IMHO "Kings" (1.05): "Judgment Day"

The latest episode of Kings delivered more palace scheming, a glimpse of how King Silas would order a baby cut in half, and some revelations about what drives gay Prince Jack.

There are many reasons I've found Kings to be a pretty addictive drama and Jack is one of the most interesting gay characters taking space on my DVR. Jack got even more interesting in the lastest episode, thus prompting an up arrow.

For the details on what I got out of the latest Kings venture into the SPOILERS below.

It was Judgment Day in Gilboa, the one day a year that people get a chance to take their case to the King. Only ten cases are heard in the highest court in the land but when one case is dropped, Jack sees an opportunity to drive a wedge between David and his sister Michelle. Both have a case they desperately want to bring before the King (Michelle wants a chance to push her cause forward while David wants to plead that his brother's death sentence be reversed) and both know that only one case will get the King's ear.

Michelle needs Jack to explain to her how she could steal the throne away from him

For me, the episode starts to get interesting when Michelle tries to confront Jack over his scheming. When she insists that Jack has nothing to fear from David, he spells out exactly how David threatens his birthright:

Jack: You're the princess. Born first by four minutes, eldest by a hair. Are you really that innocent that you haven't thought of it, yourself? Or are you just too ashamed to admit that you have?

Michelle: No one wants your crown.

Jack: Not yet. You can't produce an heir. So what? You could still take pride of place. I see the way you look at Shepard, I see the way your father looks at him. All it takes is one wedding and he can make of the pair of you King and Queen. And me, suddenly the court jester. I will not sit by a be plowed into obscurity by someone else's ambition.

Back when Kings debuted, Jack reminded me of bad boys like Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass or Veronica Mars' Logan Echolls (that could be the influence of watching Sebastian Stan play one of Chuck's rivals). One dynamic of those characters is the idea that the love of a good person (someone who understands them in a way no one else does) could turn them around. When we met Jack's ex, Joseph, I figured his bad behavior came out of anger at being separated from his love complicated by his fight to maintain his power.

Jack propositions Katrina Ghent

"Judgment Day" pulls together how these characters have chosen between love and power. We're reminded that King Silas loves a woman other than Queen Rose (whose wealth was key to putting him in the throne), a situation that parallels how Jack feels he has to deny himself love to obtain his birthright. And then Jack sets things up so that David and Michelle have to choose between their budding relationship and a chance to accomplish something important.

Jack's other way of stopping the crown from slipping away is to try to hit on his new boss, Minister of Information Katrina Ghent (Popular alum Leslie Bibb). Considering her history (she was a former centerfold who married for money) Katrina seems like someone who wouldn't mind a loveless marriage in order to be Queen. She dismisses his offer, leaving Jack to invite his bodyguard to stay the night instead.

Jack offers his bodyguard an overnight assignment

It's definitely been interesting to watch Jack develop, keeping in mind the way he fits the stereotype of the gay villain, and this episode changed how I looked at the character. Previously, I figured the idea was that Jack would be a nice guy if only he could be honest about who he is but this episode seemed to say that palace life corrupts everyone, and that unhappiness and loneliness are the cost of power (a point driven home by Brian Cox's appearance as the prior King). I hope Kings first season gets to the point where Jack starts siding with David against King Silas, because I'm curious to see what it will take for Jack to walk away from his birthright.

What did you think? Is Prince Jack becoming a more complex character as Kings progresses? Does Jack still firmly fall in the "gay villain" stereotype? And what's the big secret of Andrew (Macaulay Culkin)'s exile and what was he doing with Queen Rose's shoe?