#young royals thoughts

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Okay, so I’ve finished my taxes, and I’m basically out of the woods with some overwhelming work stuff, and everything turned out well with a medical situation with my mum, but I am still very tired, but I also cannot keep going without putting my preliminary thoughts on my very first viewing of season 3 down on a post…

It seems my worst characterization so far is assuming that these two idiots would learn to communicate. They haven’t, they’re stupid teenagers, they’re really bad at it, they get mad at each other for everything, and they don’t listen. And that needs to change soon if we want Wilmon endgame.

Boris, do you do couples therapy? PLEASE HELP THEM.

I think a big reason Wilhelm lashes out, besides getting caught up in his own head, is the fact that he’s also constantly afraid of saying the wrong thing and pissing Simon off. But the stakes for Simon are clearly higher. Wilhelm really needs to learn to communicate, but he’s dragging a whole life of terrible communication and zero support, so HOW is he supposed to learn, if he naturally feels afraid to open up?

It shows in the way he reacts to learning about Erik. Simon might be right, and Erik maybe just gave in to peer pressure, like everyone else in that school (which we see over and over again, like with the strike, and that guy who just repeats ‘yeah hilarious’ when Vincent tells him, and the graduation rituals and basically everything that everyone does at that fucking school), and maybe he wasn’t particularly homophobic. Or maybe he was, but if he had found out about Wilhelm maybe he would have changed his views (after all he was a stupid kid too)… But how would Wilhelm know? Erik is dead, there’s no way of asking him, confronting him about it. And people still call him perfect, and still compare him to his brother.

It must be so traumatizing to have held this person in your head as the one you trusted for everything, the one who would support you most, the one who probably knew you better than anyone else, who would love you and be there for you no matter what, and it turns out that he might not have accepted you at all. And just like that Wille is all alone and angry and afraid again.

(This is why it’s extra cruel that August posted that fucking video, especially how premeditated it was to share it over the whole world, but also then tell Wilhelm that his brother was possibly a homophobe. It doesn’t matter that he went through that horrible hazing, it doesn’t matter that he put a stop to it, and it doesn’t matter that he’s a stupid kid too, the fact that he did THAT to someone, anyone, is awful and he should have known better.)

So that scene in season 1 when Erik teases Wilhelm about his crush potentially changes completely. Maybe he didn’t suspect anything, maybe it was just a coincidence that he never used any pronouns…

And that makes it even more traumatizing that his parents still think of Erik as the figure of perfection, and Wilhelm, who is queer and scandalous and rebellious, is the real thorn on their side. Fucking Ludvig saying that Erik really was perfect, that he didn’t have “that darkness inside of him”, to his surviving son… But for all we know maybe Erik’s death was not accidental, maybe he did have “a darkness” inside of him.

On the other hand, that “darkness” doesn’t excuse Kristina at all. I am convinced that this depression/burnout that she’s going through is absolute bullshit. Sure, she might be depressed, she’s still grieving her “perfect” heir, and she’s going through a lot. But it’s like Wilhelm says, how convenient that she shuts down and breaks down now. She wasn’t like this when the video happened, because she could still cover it up. And she wasn’t like this when Wilhelm called her to scream that he was going to abdicate, because she could still drag him out of Hillerska. It was only when he told the whole world, and there was no covering it up anymore, that she suddenly became fragile with grief.

And even if it were true, even if she’s going through a severe depression or burnout, as a result of everything that’s happened, that doesn’t excuse her previous lies and manipulations. And it makes the fact that she still really wants Wille to become her successor, despite knowing what it could do to him, despite knowing that he’s already extremely anxious and that he does not know how to manage his own emotions, is evil.

(And even if she wants August to be the backup too, knowing how he is, knowing his own family history, and how it could affect him too, is evil too.) MORE on this later.

Kristina uses her breakdowns to emotionally manipulate Wille into trying to do his best to be the perfect crown prince, now indirectly through Farima and Ludvig. And Wille’s so concerned with her and her fragility that it affects his relationship with Simon. Because he’s anxious about the possible imminence of having to take over, of being the new monarch, when he can barely control his own feelings, when he just wants to enjoy his first relationship and just be in love.

