Kings 1×08: The Sabbath Queen

KINGS airs Saturdays at 8pm/7c on NBC. Be sure to check your local listings because affiliates may pre-empted the show or air the episode on a secondary affiliate.
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Note: All Kings episodes renumbered to match NBC’s episode listings.

It’s the King’s birthday and the Queen is throwing a big party.
As guests arrive, Chancellor Hanson brings a gift and asks the King if they could screen the guests better since there’s a death threat against the King.

Rose calls William to tell him Silas still won’t let Andrew go to the party.
“You don’t have to be mad on my account, most people don’t want me around.”
William says “Silas’ grand birthday is canceled” and makes a call.

Jack arrives at the party with a local news lady, Lucinda Wolfson, as his date.
Michelle is in the library, she sees David standing alone, in his tux.

“It used to be see me and head towards me,” she says.
“I’m trying to respect your wishes. You’re promised to someone else, what am I supposed to do?” David responds.

The birthday boy is about to blow his candle.
“I hate public speaking,” he jokes and makes a speech…

To get old, is a terrible thing.
We should do it in reverse so we can appreciate the strength.
The only consolation in the creeks and the limited range of vision is that we don’t endure it alone.
So I see… well, I almost see, friends! Family. Blessings.
Oh, there have been days. And this, this is one of those days, I feel that strength.
My heart is filled with richly, oxygenated blood from my experience.
My mind is clear.
To our city, to our people. May we all grow old together.

As Silas makes the toast, suddenly the power goes out.
“Ah… Happy Birthday,” William says smugly. His doing?

The entire grid is shutdown, the entire city and the entire southland, power, communications, land and cellular.
“There’s a switch somewhere, flip it!” Rose says.

David and Michelle head outside.
“This is time stopped, this is permission,” Michelle says
“For what?”
“For us. This is our chance.”

Thomasina and Chancellor Hanson tell Silas that the man who made the death threat was spotted outside the mansion, but began heading towards the river.
Could he be following Michelle?

Silas begins hearing music then voices and he seems to flashback. Silas is meeting with his court about possible action that could provoke Gath into a war. Silas is preoccupied though, he asks about his daughter. No change. He gets up and leaves for the hospital. Michelle is sick and her situation looks dire.

The Chancellor sees Rose at the door. They talk about Silas being incapable of leading as all he can think about is Michelle.

The Shepherds are at the hospital as well. David’s father is in the hospital.
“It’s not fair,” David says as his brothers go with their mother to see him.

The doctor tells Silas there is no hope for Michelle. It’s only a matter of time.
Silas refuses to believe that.

He goes in with a book, Harlow, Several Dumplings & the Sabbath Queen. (Not Harlow, Seven Dumplings & the Sabbath Queen, everyone misheard! Haha)

Silas reads to her.

Back to the present, Silas orders every single person, their guests, everyone to search the streets for Michelle.

Michelle and David head to the waterfront. There are people there, someone’s playing the guitar.
“Are we allowed to dance?” David asks and they sway with the music.
“People like you aren’t supposed to exist,” Michelle says. He goes in for a kiss, but she moves away. “Someone might see,” she says. David replies“No they can’t. Not a princess, just a girl in the dark who can do what she wants.”

Jack is out laughing looking for Michelle as well. He sits on a stoop with a woman with a beer.

“You’re him right?”
“You gonna freak out on me?”
“The lights are down, you can be anyone you want.”

Lucinda is calling out for Jack. She goes to the stoop, but Jack’s gone.
Jack is walking around, he calls out to Joseph, his boyfriend. “I don’t want any trouble,” Joseph says. But Jack goes in close and kisses him.
They walk, hand in hand.

At the mansion, the music begins again. Only Silas hears it still. God?
Rose is scared.
Silas heads off into the manor alone.
He’s at the library and sees a book missing from the shelf. There’s a loud thud, someone calls to him and he turns to see the Sabbath Queen on the floor . The music starts up, he opens the book and he is taken back to Michelle’s hospital room.

He is still reading the book. He wants to avoid finishing the book, a metaphor for Michelle’s current state.
“Can I pray?” she asks.
“I’ve never stopped praying.”
“Pray with me.”
And the two begin to pray. Silas appears to fall asleep and is awaken by Michelle’s machines going off.

Michelle crashes. Silas runs out and calls out for a doctor. He turns around and there’s a woman. She opens her seemingly large mouth, lets out a hiss/sigh. Silas turns to look then turns back and the woman is gone.

