Become Obsessed With Any Show I Watch.

It’s been hella lot of work, but it’s been fun. Thanks for playing along 🌸 Levok2 is over and out 🫡

Which makes sense, and shows how, at August's core, he's still an elitist, superior prick, even if he's more cognizant of his flaws and more uncomfortable with them than he's ever been. He could not be bothered to apologize Simon, doesn't even have the thought cross his mind—why? Because Simon's a nobody. Simon has no power. Like, let's be clear, August has fucked up his life irreparably. There is literally no future where the video will not haunt Simon. (I read a great fanfiction I have to find the link for, where Simon says that he was fucked the minute August hit "post," no matter what Wille said or did, and like...yeah.) That shit was all over the news in Sweden. We see, already, people recognizing him out in public. Beyond even just the emotional turmoil that comes with that video existing, we see, through the posting of his address and the rock through the window, that its existence physically endangers Simon. Even if Simon were to leave the country, move somewhere new and try to start over, it would take one google search of his name to uncover that blight on his life.

Simon is sitting next to Wille during the assembly about the school inspection!

Edvin and Omar are wearing the same clothes in the Young Royals Forever trailer we got on monday, meaning Nikita, Omar, Nathalie, Samuel and Edvin had all read the script. They do a read-through very early and either Netflix Nordic or Lisa Ambjörn posted about it on insta.

Edvin said:

"It was a beautiful story in three seasons, and it ended in the (star)sign of love."

Of course WILMON IS ENDGAME!

This part of the bts was shot the same day as the school inspection scene.

Simon got a new, light lavender coloured button-up for s3. He's also wearing it in the scenes below, which may be the same day because he's wearing the same brown t-shirt underneath.

It's a lighter colour than the one we've already seen in s1, s2 and the palace meeting in s3.

But can we talk about how he loved someone before, how that someone literally DIED trying to stay close to him, and how incredibly guilty he would’ve felt about that? Can we entertain the possibility of Hawk being reluctant to love someone again in case the same thing happened?

Can we simultaneously talk about how his father found out about his relationship with this other man, disowned him, cut him out of the will, and ridiculed him until the day he died? Can we THEN talk about how his mother told Hawk he could apologise to his father for being who he was in order to be put back in the will, only for his father to talk to him like he was worth less than the shit on the bottom of his shoe and being forced to apologise for causing such an ‘inconvenience’?

And if that’s not enough, he’s got people he knows being fired from their jobs, ostracised from their family and friends, admitted to hospitals to have electroconvulsive therapy to be ‘cured’, and even going as far as to commit suicide because their sexualities have been discovered by people who think it’s disgusting and wrong. Hawk’s surrounded by this group of powerful people who wish to see people like him dead. There’s absolutely no way he’s going to raise his hand and admit that he is gay when he’s witnessed how people are punished for it. Nobody would - not when society was this oppressive and full of hatred towards queer people.

1) Simon goes to the palace wearing his sweatshirt and button-down combo, then he buttons up his shirt to appear more formal

2) I think all this is the same evening, yes the hallway hanky-panky too. Seems like the same vibe and the white shirts are their uniform shirts imo…

3) The same paparazzi clicking Wille, and then Simon, as they return to Hillerska

4) “Can’t we forget about what has happened, for one night?” seems to refer to this night. There seems to be some tension between Wille and Simon… and Wille is drinking again after abstaining all of S2 💀 . Then they sneak out to the lakeside..

"Don't I get any breakfast?" - "No" - "But I'm starving"

Well, okay. Maybe you can have a little meta, as a treat.

I pretty firmly believe that we’re supposed to see connections/parallels between how Sara treats Simon in season and how Wilhelm treats Simon, especially by the end of season 1 and then moving into season 2.

Consider how:

Sara and Wilhelm both betray Simon at the end of season 1. Wilhelm by denying his involvement in the video, Sara by letting August buy her silence.

Both Sara and Wilhelm think they can hold August accountable by acting alone. They do this without asking Simon what he thinks is best or enlisting the support of trustworthy adults. Sara attempts to emotionally support August enough that he holds himself accountable, while Wilhelm goes on a classic revenge spree. Neither approach is 100% effective because they’re working alone and because both of them are up against untrustworthy adults working behind the scenes (the royal court) who make situations worse.

