#felice ehrencrona analysis

[raincitygirl76]

Excellent, thoughtful review, but chock full of spoilers for all of Season 3 of YR.

[raincitygirl76]

That prediction didn’t age very well. Oh well, the OP can’t get them all right, nobody can. But I was really hoping for that in S3 too.

Instead in S3 Felice and to a lesser extent Sara just got siloed off each in their own plotline that didn’t interact much with Wilmon.

This scene is a foreshadowing of season 3 where Wille and Felice will help Simon and Sara communicate and connect together again. Mark my words.

[raincitygirl76]

THIS!!!!

Felice is the unsung hero of Young Royals and also one of the most mistreated characters in the series. The school failed her, her mom failed her, her ex failed her and her friends failed her. She was always there for everyone, serving as a huge emotional support system, but for the most part, no one was there for her. Not even Wilhelm, who handled their relationship with extreme selfishness. All he ever talked to her about was his problems with Simon. Even in season 2 when their hookup was made public and she was being branded a gold digger, Wilhelm managed to turn the narrative back to him and his problems. By season 3, you can see how beaten down Felice had gotten, and all everyone around her was wishing shed "get over it" and instead of empathizing and listening to her, they threw money at the problem as a solution to aid it. The times she openly talked to her friends about her issues, it was met with tone deaf ears. Even when Felice received good support from people like Madison, there was still an aurora of loneliness to her. For being the "head girl" in school, she sure was treated like an outsider.

Felice deserves the world. I hope she becomes a hugely successful cook & that the people around her become more understanding and caring of her ❤️

[allthefakepeople]

there's something about felice in her first real conversation with sara after everything at the white party where she admits to telling the inspector everything and that she's worried that she's the reason the school is shutting down only to have sara say that it's a good thing that she didn't lie which is immediate proof as to *why* sara is the real friend to felice when all of her other friends just got mad at her for telling the truth

[raincitygirl76]

To be perfectly honest, I found 3.06 a bit of a letdown. All Wilhelm’s problems won’t magically disappear just because he’s abdicating. And I found Kristina’s acquiescence deeply implausible. If someone has acted one way for 17 episodes, it’s tough to believe they’re magically a reformed character in the eighteenth episode.

There were a lot of things I really liked about the episode, don’t get me wrong. But for me, the entire third season didn’t hang together the way the first two seasons did. This last episode felt like such an abrupt tonal transition from the darkness of 3.01 through 3.05.

I loved that the boys (and Sara and Felice) got a happy ending. But I was hoping for….more. This ending didn’t feel entirely earned to me. The first 5 episodes of the season dealt with the downward spiral so well, and then they tried to abruptly bring everything back up again in a single episode.

Apologies if I’m going against the general zeitgeist here. But at this point I’m simultaneously relieved my four faves all got a happy ending, and feeling let down. Because they patched everything up in the space of an hour, and it was a rush.

That said, there were things I thought were spot on. Sara and Felice were note perfect. Nils and Vincent being dismayed about August’s promotion to working royal was great. And Stella and Fredrika being sapphic, but still being classist, snobby bitches. Being queer doesn’t automatically turn someone into a nice person.

But in terms of the central pairing, I’m feeling a bit let down. Like they didn’t quite earn their happy ending and I’m not quite sure it’ll really stick in the long term.

[the-words-we-sung]

The songs of Young Royals - S1E2 & E3

And I'm back with another song analysis article ^^ You can find the first one (in which I covered the songs from S1E1) here. I'm gonna do 2 episodes in this post because there are not many songs in episodes 2 and 3!

