House of David - season 1
To spare my poor friends my hours of rambling, I will instead afflict all of tumblr with my Thoughts.
Firstly, I started this series with some scepticism. I love the story of David. It’s one of my favourite parts of the Bible (along with the story of Esther) and I think it might be one of the easiest parts to adapt into a historical drama series. It has epic fights, politics galore, murder, betrayal, revenge, prophecies and romance. So naturally, I don’t trust anyone to actually adapt it. But after episode 1, I was slowly buying into it. And by the time David is anointed I was fully invested.
Now, there are some flaws. Some of the shots look as though they’ve had a smoothing and a sharpening filter applied simultaneously and aesthetically they just don’t work for me. But they did do some really cool things with lighting and beautiful sunset/sunrise backgrounds. There are some definite deviations from the source material, but it manages to fit into ‘The Prince of Egypt’ category - not 100% accurate, but a very good story and stays true at heart.
(The only major quibble I have about the changes is: why did they spend so much time on the giants’ backstory? It doesn’t add anything narratively and I just don’t care about the giants.)
There are also some things that I wonder where they’re going with. Like everything to do with Eshbaal - who as far as I can tell is a completely made up character. And also Joab. (I need to write a whole essay about Joab because he’s one of the most complicated figures in David’s story).
Moving on to things that I absolutely loved: Samuel. He’s fantastic and I love every single scene he’s in. He reminds me of pastors I know - dedicated to doing God’s will in spite of his personal desires. Also, really funny. My whole family was laughing throughout his fight with Jonathan. On that note, I loved their relationship and how Jonathan continues to respect Samuel in spite of what his father says.
The confrontation between Samuel and Saul in the first episode was also really good and one of the first scenes that made me think ‘wow, this is really good’.
Apart from the fact that I think Saul should have been taller, I have no criticism of the actor who plays Saul. He’s brilliant. A perfect mix of the noble and fatherly king of Israel and a man descending into evil and madness. Also, the way they leaned into Saul’s madness adds an interesting layer to him sending David to fight the giant that I hadn’t really considered before. It makes it seem like a choice born of pure insanity if you don’t know the full story.
It took me a while to warm up to David and I’m not a huge fan of his romance with Michal (I’ve read the book; I know how that ends). But, like I said, the annointing scene got to me. I also felt that the whole ‘bastard son of Jesse’ thing was kind of unnecessary. But man, if there wasn’t something poetic and grace-filled about “God claims you as a son” when his own father kept hiding him away.
Samuel’s conversation with Jesse about giving the best to the Lord was also brilliant.
And the final fight with the giant… amazing. Obviously, canonically it lasts like two sentences and the giant is dead by the second one. But the speech David gives was great and I love how determined he is to fight from the moment he arrives. Like he admits to being afraid, but fear never figures into his actions and I love that about how they portrayed him.
That’s something that he and Jonathan share. They both have visions of what God has decreed and that dictates their actions rather than their fear.
While we’re on that subject, I loved the contrast between Jonathan and Eliab. Where Eliab tries to protect David but does it in a way that’s actually harmful and denies Samuel’s prophecy, Jonathan supports him because, again, they share the same vision.
I did not expect to like Eliab. Have I considered his rebuke of David prior to the fight with Goliath in the light of an older sibling being protective? Yes, but I didn’t expect them to take that route and do it in such a fascinating way. The conflict between Eliab and David feels very Reuben and Joseph-esque. He loves his little brother. And he hates him. And he wants to protect him and hit him over the head with a rock. He’ll kill him, but he’ll also kill anyone who tries to harm him. It’s this exquisite mix of contradictory emotions. (Also, his “I suppose Samson thought he was just talking to Delilah” has not ceased to make me laugh and smile since I first heard it.)
