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Ian McShane is King Silas Benjamin of alternate reality country Gilboa. When first we meet him, he has apparently successful united some warring territories and rebuilt the capital city in Shiloh. Three years later, there is a new war going on with the neighboring nation Gath. When Silas's son Jack is taken hostage with some other soldiers, a young soldier named David Shepherd defies orders and goes behind enemy lines to perform a daring rescue, not knowing that he's earned the king's debt.
David the country mouse goes to Shiloh to be shown off to the press, where he runs into Jack, doing his best Ryan Phillippe in Cruel Intentions. King Silas has some sort of cabinet meeting where he throws his weight around, decrees that the country should be more aggressive in the war, and then shoots down a proposal on health care reform presented by his daughter Michelle, clearly not for the first time.
At the banquet in his honor, the ladies are falling all over David (including Michelle Benjamin) and he handles the press easily, impressing the king. Silas doesn't mind all the attention David garners since it distracts the press from the war. Silas has a busy night as he orders a cabinet member secretly assassinated (heart attack while jogging) and also has a run-in with a reverend (played by the awesome Eamonn Walker, who was Said in Oz), because the holy man doesn't support the war.
The morning at the Benjamin family breakfast, David learns that he's been promoted and reassigned as the military liaison to the press, which he reluctantly accepts. There are rumors that Jack's actions during the kidnapping are going to lead to a court martial. David charms everyone in his first press conference, where he announces both the new offensive and Michelle's health care reforms. Shortly thereafter, Gath offers up a truce and the war ends. During the victory celebration, David and Michelle kiss for the first time. Jack finds out that he's been transferred and taken off active duty, which he feels is an admission of guilt. He confronts his father, and Silas reveals that he knows Jack is gay, and commands Jack to hide that if he ever wants to be king.
After lurking around in the shadows for the entire episode, William (Dylan Baker) steps up in a private meeting with the king and reveals that he works for (owns?) a company called Crossgen that runs the king and the country. William orders Silas to keep the war going for another year so that Crossgen can continue making money, and it's intimated that Crossgen has some dirt on Silas and his past. Despondent, Silas heads to his mistress's house, which is also home to his illegitimate son.
Silas orders David to announce that they are re-engaging in the war, and when David protests, Silas threatens him physically. Silas then orders the reverend (who, based on the Biblical allusion, I'm going to guess is named Samuel) to garner public support for the war, but the reverend refuses, since he knows Silas engineered the ambush and the hostage crisis. The reverend claims that God no longer wants Silas as king, and that another will be chosen.
David's brother is killed when the war starts up again and he throws a hissy and convinces an enemy soldier to hug him on the battlefield. That part was weird. As a result, Silas claims he's forced to restart peace talks and Crossgen pulls their money from the kingdom, as William approaches Jack to be their new man on the inside.
I didn't even mention two things: first is that Silas's wife is a real Lady Macbeth type, manipulating her husband, her kids, and the press, while claiming that she stays out of politics. And second, Silas always tells this story about how a bunch of butterflies landed on his head like a crown, and it's how he knew he was God's chosen king. So at the end of the episode, guess what happens to David? And Silas sees the whole thing, and he's quite vexed.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!A bright orange flag with a stylized butterfly insignia flaps in the breeze. It's morning in America! Outside a farmhouse, a young man plays fetch with his dog. His mother calls him inside because "it's starting!" I hope they don't expect me to believe that this young man is any sort of athlete because he has a super goofy run. And his mom is Mrs. Weir from Freaks and Geeks! She's looking worn out and tired. Maybe she's tired because Lindsay works such long hours as an ER nurse and just can't seem to settle down with Uncle Jesse. Young Man comes into the house and turns on the TV, like how did the mom know it was starting if the TV wasn't even on yet? And is Young Man the only one who knows how to turn on the television? He has at least two brothers who are sitting in the room too. Anyway, the family sits down to watch some event being carried live on the news; the chyron on the TV says that it's the dedication of the new capital at Shiloh.
