The first episode of Amazon’s House of David did not deliver on expectations of a biblically faithful sword and sandals epoch. Episode 2 would deliver the sword and sandals but little else. There were unbiblical foundations from the first episode that have further expanded.
The episode begins with David’s mother inspiring David with what would be future Psalms, thus playing into David’s mama’s boy trope. David defies her orders and gets her killed by a lion. This would have been a great thing to have foreshadowed in the previous episode. So this same lion has been prowling the village for several years. Jesse kicks David out of his house to keep the sheep because of grief.
King Saul wrestles with the curse of madness. But he sends his daughters to a random wedding in Bethlehem where the princess meets David whose studio singing is a substitute for rizz. There isn’t much point to this scene other than introducing Joab as both a relative of David and also part of King Saul’s guard. This should be called out, as Joab was an early adopter of David and listed among his mighty men.
David, meanwhile, wants to defy his father’s wishes and fight in battle. Eliab, his brother, opposes this. The Philistines attack them after interrogating David about the origins of the giants. Eliab was an adventurer but takes an arrow to the chest. This scene is painfully cut with continuity errors, intersplicing with a Saul scene that takes place at night. It’s also worth noting that the Philistines use the word “idol” unironically, which sounds like God’s Not Dead dialog.
This scene is the tired TV trope of placing a ton of action at the 40-minute mark (with commercials), so it felt like watching The Walking Dead all over again. This action was pointless because I already know that neither David nor his brother are at risk of dying, and the Philistines could have sent spies to learn of the origins of giants, not raiding units that draw attention to their presence and intentions.
Streaming shows should not be falling back on the beats of cable television, and Episode 2 of House of David lacks substance to fill an hour for entertainment outside of pointless but stylish action scenes.
One Response
“It’s also worth noting that the Philistines use the word ‘idol’ unironically”
What do they say? Like “Lets go back to Ekron and sacrifice to our idol”? “Our idol is the real god bro.” Lol.