Review: Prime Video’s ‘House of David’: Tale of Two Swords (S02, E01)

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13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. – 1 Samuel: 13-14

House of David is a sprawling epic tale detailing the life of David who went on to become the second king of Israel. David was a man whom God called a man after his own heart, and it was from his lineage that the Lord promised the Messiah would come that was in the form of Jesus Christ.

House of David Season 2 Official Trailer | Watch only on Wonder Project on Prime Video October 5th

House of David is back for season two. If you are interested in House of David season one, check out my review of every episode here. But lets jump right into this explosive first episode of season two!

Spoilers

Episode 1: A Tale of Two Swords

Season two of House of David begins immediately where season one ended. David (Michael Iskander) had just slain Goliath and picked up his sword, but the battle was not over. The Philistine King Achish (Alexander Uloom) rallies his troops, who outnumber the Israeli army 3 to 1. Given the success of the first season, you can see that Amazon spared no expense on the sprawling battle that covers the valley.

Witnessing the battle from afar, Saul (Ali Suliman) calls for his armor but is still stricken by the madness that plagued him throughout season one. Jeremy Xido returns as King Agag, the Amalekite from season one who Saul disobeyed God’s command to slay him. Agag continues to torture Saul’s mind, but he still joins the battle alongside his men, helping to turn the tide.

Saul’s son, Jonathan (Ethan Kai), and King Achish fight their way toward David, who is lost in the battle and is not yet the warrior from the bible. When they finally see each other on the battlefield, we get a flashback of Jonathan as a boy being given his sword from King Saul just before he beheads King Achish’s father in front of their people.

This is the impetus of King Ashich’s assault on Israel, and he will not stop until Saul is dead and avenges his father’s death. With Goliath’s sword in hand, Achish stalks Saul in the battlefield whose madness leads him into the fires to slay Agag who persecutes his mind.

And the fires are everywhere as the Israel camp burns. The prophet Samuel (Stephen Lang) prays to God for Israel’s victory but barely escapes an attack from behind from Philistines sent by King Achish to silence him.

Episode one did well to incorporate and give other characters their own plots. Saul’s daughters Mychal (Indy Lewis) and Mirab (Yali Topol Margalith) are trapped in the burning Israel camp and struggle to escape as the Philistines hunt down the King’s children. You see that they are not weak little girls without having to cross into girl-boss territory. It truly takes both of them watching over each other to survive.

David’s brothers Eliab(Davood Ghadami), Abinadab(Naby Dakhli), and Nathaneel (Aziz Dyab) also have a role to play as they protect David in the midst of battle while Jonathan goes to rescue his father Saul. I’ll leave the review off there as the result of this battle sets the stage for the season to come.

Thoughts:

It’s great to see that neither Amazon nor the Erwin brothers took the easy path of skipping over this important battle in David’s history. The entire first episode is dedicated to the conflict that does remind you of the sprawling battles seen in Game of Thrones, such as when the Widlings attacked the Wall. The battle dwarf’s anything seen in all of season one.

My only gripe would be something major that happened in the third act that I could not find occurred biblically. I know it was introduced to add conflict, but since the showrunners kept so close to the biblical story in season one, I’ll be interested in seeing how they resolve this conflict without drastically changing David’s story.

Overall, Tale of Two Swords was a fantastic way to return to House of David. The cast once again shows their strength as all the actors seem invested in making this the best story they can. The increase in production value can only help, and I look forward to reviewing episode two!

You can watch House of David right now on Amazon Prime’s exclusive new faith-based channel the Wonder Project here for $8.99. For those who do not want to pay for another subscription, it is reported that season two of House of David will be available to all Prime subscribers at a later date.

****

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