Even when things are fraught for the reasons mentioned above, we still see evidence that they care for Simon and that their relationship with him is worth preserving. Wilhelm and Simon’s moment where they take a running shortcut at rowing practice is one of them. Sara hugging Simon after he sings his song is another. There’s more, too! I will let y’all find those things as I’m late for work.

Both of them have their poor decisions clouded by first love. Sara gives August more space than she probably should to change because they’re in love with one another (something that’s been brewing even before the video, so even if August never released the video, they still might have had some kind of relationship even though it may have looked very different.) She also assumes Simon’s scars from the video have faded somewhat so it’s okay to keep pursuing our relationship. (How many of us have assumed something affected someone less than we thought it did only to later find out we were wrong? Certainly I did, when I was a teenager.) Wilhelm, meanwhile, is in love with Simon, but at the beginning he is far from being a Model Boyfriend. He initially attempts to pressure Simon into a secret relationship and does stuff like read Simon’s texts. This is frightening enough when it comes from someone the same social class as you, but Wilhelm is a prince with a lot more access to wealth and people who can like… request your phone records and stuff. He never uses his power that way and I don’t think it occurred to him to, but I think we’re supposed to understand that this could have gone south if he didn’t have people like Boris helping him. (Meanwhile, Sara’s romance with August feels like a more dramatic betrayal in some ways than Wilhelm reading Simon’s texts and Wilhelm denying he was with Simon on live TV, but Wilhelm also has a lot more institutional power behind him while Sara is in a relationship when she lacks institutional power and her intimate partner has a lot to hold over her if their relationship sours.) The show is very clear that falling in love is a morally neutral thing—falling in love, whether it’s with a “generally good” or a “generally bad” person, is something you can’t control, but the choices you make as a result of being in love are what defines your moral stance. By the end of season 2, Wilhelm has grown and made the choice to express his love for Simon in more conscientious ways. He becomes aware of the role his status plays. Meanwhile, Sara has chosen to give up her first love—even with the possibility that she could face brutal retaliation from her partner—to try and achieve justice for Simon’s sake.

I feel like we’re 100% meant to see these parallels and feel equal amounts of sympathy for Wilhelm and Sara as they grow and work out who they are in the world and what they can do next. Which is why if I had to guess, Wilhelm and Sara having a bonding moment will play some role in Simon’s reconciliation with Sara. And even if it doesn’t, I guarantee you that the writers were thinking of them as having parallel arcs.

I think it was an interesting choice by Lisa and the other writers to make Wille react so badly in S2, and try to run roughshod over Simon’s clearly stated wishes. After all, Wille is the protagonist. But just because he’s the protagonist doesn’t mean he’s perfect. Everyone in this show is flawed, including Simon and Wilhelm. And being in love doesn’t magically turn someone into a better and more mature person. We saw that both with Wilhelm’s response to Simon dumping him, and in Sara and August’s romance.

But one thing I did like about Wille treading all over Simon’s wishes is that it did not work. It didn’t bring Simon back to him. What did bring Simon back was Wille finally acknowledging that Simon had stated multiple times he wanted to move on, and Wilhelm finally accepting it. And being a good person about it.

In 2.04, Wilhelm accepts Simon’s new relationship (actually situationship, but Wilhelm doesn’t know that) with Marcus. He is pleasant to both Marcus and Simon at the ball, and treats them like a couple. When Simon is weirded out by this and confronts him, Wille says flat out that he’s stopped chasing Simon. He finally gets it, Simon has moved on, and the most loving thing he (Wille) can do is let him (Simon) go.

And that’s what brings Simon back to him, not all Wille’s manipulative sturm und drang in the first 3.5 episodes. He had to let Simon go, and he did. Eventually.

All that said, I feel empathy for Wilhelm even as I dislike his behaviour. He knows what it’s like to be betrayed, because he’s recently experienced massive betrayal not only by his cousin but also his own mother. And I think Wilhelm’s brain just refuses to process that he too is a betrayer, that he has hurt Simon in the same way Kristina and August hurt him (Wille). It’s too painful for him to deal with the idea that Simon must be in as much pain as he is. And what’s more, that Wille is the one who caused that pain.

So Wilhelm spends 3.5 episodes in denial that he’s hurt Simon. Because he doesn’t want to group himself with Kristina and August. It’s not healthy behaviour, and it’s not supposed to be. And importantly, the narrative doesn’t reward this behaviour of his. The more he pushes Simon, the more Simon retreats from him. Only after he lets Simon go does anything positive happen in terms of mending their relationship.