Meanwhile, in Shiloh, a well-dressed mother and her two grown children stand in a marble hallway waiting for King Silas. The son asks if his dad, the king, is going to talk about God in his speech, and the mom says that she hopes not because "God isn't popular right now." The son comments drily that his father likes God and the daughter finally speaks up to add, "And God likes him." Get it? Because he's a king? And he has divine right? Because presumably this is a parallel universe where that whole concept never went out via revolutions by the people. Although maybe if this thing gets picked up for a second season, we might see a revolution or two.
Anyway, the nearby soldiers suddenly snap to attention and a sniveling aide announces, "The king approaches!" In a great shot, we see Ian McShane from the back as he walks majestically down the marble hallway. His sniveling aide is upset that he didn't get to see the king's speech in advance. The king refuses a proffered coat, and wonders where Reverend Samuels is, since he's supposed to give the benediction. Another aide suggests waiting for him, but the king decides that his son will do it. The aide won't shut up about the speech, like if a guy has divine right, does he really have to worry so much about PR? I mean, if the people don't like what he says, can't he just claim that God told him to say it and we mortals can't expect to understand God's mysterious ways?
Silas steps outside where there are hordes of people cheering. He's standing on the front steps of an old-looking building (very New York Public Library-esque), but behind and all around are modern skyscrapers. This is the Kingdom of Gilboa, and we're seeing the inauguration of the new capitol at Shiloh. The king pauses before he begins his speech, and McShane is just a master. I could not be less interested in hearing a fictional king talk about his fictional alternate reality city, but I'm captivated by his performance. Anyway, important information that we learn from his speech: Shiloh was recently rebuilt, the kingdom of Gilboa is made up of a number of territories that used to be at war, but are now united, and the king claims that he saw this city in a vision before it was ever built.
As the speech continues, we see various people watching it, including the family from the opening scene on the farmhouse. As they goof off, their mom tells them to watch the speech because their father died so that this city could be built. The guilt trip is interrupted by a horn honking outside, and the young man from earlier runs out to find their auto repair shop has a customer -- Said from Oz. Damn, I love that actor. I miss Oz and their crazy bullshit. Anyway, Said is playing the aforementioned Reverend Samuels, and he's having some car trouble, which is why he's not in Shiloh, I guess. He introduces himself to our young man, David Shepherd (holy Dickensian naming conventions). David explains that his dad isn't around because he died in a war, and then fixes the holy man's car with some duct tape. Reverent Samuels is impressed. Okay, here's where it gets weird, and I had to call my husband in to watch the scene and see if I'm nuts. So David stands up and the reverend notices that he has a smudge of grease or whatever on his forehead, and suddenly the reverend gets the faraway eyes and he EXTREMELY TENDERLY CARESSES David's forehead in the guise of wiping off the grease. It was just a very sexual gesture, and my husband's assessment was, "They're about to GET IT ON." So it's not just me. So then David refuses money for fixing the car and the reverend gives him a fancy watch that is broken, but is has a butterfly symbol engraved on the back. Then the reverend drives off while David stares at his broken watch. So I totally thought that David is secretly gay but his simple farm family doesn't know but the reverend picked up on it and was telegraphing his willingness to totally do it in the hayloft or whatever. I clearly have been watching too much basic cable because that is not AT ALL what that scene was about. I'll shorthand it for you: David was being anointed because he is the new chosen one. And not chosen for sex-type activities. Chosen for ruling over Gilboa. Um, spoiler alert if you've never read the Old Testament, I guess.
King Silas Windbag is still giving his speech about how he had a vision of Shiloh. He tells a well-worn story about how a swarm of butterflies appeared before him and then settled on his head like a crown, and he took that as God's signal that they should rebuild Shiloh. To quote Tony Soprano, "That sounds pretty gay." Really? A crown of butterflies? A newscaster tells us that the king started out as a foot soldier and is now the beloved king of Gilboa.