Of course he made things worse for himself and Simon when he publicly revealed their relationship, but we can understand where that’s coming from. He didn’t want to hide anymore, he didn’t want to not be able to be himself anymore, not be able to be with the boy he loves. But they’re still forced to hide, because people start hating on Simon, because people won’t stop talking about them (as much as I HATED Wille shushing Simon, I also understood that he didn’t want anyone to hear their argument, because he didn’t want to give people more reason to talk about them, but also there’s probably a lot of ‘keeping up appearances’ embedded in his mind), because they are very different and almost incompatible for many reasons, and because being the crown prince means conforming to a lot of things (no tattoos, no cutting your hair shorter than, no nail polish, no expressing political opinions, etc etc), and so he has to remove the nail polish and he doesn’t want his foundation to be geared toward LGBTQIA+ people or mental health issues… He can’t express himself, he can’t be himself, because what he is or who he is for real is not compatible with his role or what is expected of him… he’s so repressed still.

(The whole nail polish scene, and the scene where Simon suggests that Wille’s foundation could be geared toward LGBTQIA+ youth, reminded me a little of Isak in SKAM saying that he wasn’t just going to start marching in the Pride parade or wearing makeup. Wille is not necessarily about identity expression, or at least he doesn’t think that he should be. He just wants to be himself, and be with the boy he loves, and that’s it).

As for Simon, he can do no wrong, and I absolutely agree with everything he says and does, but he has always been very idealistic, and he does come across as a little more naïve than I expected, especially with the whole social media comments and his song. It wasn’t the first time he experienced it, because things went south for him when he appeared on the video, so for him now to think that people are magically not going to be cruel.

But I understand how much he’s sacrificing for Wille, and Wille not appreciating it at all must sting. Just like he points out that he didn’t have contact with Micke for years, for Sara’s sake, and suddenly she’s living with him… that fucking hurt. Simon has always been very opinionated and outspoken, and he’s very authentically and proudly himself, but he’s also always molded himself to what other people need, like being a parented child and taking on too much in the house to relieve Linda, and taking care of Sara, and worrying about his father, and letting himself be manipulated by Marcus, and now basically giving up a lot of himself to be with Wille. And as a result Linda treats him like he’s a drug addict, and Sara goes to the father she didn’t want to have contact with, and Marcus talks shit about him to the press, and Wille doesn’t listen to him…

Sara saw the light (sort of), so maybe hopefully Wille will too. More on that later too.

Anyway, it would have been nice for someone from the royal court to sit Simon down and explain to him what being the boyfriend of a royal involves, so that Wille doesn’t have to figure out how to tell him all these difficult things himself. Wille is so used to some of these things, they seem so obvious to him, that he might not immediately think of how weird or outlandish it might seem to Simon. (THat scene with the cake, I mean… it was funny in a way, but I wonder how many terrifying thoughts crossed Simon’s mind, the obvious “wait what??? did I just eat poison???” but also “wait what??? someone’s trying to poison my boyfriend????” and “there are kids here, have they also accidentally been poisoned????”).

I really really hope that, since he’s being forced to go to Boris with August, that Wille will think about going with Simon, and trying to work things out. They need to be able to say all these things to each other, get on the same page.

More importantly, I need a callback to what Boris said to him in season 2, about the expectations of his family, about being able to make his own choices. Which Wille internalized beautifully with that speech to Simon outside his house.

Anyway, this is already very long. Moving on to more general thoughts:

- I did think that the fact that they sort of resolved the whole issue with the police report and the drugs felt a little anticlimactic. It was built up and built up and the whole season 2 finale was about that, and we had a cliffhanger and everything, and then… bye. I wonder if it will come back (more on that later).

- And for that matter, Alexander just became a background character. Did he even have any lines? I could barely spot him.

- August telling Wilhelm in front of everyone at the table that he’s sure Wille will fuck up on his own… rich.

- Also Stella and Rosh was sort of hinted at, it happened in a blink, and then Fredrika was… jealous? Confused? Homophobic? All of the above? But then… NOTHING. Stella was even missing in the last episode, because she was “sick”… (scheduling conflicts for Felicia? Actually sick?)

