This Also Connects Well To How, In Season 1, Wille Accuses Simon Of Committing An Act That Is "so Fucking

Look I love unconditional devotion love stories as much as the next person, but there's really something so deliciously raw about conditional devotion.

I have served you and I have loved you for decades, but I will not give up my principles for you. You cut out part of my heart and took it with you down that path that you insist on walking, but you walk it alone. Even when the bleeding, gaping hole you left in my chest kills me, I will not follow you.

I’ve never broken down so hard seeing a shot. Simon’s face here broke me (in a incredible sad and happy both way).

And then…

That happened.

And I will always forever be in love with the way Simon looks at Wille. His forever prince, not by title anymore, but because he is his 💜

Would like to gently remind everyone that in less than a year Wille had to transfer schools against his will, got made fun of for the club fight on social media, got hazed in an incredibly traumatizing way, lost his brother, learned shit about his brother, been betrayed by someone he thought he could trust (because of his brother), fell in love, was outed very publicly, had a recording of him having sex leaked, was forced into the closet by his own mother, lost the boy he loved, came out to the entire world, had to take on a bigger role as the Crown Prince, never got time to grieve, continues to get manipulated by his mother and the court, is hounded by the press and just 17. And there’s probably more I could mention.

Yes, of fucking course he isn’t perfect. He also grew up in a super toxic environment where he didn’t learn shit about controlling his emotions or healthy communication. But he’s trying and willing to learn. I really don’t get why he’s being judged as harshly.

No but after Young Royals is over I'm gonna need Omar and Edvin to star together in two romcoms, three period dramas and a corny christmas movie. You can't just waste this chemistry

I really appreciate this take & interpretation. These lines from Wille in S1 & S2 ("you're the only one I can talk to") have always kinda bothered me even though they're really realistic so simultaneously I also appreciate them. I agree they're not intentionally manipulative, but to me they are evidence of some deeply problematic dynamics still at play (which Wille works through by the end of S2).

To me, these are examples of times Wille is trying to be vulnerable and reach out... but is not doing so in a particularly emotionally aware or empathetic way. It's all about him. He's still working on developing the important skill of mentalization, which makes sense both because he's a teen + because he was raised as royalty. These statements are all oriented around his needs (to not feel alone, to have someone to talk to) rather than about Simon or about something mutual between the two of them.

I know people love the St. Lucia hug & kiss, but tbh if I'd been Simon, I would have been pissed and would NOT have hugged him then. Like: You don't have anyone else to talk to? Honestly that's a you problem - sorry. You should stick up for me & have my back because you want what's best for me, not just because you want what's best for YOU (and don't want to lose your only confidante).

A more empathetic & emotionally intelligent communication approach would have been, for example, "I don't want to lose you because I care about you + *also* I don't want you to have to get kicked out of school. That would be messed up and I don't want you to experience messed up things. I want to show you that I care about you by putting you first and proving I'll advocate for you." If I'd been Simon, I would have preferred that statement a whole lot! But I think it's useful & very telling that that's *not* what he got. Yet.

But also Willie is manipulating Simon telling him that and it worked in season 1 but not in season 2 and i think that was Lisa’s intention. Re “you are the only I can talk to”

The post in question Your ask is so interesting that I had to go back and rewatch the scene. Is what he's doing emotional manipulation? I disagree, but not by much. Wille isn't consciously or subconsciously trying to make Simon feel guilty so he doesn't leave him. Instead, he's being vulnerable and open, sharing his own fear.

Neither does he use a "pity my poor feelings" strategy, which is another manipulative way of gaining sympathy. He knows what he did to Alexander is wrong. He admits to being selfish.

Even if it wasn't manipulative, what he did and said was not okay at all. That's underscored by the specific lyrics of Samurai Swords being played when Simon walks over to hug him, so crucial they're texted: "I am leaving, I'm unleashing, I unravel to the leeches, I'm unpleasant, I'm not loving, I'm not loving".

It's a genious song choice btw, because it both explains the characters' feelings about themselves, it's also massive foreshadowing.

What I love about that scene isn't that Simon is hugging a distressed Wille, it's that it so clearly shows that Wille is aware that his behaviour is very far from ok, and that the music drives this point home.

did you know that you can just go online and be nice to people? you can give people compliments and helpful advice when they ask? you can encourage people when they need a little cheering up? you can even share cute pictures! more people should use the internet like that.

Then vs now:

Gif by @youngroyalscentral

The important stuff hasn't changed :)

Need minimum 12 hours a day of do my own thang time

Thinking about how Wille has made loving Simon his whole personality, and how it’s a little bit hilarious, extraordinarily sweet, yet heartbreaking and predictable at the same time. 

The scene where he puts up their selfie in ep1 is so endearing and lovely and really triggers my cuteness aggression. But although it’s a quick scene, it really distills how this can also be a lonely and isolating thing; he’s at a complete loss for what to do with himself when Simon doesn’t pick up his call immediately. 

I mean boy literally has three hobbies:

Love Simon

Throw Ball

Grieve Dead Brother

So when Simon suggests Wille quit rowing and do something he actually enjoys, he’s originally completely stumped. No one has ever told him that he’s allowed to do things because he actually likes them, but rather that everything he does must fit the narrative, as Wille says himself, of being a ‘serious, traditional, smart, strong, young man’ - the model of (white, heteronormative) masculinity. He’s hyperaware of this happening, yet he’s still not bothered to try to figure out for himself what he likes, because it’s just not worth the fight with the Court. What a revelation it is for Simon to say that he can actually allow himself to do things just because he likes them - and stop doing things he doesn’t.

But Wille has spent the last several months alternating between pining for Simon, and grieving his brother, hemmed in by the expectations from the Royal Court and his parents. When has he had the opportunity to do soul searching on top of that? Where does all this pent up energy go except to focus even more on Simon? 

So of course the new hobby he chooses is ‘Listen to Simon Sing’. Look, I don’t blame the boy, I would do the same. And my god the way Simon pounces on him right after, we can see just how much it means to him too. I would personally have melted into a puddle next to the lockers at such a gesture (I mean I do kind of melt anyway when I watch this scene). 

It’s so romantic, it’s so beautiful. Yet it’s absolutely not tenable for the future of their relationship - it’s A Lot to for Simon to shoulder on his own, in fact it’s too much. ‘I can be your revolution/ Protect you from the others/ Let’s be a revolution/ We who have each other’ - a beautiful sentiment, and yes it’s great and wonderful that they can offer each other support, that they understand each other in ways no one else does. But that is too much pressure to put on Simon, on a boy who already sacrifices so much of himself for the comfort of his loved ones. A boy who is now losing himself entirely to this pressure. He just can’t be the Only Thing in Wille’s life, particularly when Wille is incapable of seeing past his own monumental pain. Which is why the breaking point in ep 5 absolutely needs to happen.

But I strongly believe that Wille and Simon are in a position to turn this around. Wille has his tunnel vision Simon goggles on most of this season, but he needs to be able to take them off from time to time - only then can he appreciate the bigger picture. He needs (among other things) to invest more time in his own hopes and wishes and desires beyond Simon, to be able to help rebuild their relationship on much stronger and equal foundations. Something he realistically can only do by stepping away from the monarchy, by disrupting this all-encompassing narrative they’ve driven for him his whole life. And I have to believe that he can 💜