Back at the Shepherd Farm, Ma Shepherd says that their tax dollars went to rebuild Shiloh for better or worse, just so you know that not everyone loves the beloved king. One of the brothers thinks David is kidding when he claims that Reverend Samuels was in the shop. David just gazes as his pretty butterfly watch while the newscaster talks about "tensions in the North" and "border disputes with Gath."
Flash to two years later, and David Shepherd is an army soldier stationed at the northern border during the War with Gath. Don't they have fancy names for wars in this reality? Like Operation Eagle Droppings or whatever? Operation Butterfly Kisses? Anyway, David's older brother is also there, and he seems to be some sort of boss of the army (what? I don't know military ranks, plus this is alternate reality so maybe their ranking system is different. You don't know!). The brothers Shepherd check out some Gathian tanks called Goliaths parked nearby; apparently, the Goliaths shoot at the Gilboans once per day at random times. David thinks it's going to happen shortly, and while he and his brother bicker over that, the Goliaths go off. The brothers duck into a trench, but David refuses to reveal how he knew that was going to happen. Another soldier runs up and says that some Gilboans from another squad got taken hostage.
In the king's castle, Sniveling Aide sprints through the hallways. He finds the king, who is apparently in the middle of some sort of executive session or cabinet meeting or something. The king is sitting on one side of a long curving table, and a bunch of old white dudes are seated on the other side. Meanwhile, spectators are sitting in some nearby bleachers, also facing the king. The aide runs into the room and says that some soldiers have been taken hostage. The king announces, "We don't negotiate for hostages." Famous last words, eh? Sniveling Aide says that it was "the 127th," and the king stands up and punches him out. Awesome! I wish any time someone gave me news I didn't want to hear, I could just punch him or her with impunity. The king does a 180 and orders someone to call the ambassador to Gath and get the hostages back. One of his cabinet members (let's call him Dead Man Walking) points out that they really can't negotiate for hostages now just because the king is taking it personally. The king recovers his cool a bit and asks what they should do.
Back in the army, some sort of commanding officer tells the grunts that they are forbidden to go after the hostages, because the Goliaths have consistently taken out anything that came within two hundred yards of them. David stares off into space either thinking, "I am totally going after those hostages" or "I wonder if they are having Salisbury steak at the mess hall today." It's hard to tell.
That night, while the other soldiers sleep, little Davey lies awake thinking. Moments later, he's back in the trench, chatting with the lookout. He finds out that the enemy just put up a shelter behind the tanks. David strips off his gear, because he claims that he can't run in it, and the lookout realizes that David thinks the hostages are in that new shelter, and he intends to go and get them. The lookout first threatens to call David's brother, and then says that David will be court-martialed. David uses his fancy duct tape to fashion some sort of weapon and then sneaks off into the night. He Scooby-Doos up to the Goliaths (are you getting the allusions yet?), and crawls underneath one to get closer to the shelter. He sneaks over (worst watchmen ever, by the way), enters the tent, and then helps the hostages to sneak out. One of the hostages has a giant bandage on his head, conveniently covering his face.
They sneak almost all the way back over to the Gilboa side, and seriously, I know it's late at night, but is no one looking out? The injured hostage falls down and then one of the Goliaths roars to life and starts shooting at them. They dive into a trench, and David tells the healthy hostage to get the injured hostage back to their own side while he covers. David tries to take out the tank with some sort of bazooka, which fails. He then throws his homemade grenade (I guess?) at it. It doesn't explode, and David is left standing defenseless in front of Goliath, but then it suddenly does explode, which gives David time to run back to his bazooka and take one last shot, which connects. Down goes Goliath!
The day, David, his brother, and the hostages are being transported somewhere when they suddenly stop in front of a group of ranking officers. David's brother says that this is David's court martial, since he disobeyed a direct order. Before David can get reamed out, a helicopter arrives. The soldiers act like they've never seen a helicopter before. Once the helicopter lands, King Silas runs out and asks how his son is; turns out that the injured hostage is Jack Benjamin, the king's son. The king cries and holds his son while David... kind of looks constipated? I'm not sure what emotion he's trying to evoke there.