- I think it’s interesting that Sara preached and preached to Simon about giving people a second chance, including their dad, and then she… goes and does it? It wasn’t the first time she did, she was with August despite the awful thing he did. And then she goes and… gives August ANOTHER chance????

- Someone needs to tell Sara that she needs to stop getting wtih August, because every time they get together somehow, Wilmon go south… It seems these two couples cannot exist simultaneously…

- So I still have to rewatch, but… is August then in the middle of selling his father’s estate to pay Simon? Are any of his friends aware of this?

- I have a cultural question: what was the whole deal about travelling to the US? I mean, I thought they were asking if these kids have never travelled abroad, but they mentioned the US specifically, several times… Is that a thing in Sweden, traveling to the US? Not any other part of Europe? Not Asia? Just wondering. Made me curious.

- Still waiting for this season’s Elias song… just one episode left… If we don’t get one, or a callback to Revolution, I might claw my face off…

- Nils repeating that maybe Wille would have been better off with someone from the inner circle. Seriously, Nils, who do you mean? WHO? Who could you be referring to? Hmm?

- Something else about Nils… a part of me really wished that Wille would have asked Nils for confirmation on the Erik thing. Wille obviously doesn’t want to believe it at first, but then he does, and hearing it from August makes it even worse, so maybe hearing it from someone like Nils would be the final confirmation that he would need, that his brother was the worst. On the other hand, for him to ask Nils to confirm something like that, as a gay, and possibly hearing what happened to him as a result of it… that would have probably made it even worse.

- Really hate that Marcus was mentioned, that he came back to haunt Simon in a way, even if it was minimal. But props to Simon for not rising to the bait in that moment.

- Simon, my love, i understand that you’re upset and heartbroken, but… it would have been nice if you tried to get Wille to talk to you one last time, before breaking up with him on his birthday… especially seeing everything he’s going through. Not that your feelings are any less important than his, of course, but… are you trying to get him to jump out the window????

-Eternally saddened by the disappearance of the orange sweater. Eternally saddened by the fact that Wilhelm did not set foot in or around Simon’s house this season. Although who knows, still one episode left…

Things that I liked most:

- Seriously the chemistry between Edvin and Omar is OFF THE CHARTS. The intimacy coordinator this season was very good.

- Especially that sex scene. Not just because it makes me immensely happy when my favorite ship fucks, because holy shit that was hot, but also because there’s a whole theme around all the hate mail and messages and classism and homophobia and toxic masculinity that Simon is a target of, especially being Latino, whilst Wille, being white and privileged and high class and the heir to the throne, is probably seen as the “man” of the relationship (especially since in the video he’s also the one “in control” whilst Simon is the receiver), so it’s very VERY satisfying to see that they are both top and bottom at times, and they both equally enjoy it.

- Also the use of choir music during the sex scene, giving it a very holy feel, much like Elias’s Holy playing when they have sex again in season 2… seriously I NEED my Elias song this season or I WILL START A REVOLUTION.

- At first I was annoyed at the whole “school possibly closing” plotline, because I thought it was unneeded. Or that maybe it would play a bigger role in the whole video-drugs controversy. But the truth is that it was really good, how it highlighted these kids’ privilege and the absurdity of wanting to cover things up and uphold traditions, and it also worked wonderfully to highlight the divide between Simon and Wille. As Simon says to Wille, he only takes a stand when he has nothing to lose.

- Felice. Felice this whole season was magnificent. Her whole breakdown over the end of her friendship with Sara, showing how truly important it was to her. And Madison saying that sometimes breaking up with a friend is worse than getting dumped, and I AGREE SO MUCH. But then I also think she loses her sense of self, because despite being popular and beautiful, she still gets used and treated badly, by August (obviously), but also by Wille (the kiss), and worst of all by Sara (who in a way used her for her horse, but also for the clout). And in the meantime, she’s treated differently than the other students for being one of the few black girls, and she gets singled out for her hair… and yet, the school is using her to make themselves look good. And now she decides to give Sara a second chance, because she really missed her, because it really hurt to lose that friend, and Sara goes and… does that…

- One of my favorite things about Simon is how he is proof that just because you’re gay doesn’t mean that you have flawless fashion sense. And i can’t help but wonder how fashion and style icon/ELLE’s Best Dressed Man/OMR Beauty founder Omar feels about Simon’s fashion choices. Never change, Simon, never change.

