David grows up, and the series grows with him, in House of David season 2. (Note: This review contains spoilers.)
When we last saw David (Michael Iskander), he had just slain the giant Goliath (Martyn Ford) and was standing on a plain between two armies about to clash. David had no military experience. He was wearing no uniform.
But in season 2—after surviving the big battle that dominates the first episode—he is trained in the art of war by prince Jonathan (Ethan Kai) and put in charge of other soldiers.
He also takes bolder positions in his dealings with King Saul (Ali Suliman) and Adriel (Stewart Scudamore), a leader in the tribe of Judah. Saul tries to get David to marry the princess he doesn’t love, Mirab (Yali Topol Margalith), instead of the princess he does, Mychal (Indy Lewis). Meanwhile, Adriel knows David was secretly anointed to replace Saul and tries to blackmail David with this knowledge. Showing a newfound maturity, David ultimately stands up to both men.
The series ramps up the action bigtime, from the opening battle to a series of raids—Edomites against Israelites, Israelites against Philistines—and dramatic sword fights. A lot of it is fairly exciting. But it also begins to feel like padding. So do the constant scenes of David and Mychal staring into each other’s eyes. The first season of this series covered just three chapters from the Bible (1 Sam. 15–17), and the second season seems to take forever to get through just one (chapter 18).
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And then, suddenly, things accelerate. In the season finale, Saul attacks David, and David runs away. Jonathan, newly married with a pregnant wife, worries for his son’s future and makes David promise not to harm the child (2 Sam. 21:7). Saul pursues David as far as the tabernacle and his Edomite henchman Doeg (Ashraf Barhom) murders all the priests. And just like that, this one episode covers four entire Bible chapters (1 Sam. 19–22).
Along the way, characters get interesting in a way they weren’t before, most notably Mychal, newly married to David. She learns that David kept his anointing secret from her and suddenly feels betrayed. This presumably sets the stage for her to “despise” David in the future as the biblical Mychal did (2 Sam. 6:16).
And Eshbaal (Sam Otto), whose attempt to take the throne from Saul comes out of nowhere at the end of season 1, is revealed to be working for the Edomites, which adds a whole new layer of complication to what used to be a simple Israelite-versus-Philistine story.
It’s striking, given how fantasy infused the first season was, to see such a grounded season 2. The giants appear briefly in the aftermath of Goliath’s defeat. But apart from that, this season is all about human relationships and political conspiracies. The Philistines even make a point of switching tactics, from an alliance with the giants to better swords! (Characters talk about the dawn of “the age of iron,” though most historians date the beginning of the Iron Age to a couple centuries earlier.)
Yes, the prophet Samuel (Stephen Lang) gets into a few people’s heads, and we experience their tormented states of mind from the inside. And the witch of Endor pops up to make an eerie prediction or two. But that’s about as fantastical as this season gets.
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Stretching the story at times forces the writers to add plot elements that appear to contradict the biblical narrative. Saul meets Samuel repeatedly and even arrests him at one point, but the Bible seems pretty clear that they didn’t speak again during Samuel’s lifetime. It’s also not obvious why Samuel would let himself be captured, given how easily he escapes afterward and given the power he flexes over Saul and his men in other scenes—especially in the finale, which makes spectacular use of 1 Sam. 19:18–24, the only passage in the Bible in which Saul even came close to confronting Samuel again.
There are other nits one could pick. Samuel seems to serve as high priest on the Day of Atonement, but he would have been a mere Levite at best (1 Chron. 6:31–38). It’s hinted that Bathsheba is the daughter of a blacksmith from the dark, disreputable city of Endor. That’s not impossible, but the biblical Bathsheba appears to have been the daughter of one of David’s top soldiers and the granddaughter of Ahithophel, an adviser of David’s who turned against him during Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam. 11:3; 15:12; 23:34).
The series also remains pretty coy around the marriage customs of that period. Saul, furious with his wife Ahinoam (Ayelet Zurer) for undermining his authority, begins sleeping with a servant named Kazia (Inbar Saban). When Abner (Oded Fehr) objects, Saul says kings are allowed to have concubines, and Abner says no, not Israelite kings. But polygamy was a constant throughout Israelite history, going back to Israel himself (i.e., Jacob), and it was an option for any man who could afford it, such as Samuel’s father, Elkanah (1 Sam. 1:2). Saul’s friends may have expressed concern over how he was treating his family, but not for that reason.
Also, it’s curious that the series invents a fictitious concubine for Saul when the Bible not only mentions Saul’s “wives,” plural (2 Sam. 12:8), but also tells us about a concubine named Rizpah who bore him two sons (3:7; 21:8–10).
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Where does the series go from here?
The pace. As noted, the season 2 finale covered as many chapters from the Bible as the previous 15 episodes combined. Can season 3 keep up? Series creator Jon Erwin has said the third season will end with David becoming king, maybe even taking Jerusalem. That would mean getting through another 14 chapters (1 Sam. 23–31; 2 Sam. 1–5) in just 8 episodes. Can the series accelerate that much, that quickly?
The fate of Ahinoam. Saul banished his wife from the palace at the end of episode 6. I assume we’ll see more of her, but in what context? The Bible says nothing definite about her besides her name (1 Sam. 14:50), but there is a theory that she might be identical to a wife of David’s named Ahinoam who bore his firstborn son (1 Sam. 27:3; 2 Sam. 3:2). I don’t expect this series to go that route—marriage to her own son-in-law? ew!—but there would be a basis for it if it did.
The fate of Saul’s daughters. Eshbaal says he has a plan for unity with the tribe of Judah that involves his sisters. The biblical Merab (Mirab) was married off to Adriel (Stuart Scudamore) —and they had five sons who were executed under David (1 Sam. 18:19; 2 Sam. 21:1–14). Saul gave Mychal to a man named Paltiel (1 Sam. 25:44). Eshbaal eventually returned her to David (2 Sam. 3:14–16).
David’s relationship with the Philistines. There is friction between the Philistine kings this season, and Achish (Alexander Uloom) seems to recognize that God is with David. I assume the series is laying the groundwork for David and his men to find sanctuary with the Philistines while hiding from Saul (1 Sam. 27:1–28:2; 29:1–11).
It bears mentioning that the series skips the part of the story where the biblical David tricked Achish into thinking he was insane (21:10–14). How will it depict David’s relationship with Achish in season 3? Will David continue to testify truthfully to his faith? Or will he do what the biblical David did and pretend to raid the Israelites on Achish’s behalf while actually slaughtering entire pagan villages (27:8–12)?
And what’s up with the Edomites? It turns out the Edomites were behind Eshbaal’s brief attempt to take the throne in season 1, and their scheme is still unfolding when season 2 ends. The Bible says nothing about them during Saul’s reign, except that they were one of the many nations he fought (14:47) and Doeg was one of them, so it’s anyone’s guess where this plot thread is going.
We’ll have to wait a little longer for season 3 than we did for season 2. The first two seasons were produced back-to-back and came out mere months apart, but Erwin is currently busy editing Young Washington, a movie about George Washington due next summer. Even so, given the series’ popularity, I assume there won’t be too much delay.
Peter T. Chattaway is a film critic with a special interest in Bible movies.
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