Young David the country mouse is now in a limo in the big city of Shiloh. Outside the king's palace, two doormen are debating what will be served at the big hero's banquet planned for David. Weirdly, one of the doormen (who looks like Jerry from ER) has a plummy British accent, while the other has an American accent. Apparently, Queen Rose hates lamb. I don't know why that's important. David pulls up and the doormen show him the newspaper, with the headline "David Slays Goliath." David seems surprised at the headline, like has he been kept in Sequesterville for the past few days? He's also surprised that he's getting a banquet. Seriously, where has he been?
Queen Rose is asked to approve the banquet menu by a young, attractive, female aide. She nixes the lamb, as the doormen knew she would. She asks who is making sure David Shepherd is "presentable" and the aide says that Jack's doing it. Queen Rose hesitates a moment and then tells the aide to make sure someone's watching Jack. She notices that the aide's red bra is showing under her plunging neckline and adjusts it. So the aide is a whore!
Jack Benjamin sits in a nightclub, surrounded by women of loose morals. He kisses one of them, but the whole time he's staring at a dude sitting across from him. HINT HINT! The king's aide, Thomasina, comes to collect Jack and looks none too pleased about it, since he's been out carousing all night. They leave the club and Jack shoots the waiting paparazzi with a paint gun, ruining their cameras. So obviously this isn't his first time at the rodeo.
David lets himself into the grand foyer of the king's residence. Wow, they are lax on security, especially for a nation currently at war. He's just wandering around by himself. Maybe this is the guesthouse? Still, you'd think there'd be some sort of security detail. David checks out the opulent surroundings, including a grand piano and an oil painting of the king. Jack enters and fills David in on why he's there: he's going to be shown off and have his picture taken for PR purposes. Jack isn't a dick about it, at least not yet. He's also very Ryan Phillippe in his line deliveries. Jack offers to send over a tuxedo and a tailor to help David prepare for the party. David is shocked that they have a tailor on staff. Really? He's surrounded by priceless artwork and incredible architecture and it's the tailor that throws him off?
The king is back at his cabinet meeting, this time to discuss what to do about the war with Gath. One of the men urges the king to attack Gath and take the valley, but Dead Man Walking says that the king has shot down the valley idea for good reason many times already, and an aide confirms that. Everyone else on the cabinet seems in support of taking the valley, especially since public support is up since the hostage crisis. One of them points out that the reverend won't like it and the king doesn't really care. The king glances at a man sitting in the back of the room, played by Dylan Baker, and then announces that they are going to push back against Gath. The king wants to end the meeting there, but there are some petitions before the king to be heard. The first is from the king's daughter, Michelle. She advances a proposal (and it's clearly not the first time) to reform health care. Silas is pretty much a dick to her and embarrasses her in front of the cabinet and spectators, concluding, "Sorry, puppy." He dismisses her and tells the scribe to write down, "He governed patiently and well, then ran home for a shower." As he turns to leave, Dead Man Walking is already half-standing. Silas gives him the stink-eye until Dead Man Walking sits back down, and then does the proper thing of waiting for Silas to stand up first. So Silas is a bit enamored of himself, which is an occupational hazard for divinely-chosen kings, I hear.
King and Queen are in their gigantic walk-in closet, getting ready for the banquet. Queen Rose has lost her cell phone. I know that sounds inconsequential, but it's a major plot point later on. She mentions that she trusted it to her new secretary, the one we all know is a whore because she wore a red bra and it was peeking out of her shirt. King Silas complains that his back hurts, and Queen Rose tells him to pop a pill for the pain. He'd rather drink wine, but she tells him matter-of-factly that wine makes his eyes droop, and he'll be having lots of photos taken tonight.