- Vincent was every bit of the tremendous asshole that I hoped he’d be this season. Did not disappoint. I wanted to punch him in the face every time he opened his mouth. Marvellous.

- I’m happy that we got more Madison, but still not enough. Still, iconic. Forever one of my favorite characters.

- I don’t know what to say about Sara and Micke. Just maybe that, when he played that song in the car, even before they started singing, i just knew “oh fuck, it’s all going to shit soon…” I guess Sara felt lost enough that she was suddenly willing to give him a second chance. And the whole “is that going to happen to me?” bit really made me sad. That she understands that mental health and mental illness is unfortunately many times hereditary, and worries that she might become just like him… But despite not being entirely like him, with addiction problems and such, she was still unreliable like him, she did bad things to her family like he did… I was rooting for you, Micke, we were all rooting for you.

- I feel that August’s love for status and for the monarchy might be starting to fray at the edges. First with the fact that he was reminded of his own traumatizing initiation, and reminded of how the crown prince, his cousin and friend and idol, himself was part of that. Second with the fact that Simon points out that he might have an eating disorder, how he would probably not fare any better than the queen if he were in such a stressful position as crown prince or king, how difficult it is for him to handle stress and anxiety. And third with seeing how it affects Wille and Simon and realizing that something similar might still happen to him and Sara. And the fact that he reveals to Sara why he is the way he is, that he lets his guard down with her, might point to even more growth (even though I hate that Sara sort of gave him a “second chance” again). Also I feel the reality of how they, the Royal Court, would control his life is finally sinking in. Hopefully he will also soon realize that they also use him as a manipulation tool. So maybe he won’t let himself be manipulated by them much longer.

- I loved Wille’s ultimate outburst at his mother and father, i love that he told them everything they needed to hear, about their emotional abuse, their neglect. Unfortunately they still refused to acknowledge how terrible parents they have been, and walked off, instead of trying to resolve it. So Wille throwing around the gifts, as impulsive and tantrum-ish it might come across, makes perfect sense. He tries to talk and gets nothing in return. If he’s repressed it’s bad, but if he expresses himself then nothing happens either.

- And I love that Simon got to see what Wille is really dealing with. As privileged as he might be, he’s still lacking the most important things: unconditional support and love. No amount of money or status can make it better, and Wille is broken. The only thing is that, Simon saw how broken Wille was over the death of his brother, whom he loved very much, but I don’t think he quite grasps the gravity of Wille learning that maybe that beloved brother wouldn’t have been so cool with him, because he has never had to deal with a parent or sibling rejecting him for his sexuality. It’s something very different to be rejected by society at large than it is to be rejected by your own family, and not everyone has the emotional strength to deal with that. So for Wille’s parents to still like his potentially homophobic dead brother more than him, is heart-wrenching. But I don’t think Simon really gets that because he’s probably not surprised that Erik might have been like that, because in his eyes those privileged kids in that school (except obviously Wille, and Felice and Madison, who is asking about the non-binaries) are probably all massive homophobes.

- Despite this, I love that Simon sets boundaries nonetheless. I mean, it hurt like fucking hell for him to tell Wille, on his fucking birthday, that maybe they shouldn’t be together. But just because Wille is hurting doesn’t mean that Simon has not also been hurting too. And if they can’t comfort each other, and try to support each other when they both obviously most need it, then maybe they’re just not going to work. And it took a lot of guts for Simon to bring it up in that moment, in Wille’s bed, in the palace, where he’s basically trapped, with nowhere to go, no way to get away (I doubt he called Linda in the middle of the night to come pick him up more than two hours away in Stockholm).

My hopes for the final episode (I don’t think I have any predictions other than, open ending or not, Wilmon will be endgame and there will be a revolution, I just don’t know how):

- Wilmon talk. An actual, healthy, heartfelt talk. A reconciliation for the ages.

