Saturday, July 19, 2014

Favorite Characters: Jack Benjamin (Kings)

 
Thinking about the excellent television specimen that is Kings naturally lead me to think about this character.  In a show populated with complex, richly-drawn people, Jack is maybe the most interesting to watch.
 
The only son of King Silas, Jack couldn’t be too much further from his biblical counterpoint.  While the Jonathan of the Old Testament is defined by his love for David and the endless, selfless aid he gives his friend in difficult times, Jack isn’t exactly a big David fan.  At every turn, the new golden boy of Gilboa seems to undermine Jack’s already-tenuous position – he comes seemingly out of nowhere to gain the people’s acclaim, coveted military posts, and the heart of Jack’s sister Michelle (who could potentially succeed their father on the throne, depending on Silas’s whim.)
 
As such, Jack feels threatened by David, and various points of the season find him at odds with everyone’s favorite hero.  His desperate attempts to outshine David often come frustratingly to nothing, and his unsure claim on the future crown leaves him vicious and bitter.  But then, Jack has a lot to feel vicious and bitter about.  Despite the skirt-chasing antics Jack performs for the paparazzi, Silas knows about his secret boyfriend.  He tells Jack in no uncertain terms that, if he wants to be king, he “cannot be what God made [him]” and has to cut Joseph out of his heart.
 
In other words, Jack has been living with the pressure of staying closeted when he’s the most photographed eligible bachelor in Gilboa, his own father calls him a disgrace (literally, “disgrace” is the word he uses – it’s disgusting,) he’s forced to give up the man he loves in order to become what he’s been wanted since birth, and some aw-shucks kid from the sticks has just breezed into town, seemingly replacing him before his eyes.  Jack is “fighting for [his] right to exist,” and given his moral upbringing at the Machiavellian hand of Silas, this leads him to do some unscrupulous and downright despicable things.
 
He’s a great character because there are so many forces at work in him.  He’s frequently self-serving, and that often expresses itself in at least borderline villainy, but over the course of the season, he also grows and makes small steps toward being a truer person (it has to be said that these steps forward are usually followed by three or four steps backward – Jack will be Jack.)  He’s a character forever in flux, and he always brings good drama.  On the more sympathetic side, his moments of pain and self-loathing are almost shockingly searing, and the show, to its credit, deftly makes sure that they explain his behavior without justifying it
 
I remember when the show first aired, rumblings were made online about the tired insensitively of the only gay main character being nefarious.  However, while a good portion of Jack’s anger and mistrustfulness comes from feeling forced to live a lie, there’s no indication that his sexuality makes him inherently immoral.  Other characters make sneering remarks about his “boys,” insinuating something dirty in his orientation, when in actually, he wants nothing more than his loving monogamous relationship.  Furthermore, as the series goes on, we see that Jack’s love for Joseph is perhaps his best chance for redemption.  The romantic scenes between them give us our most genuine look at Jack, and his bravest and most altruistic actions come as a response to Joseph, “the only real thing [he] ever touched.”  I really appreciate that.

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