The rise and fall of Kings...

This is another in my long list of television series executed too soon...  Firefly for it's edge of the universe style and brilliance, The Sarah Connor Chronicles for fun and twisted toying with the time space continuum that would give many fits, Journeyman for being the spiritual successor to Quantum Leap, Life for the excellent presentation of zen in it's everyday life of a cop.  But Kings has a very different distinction for me... It actively incorporated spirituality into its central storyline.  As King Silas says, "It's unpopular to talk about God..."  and I get the feeling that it is very true on the network landscape... thus leading to the shows ending.  The show was filled with fantastic performances of every stripe, Ian McShane as King Silas Benjamin in particular...but also Christopher Egan as Captain David Shepard.  Now if those names sound familiar, it's likely with good reason...the entire series was imagined as a retelling of the David tales.  You know, the young man vs. Goliath and the immense army, the Prophet Samuel telling him his destiny to come to the throne, all those great stories... too bad only a few of them got to be told.  The re imagining of these tales into a modern era is intriguing... especially with the concept of the Kingdoms holding sway in the invented world the characters inhabit.  The "crafting of the dynasty" is something that while not a frequent subject in the early episodes, becomes a big focus later in the series.  Another of the keystones of the series was the mysticism connected to faith in their world, but what impressed me most about it was how subtly it was incorporated into the show.  It was often small things, the passing breeze, a blown out candle, all covered with a excellent eye to photography.  There are many breathtaking little moments captured on film for this show.  it is sad to say it didn't reach nearly as much of an audience is actually out there, which may have fallen all over themselves for imaginative re-tellings of biblical stories.  Fortunately the series ended on decent point for a finale, though more stories would have been better.  And the series is available to interested parties who may be interested in it with its release on DVD.