- That the fucking school will close and August won’t be able to graduate, and he’ll realize that maybe he shouldn’t have “lived for that school”, as Erik once put it.

- That Wille will realize that, if Erik was not the person he thought he was, then maybe he no longer has to live up to his legacy anymore. @foreverunraveling pointed out how, now that the big Erik revelation is confirmed, then maybe the queen’s trump card to manipulate Wille into being the ideal crown prince is gone. Wille doesn’t care about the monarchy really, but he did care about not disappointing his brother, the “perfect crown prince”, and now we know that he was far from perfect. Erik lived a double life, as Wille points out, there was “public Erik” or crown prince Erik, and there was “private Erik”, or the real Erik (or so Wille thought, now we know there was a “secret Erik” which was the real Erik) and Wille struggles so much with the idea of having to split himself in two, . Wille cannot live a double life, he withers away when he has to hide himself, and now he gets the opportunity to leave that stifling life behind, and blossom.

- That Simon will get a fucking break. I hate that his whole life was turned upside down from the moment the video was leaked, and it’s just never going to be the same, whether he stays with Wille or not, he’ll always be the boy from the crown prince sex tape, he’ll always be the crown prince’s ex, or the crown prince’s boyfriend. But I want some positive feedback for him, someone bigger than the woman and the little boy wanting a selfie. I want him to have his own fanclub or something. Maybe that’s too idealistic…? (I may be imagining something like that scene in Red White and Royal Blue, when they realize that there’s a whole crowd outside the palace all excited to the the Prince and his First son boyfriend… one can dream).

- I want whatever Felice said during the interview to be taken seriously, and for her to stop doubting herself.

- I want a genuine apology from August.

- Also one from Kristina.

- I get the feeling that the fact that August leaked the video might still come out publicly, what with the whole school issue. And in that case, I would like for it to be Simon might to do it, tossing the money from the settlement in his face. It looks like Simon still feels guilty about accepting it, especially when he chided Wille about his privilege and Wille (figuratively) threw the money back in his face. What if Simon does it literally?

- I really wanna know what’s going to happen between Felice and Sara now. The outlook is not good.

- Is it too much to ask to know what’s going on between Stella and Fredrika?

- Most importantly, is the whole thing with Erik going to come out eventually? And how will people react? With support for the monarchy, or with support for Wille?

I have so many more thoughts, but I’m slightly burnt out, and I really should take a break. Also this is way too long. Might have more thoughts once I’ve rewatched the first five episodes, calmly over the weekend…

Also this is very long and I’m sorry.

[idreamofcrackinglocks]

me: experiences any sort of emotion

me: sigh guess it’s time to rewatch young royals

[andyouloveme]

I'm sure I there must be some symbolism behind it but why do Wilhelm and Simon always sleep in Wille's bed upside down? Is it showing they're subverting expectations? Doing things their own way rather than what people expect of them?

[misfithive]

I know people say that Micke’s absence in s2 is a plot hole but honestly i think its so fitting that when Simon is going through one of the worst things in his life Micke is completely absent. Like your son was the victim of a crime (which was also s*xual violence btw) his face is plastered all over the media, they live in a small town so there is no way he doesn’t know. Yet Micke is absent again. Which is the whole point.

[hanna-kin]

Mutal pining top ten ranking

There were so many good moments of pining this season. Painful lovely pining. I used the term fairly liberally.

I could have used alot of other moments to but here we are.

10.

Slightly less angsty but still beautiful. They are starting to understand eachother more. They are still very much pining though. Their small smiles are so cute and after all the heartache they experienced it's so refreshing to see them smile around eachother.

9.

Again it's the small smiles for me. Even if they are not together they are still drawn to eachother. They still instinctively search for eachother and when their eyes meet you can sense so much longing.

8.

Oh wille, my lovely boy. All he wants is to have Simon back but he realises it's too late. That he needs to respect Simon's boundaries but it's so hard.

7.

This is like the capital P of pining. The way he's watching Simon at the piano, thinking about everything he's lossed. And before Simon can notice him stand there he walks away so Simon won't know he was there. And yet Simon looks up as if he senses Wille standing there.

6.

