Young Royals S2X06: August The-Butt-Munch and other terrible things!
When we left Wilmon at the end of episode 5, they were getting all cozy and *coughs* physically reacquainted with one another. The dance-with-no-pants officially entered the chat and the cold war seemed to be well and truly over. When Young Royals S2X06 picks up, Simon (Omar Rudberg) is still in Wilhelm’s room and the dude is still in various states of undress. It looks like their reunion went well, and we love that for them!
As Simon gets dressed, he kisses Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) before telling him that there are some things he has to take care of. He leaves Wilhelm in his bed looking exceptionally anxious about it all, and then things take a turn into the Land Of All Things Horrible for almost the rest of the episode.
We’re hoping the Sandal-Wearing-Socialist does office calls because we definitely need some therapy after the slippery slope of yikes that this episode bestowed upon us.
August – The Terrible
We knew August (Malte Gardinger) was the absolute worst, but nothing could have prepared us for the lengths he is willing to go to in order to protect himself from consequences. He is despicable in every single way and the bin is too good of a place for him right now. Wait till you learn what he’s done.
In Young Royals S2X06, this little monster has Wilmon cornered yet again. Whatever August has against Alexander, he called in the favor, because he – somehow – convinced Alexander (Xiao-Long Rathje Zhao) to take the fall if Simon decides to report the release of the sex tape to the police (y’all, we’re not buying that story that Alexander is willing to go to prison for August over hurt feelings). In addition to this, August tells Wilhelm that if Simon does go to the cops, he’ll tell the police that Simon was selling drugs at Hillerksa – and the dude has proof.
And poof, just like that, everything is terrible again. Wilhelm has to intercept Simon and tell him of this news before he takes his sorry ass to the police station, thereby accidentally throwing himself under the bus.
For the love of all things royal and holy, when are these two lovebirds going to catch a break?
We fear that now August knows he is in the direct line of succession, he’ll literally stop at nothing to get what he wants. He wants that throne so badly, and he knows that in order to get it, he has to take down Wilhelm. And what’s the easiest way to do that? Go for the one he loves the most.
We can’t, folks. We just can’t with this horrible human.
Felice
We are the firsts to admit that we did not like Felice (Nikita Uggla) at the beginning of season 1 at all, but homegirl has shown impressive growth. The minute she learns that Wilhelm is in love with Simon, she puts aside her own feelings and builds a necessary bridge so that she can move on. She positions herself as an ally for Wilhlem, and we love her for that.
However, we really appreciate the effort she makes with Sara (Frida Argento) in season 2, as well. When we first met Felice, she cared deeply about the royal status and ensuring that her nobility was protected by associating with only the “right” people. However, as she gets to know Sara throughout the show, she becomes more invested in people (in general) and doing what’s right, than money and social class.
In Young Royals S2X06, we love that Felice really understands Sara’s connection with Rosseau and just how hard it is for Sara to have to break her bond with the horse. We would like to believe that watching Wilhelm fight for what he wants, and what he thinks is right, prompted this change in Felice, but that is just sheer speculation on our part. Whatever the cause was, we’re grateful it happened because we love her character to pieces now.
We particularly love that she cares more about the idea that Sara is in love with a monster than the fact that Felice used to date that monster herself. That’s what we call real friendship, and we are definitely here for this. However, watching Felice learn the truth about Sara and her ultimate betrayal is a sad moment, indeed.
Sara
It’s not a secret that we are not Sara fans in this house. As we said in our review of S2X01, Sara has proven frequently enough that she is capable of making good choices and she does know right from wrong. At the end of the day, she knew that what she was doing would hurt people – and especially Simon – or she would not have kept it all a secret.
This is why we sent her on many trips to the bin throughout our S2 reaction reviews. However, in Young Royals S2X06, during the scene at the shooting range where her truths are revealed, it is clear that she does try to fix some of her wrongs, she just went about it the wrong way.
