#initiation young royals

[raincitygirl76]

For anyone getting excited over Hillerska being shut down by the school inspectorate, hold your glee. Lundsberg Skola is the Swedish boarding school Hillerska seems to based on. After years and years of warnings and fines re bullying and hazing, Lundsbergs was shut down by the school inspectorate on August 28, 2013.

It was supposed to stay shut down for a minimum of 6 months. Instead the school hired expensive lawyers, appealed, and were allowed to reopen on September 6, 2013. So it only took 9 days before they found a loophole. One can assume Hillerska will do likewise and everybody (except the third years) will be back in class in the second half of August when the new school year starts.

At Lundsbergs, the headmaster was fired and the entire board of governors resigned after the shut down. But they soon regrouped, hired a new headmaster, appointed new alumni and parents to the board, and debuted a shiny new anti-bullying policy. Whether it actually worked is unlikely. But the parents are mostly alumni themselves. They would’ve gone through the same brutal hazings and wouldn’t think they’d be such a big deal.

Here’s the Wikipedia page, scroll down to the Controversy section for the details on the abuse and bullying that the school was turning a blind eye to. The final investigation, the one that triggered the (temporary) shutdown, was when the younger boys were burned with hot irons by older boys at an initiation. One boy was burned so badly he needed to be hospitalized. The hospital called the local police, who called the school inspectorate. Note: that boy’s parents were not the ones to notify either the police or the school inspectorate.

Also scroll down to the Alumni section for a look at all the rich, influential and famous people (including multiple Swedish royals across many generations) who went there.

[frogprinsen]

So in Season 1, during the intimate scene, we saw more than we need to because it was showcasing how we are invading their privacy by watching.

In Season 2, it faded to black after they closed the curtains because this moment is only for them and no one else should be able to watch them now.

Following this, I honestly expected that they wouldn’t have shown us more than they did in season 1 cause they did it before with a purpose BUT I WAS WRONG.

Now that I think about it, it’s completely fitting that they showed is these scenes explicitly and not just implied some of the things happening like in previous seasons. I thought it would’ve been for no reason to do so anymore but I completely went over the fact that this is how it is. THEY ARE PUBLIC NOW. Everything they do, there are people watching. They no longer have actual privacy, everyone will be able to see them and make comments and assumptions whether they want to or not.

And I think it’s just amazing how these intimate scenes are written based on the stages of their relationship.

[billfarrah]

People love to clown on Wille for not having any “game” when it comes to Simon and saying dorky things like, “I got a haircut”, but in reality it’s this type of game or lack thereof that Simon is so attracted to - Wille’s earnest, shameless, and completely unarmoured interest in him. There’s no playing hard to get with Wille - so many people are too scared to be vulnerable to show the full extent of their interest out of fear of making a fool out of himself, but Wille continuously puts himself out there, letting Simon know how much he likes him and is into him and desires him, and I think Simon is actually really, really into that.

[mintycurry]

I personally love what they did with August's storyline. Do I think he deserves prison for leaking the video? Yes. Do I think his prison would've been too comfortable? Also yes.

The way they chose to give him everything he wants is as close to a fair punishment that he could ever receive. People like him always gets what they want. Only this time, what he wants is only going to make him miserable. Enjoy your throne, August. You deserve it.

[raincitygirl76]

Felice Ehrencrona is a QUEEN!!!

Also great tags by @tooindecisivetopickaurl Excellent point that, as someone who is at or near the top of the social hierarchy, Felice is in a good position to challenge tradition. Sara is an outsider striving to be accepted by her new friends, so she never considers not following the initiation tradition.

And more great tags by @prncewilhelm, @justanotherhyperfixation, and @willeandsimme

THIS

When Felice said this I got filled with so much warmth, the fact that she reassured Sara that she didn't need to do this if she didn't want to or felt uncomfortable

[purplewilmon]

First kisses

[swaldblues]

One of the most heartbreaking things to me this season has been how through the revelations about him participating in the cruel initiation culture, Erik has in a way died a second time for Wille 😭

[raincitygirl76]

Speaking as of March 17, the day before 3.06 drops, I don't see August's arc in 3.01 to 3.05 as a redemption arc. Yeah, he's done one more genuinely nice thing in his life than before S3: for his third years, walking back from the homophobic sexual degradation that he experienced in his own initiation as a first year. Go him.

That's a good thing he's done, no question. But he still organized terrifying initiations (even if they weren't quite as bad as his own), he still got booze from Simon for the initiation party that he'd never had any intention of paying for.

August also allowed his lawyer to make that outrageous statement in 3.01 denying that the video was defamatory. The only reason he's not in jail awaiting trial on CP charges is because he has money and connections to make his criminal act disappear. That's not original, about the money and connections, but I forget who said it first. @unfortunate17 or @billfarrah , maybe... He was also smug rather than penitent while everybody was signing the paperwork.