No tomorrow, Ty Frankett, Stephane Lo Jacomo and Myariag Summers

I'll be in my feels They know I'm the truth When I'm pullin' up I'm bulletproof I don't really care 'bout the rules The most cool Wilhelm has ever looked ^^ He was all blushing and stressed during lunch about what almost happened with Simon, but here he's collected, alone but looking like he doesn't care and just plays it cool. He's the Prince so I guess it's true that the "rules" don't really apply to him but is he "bulletproof"? Unfortunately the whole debacle that is gonna happen with the sex video will prove that statement wrong... (We also know that most of the students at Hillerska don't care that much about the rules, and August says it himself: they could "murder someone and nobody would say a word")

ALPHA, Yung Titties

ABC I'm the alpha bitch If you wanna know who runs this shit ABC I'm the alpha bitch When I'm in a car, I'm driving When I'm on a date, I'm buying Yes girls!! They run this shit ^^ I like that they choose this song when we see the 4 girls hanging out together. I do like them (Felice, Stella, Frederika and Madison) (putting Sara on the side because *complicated feelings*) They're far from perfect but compared to most of the guys in the school, they're pretty cool. I love Felice and how smart/nice/strong she is, and I love her friendship with Wilhelm later on. I hope she'll become even more badass in season 3!! And Madison is the best (and one of the few people in this school who is not terrible to Simon). The song stops as soon as August arrives and takes a chair to sit next to Wilhelm: because yeah, he's not an "alpha". I like that Madison and Felice don't take shit from August: when he starts mocking Simon and Sara (after Felice invites them to the movie night), they immediately tell him off. Then we see Vincent and Nils join August and start bothering the girls (throwing gums/candies at them) and they're not impressed: it's a very short scene but it highlights the fact that they're not interested in their stupid behavior. It's also the episode in which we see the difference between the girls and the boys when it comes to their relationships: we learn at the beginning that Madison and Nils hooked up during the party, but also that Nils was bragging about it and giving the experience a 9/10 while Madison admits doing it mostly because she was bored and not being at all into Nils. We also see August pursuing Felice who is not interested at all. Who run the world? Girls!!

Äter upp dig, Maxida Märak

Nu ska vi leka hela världen är våran Huh inga hinder är för svåra Flyger över alla jag är lätt som en fjäder Strike like a pro BDSM läder Good boys gone bad Alla ser rött King Kong gone mad Jag är blöt du är naken Okay so it's a bit hard to do this one because it's in Swedish and I'm definitely not there yet with this language ^^' From what I understand with the translated lyrics, it's quite a "sexy" song (with some violent undertones: being a wolf, being naked, being wet, good boys gone bad, etc.). The first sentences are about playing and how they have the whole world, which is interesting because it's the parents day at Hillerska and we are introduced to a lot of upper class people, people who have a lot of money and power. In this sense, they are the people who can use the world as a playground: they have the means for that. They're rich and powerful, they're above. The lyrics are also about getting angry though, "seeing red, King Kong gone mad": a little nod to Simon and Sara being pebbles that are gonna throw the whole machinery off? During the lunch, Sara is going to mess up Felice's family with the riding issue (and they're the richest family apparently!). Wilhelm is also gonna upset the order by not sitting at August's table but choosing instead the one table with a family that doesn't belong to Hillerska's upper class environment. So I guess yeah, things aren't going to go that well. And to top it off, August is gonna learn that his family is in fact broke! Oh, how the rich and mighty have fallen...

Hillerska Song

Hope and faith wherever we roam As we make our way back home Oh, we meet with open hearts Another one in Swedish but with the English subtitles directly in the show so it makes it easier to understand ^^ Simon and Wilhelm look SO happy and smiling and smitten in this scene 💜 I like the idea of making their "way back home" because they're not there yet, but they're getting there: being a safe space, being home for each other. And yeah in this scene they still have "open hearts", because Erik has not died yet, because the sex tape hasn't been made/released yet, because none of the awful stuff that is going to make them close in on themselves has happened yet. And Wilhelm is so cute and happy (and it's gonna become very rare to see him like that afterward) that this song deserves another picture ^^

The songs of Young Royals - part 1

[raincitygirl76]

I want to see Felice become a renowned pastry chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant. And then I want her to decide that restaurant work hours are too crazy for her, and open a bakery which specializes in intricate, beautiful, and above all delicious desserts and pastries. Ones that even women like her mom will eat occasionally, because they’re just so tempting. I also want to see Felice get into activism when she’s not running her successful bakery, and appall Smysan by not only attending protests but speaking out at them. Poppe will be outwardly disapproving of having raised a radical activist, but secretly a little proud on the inside of having raised a powerful black woman who takes no shit.

