Ahinoam (Ayelet Zurer).
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Given its biblical theme, House Of David will likely be compared to The Chosen. Our Take: Created by Jon Erwin, who has a history of producing inspirational and faith-based programming , House Of David tries to take a page out of The Chosen ‘s playbook by making familiar biblical characters into real human characters. It’s certainly a difficult thing to pull off, as giving these figures real human personalities could be seen as blasphemous.
Unfortunately, we don’t think Erwin and his writers went far enough with David, Saul and those around him. The idea of House Of David is to examine the year that led up to the epic duel between David and Goliath; the lead-up to that duel is the less-known aspect of David’s rise. At the very least, it’s a story that was told in very simplified fashion when we were kids going to either bible study or Hebrew school.
The series will give viewers a chance to see just how Saul went mad, how that affected his rule and his family, and how David managed to get to a point where he would be able to lodge a stone into the head of the massive Goliath. But what we don’t get are characters that seem to be any more human than the mythical-seeming figures we read about in those religious classes. They all speechify and pontificate instead of relate to each other as people.
If there’s anyone in this story that’s relatable, it’s Jonathan, who is loyal to his father but doesn’t seem to take a lot of pleasure in slaughtering people — and losing his own troops — as a way to keep his father’s kingdom going. Otherwise, though, House Of David makes the same mistakes that most biblical retellings, except for The Chosen , make: They’re so reverent that they don’t make characters that actually can connect with the viewers who are looking for a good story along with the inspiration that comes with it. Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: We go back to the battle with Goliath. We now know that the narrator is Saul’s daughter Mychal (Indy Lewis). As an injured David reaches for his stone, we hear Mychal say, “So, can one stone change the course of history? Yes, it can.
But destiny comes at a cost. And the rise of David would cost my family everything.” Sleeper Star: Ayelet Zurer plays the quietly strong Queen Ahinoam, and she does so with the dignity that the character deserves.
Most Pilot-y Line: None stand out, but the overall tone of the show is so dull that we were just too bored to notice anything silly. Our Call: SKIP IT. While House Of David is a good looking series with good performances, none of the characters are made more interesting than how they’re depicted in the Bible.
Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.
com , Fast Company and elsewhere..
