Young Royals – Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Review

 Lingering Feelings And Rebounds

Young Royals Season 2 episode 1 starts with Wilhelm having a steamy dream about Simon. It is obvious that he still has feelings for him. He wakes up and heads to his late brother’s room and refuses to talk to his mom (the queen).

Things are also thready between him and August, and he doesn’t wish to speak with him. August has no place to go for the holidays so he remains at school. He keeps buggering Wilhelm with calls, desperate to be forgiven but Wilhelm vows to make his life a living hell.

At Simon’s house, things are much calmer and he is focusing on music. Sara brings home one of her friends named Marcus. Marcus hears Simon sing and is enchanted, he invites him to Karaoke.

As the holidays come to an end, the students report back to school. Sara is excited as she has been accepted to the manor house and will be sharing a room with Felice. The girls give her an initiation as per their tradition. They dare her to go to the third-year party and do something that will bring the party to a halt.

At home, her mother is worried as she is not picking up her phone or responding to messages. Simon checks Instagram and sees a video of her setting a flag on fire at the party and in a worried haste and out of options he calls Marcus and asks him to drive him to school.

Upon arriving at the party, he runs into Wilhelm who is there to mess with August and undermine his authority. Wilhelm helps him get in touch with Sara through Felice. After speaking to Sara, Simon leaves immediately and Wilhelm is sad that they didn’t get a chance to talk.

The next morning, Simon confesses to his friends that he felt overwhelmed when he ran into Wilhelm at the party. His friends believe Wilhelm is toxic and he should move on. Rosh advises him to forget Wilhelm and get a rebound and points out Marcus will make a good rebound.

At the parade that morning, the principal announces that the Queen will be visiting the school for the 120th-anniversary ceremony. She also announces that Wilhelm will be giving his first public speech during the ceremony that will be recorded. Wilhelm is taken aback to hear this but his handler tells him if he had spoken to the queen instead of ignoring her, he would have been well informed.

He is in for another surprise as Alexander is back after his dad made a huge donation to the school to clear up his drugs saga. Alexander is under the impression that August is the one who ratted him out. He thinks Wilhelm is being insubordinate towards August because he doesn’t agree with what August did. I wonder how he will react when he realizes Wilhelm threw him under the bus to save Simon.

Alexander is not the only one who is clueless about who betrayed him, August thinks Sara reported him to Wilhelm. He confronts Sara who denies the allegations and tries to calm August down. August tells her he is worried about the consequences of his actions and he is scared that the royal family is strategizing on how best to retaliate. Being so close to August makes her all hot and bothered and she runs off.

At school, Simon tries to be cordial with Wilhelm even though it is hard. He is also happy that he has been chosen to perform a solo at the anniversary ceremony. After classes, he talks to Wilhelm and asks him to give him space as he is still hurt. Wilhelm tries to persuade him but Simon leaves and texts Ayub to accompany him to the Karaoke.

Simon and Ayub head over to the Karaoke bar where Marcus gleefully welcomes them. He invites Simon to sing a duet with him. They seem to be having fun and Ayub shares the video on his account talking about how he felt like a third wheel.

Wilhelm sees the video and loses his cool. He calls his mom and blames her for everything. He tells her that he has no interest in being like his brother or being the crown prince. He asks her to put him on the loudspeaker and he announces that he will not be giving a speech at the anniversary ceremony. The royal aides are shocked by his outburst.

The Episode Review

The season picks up immediately where we left off in season 1. It is clear that Wilhelm and Simon still have lingering feelings for each other. At the moment, Simon is hurt and is making an effort to move on. So far, Marcus seems okay and I love that Simon is putting himself out there.

Wilhelm is punishing August for his betrayal and it is working because August is scared. However, Wilhelm should also be accountable for his misdoings. He was the one who came up with a plan to make Alexander take the fall for the drugs.

I understand why he went off after seeing Simon and Marcus together but he could have handled the situation better. Honestly, this whole situation sucks because there is so much pulling them away from each other.

Lastly, Sara is attracted to August and she knows she is playing with fire if she gets too close, she will burn. Hopefully she will reign it in because we all know August only cares about himself.