Rewatching YR: miscellaneous observations on 1.04-1.06
Observations on episodes 1.01-1.03
Just some things that stood out to me about the second half of S1 during the slow rewatch I'm doing with a smaller community!
1.04: S1 Micke through an S3 lens
One thing that really jumps out, at least for me, is Micke's fear of his children turning out like him.
Micke is clearly carrying shame related to his addiction which, as we learn in S3, also has a functional link to his ADHD: he falls off the wagon when the medication works and he feels like he can handle going for a beer with his friends. This isn't just him being impulsive, it's part of the functional and social side of his addiction.
Micke may well be aware that there can be underlying genetic elements to both addiction and neurodiversity. Sara has inherited his diagnoses, and in this 1.04 scene, he seems to suspect that Simon might have inherited a predisposition to addiction. He appears relieved when that isn't the case.
Micke also excuses his addiction, as many addicts do. Simon asked about his back pain, which is a common initial trigger for painkiller addiction as people get hooked on prescription meds. (One of the drugs stolen by Simon is Tramadol, a synthetic opioid.) In this ep, he tells Simon he needs the stimulants for his ADHD, which is true, but they are also part of the same tangled web of issues and circumstances as the benders and opioids.
It's been debated a lot where Micke was physically abusive in the past, but I'm not inclined to believe it ever went quite that far. For one thing, Linda doesn't seem afraid of him in 1.05, just sad to see him. For another, a history of violence should have absolutely come up when Sara moved in with him.
Don't get me wrong though, it still seems clear that Micke had anger issues and was physically menacing when drunk and high. Probably scared the kids by shouting, punching walls and so on. After all, Sara does blame Linda for not protecting them, and Simon flinches very tellingly when Wille hits the piano in 1.05.
It's heartbreaking to see Simon turn into a scared and upset kid in this scene. Such a stark contrast to their early scenes, where he looks conflicted and guilty to be tricking the father who is happy to have him back and even seems to be trying to stay sober for him. His reaction to finding Micke passed out betrays that he had been subconsciously letting his hopes build up, and he takes all of Micke's meds in anger. That adds so much nuance to Simon's character and their relationship!
Obnoxious as this club is, August seems to be offering it as a comforting peer support group for Wilhelm. He even tells Vincent that Wilhelm needs his "brothers"; note the linguistic connection to the loss of his actual brother. I firmly believe August himself felt or, more likely, was told something similar by Erik after his father's death.
But as others in the rewatch community pointed out, it's a hollow and arbitrary group that doesn't actually meet the members' emotional needs. The Society boys don't bond as themselves; it's more like they're performing a script of Male Bonding in High Society while in costume as their dads. Some of their actual friends are excluded, because the group is stuck in a time when those friends would have been seen as lesser. Vincent is suddenly saying very disparaging things about Nils, while Henry doesn't acknowledge Alexander's presence at all (it's unclear how friendly they were meant to be in S1, but they are a trio with Walter in S3). Meanwhile, these boys aren't even hanging out because they genuinely vibe with each other! They all just happen to be noble firstborn sons, and that's supposed to connect them.
Yet at the same time, this bubble within a bubble does allow the members to spend some time together in a more intimate setting, which could sometimes lead to more genuine bonding opportunities, as August and Wille’s conversation outside shows. It's just that they'd be better off creating and seizing such opportunities without being held back by this ridiculous framework.
1.05: Erik's shadow on August contemplating the video
I know this is a controversial topic, and if you disagree with me, that's fine! Please be respectful if you decide to comment.
When August came to Hillerska, Erik initiated and socialised him to Forest Ridge (via initiation rites and oath) and the Society (via oath), as well as the rules and norms of these communities (via house and Society traditions, but also the video shown at initiation). This year, it's been August's role to do the same to new students, although he chose to spare them the trauma of the video. He was also specifically entrusted with Wilhelm's socialisation into the school community, and after Erik's death, into the Society.
But Wille does not appreciate his efforts as expected or take the "right" lessons. When August assumes they are finally getting on the same page, he discovers just how fully Wille is going against the norms that Erik once impressed upon August and that August has been trying to pass on (and Wille is doing it with Simon, who is not only a guy, but an outsider who utterly rejects the social order, and a thorn in August's own side).
This jarring difference to Erik makes August question everything. Wilhelm and Erik's fitness for the crown prince role, the norms and values August has been taught, both Erik and August's "success" as initiators and mentors... We see him ask Vincent what kind of king Wilhelm would make, but there are other questions we can infer as well:
What does it say about Erik that he showed us that video when his own brother is into guys?
What does it say about me if Wille chooses Simon over the community I've tried to offer him?
Is it my fault if this damages the royal house or monarchy? Have I failed Erik?
Could this have been avoided if I had just shown that video to Wille?
Would Erik want me to confront Wille? To keep his secret? To inform the royal court? To get rid of the problem, i.e. Simon?
--- and, importantly: What is Wille actually even doing? Is this a secret dalliance behind closed doors? A one-time hookup, an experiment? An actual, serious threat to the social order?
That last batch of questions is why August's expression turns thoughtful and evaluative when Wille initially claims not to remember anything, and why he baits Wille with the information that Simon supplied the drugs.
In his assumed role of "substitute big brother and protector of the monarchy", August eventually decides to remove the threat and return Wille to the "right" path by having Simon expelled (which would also conveniently cover his and the Society's asses). Note that this solution does not involve posting the video or revealing Wille's secret. August is still trying to stay loyal to his family and the monarchy, and he likely thinks Wille will eventually come around.
