Marcus in Young Royals Season 2: Is he a villain or a victim?
Young Royals season 2 is here folks, and we have all the feelings. Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) returns to Hillerska after winter break carrying the weight of his feelings for Simon (Omar Rudberg) with him. As the episode opens, no resolution for the two has been found. Enter Marcus (Tommy Wättring). The writers of this show clearly aren’t here to play, and viewers are introduced to Marcus in Young Royals season 2 relatively quickly. It’s blatantly obvious that Marcus is here to tempt the lovely Simon and provide an option for him that doesn’t include the monarchy or Prince Wilhelm.
If you haven’t watched the entirety of Young Royals season 2, we suggest you boot scoot away and take care of that before finishing this article. Spoilers will most certainly ensue past this point.
Marcus is likely to incite many feelings among viewers as they watch this season – most of them not good. However, when placed under a microscope, it’s undeniable that his character was utterly necessary for the story to move in the direction that it did. So, like him or hate him, Marcus is an integral part of this show.
Folks are likely to dislike him for the simple fact that he serves as a love interest for Simon. However, when one really looks at his character as the show unfolds, a question comes to mind: is Marcus in Young Royals season 2 a villain, or a victim of Wilmon’s shenanigans? Come with us as we unpack this character’s journey.
Marcus in Young Royals Season 2: The good bits
The moment Marcus came into view on screen, we knew he was there for Simon – to steal Simon from Wilhelm. The visceral response this knowledge sparked inside us was undeniable, however, he isn’t all bad, and arguably, he is even necessary for Wilmon to be able to move past their issues.
There are several moments throughout the season where fans should be grateful that Marcus exists in season 2. Yes, we’re Team Wilmon, but Marcus was good for Simon (in a very nuanced way) for a while and he was good to Simon here and there as well. Here are the highlights of Marcus’ character in this second season.
No desire to rush
When Simon approaches Marcus to tell him that he isn’t ready for a relationship, the conversation that plays out in this scene ends up being rather problematic. Because of this, we’re also including this moment in the following not-so-good section as well.
However, despite the fact that not all the words uttered by Marcus during this scene are genuine and without ill intent, when he tells Simon that there is no need to rush, and that they can take things as slowly as Simon needs, there does seem to be an air of pure intent here. This is important because, during this exchange, Marcus demonstrates that he seems to understand that Simon is a walking hot mess, so he scores some points with our team here.
Simon doesn’t feel like Wilhelm is listening to him and he doesn’t feel like Wilhelm can support him in their relationship the way he needs (because of the royal thing), so it’s important that Simon knows, if he decides to move on from Wilhelm, someone else can honor Simon in that way. Saying they don’t have to rush, that they can take their time, is Marcus communicating that he hears Simon loud and clear.
“I’ll wait for you”
In this same conversation, Marcus tells Simon that he will wait for him to be ready. The importance of this moment is huge. When Marcus says these words to Simon, the pain and guilt that Simon harbors over his part in the breakdown of his relationship with Wilhelm are never more apparent on Simon’s face than they are here.
Riiiigghhhhtttt before this scene takes place, Wilhelm tells Simon that they would only need to keep their relationship a secret for two more years, then they could be together in public, or however they wish. Simon is so not okay with this proposition and makes it clear to Wilhelm that being asked to wait, to be kept a secret, is not something that Simon is willing to do.
The fact that Marcus – someone Simon just met – is willing to wait for the kid to get himself together seems to impact Simon deeply. If Marcus can wait for Simon, why can’t Simon do the same for the one person he loves more than anyone in the world? The emotional gymnastics of this entire scene is overwhelming.
Although Simon doesn’t really internalize the weight of Marcus’ words at that moment, we do feel that this conversation eventually played a crucial role in Simon finally deciding that he could be Wilhelm’s secret if it was utterly necessary (and we don’t fault him for that one bit). There are a lot of things that contribute to Simon deciding to concede to Wilhlem so they can be together, but this moment clearly plays a role in the whole ordeal.