Michelle and David are at the summer house.
She unveils a painting and tells him about her first kiss, some boy steals a kiss from her when they were young.

“I would have you in the thief’s place,” she says.
They kiss, passionately, and proceed to take their clothes off. We then zoom into the face of a woman on the painting. Is that Rose in the painting?

Back to the mansion, Silas is still on the floor looking at the book. Rose appears out of the dark.

Rose tells Chancellor Hanson about transporting a transformer to jump start the power on Silas’ orders, but he hasn’t made a single one but to find Michelle since earlier. This appears to be all Rose.
She asks about the cause of the blackout, and Chancellor Hanson tells her the switchboard failure was a plant owned by Crossgen.

Flashback to Rose looking into Michelle’s hospital room from outside. Michelle appears to be seconds from dying. Silas continues reading.
Rose is distraught.

The Chancellor comes, looking for Silas but finds Rose instead. He says the country is waiting on the King’s word with regards to military action.

In the hospital room, the woman returns. She is death, an angel of death? Silas says she lives to see people suffer. She remarks that watching him especially is “beautiful to see.”

She says even God made death out of His reach. He tells her to give him pain, “name the knife” all in exchange for Michelle’s life. “Your crown” she says. It will go “to the better man,” she says, he will willingly stand aside once he arrives. He will live to see his name cursed, forgotten.

Silas slams his hand into a mirror, blood all over. The woman rips pages out of the Harlow book. He palms the pages.
“Contract sealed,” he says.
“You’ll wish I’d taken her, you’ll beg to change now,” she says. He turns around and the woman is gone.

Outside, William and Andrew are sitting on a wall.
Rose comes, “Shutting down the city all for want of an invitation?” she asks.
“You’ve done worse for yours,” he says.

She tells him to turn the lights on, he says “He needs to learn, and so do you.”
“You’re my brother, but I swear, I will have your head.”

Flashback.
The question is war, Rose brings their answer. He has a letter, from Silas she says (Is it really?).
After a few lines of profound words, “we launch against Gath at sunrise.”

To the country home, David takes pictures of Michelle with her camera, only wearing his shirt.
She tells him to keep going, pictures of her naked.

Later, he asks “Who are you supposed to marry?”
“No one… ever,” she says and begins to explain her prayer to God. Her vow to serve Him and only Him.

“Give me one more breath, and I’ll give it right back. Let me have another after that and I will give it back again. From now on, every breath you give me, I’ll use it to serve you, to live for you, for your work.”

Flashback to Michelle telling Silas about her vow. No happiness for her, no man. Silas begs her not to do this. She asks him to never let her waver. He promises.

“How can I compete with God?” David asks.

At the mansion. a glass breaks, Silas gets up to see what it is. He walks the halls. Sounds everywhere. He turns and Death appears in a glass door holding up the blood-stained contract.

He continues to walk, hearing the voices. At the front door, security detail comes telling him someone’s in the house. He tells Silas to stay put as he leaves with a gun to secure the north wing. Silas sees the book and ripped pages on the floor.

In the distance, there’s gunshots and a man’s screaming. He runs to see. The man is dead.

Silas turns, the music is playing again, voices.
“You come for me in my house. I am ready. You hear me? I’m ready. Come to me. Now!”
And out of the dark someone jumps him, he falls to the floor.
Silas takes his gun and shoots at the person. They fall to the floor.

In some room in the city, Jack is in bed with Joseph as the lights come back on.
David and Michelle are kissing at the gates of the mansion as people in the streets applause the return of power.

Inside the mansion, Silas goes to see the man he shot, it is the man who made the death threats.
Rose, in the city, gets a call from Andrew. He’s reversed the order in his father’s name, bringing back the power.

“I thought you could use the help,” he says.
“I’d rather live in the dark than owe you a thing,” she tells him as she hangs up.

Jack is putting his clothes back on.
“You have to go?” Joseph asks.
“All the lights are on,” Jack says.
Joseph continues, “Just tell me so I know. Was it real?”
“You’re the only real thing I ever touched,” Jack says, eyes watered.
He leaves.

“You’ve made God into my enemy,” David says. “It’d kill me if that were true,” Michelle responds.
He admits his love for her. He tells her God would have no problem with their love. They kiss.