Also, August persists in walking all over Sara's boundaries. He visits her at Micke's without warning, and doesn't apologize for the position he put her in. He uses that Conversation to remind her that she and he have similar dads, except Micke is alive and Carl Johan is dead. He's trying to play on Sara's sympathy. Even though the whole reason she feels she has to live with Micke is because of august's past bad actions.

And he repeatedly defies her wishes about not wanting to read his first year letter. He follows her out to the dumpster and insists on reading it to her to tug on her heartstrings. Even after she was clear she didn't want to read it and gave it back to him.

Now, was August being manipulative in S3 on purpose? No. But he and Sara aren't an example of a healthy relationship just because in S3 Wilhelm and Simon have an unhealthy relationship. I know I shouldn't use the word healthy, but at the moment I can't think of a suitable synonym.

So yeah, now he's done exactly two nice things in his life that we know of:

Buying Sara for Rousseau

Dialling back the sexual intimidation on the Forest Ridge initiations when he was a third year. Although the initiations August presided over were no walk in the park, so let's not give him too much credit.

I'm not saying he's a soulless monster. He's only 18 going on 19, he has time to improve before we write him off altogether. But he has STILL never apologized to Simon and Wilhelm for the sexual violation he inflicted on them. As soon as the NDA was safely signed, his own bad actions regarding the video were in August's rear view mirror.

So yeah, he listened to Boris and he tried to do a nice thing or two. But he’s still August.

[raincitygirl76]

I still think Erik wouldn’t have encouraged August to go easy on Wille. That’s how hazing culture perpetuates itself, because past victims convince themselves it wasn’t so bad. All because in future they get to make younger kids suffer in their turn.

That said, I absolutely agree with @coffeeandsadbooks and @cupofteainme on the other stuff. The Erik and August interactions in 1.01 are all unambiguously positive. August is absolutely delighted Erik is at Hillerska, there is not a single shadow of a doubt that August thinks Erik is the greatest person on the planet (second only to August himself, of course).

August displays zero insecurity or worry around Erik, he is simply happy. August’s reaction is not one of someone who’s been bullied meeting their tormentor again. Which inclines me to believe that Lisa didn’t think up the S3 backstory for Erik or August’s backstory as a bullied underclassman until the interlude between S2 and S3. There is no subtext, no hint of a cloud in the sky in Erik and August’s interactions.

So the scenes of Erik at Hillerska don't make sense to me anymore.

Before S3, he was perceived by a half of the fandom as a Protective Older Brother, and for a good reason. Erik really tried to help Wilhelm, even though he himself didn't have the right answers for the questions Wilhelm was asking.

Back to S1E1. Why did Erik look so happy? Didn't he realize that his little brother was about to go through Forest Ridge initiation? Did he know that Forest Ridge boys excluded SA from the ritual? Or did he consider that experience necessary for Wille? Or was he sure that the students wouldn't do to Wille the same thing Erik did to them? If so, why? August was SAed, and he was a member of the royal family. Why didn't this perspective bother Erik at all?

Considering that it all would be extremely easy to resolve with one short scene, why didn't the creators do it? Erik could simply find a moment to have one-on-one talk with August to tell him "Don't do anything to Wille" or some version of this phrase. It would have let the audience know that something dark was happening in Hillerska and then The Erik Revelation wouldn't come as a complete shock.

Foreshadowing is an essential part of good storytelling. Things just can't come out of nowhere. Was it simply a case of bad writing? Or The Erik Revelation wasn't invented until S2 was shot, that's why there are no clues for it?

[allthefakepeople]

it's the way that

in the car scene you can see wille start to pull on his collar and fall back into anxious habits and he seems to realize what he's doing and when the queen next brings up becoming king in the following conversation, that is when he begins to have his honest conversation with her

[raincitygirl76]

[books-books-smolderinglooks]

Will never be over the way Wille looks at Simon, from the beginning absolutely smitten for him. 💜❤️

[enjoythesilentworld]

i am actually a little worried about Wille now that all the crown and Simon and scandal mess is (mostly) over. he has a second to breathe, he has simon, and that is beautiful. BUT

but. he never got to grieve his brother, not really. now i'm thinking about the first time he just has one of those days that's already kinda hard for no reason, but now he has time to think about it. he can sit in that grief now. he's no longer distracted by all the other things. i hope he lets himself feel it but i also hope someone is there with him when it comes.

[hidekomoon]

malte gardinger’s performance is incredible

[hergrandplan]

the urge. to post chapter 4 on October 18th. for reasons only known to me. is so strong but i dont think i can let y'all wait that long (i mean i dont want to make any promises on how long it will take so it might be october 18th but im not gonna specifically wait until then if I finish it earlier)

[morganaspendragonss]

and like, we need to remember that before he found out about the initiation, wille was going around telling everyone who would listen how perfect erik was. i definitely agree his parents shouldn’t have gone on and on about how perfect he was at wille’s birthday dinner but it hasn’t even been a year since he died. and, like ludwig said, it’s so hard to remember someone’s weaknesses and flaws after they’re gone.