King Silas Windbag is still giving his speech about how he had a vision of Shiloh. He tells a well-worn story about how a swarm of butterflies appeared before him and then settled on his head like a crown, and he took that as God's signal that they should rebuild Shiloh. To quote Tony Soprano, "That sounds pretty gay." Really? A crown of butterflies? A newscaster tells us that the king started out as a foot soldier and is now the beloved king of Gilboa.

Back at the Shepherd Farm, Ma Shepherd says that their tax dollars went to rebuild Shiloh for better or worse, just so you know that not everyone loves the beloved king. One of the brothers thinks David is kidding when he claims that Reverend Samuels was in the shop. David just gazes as his pretty butterfly watch while the newscaster talks about "tensions in the North" and "border disputes with Gath."

Flash to two years later, and David Shepherd is an army soldier stationed at the northern border during the War with Gath. Don't they have fancy names for wars in this reality? Like Operation Eagle Droppings or whatever? Operation Butterfly Kisses? Anyway, David's older brother is also there, and he seems to be some sort of boss of the army (what? I don't know military ranks, plus this is alternate reality so maybe their ranking system is different. You don't know!). The brothers Shepherd check out some Gathian tanks called Goliaths parked nearby; apparently, the Goliaths shoot at the Gilboans once per day at random times. David thinks it's going to happen shortly, and while he and his brother bicker over that, the Goliaths go off. The brothers duck into a trench, but David refuses to reveal how he knew that was going to happen. Another soldier runs up and says that some Gilboans from another squad got taken hostage.

In the king's castle, Sniveling Aide sprints through the hallways. He finds the king, who is apparently in the middle of some sort of executive session or cabinet meeting or something. The king is sitting on one side of a long curving table, and a bunch of old white dudes are seated on the other side. Meanwhile, spectators are sitting in some nearby bleachers, also facing the king. The aide runs into the room and says that some soldiers have been taken hostage. The king announces, "We don't negotiate for hostages." Famous last words, eh? Sniveling Aide says that it was "the 127th," and the king stands up and punches him out. Awesome! I wish any time someone gave me news I didn't want to hear, I could just punch him or her with impunity. The king does a 180 and orders someone to call the ambassador to Gath and get the hostages back. One of his cabinet members (let's call him Dead Man Walking) points out that they really can't negotiate for hostages now just because the king is taking it personally. The king recovers his cool a bit and asks what they should do.