Back at the mansion, the family is reunited.
Silas asks Michelle where she was, she says they were in the city, her friend (David) kept her safe.

Silas gets up to kiss Michelle on the forehead and then walks to David and thanks him.

Silas walks away and sees the book on the table. Cut to Helen’s house. Silas at her door.

“I thought you bargained me away?” she asks.
He responds “If I die, I die with you.”

Flashback to the hospital. Michelle is recovered.
The Chancellor comes to Rose. She offers him land in the country, to keep quiet about Silas’s state during the time.

Silas goes to find the source of the music. He walks into a room where David is playing the piano. He gets up and apologizes and tells Silas his father has died.

Silas asks what piece he’s been playing. David says it’s just something his father taught him. “You play well for him. Play on,” Silas commands and David continues to play.

Episode Thoughts
Well, so much to comprehend from this episode.

This is the first episode where we see direct religious overtones. And it was gripping. That woman of death was just plain scary at first. But we see how God has played a big part in Silas’s reign and in his family’s life.

So far, we’ve seen that Rose isn’t just an expert at organizing social gatherings and taking care of the royal family’s appearance. She knows a lot more than she lets on and her intentions have always been a little mysterious, if not scary. This episode inferred that Rose may have been the one that started the war with Gath, that she may be making more decisions about the kingdom than one originally thought. Her telling Chancellor Hanson what to do to get power back on, that was all her. Silas was busy hearing music. And after confronting her brother, we see how ruthless she could possibly be.

David and Michelle’s romance continues. While her making a vow to God isn’t that much of a surprise, the fact that two vows were made makes her situation and really the family’s situation all the more intriguing. Is God really going to keep them to these promises? And what does David play in all of this?

Speaking of romance, we have a clearer picture of “the other side” of Jack. He does have feelings for Joseph, whom we saw only briefly of before. He means a lot to Jack, but the throne means a helluva lot more.

And what with the Crosses? We know William is ruthless. But what did Andrew do to draw such reaction from the Benjamins and of course to get him banished from Gilboa. Must’ve been a doozy!

So another excellent episode. Another hour that baffles me as to why Kings isn’t this huge hit. But then again, watching an hour like this, deep, provoking… it really isn’t a big wonder why most Americans didn’t care to watch (unfortunately).

Episode Caps (click to embiggen)



















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16 thoughts on “Kings 1×08: The Sabbath Queen

  1. I just wanted to thank you for the Kings recap. After watching the show, I was a little confused but now I understand it much better. What a shame this show has been canceled!

  2. Oh, that’s great. I must admit I had to go back a few times just to comprehend everything myself. Glad to know my recap wasn’t just as confusing! Haha.

  3. Excellent summary, do you know the name of the piano piece played by David and in Silas’s head during The Sabbath Queen episode. Thanks

  4. That episode confused me a lot. So thanks for the recap. And I agree, the death lady was pretty scary. Also, I’m sorry for nit-picking, but you put “Joshua” instead of “Joseph.” It’s all good though, cuz I just wrote a review of “Pilgrimage” and wrote “Katarina” instead of “Katrina.” I desipse that woman though, so I guess that’s alright.

  5. The only thing that frustrates me about this episode is Michelle. She is so set about sticking with her vow to God and not getting married, but it is okay to have premaritial sex? She is more logical than that.

    1. You’re right! That was before they had concluded at the end of the episode that “to hell with God, I want you” when they kissed at the gates.

      Michelle’s interesting, if only because you wonder why she does the things she does. Haha.

  6. I am so mad if this gets canceled. I have told all my friends to watch it since watching the first episode. I think there are too many Americans who would rather watch stupid crap reality shows, etc., instead. It’s sickening to me.

  7. Hi Nick. I agree, it sad that people demand for “good” TV instead of reality shows and stuff, but then when good TV comes along, they don’t watch and instead flock to the reality shows they were criticizing.

    Go figure. Unfortunately, it seems only a miracle can save Kings now.

  8. I think Michelle takes David to the country house to be with him because she feels she has permission from God to have that one night free of her vow. When she and David leave the mansion at the beginning of the episode she says “this is permission,” I took that to mean the blackout.

    NBC should bring this show back especially after dumping Southland the way they did. They need to get some good shows.

  9. I agree Scott. That one night was her chance to be free of any promises she had made. The blackout gave everyone a chance to do what they normally couldn’t in the spotlight that normally follows the Benjamins.

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