We don’t understand it at all, but we don’t blame Sara for developing feelings for August. What she says to Simon in Episode 5, that sometimes falling in love with the wrong person can feel so right, is true. Sometimes we can’t control who we fall for. However when she said that, it was clear to us that she knew that what August had done TO HER BROTHER was horrendous. We may not be able to control who we fall for, but we can control if we act on those feelings, or not.
Sara knew that August was in the midst of taking down her brother. She should have told Simon the second she found out August was responsible for the video – and she knows this too. Instead, she uses this information to manipulate her way into August’s life (for her own personal gain). We’re pretty sure the falling in love part was an accident, but that doesn’t make it any better.
However, when she says to Simon after she admits that she tipped August off about Simon wanting to go to the police, that she thought August would do the right thing, we believe she was telling the truth. At that point, despite the fact that she knows how horrible he has behaved, she was too far gone for August to see his manipulation.
She doesn’t get a pass from us though, because it’s conveyed clearly enough that she knew that all of these choices she was making were the wrong ones and she never attempts to fix them at any point until it is far, far too late. Attempting to fix them because Simon discovered her involvement does not an apology make.
Her character is incredibly complex, like so many of the others in this show, and we had to sit down and really talk about the nuances of her motivations and choices before we made a judgment about her. Some of the things she does throughout the two seasons of Young Royals are clearly because of her Aspergers, but many are not.
The pain of watching Simon realize that Sara had been part of Wilmon’s takedown was gut-wrenching. In our interview with Omar Rudberg and Edvin Ryding, Omar confirmed that this was probably Simon’s saddest moment throughout the whole show. His own family, his own flesh and blood, indirectly participated in his downfall.
In Young Royals S2X06, when Sara decides to act and attempts to right her wrongs, she doesn’t understand that she is probably about to cause her brother further harm. We don’t fault her for making that call to the police, but y’all, we bloody well wish she hadn’t.
Full circle
Picture this fam: we’re standing on our feet, our eyes are wide, and our mouths are hanging open. We’re covering them with our hands though because it’s 2 am and we know we’re about to scream. We’re paralyzed with anticipation, but we grab onto a cushion because we have to hold onto something. ANYTHING. All the movement has scared the cat and he is hiding under the couch.
It’s HERE!
The moment we’ve all been waiting for is HERE! Simon has made his choice and he chooses Wilhelm!
Simon would never have reached this point in his self-exploration if he hadn’t gone through all this mess and pain in season 2. Marcus (Tommy Wattring), Sara – all of it was necessary for him to be able to get to this place for himself and Wilhelm.
Wilhelm is imprisoned by his birthright and very little is currently within his control. If Simon and Wilhelm are ever going to be together, Simon has to understand that. For all of season 1 and pretty much all of season 2 as well, Simon wasn’t able to see things from Wilhelm’s perspective.
BUT HE DOES NOW!
In Young Royals S2X06 we support Simon’s eventual decision to keep the Wilmon relationship a secret. He isn’t sacrificing himself – he’s putting himself first. He tried it the other way, he tried not being with Wilhelm and it just about killed him inside. Relationships are ‘give and take’ and no one can deny that Wilhelm didn’t do everything in his power to make things different for them. Wilhelm tried advocating for himself, tried advocating for Simon, and he tried advocating for their relationship – in the end, the Crown was just too powerful.
It took Simon a long time to see it, but he seems to finally understand the cage that Wilhelm lives within.
Then he says the words that we all needed to hear, that Wilhelm desperately needs to hear: that Simon wants to be with Wilhelm and that he loves him.
He whispers it into Wilhelm’s ear in the middle of a public embrace, just like Wilhelm did to Simon at the end of season 1.
Someone call 9-1-1, our lifeless bodies are on the floor!
Wilhelm burns the house DOWN!