Thinking about Felice, the girl whose mother shamed her for her size and not being able to fit into the Lucia dress, wanting to be a chef.

Thinking about Felice reclaiming a relationship to and a love for food as part of her defiance of white western beauty standards

[heliza24]

Analyzing the Sex Scenes in Young Royals (Using Cinematic Language!)- Part 2

(You can read Part 1 here)

Since people seemed to like my first post breaking down the intimacy scenes in Young Royals (thank you all so much for reblogging!) I thought I would write you all a part 2. We've covered a lot of the Simon/Wilhelm scenes already, so this post is going to branch out to include some of the other characters. Writing the first post helped me pinpoint all of the techniques that really make the Simon/Wilhelm scenes special, and I think we can learn a lot about the creators' view of a pairing by looking at the ways in which those cinematic techniques are applied, or omitted, in non-Wilmon intimacy scenes.

But first, let's do one Wilmon scene, because I can't write a post that doesn't include them at all. Let's look at the fish naming scene in 1.5. I think it's one of the most special scenes in the series.

I really like how the needle drop song that's underscored the lead up to this scene (Wilhelm coming to Simon's house, the girls setting up for their sleep over at Manor House) climaxes and ends while Wilhelm's looking around Simon's room for the first time. There's something about it that captures the excitement and anxiety of a new partner seeing your space for the first time. I think you can tell that Simon is cognizant of how small his room must be compared to what Wilhelm is used to. But we can also see how happy Wilhelm is to learn about Simon by being in his space.

The space itself looks inviting and cozy (as Wilhelm says) because of how softly it's lit. I talk a lot about the wonderful golden light in these scenes, and this is probably the best example of it. The strongest light is coming from the fish tank, which helps turns their discussion about the fish into a symbol for their connection. (This symbol reverberates all the way into season 2; Simon refusing to tell Marcus the fish's names tells us all we need to know about their connection, or lack thereof.) The fishtank is also our way into the heightened sound mixing that's present in all of their intimate scenes. You can hear the filter buzz. It's so quiet and not something that you would normally notice. It really pulls you into the closeness of the scene.

I love the way the music comes in right when Wilhelm kisses Simon's neck. It's such a gentle melody, and I think we've heard pieces of it in their previous intimate scenes together. There's also something really interesting happening in the camera work here. It's not unusual for the cameras in Young Royals to be handheld, allowing for some natural movement in shots. But here the camera seems to almost float. As Simon lets himself get carried away by Wilhelm's touch, the camera almost seems to do the same. It moves with the characters, almost becoming part of the choreography of the scene. It really emphasizes how powerful Wilhelm and Simon's connection is.

Ok, now that we've reminded ourselves of the gold standard of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexiness that is Simon and Wilhelm together, let's compare it to a scene that is decidedly not any of those things: Felice and August in 1.3, when she goes to his room to hook up after Sara embarrasses her and Wilhelm rejects her at parents' weekend. The first thing I notice here is that this scene is much darker than any other intimacy scene in the show. (Literally and figuratively, you could say). There's no golden light here, and shadows fall over Felice's face especially, perhaps reflecting her dark state of mind. Unlike in the fish scene between Simon and Wilhelm, the camera itself isn't moving with the characters; instead it is still, dispassionately observing. I'm fairly sure that the music here is used in other places in the show (it's the track Sun After Rain on the season 1 soundtrack); in my mind this melody is associated with scenes in classes and corridors and groups of students. This emphasizes to me that this hookup is less about feeling and more about social standing; Felice is doing this explicitly to regain her footing after begin rejected, and August has always wanted Felice because she is high status. The music also continues into the next scene, where Simon packs his bag to stay overnight at Hillerska with Wilhelm. That continuation of music doesn't happen with any other sex scene, and it emphasizes how unspecial, how unelevated the scene between Felice and August is.