Cut to David talking to the press and having his photo taken. Reporters yell out questions, and one asks if his dad is proud of him. That's a bizarre question to ask. What if he was a bastard? And also, given all the media coverage, you'd think his entire family history would already be known. Do some reporting, reporter! Anyway, David says that his dad died in the Unification War. Nosy Reporter asks why his mother isn't there, and David says that his mother never approved of his military career. Follow-up: "Why's that?" Good one. David quips, "You might have heard about my father." Which for some reason was my favorite line of the night, and well-delivered. King Silas shows up and the two men stand and have photos taken. Silas is clearly an old pro at this and he talks David through it. Once the photos are done, Silas tells David that he handled the press well, and David says it's because he has six older brothers.
David waits like ten seconds and then walks into the cocktail party. All the single ladies would like to put a ring on it, clearly, as they are openly staring at him. Even when he goes to get a drink, the lady bartender slips him her digits. Everyone quiets down and King Silas delivers some remarks about how just the war is. Reverend Samuels arrives and makes eye contact with Silas, who then launches into the butterfly story again. Nearby, Jack is basically like, "Enough with the butterflies, already" and his mother is like, "Get used to it, because you'll be king if I have to cut a bitch to make it happen." Dylan Baker is lurking in the background like the Three Men and a Baby boy.
Rev. Samuels meets up with David, and David shows that he fixed that watch from so many years ago. Samuels doesn't understand why David is hiding by the bar when this should be the biggest night of his young life. And then he basically tells David to go get drunk and get laid, but don't get caught by the press. Damn. David mulls over that advice while photographers capture his every move.
So David decides to sneak away from his own party, back to the room with the grand piano. He strokes the piano lovingly, and then sits down and starts to play. And damn, that is some bad fake piano playing. He's basically just moving his hands around but not pressing any keys. He's so absorbed in the music that he doesn't notice Michelle Benjamin standing in the doorway watching him. David impresses her with his crazy knowledge of pianos and music and then they banter smartly, so you know they're totally going to end up together. Anyway, she came looking for him because they want him at the banquet.
Back at the banquet, Silas and the Rev meet up. Silas asks if he knows David, and Rev says that he doesn't know if he knows anyone anymore. Turns out the Rev is pissed about the offensive against Gath. Silas basically tells him to fuck off, because he doesn't think he needs the Rev's approval. Silas strolls over to where David is sitting on a bench alone, and tells David that he owes David a lot for saving his son's life. Silas offers to give David whatever he wants. David says he's already been given reward money. Silas says that he can offer a position of power as well as material things. David looks across the room and his eyes rest on Michelle, and Silas totally busts him, but doesn't seem all that upset about it.
David and Michelle stand in the middle of the dance floor as everyone stands around and waits for them to start dancing. Hey, David doesn't know how to dance! Hey, Michelle offers to lead! It's almost like it's a metaphor for their relationship. Michelle tells him about her efforts at health care reform. Watching, Silas notes that his daughter is happy. Changing tactics, Silas points out Dead Man Walking to his head military guy and says that he needs to be taken care of, right away, but to leave his wife alone. Head military guy barely acknowledges that he was just given orders to assassinate a government official, and says that he thinks David is going to be trouble too. Well, now the military guy has just gone power mad. He's practically a serial killer! Luckily for the future of the show, Silas doesn't think David is a threat, and he also notes that now that everyone is talking about David, no one is talking about the war, so it's been a good distraction. Silas plans to milk that distraction for all it's worth.
The morning, the doormen from earlier find that David has left them leftovers from the banquet. Because he's a man of the people! Meanwhile, King Silas is making breakfast for his wife and children in the biggest kitchen ever. The queen is still looking for her cell phone, which hasn't turned up. Michelle points out that losing the cell phone is a national security breach, and the queen claims that she doesn't "get involved in politics," but she does seem in a big hurry to find that cell phone, regardless. David pops into the kitchen and awkwardly says he was told to come. Some idle talk by the kids causes Silas to launch into a long blowhard-y speech about the chicken and the egg, and evolution. David is like, "Why do I need to be here again?" but more politely. King Silas announces that David won't be going back to the front, because he's been promoted to Captain and will be working as the military liaison to the press. Jack gets all pissed off about the promotion and stomps out of the room, slapping David with a newspaper on the way. Drama queen. King Silas then says that David will be going in front of the press in an hour. David tries to find a polite way to tell the king to take this job and shove it, since he's not interested in living in the big city, and he doesn't want to desert his company. Silas drops the "for love of country" guilt trip on David, claiming that his country needs him.
