Young Royals S2X04: Wilhelm and Simon standing behind a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G

At the end of Young Royals S2X03, Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) was caught red-handed putting the moves on Felice (Nikita Uggla), and yikes fam, the way we barfed! Anygays, as Young Royals S2X04 kicks off, word has spread that the Crown Prince had his paws all over his noble friend and folks are saying all kinds of nasty stuff about Felice, because it’s always the woman that gets dragged in these situations, right? 🙄

Wilhelm doesn’t appreciate the locker room talk at the dinner table that takes place regarding him and Felice, and clearly, neither does Simon (Omar Rudberg). As Wilhelm confirms that Felice was in his room the night before, Simon pushes his chair back and leaves the dining hall in a fit of rage. 

Simon – who has been parading Marcus (Tommy Wättring) in front of Wilhelm –  is jealous y’all, and we’re loving every second of it!

Tensions rise in Young Royals S2X04 and it gets to be a little too much for Wilmon, who are continuing to try and convince themselves that they aren’t still a stupid puddle of mush for each other. 

All the ways in which Wilmon are unable to hide from each other in Young Royals S2X04

Just because these fools aren’t together, doesn’t mean they’re capable of hiding from each other. More than ever, in Young Royals S2X04, Simon and Wilhelm struggle to keep their emotions for one another at bay. 

They have a fight while Simon is half-naked in the locker room because Simon is angry that Wilhelm didn’t tell him that he was seeing Felice. Apart from the fact that Wilhelm isn’t seeing Felice, it’s a bit rich for Simon to spray his jealousy all over Wilhelm on account of his relationship with f%&king Marcus. 

And all this is happening while Simon is freshly showered, kinda wet, and definitely half-naked. We mean, rude. 

There is so much to love about this fight. The sexual tension between the two boys is palpable, but more than that, the fact that they’re fighting over each other seeing other people instead of each other is totes hilarious. Suddenly they’re fighting over whether Wilhelm likes all of Simon’s qualities as much as f%&king Marcus does and sheesh, the desire to smack these two is high. There is a really easy solution to this conundrum fellas, but we’re going to let you work this one out on your own. 

It’s easier for Simon to tell himself that f%&king Marcus appreciates him more than Wilhelm does, but at the end of the day, we all know that Simon is making a liar out of himself. Wilhelm knows it too. But okay, sure. Whatever. Fight about the fact that you still like each other so much. We’ll wait for you to catch up. 

Team Wilhelm

During this scene, the Q+ Magazine staffers firmly stepped into the Team Wilhelm camp. Wilhelm tells Simon in no uncertain terms that a big part of their problems is Simon’s unrelenting inability to show some empathy for Wilhelm’s situation. 

Wilhelm is a royal, and Simon knew that when they got involved and started doing the dance with no pants together. The Monarchy comes with certain rules and expectations, and Wilhelm is just one part of a long and complex institution that can’t be undone with the fallout of one single sex scandal. Simon’s firm stance that he shouldn’t have to be the one to fold to royal expectations here is everything that is wrong with Wilmon in this episode. 

Whether Simon knows it or not, Wilhelm is actively fighting the Crown and doing what he can so that he can fulfill his royal obligations and be true to himself. Wilhelm is trying, while Simon is crying that he can’t have his cake and eat it too. 

So when Simon says that he can’t accept Wilhelm’s family’s situation, this seems like it’s the end of any kind of future for Simon and Wilhelm at this point. How can you have a relationship with someone that fundamentally rejects who you are and what you stand for? 

Realizing that the situation is hopeless between the two of them, Wilhelm decides it’s time to try and fold Simon into his past and seeks out advice on how to involve himself in the LGBTQ dating world (with the intent to date someone that is not Simon) and still maintain the discretion he needs in order to be respected as a royal. 

The absolute agony that is Simon

Despite the fact that we’re very much Team Wilhelm in Young Royals S2X04, Simon’s guttural pain and agony over the situation with Wilhelm is heartbreaking to watch. Obviously, Simon is pushing Wilhelm away because he can’t stand to be so close, yet be so far from being able to call the Prince his. 

So he does stupid things, like the abovementioned fight where he baits the Prince into arguing over how much they actually care about each other. Simon continues to spend time with f%&king Marcus even though he knows deep down he’s just not into the situation at all. 

Knowing that Wilhelm will be in attendance, Simon ends up inviting f%&king Marcus to the Valentine’s Day ball at Hillerska. Marcus declines at first, but when push comes to shove, he comes through and shows up on Simon’s doorstep in a suit. 