He calls Simon out on his bullshit
Although Marcus says some really hurtful words to Simon in their official breakup scene, he also says some pertinent things that Simon definitely needs to hear.
He tells Simon, in no uncertain terms, that one of the kid’s biggest shortcomings is that he sees himself as a victim among all the rich kids – and he is right. Simon does see himself this way. As long as Simon is walking around with this attitude, he is never going to be able to understand or empathize with Wilhelm’s situation. If Simon is always the victim, then what is Wilhelm?
Wilhelm isn’t just any old kid. He is the Crown Prince of Sweden and the next in line for the throne. Regardless of how much he wants to, Wilhelm can’t just walk to the beat of his own drum, like Simon so desperately wishes he would.
Until Simon is able to see past his own nose and lose the victim mentality, any relationship between these two boys is impossible. Simon needs to see that what happened with the sex video happened to both of them, and while it impacted them in very different ways, the fact that it did happen to them both remains true. So Marcus wasn’t totally off base when he said these words to Simon. So even though it came from a place that was intended to hurt Simon, the words were necessary and important for Simon’s journey.
He makes Simon realize he can’t move on from Wilhelm
This is, in our opinion, possibly the whole entire point of including Marcus this season. In a conversation with his friends, Simon laments that he doesn’t understand why he can’t fall in love with Marcus. He knows Marcus is a decent person (despite all the awful things we’re going to write about him below), but his attempts at dating him make Simon realize that he’s just too far gone for Wilhelm for a relationship with someone else to work.
And this revelation has nothing to do with Marcus as a person, but the fact that Simon is stuck in his feelings for Wilhelm. We positively needed Simon to reach this conclusion before the season ended. It’s actually quite sad that Marcus becomes a casualty in the Wilmon saga. If Simon had met him at another point in his life, it’s entirely possible that the two of them would have been able to have a successful relationship. But as with many things in life, timing is everything. So yes, on the one hand, Marcus is a victim in this story and we understand his hurtful words to Simon in their breakup scene.
However, as bad as that may feel, we’re okay with Marcus taking one for the team. Because Simon tried to invest himself in Marcus, he realizes he can’t live without Wilhelm. But, in order to be with Wilhelm, Simon has to make some changes of his own. This is what we call growth, fam, and if the inclusion of an additional love interest for Simon is what gets him there in the end, we’ll take it! Thanks, Marcus, your service to the Wilmon ship was most appreciated.
Marcus in Young Royals Season 2: The not-so-good bits
As viewers get to know Marcus more intimately, it’s clear that his character is problematic in his own way. There is no person on planet earth watching season 2 that is going to support the idea of Simon ending up with another dude, so the likeability of Marcus was always going to be in the toilet. However, we want to thank the writers for not making him a shiny, upstanding citizen that has no faults because disliking him becomes easier as the season unfolds.
While there are many little things that culminate in the un-stan-ability of Marcus, we’re going to keep it to a shorter list of problems that burned our souls the most. Here are just some of the things that place Marcus in villain territory.
Manipulative master
Does it look like Marcus genuinely cares about Simon and wants a relationship with him? Yes, it does. However, that doesn’t mean that his methods of obtaining his goal are bathed in good intentions.
Marcus is well aware of the drama that unfolded between Simon and his love. Marcus is also aware of the fact that the breakup between Wilmon (if we can even call it that) happened very recently, so feelings were likely to be lingering, and hurt wounds were still open and fresh.
Marcus is incredibly targeted and selective in the language that he uses with Simon in order to persuade Simon to do what Marcus wants. He uses the fact that Simon is hurt and vulnerable to sway Simon in his direction. And we call that manipulation.
A better person would have identified this and just waited. A better person would have given Simon the space to heal before busting a move on him. A better person would have listened to what Simon said about his relationship status, instead of trying to position himself as someone more worthy than Wilhelm. People that rely on manipulative tactics understand that they are not going to get what they want without said tactics, so they unleash their manipulative strategies instead of just walking away. This is what Marcus should have done; he should have just walked away when he realized how emotionally unavailable Simon really was.
