#yr criticism

(Disclaimer: this is my own opinion and of course not everyone has a problem with this but it would be nice if people were open to read and understand this but if you're not open to criticism then maybe don't)

Something that has started to bother me in season 3, but has been the case to a lower degree for the entirety of the show, is the way the monarchy is represented and how little information we actually get about it and even misinformation that's spread. I get that it's a fictional monarchy which doesn't align 1:1 with the real Swedish one but I'm assuming the same rules etc. still apply just because we are never told otherwise. And that's also my criticism: the show never dives deeper into the actual monarchy.

No history, no background, what is the royal family, how far back does their blood line go? What's their family name? What is Wille's full name with all his titles? How come it's such a small royal family? Give me information about Kristina - how come she has no siblings, what was her pappa, Wille's grandfather, the previous king, like? And what about Ludvig? He would probably also be required to have certain duties and accomplishments as Prince Consort, what does he actually do? (and why does the show never address him with that title?)

Why does it even still exist? The reason the real swedish monarchy still exists is because they present themselves nice and approachable and make sure no abolishing voices get too loud by staying popular with the people. What makes our yr monarchy stay intact? How has it survived for this long? Are they popular? How is their marketing? Do the people like their Queen? Or her husband? Because those are very important factors.

I would've loved to have at least a little bit more about the royal history and the people in the show to give us more of a feel for it and make it feel more real. I assume though it's exactly for that reason they didn't do any of these things so the monarchy stays this faceless institution we can just call bad without any nuance and make it easy to support Wille "leaving" it because we don't really know it. We never give it any more backstory or a real foundation or an opportunity for growth and progress because it's not supposed to be anything more. They're supposed to appear personality-less like machines, always serious and regal and not actually be genuinely happy.

Wilhelm is a prince but we are shown only scraps of his life, barely even glimpses of what it really must be like growing up as a royal. Yes, he experiences public attention and pressure and a sense of feeling trapped, that's it. It only uses his title when it wants to make a point about something bad and when it's convenient to convey their message but doesn't actually acknowledge so many other things. The privileges and riches that come with it are barely explored, possibly because it would make Wille look less sympathetic.

Showcasing the royal life as not so glamourous and making it extremely bleak is a choice and don't get me wrong, I do like it not being glorified and being critical of it. Don't take this post as me being a monarchy defender, there are definitely things to critisise and it's worth investigating some darker sides of it but the show doesn't even do that right and properly addresses those things. The criticism is vague and way too generic and feels mostly empty to me. Simon's jab at the royals being the biggest welfare receivers is justified and something real to critisise and talk about but that was it.

To make an actual good, well developed critique/commentary it should feel well researched and should at least make an effort to show both good and bad because it's never just black and white. But like I said, the story is lacking that nuance. It doesn't even attempt to show it also being capable of having a positive impact, every possible positive thing immediately gets dismissed or negated because it doesn't fit into their narrative of the evil monarchy, which they showcase with pointed, selective cuts but no actual depth or truth behind it. Which was a little more subtle but still present in s1 and s2 where you could have hope for progress still and then hammered home very, very strongly in s3.

I'm not a royal expert by any means but I have learned more about royalty and monarchies from fans and reading yr fics than I have from the show teaching me (so thank you guys!). It seems like the writers decided to paint a certain picture of the swedish monarchy today - old-fashioned, very traditional, only harmful and incapable of change and didn't care if that image is true or not, when in fact the real swedish monarchy is known as one of the most modern ones out there. If it's meant to critisise the current monarchy then it's doing everything to paint them in the complete opposite light and make them so unsympathetic to get its point across that it's purely fiction and therefore can't be taken seriously as a critical monarchy commentary anymore.

And making it out like LGBTQ+ rights are too political and the royal family never does anything of substance which is very easy to call out on its bullshit if you just do a little resarch or listen to people who know better. They did their research on boarding schools and managed to capture the vibe and atmosphere regarding the elitism and the hierarchy very well but beyond that, research seemed to be sloppily done or deliberately ignored to convey the message they wanted: the monarchy is inherently bad and everyone in the system suffers in it with no exceptions. It consciously bends the truth and provides a simple, one sided view.

Others might be okay with that and don't see a fault in that and yes, there could be worse things but (and I guess that was my mistake) I expected more (better?) from the show than to just be a blatant anti-monarchy propaganda in the end.

-s2 starts off by downplaying the effects of the video on simon in order to prioritize the storyline that simon “could have a normal life” with a “normal boyfriend”. the karaoke scene being a prime example of this in which the bar patrons have a completely incongruent reaction to simon from the reception he receives buying milk merely weeks prior. the weight of the trauma of the sex tape is a main reason as to why so many viewers connected to the characters’ arcs and choosing to seemingly rewrite this facet of the world building dilutes the story’s impact

-s3 starts off by tying up the legal battle of the sex tape in a little bow after the s2 finale sets up most of the intrigue in how the court and the media will react to the fact that their crown prince was, in fact, filmed as a minor in a sex act without his consent. will august be outed as a predator because his ex girlfriend turned him in? will simon selling drugs be a media scandal? who cares we’re going to brush this all under the rug in the first 15 mins of season 3

I have issues with S2 that are explained perfectly here:

LT storyline was rather unnecessary or too dragged, Marcus would be out way before than they did.

Having no Micke in S2 was a mistake. I would rather see a scene him texting Simon or something like that.

The lack of showing Simon's trauma was a huge mistake!

Linda seemed too clueless (and what is with kissing the queen's hand?? The royals dismissed your own son, Linda!)

Alexander's motivation seemed rather weak. We needed more anger coming from Alex. You need to be either too dumb and scared, or too blind and angry to throw yourself under the bus for a person like August. And against the Crown Prince (a.k.a. the future king).

I just have to accept that what I wanted from the show was something fundamentally different than what the creator's intention was and that's why season 3 and the ending especially was so disappointing to me.