Television Review | Young Royals is the best Nordic youth drama since Skam

Culture|Television review

in Sweden that’s what we know! Netflix series Young Royals has received enormous positive attention worldwide. Its first season, released last year, reached the streaming service’s top-10 list in twelve countries.

The second season of the youth series, released in October, continues the story of a sweet first love, but its appeal is built above all on the performances of the brilliant young actors. Such a shocking and emotionally believable Nordic youth drama has not been seen since Scam.

Young Royals tells the story of the fictional Swedish Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) and Simon (Omar Rudberg) about forbidden love at the elite boarding school in Hillerska.

Writer of the series Lisa Ambjorn tells For the Los Angeles Times, that the series has never been about gayness itself being a problem for young Wilhelm. At the heart of the conflict is the fact that he is a Swedish prince who is bound by royal duties in many ways.

Do not read further if you want to avoid plot revelations.

In the first season of the series, Prince Wilhelm’s older brother, Crown Prince Erik (Ivar Forsling) dies tragically, which means that Wilhelm, next in line to the crown, has to bear the weight of the future of the entire monarchy on his shoulders.

The dramatic end of the season is full of scandals, when Wilhelm’s power-hungry cousin August (brilliant Malte Gärdinger) leaks secretly filmed material about Simon and the young prince.

The royal family pressures Wilhelm to deny his relationship with Simon, and this creates a rift between the two lovers. Simon doesn’t want to be Wilhelm’s secret.

In the second season, Simon tries to move on with his life without drama and develops a relationship with the charming Marcus (Tommy Wattring) with. The breakdown of Wilhelm’s mental health, who is suffering from heartbreak, causes concern in the court. The prince directs his fury at the Catalan August, whose character gets more dimensions in the new season.

Young Royals is the dramatic reverse, the entertainment of burning emotions and knotted human relationships, where the tension of the plot sometimes comes before the integrity of the characters.

The second season could have easily slowed down if it had been content to dwell on the central conflict of the first season, the tension between queer love and the royal institution. However, it manages to deal deeply with, for example, mental health problems, privileges, and in a brutally touching way, the emotional spectrum of the desire for revenge and guilt.

But the main reason why the series has become an international sensation is probably the electric chemistry between the main actors Ryding and Rudberg. The acting performances are impressive across the board, but especially Ryding, 19, interprets the inner turmoil of the young prince amazingly well.

The second season focuses more on the isolation and inconsolable loneliness associated with Wilhelm’s position than on the lovers’ relationship. Ryding started acting as a child and has already played many roles in various Swedish series.

Rudberg, on the other hand, was previously part of a boy band called FO&O. Her skills as a singer also get a chance in the new season, when her character pours out her deepest feelings into a song that she is supposed to perform in front of the whole of Sweden at the school’s annual celebration.

In the series Simon’s little sister Sara (squinty-eyed) gets more attention than before Frida Argento), who, with the help of a scholarship, moves to live in the Hillerska boarding school in the middle of the houses of rich families. Struggling with the feeling of being an outsider, Sara finds a surprising connection with August, who regrets her actions.

The screenwriter Lisa Ambjörn has dealt with a lot of class differences in her work in the past, and the theme is deservedly presented as well of the Young Royals in the second season.

The dramatic end of the season is already in the early stages, when Wilhelm learns that he will have to give his first speech as crown prince at Hillerska’s annual celebration.

Netflix has not yet confirmed if the show will get a third season, but I guess it’s only a matter of time. Viewers must find out how I handle Wilhelm and Simon’s impossible love.