Oh boy. Simon and the sweater. The way he inhales Wille's scent and burries his whole face into it. He's just as obsessed with Wille as Wille is with him and if you think otherwise you're blind.

No but seriously. And this after their kiss. We know he feels guilty about it as she tells Sara but there's something about him bringing the shirt out again just so he can smell Wille.

5.

This scene is one of the prettiest scenes of the season. The music and Wille looking through the few pictures he has of Simon. The fact that they are so few breaks my heart. They had barley a chance to be normal boyfriends. I mean they never got to be boyfriends in the first place but they don't have any normal moments. Yet they are so strongly connected. And this is when he's starting to give Simon up. Because at this point he thinks he no longer means anything to Simon

He thinks Simon is happily moving on. And here he is getting ready to let Simon go.

4.

I don't know what made me choose this sniffing before the other. I love that we got to see Simon turn to Wille's shirt twice. I just think this hit me more. It was early in the season and before we had kinda seen Simon very determined to move on from wille. We saw him ask Wille for space and be pretty firm and hold his ground.

Yes he said it was difficult to see Wille but he was also listening to his friends and it felt like he was pretty adamant on moving on.

He went out to meet Marcus and seemed to enjoy it.

Therefore it hurt alot to see him be so affected by Wille getting removed from the school. And even if Wille got to stay in the end Simon was ready to fight for him. And it shook him to the core to realise that Wille has so little control and that he could have lost Wille forever.

And then see him in his room as he brings out Wille’s shirt and just sniffs it.

3.

My beautiful boys. Looking at eachother with so much longing in their eyes. Simon noticing Wille’s hair, taking in his beauty and Wille giving Simon such a painful look.

This scene. Perfect. It says so much. Just before they were smiling pretending nothing happened. But when the other is not looking they let their real feelings show.

And then they go back to pretending again. Wille tries to be casual and Simon is endeared by him. He can't help it. Even if it lasts for only a second.

But deep down they are struggling so much.

2.

Does this count as pining? Surely it does. Wille is so proud, so happy for Simon but also so touched by Simon’s voice.

Simon really was ridiculous when he suggested Marcus as the one who liked his singing.

And the fact that their eyes meet and linger on eachother. Their eyes say it all. They have so much love for eachother.

They've just kissed again so of course they couldn't be more happy. Again it was such a refreshing scene after all the pain. We deserved it and so did they.

1.

Maybe this is cheating. Sue me. But you can't tell be they are not full of love and pining for eachother here. Even if they are finally together. It's like they can't wait to be together. For the rest of their lives.

After everything I'm so happy it got to end with them looking at eachother like nothing else matters.

It's the bright colours, it's their happy smiles. They are surrounded by people but it's like they are the only ones there.

Simon is so happy and proud. Wille is so happy and full of life. He finally did it.

It's them, no matter what happens. It's Wille and Simon against the world.

[frogmanfae]

So Sara called in to report August. August is going to think Simon did it. Sara can testify against August in court as an eye witness, but that isn't super strong defense. Even if it does work, there are the drug bottles with Micke Erikson on them that will be brought up. Perhaps Sara takes the blame? As a way to apologize and show sacrifice to Simon? Just a little thought after rewatching.

[joenotexotic99]

Ok but imagine if the whole royal family is totally cool with whilem and Simon's relationship and they're at wilhelm place and there racing the giant hallways and mocking the guards and recreating some of the many paintings because they're in love and they can.

Like can you just imagine

Or they kiss echother in front of Kristina just to prove they're love because she thought that they were just some silly teenage romance.

Uggggggggg

[justfriendsbestthings]

The most hilarious gen Z thing to me is how everyone in Young Royals always answers their texts immediately my millennial ass could never I need at least one to three business months agejkfkfkfb

[heartstopperthoughts]

Just thinking about how like, when I was a teenager, the gayest show we had was Merlin, which was somehow super gay and also incredibly homophobic.

But now y’all teens have your pick of queer characters. Soft gay teenagers? Check. Gay royalty? Check. Gay pirates? Check. Gay vampires? Check. Gay angels and demons? Check.

It’s a damn LGBT smorgasbord out there.

