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Kingdom, Ep. 1.04, “Flowers”: Ignoring the warning signs

Kingdom, Ep. 1.04, “Flowers”: Ignoring the warning signs

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Kingdom, Season 1, Episode 4, “Flowers”
Directed by Michael Morris
Written by Fernanda Coppel
Airs Wednesdays at 9pm ET on the Audience Network

Well, the ability for the Kulina sons both biological and honorary to keep things on the straight and narrow only took a few weeks to completely implode. Not that this is a shock in any way, but it is tough to watch regardless. When Jay is the one with his life the most together (or if not together, at least with some sort of twisted plan he’s following), it should be a clear sign that everybody else needs to regroup and look at what they’re doing. What Kingdom does well in “Flowers” is point everyone down a clear path of self destruction without making it overly obvious. Yes, it is expected that the status quo of everyone in the gym being happy and/or healthy has a shelf life, but as of now it is open-ended where each fighter will end up, and the show is in a great position to subvert expectations while still building to a believable conclusion. Jay may look like the most idiotic now, but there’s a chance he’s just one step ahead of everyone else’s expectations.

Jay’s willingness to risk his neck to get his mother healthy would be more heroic if he weren’t so flippant about his own general well-being. Even so, his mother’s safety is clearly the only real thing he cares about besides fighting and putting her back in the orbit of Nate and potentially the rest of the family is a move with interesting repercussions that could last for the rest of the season. If she makes it that far, of course. Not that this show seems like one that would be quick to kill off a member of the main cast in the sixth episode, but throwing a heroin addict in a locked room and hoping for the best as they suffer through a detox is not smart. Jay’s motivations may be based in trying to save his mom, but he has as much practical knowledge of how to rehabilitate someone else as he does of keeping himself out of the bottle. Christina is in serious risk of dying in that room while Jay is off punching Terry to smithereens again, but it’s been established that he isn’t exactly a character who thinks more than one step ahead.

Meanwhile, at what looks suspiciously like the bar at a Venice Beach Applebee’s, Ryan decides to play roulette with his freedom and have a drink and a quickie for the first time since he was released from prison. The bathroom sex is denigrating for the woman he meets (yet not violent) and his stoic manner, coupled with his stare in the mirror, speaks of someone intent on searing images of the outside world into his brain because he still has no faith that he’ll be able to keep out of trouble. From the perspective of literally any sane person looking at the situation, it is a completely reasonable thing to do when contemplating how to enjoy new-found freedom. From someone who knows how strict his parole guidelines are and the ways he is already breaking them by being at Navy St. when he should be killing rodents, it looks like he doesn’t care about keeping his nose clean as much as he cares about getting back in the cage in top shape. Which is why it is such a shock that Alvey doesn’t come down harder on him for his mid-afternoon slip-up. For a guy that pawned one of his most prized possessions to get him in the gym in the first place, Alvey is surprisingly easygoing when he finds out the risks Ryan is inviting. The scene where he tells Ryan to be careful is yet another example of his readiness to look past questionable actions if he likes the person, instead of weighing the situation objectively.

Nate and Lisa follow opposite paths this episode, albeit in very subtle ways. Nate’s physical therapy is a good way to track time passing in the show’s universe, seeing as he has been there enough weeks to be healing well and strike up a friendship with Tatiana, the conveniently hot therapist. She has little to no potential to grow into anything more than a plot device, but for now Tatiana is a representation of where Nate’s head is at. Alvey is more concerned with his return to the ring and solving the case while Nate is content to act like a normal teenager and ignore his appointed destiny as the next great Kulina fighter. Not to mention his refusal to cooperate with the police or hear his dad out when he tries to explain the events surrounding the attack. He is all but done with looking at fighting as his only purpose, even if no one is admitting it yet.

Lisa is heading the other direction as she becomes more and more an integral part of the gym, whether intentionally or not. She now has her own fighter to manage (time bomb that he is) and is taking calculated risks with who the gym gets into bed with. Bucky DeMarco, noted scumbag and withholder of winnings, is an acceptable partner yet Alison Castro, she of the mysterious envelopes filled with cash, is a step too far. The difference being the former is a necessary evil and the latter is a snake in the grass Lisa has the option to refuse, if at all possible. When someone doesn’t meet her business standards, Lisa simply won’t work with them. If only all the men around her at the gym had the same self restraint.

[wpchatai]