It is this part of Marcus’s personality that resulted in us hissing at the television whenever he was on screen.
He used Simon’s trauma against him
While this also falls under the banner of manipulation, we felt it warranted a section all of its very own. What Marcus does here is a low, low blow.
During the conversation where Simon is attempting to communicate that he isn’t ready for a relationship, Marcus pulls the dad card on Simon. He tells Simon that he (Simon) isn’t like his father and won’t repeat the same mistakes that evidently lead to the breakdown of their family unit. This is complete assholery.
It’s clear that both Simon and Sara (Frida Argento) have leftover trauma from their childhood with their dad. Sara won’t even give the man the time of day, and Simon only goes to him when he needs something as a last resort. The fact that Marcus has this information at his disposal and he weaponizes it against Simon in order to get what he wants from Simon is utterly unforgivable. It’s also a testament to just how broken Simon is in this scene that he doesn’t walk away from Marcus then and there. Simon is so emotionally battered and beaten at this point in the story that he almost takes it as a compliment, which it definitely is not.
Jealousy is not your friend
Marcus clearly tells Simon that balls (the party kind, not the sexytime kind) aren’t his thing. So when he shows up unannounced at Simon’s place in a suit on the day of the ball, our spidey senses tingled as to what his true intentions were.
Based on the way Marcus behaves at the ball, it’s evident that the reason he goes with Simon is that he wants to make Wilhelm jealous. He wants to make sure Wilhelm sees the two of them together acting like a couple and he wants to give Wilhelm a reason to move on from Simon. And Marcus wants that reason to be him.
Sure, he probably wanted to support Simon as well, but if that was really his honest, true intention, he would have agreed to go with Simon when Simon first invited him, but he didn’t.
Again, this also falls under the umbrella of manipulation, but it’s such a targeted and specific behavior that we wanted to spell it out properly. Marcus knows that Simon is not invested in their relationship and he knows it’s because Simon is in love with Wilhelm. For Marcus to even come up with such a plan shows just how little he respects Simon.
Fortunately, Simon and Wilhelm’s lips end up wrapped around each other by the end of this episode, and bringing Marcus to the party seems to be the catalyst that thrusts Simon into Wilhelm’s arms (not that we condone cheating folks, but we do believe in karma).
While there are more points to add to both sides of the debate, when listed out like this, deciding whether Marcus is a victim or a villain doesn’t really seem to get any easier. On the one hand, he does become a victim of the superstorm that is Wilmon. Marcus developed feelings for a guy that just wasn’t in a place to reciprocate at that time. Marcus shouldn’t have pursued Simon, but he did, and all he got in return was a heartbreak sandwich. Did Simon treat him poorly? Also debatable. Simon attempted to communicate that he wasn’t ready for anything with Marcus, but he allowed himself to be pulled into Marcus’ web anyway.
So whose fault is that really? Both are to blame.
On the other hand, Marcus did engage in villainous behavior. Just because he wanted Simon, doesn’t mean that Simon is guaranteed to want him back. He knew Simon was emotionally unavailable and he willingly entered into the situation anyway. This caused Marcus to act poorly and rely on manipulation to sway Simon in his direction, but in the end, this didn’t work anyway.
So, we’re saying that Marcus in Young Royals season 2 is both a villain and a victim. My dude, hopefully, this was a lesson learned for you. Next time you want something that is unavailable, walk away. People are not property and they can’t be obtained. If we see Marcus again in season 3 (ahem, Netflix please renew our show), we hope that we get the chance to see him grow in this area.
We are sure that Tommy Wättring is an absolutely delightful human and we’re sorry for trashing your character so thoroughly. Welcome to the Young Royals family.
Young Royals Season 2 is now available to stream on Netflix globally. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