Let's stick with August for a minute, and examine how different his scene with Sara in 2.3 is to his scene with Felice. No matter how you feel about Sara and August in the long run, it's pretty clear to me that the show wants us to believe in their emotional and physical connection in this scene. All of the techniques in lighting, music, and sound that elevate the Simon/Wilhelm scenes (and that were missing in the August/Felice scene) are present here.

August playing innocent and saying he "just wants to talk" when Sara walks in always makes me laugh, because Sir! Your shirt is off and your room is bathed in golden sex light (tm)! But to be serious, I love the way his room is lit here. It looks cozy and inviting in a way that we haven't seen before. And it lets us see him in a whole new, tender light (once again, literal and figurative). I notice the sound shifting around the time August confesses that he feels like "the worst person in the world" and Sara comforts him. At this point in the scene you can hear the rustle of her clothes and the way her hand makes contact with his chest when she touches him. And then the dreamy music starts. This is a different melody than what we've heard in past scenes, but it has the same shimmery quality of the scoring in Simon and Wilhelm's interactions. There's a rising scale embedded in the melody, which makes it feel airy and hopeful. I love that these characters get to be a little silly together, which to me is always evidence of great chemistry. They fumble with the condom but they're laughing together, not at each other. They're working as a team. Sara is right under the golden lamplight for most of the scene and she looks radiant. I'm not fully sure what to make of August turning out the light part way through the scene. In some ways I feel like it amps up the intimacy, pulling us and the camera in even closer so we can see what's happening in the dark. But it could also foreshadow the ways in which the palace's offer is about to corrupt August and ruin the potential of their relationship.

Let's circle back to Felice and Wilhelm and see what happens when the show puts them together in 2.3. This scene is fascinating to me because of the layers of conflicting emotion going on. The lighting in this scene is so interesting! There is a source of golden light: the lamp near the head of Wilhelm's bed. But it doesn't illuminate the whole space. It mainly hits Felice and not Wilhelm. Unfortunately I don't think we get enough Felice development to really know what she's thinking in this scene. But my read of her is that there is at least a small part of her that is genuinely attracted to Wilhelm, even if her logical brain knows that they would be better off as friends. Regardless, I think her feelings in the scene are a lot more genuine than Wilhelm's, who is fully projecting his feelings about Simon onto her. So I think it's significant that she's lit and he's in relative darkness.

The music is high and anticipatory and bright, but after Wilhelm restarts the kiss after Felice stops him, there's a surging bass beat that adds a feeling of danger and uncertainty to the scene. On a blocking level, I think it's very significant that Wilhelm puts Felice into a very stereotypical heterosexual position here, with him on top and her on the bottom. This feels forced and wrong after the more fluid, queer give and take of the Simon/Wilhelm scenes we've seen. (It also really contradicts my personal read of the characters. There are two wolves inside of each of us and one of mine wants to know what would have happened if Felice had ended up on top instead and Henry hadn't interrupted. The other wolf feels like even suggesting something that isn't purely Wilhelm/Simon is blasphemy. I contain multitudes). The transition back into the "real world" when Henry knocks on the door isn't quite as stark as when Malin interrupts Simon and Wilhelm in season 1. The music fades rather than cuts off. I think that reflects the messiness of the way they are caught. That shot of Felice running down the corridor is so chaotic- she wriggles past Henry and cuts across an otherwise perfectly composed frame- and it really makes me feel for her. All of her conflicting feelings and shame are so palpable. One of my big wishes for season 3 is a fulfilling intimate scene for Felice, because I feel so sad about her encounters so far.