Everything changes when Wille rejects August's solution and saves Simon. In humiliating August in front of his peers with the financial troubles that led to his father's suicide and are getting him kicked out of the home he's found in Hillerska, Wille is throwing August's loyalty, mentorship and offers of community back in his face. August has no idea Wille intends to make up for it by paying his fees and, frankly, I don't think Wille even fully realises how important these things were to August or why.
When August sits alone in the empty club room, the brighter side of Erik's spirit that connected him to Wille is no longer with him. Only the shadow is left: the Erik who could traumatise and humiliate August without batting an eye, for his own selfish ends and the benefit of the social order. In his volatile emotional state, August sees that ghost in Wilhelm and embraces it in himself, giving in to his worst impulses.
1.05: Culmination of two secret-keeping arcs
A discussion question by @bluedalahorse really drove home for me how Micke showing up at Lucia and the video leak are both thematically connected and narratively parallelled. This sequence is the culmination of Simon and Wille’s arcs of seeing someone they weren't supposed to.
The encounter at Lucia reveals to Simon’s family that he's been seeing Micke. He's betrayed the siblings' promise not to have any contact with their dad for what Sara and Linda (who are unaware of Simon's dealings at Hillerska) can only assume were "selfish" reasons. Around the same time, the video leak reveals not just to the world but also to Wille’s family that he's been seeing Simon and betraying the promise to fill his late sibling's shoes as crown prince...for what they regard as "selfish" reasons.
In both cases, it's someone other than Wilmon who blows the lid on the secret, but they are still the ones impacted. For Simon, a major indirect consequence is Sara secretly making a deal with August for a place at Manor House. For Wille, it's the cover-up/denial that Kristina, who already knows about August, convinces him to participate in.
Thus, a crack is born in each family dynamic that splits open when the other family member's lie/secret comes out (end of S1 for Wille, end of S2 for Simon).
1.06: Maddie's lack of radicalism
Something that fascinated me about Maddie on this rewatch was her telling Felice, "Stop playing detective, the police will figure it out." This shows that while she clearly isn't a traditionalist, she also isn't a revolutionary. She's an establishment liberal who believes in and advocates for gender equality, LGBTQIA+ rights, other individual rights and freedoms, and so on...but also trusts the existing system to sort things out.
This feels kind of relevant now that we know how she reacts in S3 when Felice and other students' testimony results in the school closing down. In fact, we could even expand it to the girls' "rebellion" in S2. Maddie wants to take down the patriarchy, but not enough to boycott the Valentine's Ball or arrange a wider campaign against the sexist letter tradition. It's enough to agree that girls should be allowed to write letters too, and for them all to go together as friends.
1.06: Sara kissing August
I always wonder watching this scene if August realises yet that Sara is genuinely attracted to him.
August has espoused transactional views on relationships this season. For example, he wooed Felice with promises of expensive dates, and when she gave in, it was without expressing any true affection ("I know you're interested, so here I am"). Another example is kissing Sara at the stables because he suspected Felice of cheating and wanted to make sure he didn't look the fool.
It would thus make sense for him to read Sara's interest in this episode as merely part of the transaction of him helping her become a Manor House girl. Maybe also as a way of claiming the status Sara desires, and an attempt to copy Felice. This would explain how he is so quick to believe that she snitched on him once he'd helped with the application and outlived his usefulness.
Another notable thing about this scene is that it solidifies for both August and us viewers that Sara truly is different from her brother. Simon would not accept anything other than money in exchange for the alcohol and drugs; he was not interested in August's favours or social capital. The thing that August needs Sara to do for him is much bigger, and he has to offer her whatever she wants, knowing he can't afford to pay. But instead of money, she asks for a favour: for him to use his social capital to help her join the system that he himself values so much. This not only impresses August, but paves the first steps of common ground between them.
1.06: Sara's complex guilt
Sara's guilt over her deal with August is very clearly visible when Simon says he likes her as herself and wants to be friends again because he needs her. However, I think this is actually a bit more complicated for Sara than it seems on the surface, because does he truly like her as herself...? Does he even fully know her as herself?
Simon knows Sara as she was before Hillerska, when they grew up together and when he tried to protect her from the bullies, but since then, she's changed and grown in a new direction that Simon has not always understood or sympathised with. Yes, part of it is her trying to be more like Felice and the other Manor House girls, but part of it is also her finally getting to explore and come into her own in a new environment. She's got friends now and doesn't necessarily have to be defined and burdened by her past bullying or family troubles anymore, at least not to the same degree as in Bjärstad and at Marieberg.
So when her brother says he likes and needs her as her past self, he is unknowingly putting a different set of expectations on her. She feels guilty for betraying him, but also for not quite being who he wants her to be anymore. And that's a complex kind of guilt, because for all that she truly loves him and wants to be friends with him, she can't and doesn't even want to be her old self.
1.06: Parallel to Linda and Simon in 3.05
One more thing I wanted to mention was, there's an interesting parallel between Kristina telling Wille he is so young and asking "is it worth it?" in the car and Linda telling Simon "love shouldn't be this hard, especially when you're so young" in S3. In both cases, one half of Wilmon hears from his mother that their relationship is incompatible with Wille's public role and they should maybe consider ending it. The contexts are very different (for starters, Kristina is being manipulative while Linda is being genuine), but it could be argued that both breakups were in fact necessary to clear the deadlock they found themselves in and give them an opportunity to come back together on more equal terms.
If you made it all the way down here, thanks for reading! I might do similar posts for S2 and S3 when we get that far, so check back in a couple of months...
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