Outside, Queen Rose is looking through various cars (or rather, having the hired help look through cars) for her stupid phone. She makes a big show out of saying that she knows she gave the phone to her Whore Aide (which is, coincidentally, the fundraising concert for prostitutes coming up month, headlined by Bill Mahar and Charlie Sheen). Jack walks outside, still pissy, and Rose hugs him and then listens while he bitches and moans that David got the job he should have been given. Rose blames the lack of promotion on Jack's nighttime habits. Jack reveals that there are rumors that the ambush and hostage-taking was his fault, but it wasn't, and he seems pretty sincere about that. He begs his mother to talk to his father to avoid Jack being court-martialed. Rose claims again that she doesn't get involved in politics, but then advises Jack to let the court martial happen, because he'll be exonerated and the military will shower him with honors because of their guilt over falsely accusing him. So in case you didn't already figure it out, the queen is totally a player in this monarchy. She just does it passive-aggressively.
On a television in the castle, we see a news report that Dead Man Walking was actually Dead Man Jogging, since he "dropped dead" of a "heart attack" while "jogging." Read between the lines. Meanwhile, David calls his mom and says he won't be coming home as he thought, and advises his mom to turn on the TV for an explanation. Of course, as on all television shows, the TV is on exactly the right channel when she flips it on. How do they do that? Whenever I call my dad to tell him something is on (he lives in another city), we have to go through the whole, "Turn on NBC! I don't know what number it is where you live. NBC! I don't know the call letters where you live. Don't you know what NBC is? The same channel that Law & Order is on!" And also, my dad and I both watch many hours of television each week, and Law & Order is the only show we have in common.
Anyway, David starts in on his first press conference, and he's all self-deprecating and asks them to take down the picture of him taking down the Goliath tank. He reads a statement that Gilboan troops are launching an offensive. King Silas and his Minister of War/Personal Assassin watch from a nearby room. The MOW/PA thinks David is terrible, but Silas tells him to wait. David goes on to defend Jack's actions during the ambush, curse on live television, and then use the podium as a means to try to get into Michelle's pants by forwarding her health care agenda. Also, and I know this is going to shock you, Dylan Baker is lurking in the background. And in looking him up to make sure I had his name right, I found out that he's married to Mrs. Weir in real life. How did I not know that before?
Thomasina leads David away from the press conference through the curiously empty capitol building. She tells him he has a call, and he goes into an empty conference room, where there is a video linkup with his former company, including his brother. They're all cheering for him and his success, and also for the fact that he apparently used all of his reward money to buy them beer and video games. Really? Not body armor? Their military must be better funded than ours. David says that he's dying to get back to the front, and they all say that he's crazy, and they don't want him to miss out on the opportunity to live the good life. Just as David's brother is delivering a heartfelt speech about how David deserves it, an alarm sounds, and someone yells out air raid, and the military guys scatter while airplanes fly overhead. David is left to watch helplessly.
King Silas is having another cabinet meeting, but there are no spectators this time other than David and Reverend Samuels. The cabinet members are all arguing over what actions to take now, while David worries about his brother. A messenger runs in and delivers a message from Gath; they want a truce. So, they just attacked Gilboan troops successfully, and now they want a truce? Confused.
The whole city is celebrating the truce. Michelle goes to see David in his apartment, and he's so dumb that he didn't even realize that all the noise outside is from people celebrating in the streets. She makes him come stand on the street corner and check it out, and he's amazed. Michelle tells a story about how on the day the capitol was dedicated her father stopped to buy them all ice cream from a truck. Michelle took it as a sign that their city was worth fighting for. David is so moved that he starts making out with her right there in front of God and everybody.
