TV Review: "House of David" (S1, Eps. 4-8)
Though it tends to verge into camp at times, the Amazon series nevertheless contains enough human magic to capture the power and reverence of the biblical narrative.
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Warning: Spoilers for the series follow.
Some time ago I wrote a review of the first three episodes of House of David, the new biblical series from Amazon. As I noted at the time, the series ended up being much better than I expected, given that this type of religious entertainment tends to be milquetoast at best and painfully earnest (and bad) at worst. While it can be a bit uneven at times, the first three episodes of House of David are solidly entertaining and, particularly in their depiction of interpersonal relationships, manage to capture some of the profound humanity that lies at the heart of the biblical narrative.
The same holds true through the rest of the first season, which takes David into the highest echelons of power–he becomes a harpist to Saul for a time–before earning the enmity of the queen and various others and being sent back to his father in shame. It’s not long, however, before destiny once again comes calling, for the prophet Samuel is not content to just let David languish in the wilderness. Instead, driven by God’s vision for the boy, he ensures that he is sent to the field of battle where, at long last, David has his fateful encounter with the giant, Goliath.
I continue to be in awe of Michael Iskander’s performance as David. He captures so much of what makes this biblical figure so compelling, capturing just the right amount of spiritual devotion and vulnerability. There is a world of sadness in his eyes, and when he sings the plaintiveness in his voice almost makes you weep. One can see why such a voice would manage to bring solace to King Saul, a man tormented by his own failings and by the madness into which he has been plunged as a result of his turning away from God.
At the same time, it’s precisely David’s unbreakable loyalty to God that gives him the strength to go up against the giant Goliath, despite the fact that doing so means that he will almost certainly meet his own death. As we all know, though, that’s not what happens and, trusty sling in hand and driven by the power of the Lord, he slays Goliath and brings about the charge of the Israelites into battle, having given them the strength they need to triumph. It’s thus appropriate that the last shot of the season is of this young shepherd, standing on the field of battle, a spear in his hand. As he has since the beginning of the show, Iskander captures the many shades of David’s character: the gentle musician and the ruthless warrior rolled into one. Those familiar with the biblical narrative know that this is but the beginning of David’s ascent to power and that his rise will necessarily be accompanied by Saul’s fall.
Just as powerful, though, is Stephen Lang’s performance as Samuel. In less talented hands this is one of those roles that could lend itself to camp but, instead, we come to see this old man as someone who has devoted his life to God and to making sure that His will is done on this fallen earth. There’s a potent intensity to his scenes that really elevate the show as a whole, and you can well believe that you’re actually watching an Old Testament prophet rather than someone acting. As with Iskander, Lang captures the many different aspects of Samuel’s personality, capturing both his warmth and his kindness–particularly in his scenes with David–and also his resolute determination to elevate this young shepherd to the highest position in the land.
House of David truly shines in its more intimate moments. I’m thinking here of the scene in which David’s father Jesse, having spent so much of the series belittling his youngest son and keeping him out of the field of battle, admits that he has done so out of love and affection for the love that he still bears the boy’s mother. Or, in a slightly different way, the many intimate scenes between Samuel and David, which show the extent to which the former views the latter as not God’s anointed but also as a young man whom he truly loves and cares about as a person.
Equally potent are the scenes with Jonathan and his father, Saul (played by Ethan Kai and Ali Suliman, respectively). Kai brings an acute sensitivity to Jonathan, which is in keeping with his portrayal in the biblical narrative. Suliman, likewise, brings a wounded dignity to Saul, a man who started out as the blessed of God but has since let his own pride get in his own way. Watching his decline into madness and despair is truly heart-wrenching, adding yet another layer of human drama to the cosmological conflict looming in the background.
The series also deserves a great deal of credit for giving its female characters more agency than they are usually accorded in the biblical narratives. The princesses Michal and Merab (Indy Lewis and Yali Topol Margalith), for example, are young women who repeatedly show that they are more than capable of taking their fate into their own hands, as they demonstrate when they ride out to the field of battle, despite their mother’s protests. Even Queen Ahinoam (Ayelet Zurer) is a complex character in her own right. Far from being just a schemer and an antagonist to David, she is someone who genuinely loves her husband Saul and her children and wants to do everything in her power in order to protect her family. Having risen from next to nothing to being the queen of a nation, she is particularly attuned to just how quickly fortune’s wheel can change, and I appreciate the way that Zurer is able to capture so many of this character’s inflections.
Less successful, I think, are the more action-oriented setpieces. There’s a particularly cringey moment when we’re treated to the origin story of the giants, which seems like something out of a not particularly good 1980s fantasy movie, complete with totally ripped fallen angel. I get that the Nephilim are a key part of the backstory but seriously. I cannot help but wonder who it was that said, “yes, this is definitely something that we want to include in our religious series about one of the most notable kings of the Bible.” It sticks out like a sore thumb, and it made me wince. For that matter, Goliath is not particularly terrifying, for all that Martyn Ford really throws himself into the role. Instead, like the angels, he tends to come across as rather goofy and silly, with a strange and rather mushy-mouthed way of speaking that makes for excruciating listening.
Equally frustrating are the frequent moments when we watch Saul plunge into madness. The presence of the sneering and disheveled king Agag, who becomes a sort of haunting spirit, is very overcooked. This is one of those motifs that is both overdone and unnecessary, and it ends up robbing Saul’s madness of the sort of tragic pathos that, I think, it should possess in order to be effective. Along with the angels and the giants, moments like these slide right into camp, robbing them of reverence that the series so desperately wants to cultivate. It’s hard to feel a sense of religious awe when you’re laughing at the silliness of it all.
On the whole, though, I’d say that House of David is one of the better biblical dramas out there. At its best, it recognizes that the power of the sacred stories of the Old Testament doesn’t just emerge from scenes of martial conflict–for all that those are crucial to the history of the Israelites–but from the quieter, more intimate moments. Going forward, I hope that the show leans more into these instances, as well as the political drama, in order to really help us understand why David’s kingship was so important for both himself and for the people of Israel.