That's all I have for now! I hope you found the comparison between Wilmon and the other pairings illuminating. If you have additional thoughts about these scenes I would love to hear them!

(And a little PSA: If you enjoyed me talking about the sex scenes in Young Royals you might also enjoy me writing sex scenes for our Young Royals fic Heart and Homeland. Even though it's an AU we tried hard to capture the sacred tenderness that we love in the show, especially in the Simon and Wilhelm scenes.)

[youweremyversaillesatnight]

i’d like to talk a little about felice’s hair in both season one and season two (yes, including the comment from the housemistress).

we’ve talked this one to death but i’ve gone through every episode and there’s a lot. (i also may have gotten carried away and lost the plot a little)

for starters, in season one, no one says anything regarding hair or a dress code and i looked into lundsberg skola (people have said this is roughly the real life equivalent? i think?) and i couldn’t find a dress code on their website but in all of their photos, the girls have their hair down. i would assume this applies to non-white students as well, although i couldn’t find any pictures.

(taken from lundsberg skola website, skogshult dorm)

and in season one, the hillerska girls do too! maddie is the one who most often wears her hair up, and stella does half-up/half-down styles, but fredrika and sara typically wear their hair down, as do many of the other girls in the background.

even on parent’s day, arguably the most important school event in season one, felice’s hair is down, albeit pulled back.

during the formal dinner at the manor house, too, all the girls have their hair down except for maddie.

and, of course, everyone’s hair is down for lucia.

it’s interesting to me that when we see all of these influential parents, the majority of them wear their hair up, and yet the girls don’t follow suit. i don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, maybe a work dress code, or just different standards as girls/women age, but it does seem a little odd. hillerska is meant to prepare students for their futures as rich and influential individuals, so obviously there’s a higher standard for keeping appearance.

for felice, part of keeping appearance is straightening her hair, at least in season one. considering how her style changes in season two, i wonder if part of having her hair down all the time is showing off how much like everyone else she is (even if it isn’t true). she’s trying so hard to fit in and do what is expected of her in season one, and she’s almost hiding behind her hair a little bit. it might not be physically in her face, but straightening her hair is putting on armor that doesn’t quite fit.

in all of season one, the only time felice has her hair up is during riding, when all the girls have their hair up to keep it out of their faces and under their helmets. there is not a single moment outside of riding or coming back from riding that felice has her hair up. and the only difference between season one and season two is that felice is embracing her natural hair.

i do agree that it would have been nice to get more of felice’s individual storyline in season two, but i’m still holding out hope for season three. in any case, the very first time we see felice in season two, she’s at a salon (with other black women - i saw someone say black-owned as well, which would make sense) getting her hair done.

in season two, though, felice actually wears her hair up far more than in season one. in fact, her hair is up almost all the time. i’m not sure whether this is her choice or not. now that she isn’t hiding behind her hair, there’s no reason to keep it down all the time, but the change still makes me wonder if maybe she's been called out for it more than just the one time we see, since her hair is down for the choir performance/first day of class-

-and not much after that-

-until episode four (and the fact that she wears her natural hair for the ball? so much to say about that that i just don’t have the words for).

and then in episodes five and six-

-her hair is mostly down again. with all the drama in the last two episodes with sara, i wouldn’t be surprised if she’s hiding a little bit and (even if she isn’t straightening her hair) going back to old coping mechanisms by trying to treat her hair like she did before. of course, it could also just be that having her hair up is more comfortable now, or that it gets in her face more if it’s down. there might not be some big explanation. anyway, i can’t imagine that the staff are being more lenient about rules, with the jubilee coming up, so maybe there isn’t a rule at all? we’ll come back to that.

the exception, of course, is breakfast in 205, when the housemistress reminds felice to put her hair up.

i originally assumed that stella put her hair up as well even though she didn't get in trouble because she was, as established by fredrika, still drunk from the night before and also not entirely paying attention. however, considering everyone else has their hair up as well (except for maddie? why? idk) i'm pretty sure i assumed wrong.

