Sometimes a series runs its course after only two or three seasons; has a specific story to tell and the show’s creators know how many episodes they will need to tell it. The Swedish Netflix hit Young royals It’s one of those shows; is coming to an end after its third season, and confidence in its storytelling is based on the fact that the story was never open-ended.
REAL YOUNG PEOPLE SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Initial shot: Crown Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) enters a busy conference room; A member of staff tells him where he can sit.
The essence: At this meeting, Willie and his lawyers are negotiating a deal with his cousin August (Malte Gårdinger), who leaked the video of Willie and Simon (Omar Rudberg) kissing. When Simón and his mother Linda (Carmen Gloria Pérez) arrive at the palace for the meeting, she is outraged because the royal family wants to pay a settlement instead of taking this leak to court. But August has his own information about Simon and Willie, which leads to the deal being accepted, plus August receives assurances that he will be second in line for the crown after Willie. His feeling is that “you’re going to screw it up,” giving him a good chance to ascend the throne.
Willie, about to turn 17, became next in line after the death of his brother Erik (Ivar Forsling); At this point, his mother, Queen Kristina (Pernilla August), just wants the scandals to stop. However, one thing Willie is sure of is that he no longer wants to keep his relationship with Simon a secret.
Back at the Hillerska School, the youngsters engage in the traditional chase for points, but the Manor House boys can feel the tension between August and Willie every time they are in the room together. Meanwhile, on the girls’ side, Felice (Nikita Uggla) is depressed because her friendship with Simon’s sister, Sara (Frida Argento), is falling apart, and her friends want to do something to cheer her up. her. At the very least, Felice is happy that Willie is coming back.
Willie tells Simon that he wants to “be the Crown Prince and your boyfriend”; They have to lay low for a while, but at least they don’t have to sneak around school anymore. One problem: Simon’s mother punished him after finding out about some of the things he’s been doing on campus. But they agree that Willie can stay the night at Simon’s house.
However, after a hazing scandal becomes public, Hillerska hires a new acting principal, who eliminates all extracurricular activities and establishes a restrictive curfew, putting a major damper on both the pursuit of points and to Willie and Simon’s plans to be together.
What shows will it remind you of? Elite and Euphoriawith a touch of Stops the heart mixed
Our opinion: This is the last season of Young royals, which makes sense; If the purpose of the show’s creators, Lisa Ambjörn and Lars Beckung, was to examine the arc of Willie and Simon’s relationship in the face of all the pressures in Willie’s life, it seems like three seasons is the appropriate length for that story. At this point, Willie and Simon are a pretty solid couple, but now there are outside forces that could keep them apart, at least temporarily.
It was a smart idea to keep the stories tied to the show’s core relationships and not introduce a bunch of additional characters as the show aged. There’s the constant struggle between Willie and his imbecilic cousin August, whose ambition to ascend the throne has cost her her relationship with his family. There is still the notion that Simon and Sara, who are now separated since the agreement, mainly due to Sara’s relationship with August, are outsiders. And, since Sara no longer has Felice to lean on, where does she turn?
Because of this relatively small set of main characters and the three-season limit the creators set for themselves, they are now able to tell a tight story with a beginning, middle, and end. That’s something that’s still rare in television, and it’s especially rare when Netflix and other streamers suddenly cancel shows after a season or two, even if they’re popular. And, because the story focuses heavily on Willie and Simon solidifying their relationship in public, Young royals transcends the usual “privileged teenagers gone crazy” trope and becomes something deeper, even if it’s not as sweet and sensitive as the aforementioned. Stops the heart is.
Sex and skin: Nothing but kisses in the first episode.
Parting Shot: The acting principal tells the students that if Hillerska is proven to be an unsafe environment, it will be closed immediately.
Sleeping star: We’d like to see Nikita Uggla’s Felice and Frida Argento’s Sara together in more scenes, but their friendship could be irreparably damaged.
Most pilot line: When August tells his lawyer that people look at him like he’s some kind of “shitty person,” the lawyer responds, “Yeah, you’re a shitty person. Sometimes it can feel good to accept that.”
Our call: TRANSMIT IT. Young royals works in its final season because it knows it’s coming to an end and its relatively elaborate story can come to a natural conclusion.
Joel Keller@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but make no mistake: he’s a couch potato. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and other places.
