Damage Control
Episode 1 of The Kingdom begins with a brief prologue, as a young boy walks in the middle of the night atop a large tower. Inside, he finds a boy. Handing over a knife and some clothes, they silently come to an agreement. We then cut forward in time on the eve of a political rally. Tensions are high, with Emilio ready to work with Armando to win over the crowd. At Emilio’s, they happen to be holding a guy called Julio in the basement, who happens to be the son of the opposition party. There’s no love lost between them, and there’s clearly friction in the family. As the rally looks set to go ahead, a strange man shows up in the crowd. He’s not the only one looking discontent though, as numerous rioters show up throwing flyers around listed the “church of corruption.” Things certainly start getting out of hand, with Julio concerned that this could be a foreshadowed glimpse of things to come. Well, this strange man jumps up on stage and stabs Armando in the back. Although he’s arrested and taken away, both Julio and Emilio are shocked and rally to bring the candidate away from the stage. Armando is declared dead backstage, Julio is in shock while DA Candia shows up to look over the body and start investigating the case. She immediately makes her presence felt, organizing the team into interviewing their suspect and looking over Armando’s body. As the investigation begins, Ramiro heads over to Candia’s place that evening. Through the files he’s obtained, he confirms the man in custody is called Remigio Cardenas. He’s works at the Church for the Light and according to Ramiro, has no violent history and is a man of God. While that may be true, Tadeo – following his rendition of Amazing Grace up on stage – seems to be covering up Remigio’s deeds, burying his guns in the back garden… but why?
The Episode Review
Episode 1 of The Kingdom sets things up nicely with a politically charged story that thrusts us head-first into this world. It seems like this killing was strictly religious but was it really? There’s a lot of intriguing questions floating around with this one and the show has, so far at least, done a good job keeping things interesting with its numerous questions. The show’s opening prologue seems like it could be a big clue going forward but is context and significance is still unknown for now. However, the episode does well to introduce a litany of characters in a short space of time, and with this assassination, new questions are raised around exactly why Remigio did this – and whether someone hired him. We’ll have to wait and see but this is a solid chapter to get us started.