King Silas arrives home (again, strangely deserted) and finds Jack sitting on the front steps, drunk. Seems he's upset that he got moved into a desk job while David gets to go in front of the press every day. Silas tries to blow him off, but Jack stands up and puts his hand on his father's shoulder. Silas is like, "Are we doing this now?" He lets Jack blather on a bit about how he needs to have battlefield experience and public exposure if he's going to be king some day and "tell the butterfly story." Jack also wonders if his presence on the gossip pages hurts his father. Silas has finally had enough and he snarls that he wishes Jack's problem was women. Silas hisses to his son, "What you do at night with your boys, after your show of skirt-chasing, is a disgrace." Jack looks like he's going to puke, since he obviously thought his father didn't know he was gay, and now he finds out that his father knew AND has been keeping photos out of the press, so other people must know as well. Besides, you know, the dudes that Jack's been fucking. They probably know too. Silas concludes that he wouldn't care if Jack were the spare instead of the heir, but Jack can't be king and be gay. Silas leaves and Jack lets a few tears fall. I actually feel bad for the little punk.
King Silas and his Nerdy Scribe are working on an official history for the peace forged between Gilboa and Gath. The Scribe is a total hack, by the way, but in a way that Silas digs, so I guess he won't be the to be assassinated. Silas is visited by Dylan Baker, who is apparently called William, and the scribe leaves. William suggests carefully that a truce might not be the best thing for the country, and that maybe Gilboa should invade Gath right now. Silas thinks the people want peace. William says that they can have it in a year, but CrossGen (evil military-supply-providing company) needs the war to continue right now, and William works for/owns CrossGen. He reminds Silas that CrossGen's money made him king. There are allusions to the fact that Silas had to give up the woman he loved and marry Rose, who is William's sister, in order to become king. That kind of goes against the divinely chosen thing, no? Silas tries to resist, but William says that he can pull all of his money out of the country, and their economic system would collapse. Silas tries to pretend like he's too moral and ethical to restart the war, but William points out that Silas sold his soul long ago, for power. Not in so many words, but that's the gist.
Silas, who seems a little tipsy after his glasses of wine, sees Thomasina in the hallway and asks her to get him a car. At least he's not driving. The car speeds him to a modest home somewhere outside the city, where he's welcomed by an ethnic woman who kisses him and gives him soup. And listens to him. And kisses him again. A little kid cries out from the other room, and Silas heads in to check on his illegitimate son. Ooh. This just got interesting.
So the war has started back up again, as William wanted, and things aren't going well. Silas gives David an announcement to make to the press, and he's shocked that Silas wants to re-engage and attack Gath's capitol. He tries to convince Silas that he's making a big mistake and Silas grabs David by the neck and SLAMS him into the wall! Bad ASS! Silas hisses that puny little David shouldn't try to tell him what to do anyway, and also tells David to stop kissing Michelle in public so that Silas won't have to keep any kissy-face photos out of the newspaper anymore. David looks like he might have just peed himself a little.
Reverend Samuels meets Silas outside the capitol building. Silas acknowledges that they've had their differences, but he needs Samuels to go on the air and band the people together to gain their support. Samuels says that he won't do it, because he knows that Silas purposely withheld air support during the Gath ambush so that his soldiers would be taken hostage. Silas knew that would garner public support for the eventual Gilboan offensive, and was willing to sacrifice his own son. Samuels tells Silas that God no long wants him to be king, and won't protect him or his family. Further, he promises that God will find someone else to be king. Silas says, "To hell with God!" Samuels pretty much promises that Silas won't live long without God's protection. Gee, I wonder who will be the new king?