Wilhelm’s decision to spill the tea about the sex video during his speech was clearly a split-second decision. Hearing Simon say ‘I love you’ apparently impacted him deeply enough that it motivated him into action (and us too, squeeeeeeeeeeee). Wilhelm seems to make a choice here about the kind of relationship he wants to have with Simon, and it’s apparent that he doesn’t want the Crown to dictate how they operate together anymore.
Whether he told everyone the truth because he wanted to start his relationship with Simon on the right foot, or he did it because he couldn’t handle the weight of lying anymore (or even if it was some combination of the two), the light that surrounds them both when Wilhelm tells everyone that he was the one with Simon in the video is radiant. It’s in their eyes, it’s on their faces – it’s positively emanating from both of them.
Wilhelm’s shoulders lift and you can see the relief wafting off of him. Simon’s face is initially painted with a trepidacious expression, but as the reality of the situation settles in and the shock of Wilhelm’s bravery evaporates, he joins Wilhelm in his luminescent place.
As Young Royals S2X06 comes to a close, Wilhelm stares down the barrel of the camera, just like he did at the end of season 1, and the message is clear: he has no idea what comes next, but he’s ready to fight for his place in this world. And he is going to do it with Simon by his side (right, Lisa?).
Whether the Crown accepts this challenge, or whether they will attempt to control and silence Wilhelm, as they did throughout season 2, will undoubtedly become a central story in season 3. And we are here (with pitchforks ready) for every second of this battle.
Shout-outs
For all the things that Simon does wrong throughout the season, his conversation with Marcus and his attempt to end their relationship in Young Royals S2X06 is one of the things that he does right.
He reminds Marcus that he communicated his needs clearly when they first began dating. He tells Marcus that he said he wasn’t ready for anything serious; it was Marcus who chose not to heed that warning. Granted, Simon probably shouldn’t have continued to see the kid, but we’re going to give him a pass this time. Despite the fact that Marcus probably does genuinely like Simon, that doesn’t negate the fact that he takes advantage of Simon’s vulnerability and tries to “persuade” him into a relationship. We don’t know much, but we do know that if persuasion is required, then said relationship is never going to work.
In Young Royals S2X06 shout-outs are also needed here for Ayub (Inti Zamora Sobrado) again. Even though it’s obvious that he doesn’t think Simon should keep his relationship with Wilhelm a secret, Ayub makes it clear that he is going to be there for Simon and will support him through whatever decision he makes. Honestly, we couldn’t ask for a better friend than that, and we love that Ayub is part of Simon’s life.
And last, but certainly not least, this special shout-out goes to Omar Rudberg himself. When Simon finds out about Sara’s involvement with August and the mess with the sex video, Simon’s response broke us. The way Rudberg chose to portray the severity of Simon’s emotions here caused a visceral reaction within all of us. We could feel his body vibrating through the screen and the tears we shed were tears of agony for Simon. It’s rare that a television show, or the portrayal of a character, can really make you pause and reflect on your own life experiences, but Omar Rudberg definitely took us to that place with this scene. This is, without a doubt, one of the most impactful, significant moments of the entire series for us. The script was great, and the scene was clearly well-directed, but it was Omar Rudberg who managed to bring that moment to life. This scene, this character, would not be what it is without him. Thanks for making us feel All The Feelings here, Omar.
Trash can moments
We’re putting August in the bin folks, and we don’t think we need to elaborate any further.
Who has the lid for the can? Can someone get us some bricks? We want to ensure the lid is securely fastened and the butt munch can’t get out. A lifetime spent in the bin isn’t enough for August to pay for all that he has done and all that he is about to do.
That brings us to the end of our reaction reviews of Young Royals season 2. We are more in love with this show than ever before and we have so many thoughts and feelings running through our hearts and minds. If you want to unpack these incredible six episodes with us further, come and find us on socials.
As you know, we’ve been making a lot of noise online about what fans can do to ensure the show gets picked up for a third season. If you missed our explanation and our instructions on how to contribute effectively, read our breakdown here.
Young Royals Season 2 is now available to stream on Netflix globally. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