now (backing up a bit), interestingly, in the formal dining scene in 202 (and all the other meals in season two), all the girls have their hair up, including felice. this is a direct contrast to season one, where they all have their hair down, as mentioned above. granted, this dinner looks less like a performance than the dinner in season one, but sara is still wearing her gifted dress, so i assume it’s more formal than a standard meal.

with all those things put together, i would almost wonder if hillerska changed their dress code. i can't imagine they would do that halfway through the year (and the fact that many girls still have their hair down in various situations, like the choir performances and during classes makes it seem unlikely), but they might have. lending credence to this is both sara and fredrika putting their hair up at breakfast, and then felice and stella later, but i'm still not entirely sure.

and, of course, whatever restrictions hillerska may or may not have regarding the girls’ hair, it clearly doesn’t include dye, considering stella’s purple bangs (and an extra in season one, i think?)

it definitely seems like there’s a double standard or changing expectation here, especially from season one to season two. if hillerska (or just the manor house) changed their dress code, especially in the middle of the year, there would have to be a reason. and as much as i hate to say it, felice is the only one who gets in trouble and the only one whose hair changes drastically. and given the way felice and alexander are treated in the show, it wouldn’t be entirely out of the realm of possibility that they would change the dress code because they don’t like her hair. i hope it isn’t that, but again, i don’t know. i would love more information on all of this in season three, but even if felice’s storyline gets more time, i don’t know that this specific bit will.

if there is a requirement for the girls' hair at all, changed or not, my best guess would be that it is specific to the manor house and most likely is only in effect during meals/house gatherings and that different activities and the school as a whole have their own uniforms and preferences that are not necessarily the same.

[raincitygirl76]

I’m very sad about the fact that Felice and Sara’s friendship went down the drain at the end of S2. Because I think in many ways their friendship was good for both of them. I absolutely don’t blame Felice for her actions in 2.06. But it wasn’t just Simon and Sara’s sibling relationship and August and Sara’s romance that got torpedoed in the shooting range scene. It was also Felice and Sara’s relationship.

And I know this show is essentially a romance between two boys. But I love the way YR shows female friendship with the supporting characters. You can really tell that most of the writers and directors are women.

♥️Felice and Sara ♥️ in s02 of Young Royals

[retrieve-the-kraken]

no I am not confused per your responder. I am black and have had tracks sewn in many times and I can tell you Felice’s hair is not natural 🙄( the rolling eyes is for your responder not you)

What she has is tracks sewn in to her scalp (im guessing real hair, probably I’m guessing Felice is bougie) to add volume and curls. This is not natural hair LMAO Her “natural” hair would look a lot different. This is just as high maintenance as straightening trust me and maybe more so. I like the idea that she is rebelling against her mom by going to curly hair but it has nothing to do with natural hair. I get why people are confused because she says she straightens her hair etc but weaves and tracks are not natural hair and people who have had them can attest . Thanks for listening unlike your responders

Hi anon, thank you for getting back to me. Also thank you to those who responded on the original ask.

Okay, I really want to understand this. It would help me a lot to have a visual explanation, because I am a visual learner, so I'll probably research this obsessively later on Youtube... but in the meantime I'm gonna report on what I understood from these responses:

Tracks are more like extensions, like sections that are sewn to the scalp, and weaves are more like a full head of hair. Is that correct?

Real hair weaves and tracks are expensive, but Felice can totally afford that.

I get now that what we see is not Felice's natural hair because she's having tracks sewn in (I thought we were seeing her natural hair but she was having sections added for volume and structure). But my question is: are the tracks that she's getting supposed to look sort of like what her real hair would look like? Or at least closer? Is that what she's going for? Because that's more or less what I meant by saying that she's embracing her natural hair, although perhaps I shouldn't have phrased it like that... and I might be wrong... (I do not, after all, know what Felice's natural hair looks like, but I totally thought I did).