[retrieve-the-kraken]

I don’t know if someone has already said this, but to me sending Wilhelm to Hillerska was never about him adopting the right routines or learning responsibilities. And it wasn’t, like the Queen said, about keeping him from scandalous situations or making sure that they don’t arise. Sure, maybe it was a part of it, but not the only reason. Ultimately, it was about keeping Wilhelm a secret.

Tucked away in the middle of nowhere in a boarding school where the press can’t catch a whiff of anything, and it can’t damage the image of the monarchy. What happens in Hillerska stays in Hillerska, and the Queen knows this very well, having attended there. She talks about going to wild parties at the Palace and being aware of the culture of drinking and drugs and sex and partying, because it’s encouraged. It is an environment that fosters secrecy, that enables bad behavior and keeping it under wraps, it is part of the code, both the Royal code and the Hillerska code.

So Wilhelm could do whatever he wanted over there, he could be as wild as he had been before, he could do anything, hook up with anyone, the important thing was that it would stay out of the news, out of the public eye.

Except that it didn’t.

(It was a particularly big deal that the video, “the truth”, was revealed by August, one of the strongest advocates for the secrecy code, the one that claims that they could kill someone and get away with it… so for him to break the code of secrecy is brutal… but it’s worth pointing out that he only did it after Wilhelm broke the code himself, when he revealed in front of the members of the secret Society that August had financial problems. An eye for an eye…)

So maybe the whole commotion regarding the video being public wasn’t so much about Wilhelm being queer, although it probably was in part, but mostly it was about him being queer on a video spread all over the internet. It was about how public it got, how very un-secret it became.

And the only way that the Royal Court resolves to fix this secret coming out is to cover it with more lies. The show itself opens with a lie, when Wilhelm has to give a statement saying that he’s willingly going to Hillerska, and the season ends with him lying about being in the video, hiding his own identity, having to pretend that August wasn’t behind everything, and having to hide his relationship with Simon. Then season 2 is about him dealing with the aftermath of all of that, with complying with the secrecy, being offered new ways to stay secret (Nils and his invitation to Verbier, to hook up with men that will be discreet, etc).

Wilhelm is never really okay with secrecy, he is an advocate for privacy. He doesn’t want to say anything but he doesn’t want to hide either. He is not ashamed of his sexuality, but he is worried about how it reflects on the monarchy, on his family, his brother, and he is stressed about having to maintain appearances, having to hide his anxiety, having to be a public figure, having to be basically perfect, or at least perceived as perfect.

Wilhelm is very aware and a victim of the toxic masculinity around him, and it makes me wonder where he gets it from: from little things like when he looks annoyed when August talks about getting with Felice before she develops self-esteem (to which, to my dismay, Erik did laugh) or being affectionate with his brother or being a perfect gentleman when Felice kissed him and when she apologized for kissing him, to bigger things like being close friends with Felice and refusing to participate in “on the table” and of course, revealing his relationship with Simon on national television.

(Wilhelm does, unfortunately, play into the toxic masculinity a lot this season, because that is what often happens in toxic environments, in masculine competitive culture. You have to “play the game” if you want to survive, and Wilhelm sees that the only way to get revenge on August is to play the same game: playing with power, taking away power, being dominant when he wants to get into the party and when he dismantles the seniority hierarchy in the dining hall, when he challenges August knowing that he has him “by the balls”, cheating during training, lying to Alexander… and ultimately pointing a gun at August. All of these things are enabled by the environment of Hillerska, and they work for a while, but they definitely don’t work with Simon. What ultimately helps Wilhelm get Simon back is showing all the non-toxic qualities that he already possessed: being kind, being honest, owning up to his mistakes, being patient, giving him space, letting him go, even if it hurts like hell… It’s obvious that Wilhelm is not perfect, but fortunately Wilhelm never aims for perfect, he aims for good.)