Fellas, is it gay if two boys kiss behind a tree?

During the masked Valentine’s Day ball, Wilhelm puts aside his jealousy towards Marcus and tries – for Simon’s sake (for the love of God, he really loves him, huh?) – to be polite. The conversation is horrendously awkward, but we’re proud of Wilhelm for giving it a shot. But after getting a second alone with Simon and the two go back and forth about the awkwardness, Wilhelm tells Simon that he feels like Simon doesn’t love him anymore (excuse me, sir, when did Simon ever say those words!?) and that he’ll leave him alone from now on. 

We yelled at Simon pretty loudly to run after Wilhelm as he walks away, so we’re happy to report that the kid heard us and did what we said. Simon chases after Wilhelm as he rushes outside away from the party and attempts to explain to the Crown Prince that he’s just trying to “move on”. 

Understanding that this is a make-or-break moment for them, Simon clutches desperately to what they have. He wastes no time at all putting himself well inside Wilhelm’s personal space and then suddenly their faces are so close they’re breathing each other’s breath and, and ahhhhhhhh it’s gonna happen, isn’t it?

THEY’RE GONNA KISS, RIGHT?

Yesssssss.

Wilhelm waits for Simon to make the move and then they’re kissing and it’s getting more intense and then all of a sudden they’re pulling away from each other and smiling at each other like the lovesick fools they are and they’re kissing again and then f%&king Marcus interrupts them and OH MY GOD NO BOY, GO AWAY!

Projectiles were thrown fam, projectiles were thrown. Breathe us, breathe!

But y’all we got Wilhelm and Simon standing behind a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!

Trash Can moments

Despite the fact that we are deep in Team Wilhelm territory this episode, in Young Royals S2X04 we do send Wille for a temporary stay in the bin. He reveals at the beginning of the episode that he only made out with Felice (Nikita Uggla) because he wanted to see if kissing her felt the same way it did when he was kissing Simon. And y’all, for three majorly short seconds, we swooned. 

Then Felice reminds us that no, Wille, we don’t use others for personal experimentation. Felice also reminds Wilhelm in no uncertain terms that she was in love with him for a long time, and he should have thought about that before he put his mouth all over hers. 

Bad Wille, bad!

He only has to stay in the bin for a very short amount of time today though, because he realizes really quickly that yikes, that ain’t good behavior, and he apologizes right away. 

We’re also putting F%&king Marcus and Simon in the bin because – why not! We kid, we kid. We have a legitimate reason for slamming these guys today. It’s pretty clear that Marcus took Simon to the ball as a means of manipulation, rather than to genuinely support Simon. 

Marcus had already told Simon this kind of party wasn’t his thing and he didn’t want to go. When they show up together it’s pretty obvious that Marcus makes it his business to ensure that Wilhelm knows that he and Simon are there together as a couple. Marcus is clearly trying to cause problems between the Prince and his love, so Simon will make more space in his life for him. But Simon is not an innocent party here either. He is intentionally parading Marcus around in front of Wilhelm and maneuvering them around the room so that Wilhelm will see them together.

We have a message for these boys: f%&king Marcus, we can’t make people love us, son. If Simon isn’t invested in your relationship, attempting to sabotage what he has with Wilhelm won’t get the job done either. And Simon: bro, making Wilhelm jealous won’t help you get over your feelings for the kid. You’re still going to love him, even if you hurt him into hating you.

Where is the Sandal-Wearing-Socialist when you need him?

Shout-outs

In the same conversation where Wilhelm is telling Felice that he feels like he has to move on from Simon, that he has lost hope in the idea that they have a future together, WE DIED. His face, his widdol iddy biddy face absolutely crushed us y’all and we’re just not sure if recovery from this moment is ever possible. 

If you’re not sure what genuine, horrendous heartbreak looks like, it’s Wilhelm’s face as he utters those words into existence. Edvin Ryding is such a talented actor who doesn’t get nearly enough praise. We’ve always known the man is a masterpiece, but my god, the visceral pain that he caused our entire staff during this scene was massively devastating. 

So thanks Edvin, for absolutely ruining us in every single possible way (no really, thank you!)

We’d also like to give a shout-out to the lesbians. Although we didn’t focus on their inclusion at all in our reaction above, we wanted to say we see you and we hope to get more of this representation in season 3!

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Young Royals S2X04 is now available to stream on Netflix globally. Stay tuned for episode 5 in a couple of hours! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!