I totally agree about her rebelling against her mum by going for a curly hair look, even if it requires more maintenance than continuing to straighten her hair.

Does this mean that Felice could have instead worked to get her hair back to its natural texture? Help it recover from the damage from straightening? Or is that more time-consuming and more high-maintenance than getting tracks?

Do tracks and weaves still require protective hairstyles? And/or other things to keep the structure and volume? We see on the show that Felice sleeps with a band/scarf (of which I do not know the purpose), but to my understanding people with curly hair usually wear a bonnet or a headscarf to bed to cover and protect the hair.

Thank you anon for all the info. I'm gonna go do my research now, and watch back the Netflix Nordic video with the hair and makeup department.

[raincitygirl76]

A friend linked to this Felice and Sara edit on TikTok, and it’s brilliantly done. Even though I’m an old crone who doesn’t get TikTok. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be Sara having a crush on Felice or Sara wanting to be just like Felice. But either way, the OP nailed it.

[raincitygirl76]

Felice and Wilhelm’s friendship was pretty lopsided in S2. During the 15 or 16 month wait, I wistfully hoped that in S3, he would be a supportive friend to her in return with her own troubles. Didn’t reallyhappen. Oh well.

Poor Felice. I’m glad she got a happy ending, and I’m glad she found her voice, but she had a really shitty S3 beforehand.

At least Wilhelm went to the white party with her to make her happy. That’s a good thing.

She a ride or die fr

[raincitygirl76]

I disagree on loving the ending, but I do love this post, so I’m Reblogging it.

The more I sit with S3 of Young Royals, the more I love it. I feel like it gave us the revolution we were promised but it was personal instead of systematic, and that's okay.

Sometimes you can't burn down everything, some systems are too entrenched to change overnight. But even so you can choose to change yourself, and you can change the people around you, and you can learn and listen and grow. You can choose to put yourself first when you're up against an enemy that's too big to fight and the fight is making you lose sight of who you are. You can choose to walk away from the toxic situation. You can choose the friends that help you grow over the friends that hold you back. You can choose yourself and your friends and your family over the person you have romantic feelings for. And those are all revolutions in their own way.

Hillerska closes, ending the cycle of bullying and abuse. But the elite will fight to open it again because of course they will. That's how it works. The rich and powerful will always cling on by their fingernails to keep the status quo that works for them. (As Terry Pratchett put it, they'll "do what the aristocracy have always done, which is trim sails and survive.") But even if it does re-open, that doesn't undo all the good done by closing it, because things will never be exactly the same again. The school inspectorate will be breathing down their necks, they'd probably have to replace all of the board and most of the staff to re-open, and a few parents at least will re-consider sending their own kids there. Remember how Henry said the school was having problems finding students even before all of this happened? The old regime can't hold.

The monarchy wobbles, but will survive - or will it? Like the school, it's run into big problems. The monarch doesn't look like she wants to do this any more. Her consort is, let's be honest, about as much use as a jelly pickaxe. The only heir they have left is a teenage sex offender with an eating disorder and a pill addiction. So maybe it too is on its way out. Or maybe, like the school, they'll fight to save the institution at all costs, and probably they'll succeed; but something fundamental has shifted. A seed has been planted.

I just really like all the loose ends and unanswered questions tbh. I know it didn't work for some people, which is fair enough! But it really worked for me, because it feels realistic. That's life. This is a small snapshot of 9 or 10 months or so in the lives of a bunch of teenagers. Of course they're not going to have all their issues sorted out yet. Some won't have even realised what their issues are yet (cough, August).

But what this ending gives us is some small, personal revolutions in the present and hope for the future. (For the characters we love, anyway. August is a bit screwed. Yay!) And I think that's beautiful.

I don't think S3 was perfect by any means. There's things I could nitpick if I really wanted to (#JusticeForMaddie). But I just don't want to? Because everything we did get I love to bits, and that's more than enough for me.