Well, we can't really call the return of NBC's Kings "triumphant", at least in the traditional sense. As promised, the network is airing the remaining episodes of the show's one and only season this Summer, beginning with the seventh which ran Saturday night. I've decided to continue covering Kings despite its publicly known cancellation because a show of this caliber deserves some recognition.

In similar canceled program news, I'm going to cease covering ABC's animated Mike Judge program The Goode Family. While it hasn't been officially given the axe, the show has abysmal ratings and it was unceremoniously shifted to a Friday night slot. Watching the most recent episode, I can't say I blame ABC for the decision. On the bright side, maybe this will free Mike Judge to make another movie instead.

In this most recent episode of Kings, we get two juicy plots that allow for plenty of action and solid drama. Plus, there's a lot of that Old Testament mysticism in the air. King Silas starts his day by sleepwalking through a dream of walking through a forest in his jammies with a dagger in his hand. Somebody left a window open in the royal livingroom and now a bunch of leaves are scattered on the floor. Silas wakes to find an acacia branch at his feet, prompting him to consult Reverend Samuels. The Reverend warns Silas of impending change and welcomes him back into his council, at least cautiously.

The two main plots of "Brotherhood" involve a covert mission to eliminate a terrorist in Gath and a simultaneous plague outbreak in Gilboa. Jack and David head into Gath and romp around the forest getting shot at until they capture their target. Instead of killing him outright, they pump him for information about who in Gilboa gave his insurgency weapons. Instead of being productive, though, Jack uses this time to air some of his dirty laundry about David, showing just how much inner rot he's experienced over the years.

The target is named Belial. For you bible geeks out there, the term "Belial" has a fairly universal connotation of wickedness and some apocryphal texts name Belial as the father of Lucifer who convinced his son to go to war with heaven itself. It's only fitting that the Belial on Kings is something of a nutcase who wants to resume the war between Gath and Gilboa. He gets to have a foreboding monologue about Cain and Abel, obviously positing Jack and David in those roles (though which is which is up for debate).

Back in Gilboa, Michelle is doing her first assessment of the new healthcare plan. When she tours a hospital to make sure it's up to code, one of the administrators touts the quarantine of a mother and son carrying a deadly plague as a victory of the new system. All Michelle sees is a national security crisis. When Silas hears the news, he decides to just keep on reading the signs he sees around him. Given the just-subtle-enough mysticism on Kings, it should come as no surprise that it serves him well.

When all is said and done, Gilboa makes it out of the plague with only ten deaths and Jack and David return home with a dead insurgent. With a combination of the intelligence they gathered and some classic signs from above, Silas deduces that his old friend and trusted adviser, General Abner, is the traitor who gave the insurgents their weapons. Using the dagger from the beginning of the episode, Silas kills Abner himself while sparing William Cross even though he, too, was implicated in the scheme.

Best Moment: Belial's Cain and Abel speech. So sue me if I like narrative linchpins.

Biggest Shock: Well, we already knew about Abner from a previous episode, so that's out. I am intrigued about why Silas spared Cross even though he was obviously guilty.

Episode Rating: 4.5/5- It's good to see that the remaining episodes of Kings are still high quality. Sure, some of the steam has been taken out of them knowing that the show is basically in hospice, but that doesn't mean the cast isn't deeply talented, the stagey writing isn't excellent or that the cinematography isn't unparalleled on television. I'm in this one until the bitter, very well-known end.