David's in a helicopter, flying to the war front. He meets up with a member of his old company and asks for his brother. Turns out his brother is in the infirmary, in really bad shape, but conscious. In the tradition of television battlefield deaths, the brother is all chipper and "don't worry about me" and "let's talk about something totally unrelated until I finally croak." As his brother is dying, David admits that when he went after the Goliath, he was actually surrendering when everyone thought he was standing up to an unstoppable force. David confesses that he's not brave at all. The brother whispers, "Be brave now" and then dies. I wish my last words would be something poetic. They're probably be something more like, "OUCH! What the fu..."
David takes his brother's bloody bedsheets and climbs past some soldiers out into the DMZ. Silas watches from...somewhere. David walks out towards the Goliaths that symbolize the Gath front and starts screaming at them about how they should come and take his brother's blood if that's what they want, or take his. He suggests an alternative; that one of them could come out and show some sort of human emotion instead of hiding in a tank. One of the Gath soldiers has a perfect clear shot on David, and the tanks start up. Silas, watching, tells his own troops to hold on. So then one of the Gath soldiers drives up in a little van, gets out, walks up to David, and... does something. They changed to long shot, so who knows? And that was a nicely filmed segment, and as a recapper I certainly appreciate long segments where no one is doing much, but as a viewer, it seemed like an odd time to have such a boring segment -- near the climax of the episode.
Silas addresses the press (so why does he need David again?) and tells them that he changed his mind and wanted a truce again (whiplash!) so he sent David over to negotiate. Yeah, the king sent one of his most trusted and heroic advisers out into the middle of a battlefield carrying a bloody sheet. Mmm hmm. Anyway, David couldn't do the press conference because he's at his brother's funeral. William confronts Silas in the hallway about reneging on the one more year of war thing. Silas claims that his hands are tied, now that everyone saw David's battlefield stunt. William thinks Silas manipulated the whole thing into happening, which Silas denies, and Williams says that Silas how "traded one war for another." William snivels off to go burn some babies or something while Silas comments to an advisor that it's nice to have his country back. So now Silas pissed off the Rev and William. Damn. Williams gets into his car and calls someone, telling them to pull all of the gold from the Treasury and then worry about Shepherd.
David returns to his apartment and finds his doormen buddies there. He thinks he's going to be arrested, but it turns out that they have an invitation for him to come to the palace, and they've also delivered the fancy piano that David played on the night of the banquet. Damn. That shit must have been heavy.
Rose and Whore Aide walk through the grounds of their version of Camp David with a reporter, talking about the upcoming Gath peace talks. Thomasina hustles up with Rose's cell phone. Rose wants to know where it was, promising Thomasina that it's okay to talk about in front of the press. Thomasina says it was in the back seat of Jack's car, along with a red bra. Rose turns to Whore Aide and says, "So then I did give it to you. Unless this belongs to someone else?" Whore Aide runs off and the reporter asks if that was off the record, and Rose gives her permission for the reporter to use it. By all means! Make him look like a huge pussy hound! Damn. That Rose is a smooth operator.
William rides in his car, talking to someone about how it's time to get rid of Silas, and they'll need a replacement. Turns out he's talking to Jack, who's going all Chuck Bass with the slitted eyes and evil looks. I hope he starts wearing ascots.
David meets with Silas at the palace. Silas says that his brother was a hero, and adds that he understands if David needs to leave the city now. David says that it's braver to stay, he thinks. He turns and looks at Michelle, who's walking by the window at that very moment. Did Silas manipulate that too?
David goes outside and meets up with Michelle. They hold hands and then embrace wordlessly. Inside, Rose notes that Michelle likes David, and so does Silas. Rose tells her husband that she's still a little awestruck by him after all these years, when you know she isn't in awe of anyone, except maybe herself. Michelle sees her mother waiting on the front steps of the house, so she leaves David standing by a fence, looking out at the water. Silas continues watching from inside. As David stands there, a MONARCH (HINT HINT) butterfly alights on his finger. And then a whole swarm of them flutter around and form... wait for it... a crown on his head. And Silas sees the whole thing. And dude is NOT happy.