The KINGDOM Belongs to DIRECTV

Article first published as KINGDOM Review on Seat42F.

To me, the description for DIRECTV’s KINGDOM, a series about a family involved in mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting, reads like a Cinemax program description. It’s centered around gritty violence and rough characters, which, to be honest, is not something I’d get excited about watching. However, sitting down with the actual pilot, it starts to evoke strains of Rocky, a terrific film, and the family drama is a larger part of the story than anticipated, to its credit. KINGDOM is actually a really good show.

KINGDOM takes place at the Navy Street gym, which is run by Alvey Kulina (Frank Grillo, The Gates, Warrior). Alvey is a kind man, refusing to kick out patrons who don’t pay. Yet, he’s far from a pushover, having cut off one of his sons, Jay (Jonathan Tucker, Parenthood, The Ruins), who is on a destructive path. Alvey is happy, living with girlfriend and business partner, Lisa Prince (Kiele Sanchez, The Glades, The Purge: Anarchy), and training his other son, Nate (Jonas Brother Nick Jonas), a promising up-and-coming MMA fighter who may hold the key to Alvey’s financial problems.

The family dynamic in KINGDOM is rich and complex. All of those actors listed in the above paragraph hold their weight, Jonas having matured into a real actor, and the rest having credits enough already to prove they can do something. Some of the players get more interaction with each other than others, so the series has plenty left to explore, and I find myself drawn in to this group, enough to overcome my aversion to the source material.

If you love fighting, you’ll get plenty of that, plus a strong story to back it up. There are bloody scenes in the first episode, mainly involving Nick. By the time those come around, viewers have been given reason to invest in the outcome, and that adds tension to the proceedings. You may be nervous for Nate, wanting him to succeed, and that’s exactly what a pilot should accomplish.

Despite the tension between Alvey and Jay, it’s a relatively happy family. Jay lives with Nate, so he isn’t completely cut off from his clan, and there’s a truce struck. Jay stays away from the gym, for the most part, but supports his brother. Surely, the chemistry will change a bit as Jay gets more involved, as he must, but that’s OK. That’s what we want to see, conflict that will lead to growth.

Enter into this Ryan Wheeler (Matt Lauria, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), Lisa’s ex-fiancé, a prize-winning fighter, who has just been released from prison. Ryan and Alvey are good friends, but Ryan made a lot of mistakes, hence why he has been behind bars. Ryan is the total wild card of KINGDOM. He says he’s cleaned himself up, and most of the initial hour backs this up, seeing him attending meetings and not forcing himself back into a situation he has been absent from. But can anyone really change, and once back in the old environment, will Ryan revert to his former ways? And will Alvey let Ryan come back to the gym, either as a fighter or a trainer?

It would be really easy for KINGDOM to get soapy here, dwelling too much on Lisa and Ryan’s former relationship and distracting from the larger arcs. Thankfully, the writers understand how the pieces are supposed to fit together, and don’t let melodrama overrun the quality kind. The story is a bit of a slow burn in that we don’t yet know what kind of implications Ryan brings, even after having been around for a full episode, but that’s a good thing, letting these story and characters take a natural course.

I see KINGDOM as sort of like Showtime’s Ray Donovan, although the characters here are more likeable and the plot is easier to get drawn into. It’s definitely a worthy television entry, and as someone who doesn’t get DIRECTV, so hasn’t been familiar with their original programming, it makes me want to see more.

KINGDOM airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m., beginning tonight, exclusively on DIRECTV’s Audience network.

Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

     USA's Burn Notice is a popular series that finished its fourth season this past December. While fans wait for season five, a TV movie prequel premiered last night. Called Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, it follows Sam (Bruce Campbell) on his last mission for the armed forces, before he winds up in Miami for the series. The special is directed by Jeffrey Donovan, who stars in the regular show, and puts in a cameo in the movie.

     Campbell is easily believable as a slightly younger Sam, the only noticable differences being a trim uniform and the grey dyed out of his hair. Perhaps because Sam engages in a bit more action than during a typical episode of Burn Notice, there is also an extra liveliness. As such, the team behind this new production does a superb job of making it feel like a few years ago.

     The beginning is awkward, as Sam gets lost several times on the way to meet his commanding officers. While Sam is often the comic relief on Burn Notice, it does not make sense for him to appear bumbling while in uniform. He has never this goofy. The whole sequence comes off as silly and unrealistic. As such, the movie gets off to a bad start.

     Things pick up as Sam begins to relay the story of a recent mission to two superiors. Sam inadvertently sleeps with an admiral's wife, and earns himself a transfer to an observe and report mission in Columbia. Sam tries to do as his orders command, but after only a brief stint in the jungle, he realizes that the people he is stationed with are not on the up and up. As such, Sam must betray his instructions to save a clinic, the people it treats, and the nearby "terrorists" he is supposed to be against.

     The "terrorists" are actually farmers, and only one has any real military experience. In order to get to do whatever they want, the leader of the squadron Sam is ordered to, Veracruz (Pedro Pascal, The Good Wife), plans on blowing up a clinic and blaming it on the farmers. Sam fakes his own kidnapping and evacuates the people Veracruz intends to hurt.

     Soon after Sam flees, Veracruz figures out what is actually going on, and sets his men after Sam and the farmers. Aided by local kid, Beatriz (Ilza Rosario), who doesn't really look like a kid, the farmers flee towards a secret CIA base that Sam knows about. It's a lot like the 24 TV movie, Redemption, where a well known hero is self-sacrificial and on the run with a group who is not really ready to defend themselves. Because of this, the special does not feel new or fresh.

     This is also not in character for the Sam presented at the beginning of Burn Notice, who informed on Michael to the feds. Perhaps that Sam is a bit defeated because of the events explained by this movie, and so he isn't as courageous as he is shown to be later on. That's the easiest explanation, as the Sam in this special is more like the Sam shown in the fourth season of Burn Notice, well after he has committed to a team that is always helping people.

     Sam and the others make it to the base, but they are badly outnumbered. Sam must stall by talking, something he has been shown time and again to be very good at. He does so long enough for help to arrive, but his previous actions are enough to earn him the threat of court martial. Only his resourcefulness saves him, having arranged for Beatriz to have blackmail material that Sam uses to negotiate himself an honorable discharge.

     The story started out slow and not very well written, but by the end, Sam has morphed into a more familiar figure, as he has come to be known to fans. This special is far from fantastic, but it does give a little bit of unknown back story on a popular character, and keeps the tone (and often, the music) of the series, so fans will probably enjoy it.

     The capable, but not stellar, supporting cast includes RonReaco Lee (The Good Guys) as the clinic doctor, and Kiele Sanchez (Lost, The Glades) as the doctor's assistant, Amanda. Sam has a brief romantic notion to be with Amanda, but a couple of kisses is all the further the special takes it. While it is unlikely Sam would have a permanent love interest in such a brief movie, his interaction with Amanda is so tame that it proves unneeded and feels out of place with the rest of the show.

     Burn Notice, back to its present day story line, will return to USA this summer.

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Article first published as TV Review: Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe on Blogcritics.