(It’s worth mentioning that, as a monarch and as a former student of Hillerska, Kristina was probably a victim and a perpetrator of the same toxic masculinity, competitive culture, because as a woman in a male dominated world, she probably also felt that she had to play the game. She continues to enable this culture by maintaining the secrecy code, to her own detriment and the detriment of her son, but she probably knows no other way. But we’ve already talked at length about this. EDIT: I forgot to add that I think that’s part of the reason why she looks so disconcerted and tense when Wilhelm says what he says during his speech, because she’s scared, because she’s aware that it’s a toxic man’s world out there, and it’s particularly harsh and toxic for anyone who doesn’t fit into the masculinity role, that means women like her, queers like Wilhelm, and minorities like Simon… )

Simon also likes his privacy, he doesn’t need to be public with Wilhelm, until the whole thing comes out, and Wilhelm is forced to lie. Then of course he feels awful, like he’s some dirty little secret. He doesn’t understand that that’s just how Hillerska works, how the monarchy works, that is the secrecy code, and he doesn’t understand the pressure that Wilhelm is under to continue to uphold that code. That is until he has a secret of his own to hide, the drugs he stole from his father, and that he has to protect himself and his family. When he finally understands that the secrecy is a monster that he will never defeat, he realizes that maybe it’s not worth fighting it anymore, the important thing is to be with Wilhelm, to be able to love him, no matter what, even if it has to be in secret. As long as there are no more secrets between them.

And that’s when it hits Wilhelm. The moment that Simon tells him that he’s okay with being a secret, is the moment that Wilhelm realizes that he is not okay with that, that he doesn’t want any more secrets at all. He realizes that he will always be trapped in one lie after the other, always be a victim of the secrecy code, unless he puts a stop to it.

So he tells the truth. The ultimate truth. “It was me in the video. Me and Simon. I lied because it was private. But it’s me.” In one single moment the video goes from a raunchy sex tape to a horrible violation of privacy, he condemns the “unknown” perpetrator of this violation, he makes it seem that it was his choice to lie and absolves the Monarchy from having forced him to lie, he advocates for privacy, he regains control of the narrative for himself and for Simon, he condemns secrecy, and he sets himself free.

The truth will always set you free.

Or at least we hope.

[idreamofcrackinglocks]

Watching Mama Mia and I just keep wondering what Simon and Wille’s opinions on Abba are.

[andyouloveme]

Just realising that when Wille and Alexander play chess, Alexander checkmates Wille which is foreshadowing his part in forcing Wille and Simon into not reporting August

[misfithive]

YR S2 “I lied” thoughts (ramblings)

This is random and I’m sure been discussed but i think it was really important that Wille said “It was a moment I didn’t want to share so I lied about it”. He could have easily said he was told to do it or blamed someone else or just been more passive about what happened. But it was important for him to actually take accountability and take back control of the situation.

It’s esp important to Simon that Wille acknowledges he did have a choice. It was obviously a really messed up situation and it makes sense why he denied it. But owning the decision and giving a real reason is important in gaining Simon’s trust back bc he is taking responsibility and not just blaming his circumstances. Bc yeah his circumstances are not ideal but it’s always gonna be that way -Simon needs to be able to trust that Wille is going to be there for him, have integrity, and make his own decisions regardless of the circumstances. It is kinda a lot to ask given the extreme of being a prince but Simon has always treated Wille like a regular person. It also wouldn’t be an fair/healthy relationship if Simon was just always having to bend to Wille’s circumstances.

[hanna-kin]

The fourth wall breaks, ranking

Is this the most controversial yet? Maybe? Probably not. But this was litterally so easy. So easy.

And they are all amazing. Some are just better than others

4.

The first one that really set the tone but unfortunately my least favourite. His energy is very much "what are you looking at"

3.

Tone is different. His jaw is tense. He's pissed of but also defeated. Like he could be angrier and he will be. The music is superior though.

2.

This is angry. I also love that he's looking at himself in the mirror 😭 He's ready to kill.

1.

This though. Omg. Best shit ever. It's the prettiest he's ever looked. He's no longer having tension headache from that jaw clench. He's little smile.

He's perfect and he's so brave.

[joenotexotic99]

Something I think is not talked about enough in young royals as well as the Fandom is that technically Simon is a literal PRINCE and yes this may not be cemented until they are married. 

But come on

Simon. Is. A. Prince

[justfriendsbestthings]

You can not tell me Simon getting private lessons from him did not come up at all during their conversation also I don’t think we’ve ever seen Englund smile??