The Next Prince 1×13 Review: Episode 13

With the king still in critical condition, the remaining princes discuss whether or not the competition should continue as planned. Meanwhile, Ava and Paytai make decisions about their future.

First things first: Chakri lives! I knew he would. I can’t see The Next Prince being the kind of show that would kill off a character like that – at least, not someone who wasn’t an antagonist. That said, I am amazed how swift his recovery was, considering he was shot in the chest. What even is the timeline on this show? How long was he in the hospital before he was back to tending to Khanin as though nothing even happened? There’s only so far I can suspend my disbelief, y’all. Have him wince or something to show he’s still healing, for crying out loud.

Anyway, the king’s condition is still delicate. While he recuperates in the hospital, we learn what Wasin meant in last week’s episode, when he told Charan that the king was responsible for his mother’s death. I was expecting some grand conspiracy, because they have spent virtually the entire show setting up the king as some conniving old man. He’s definitely appeared guilty of something… Or rather, something other than just being a horrible person.

However, it turns out that Charan’s mother, Chita, was originally supposed to take Khanin and his mother, Khunita, to England. But they were attacked while escaping, and the car was driven off the road. Khunita and Chita were killed in the accident, and Thatdanai, who was one of the soldiers sent to protect them, is the one who takes Khanin and flees the country. So the king is responsible, in the sense that he ordered Chita to be the one escorting them. (But Wasin, who was apparently behind the attack in the first place, somehow did not consider himself responsible.)

I’m not going to lie, I’m a little disappointed. In fact, a lot of the things that happened in this week’s episode disappointed me. This is just the first. Perhaps I was reading too much into things, but with the kind of show this is, I was fully expecting something more. What do you mean everything is surface level? What do you mean I’ve spent weeks analyzing facial expressions and body language only for it to not mean anything?

Khanin and Charan bring flowers to their mothers’ graves, and it’s the first time Khanin has even acknowledged he had a mother at some point. I can’t help but notice that he hasn’t yet asked about her. I guess it’s not important; it just strikes me as odd. (Also, I wonder what they did with Khanin’s grave when he came back. Is it still there?)

With the king’s health still in jeopardy, Tharin rules as regent. He brings Chana and Rachata together to discuss what to do in the wake of Wasin’s death. Tharin assumes temporary governorship of Meenanakarin until they can determine what to do with the region.

They also discuss the competition, which is still ongoing. Tharin reveals that the corruption in the first round (aka Rachata’s cheating) was more widely known than we thought. The results of the archery round are also invalidated, although I’m not quite sure why. Dramatic effect, I suppose. And with the king still recovering, they aren’t sure whether or not the competition should continue. Tharin worries that there may still be rebels out there, and he cannot guarantee anyone’s safety.

Rachata, naturally, gets angry that the Assavadevathin are sabotaging Ramil when he’s so close to winning. As though he didn’t, you know, cheat. (For the record, Ramil may have been able to win the first round on his own merits, but we’ll never know that now, will we?) When Ramil isn’t appropriately angry about their family’s treatment, Rachata moves to strike him, but Paytai gets in the way and asks to accept the punishment on his behalf.

This angers Rachata even more, who decides to punish Paytai for his, I don’t know, impertinence. How dare Paytai presume to tell him what to do. But this time, Rachata makes Ramil assist in punishing Paytai, something that he has never been forced to do before. Ramil initially refuses, but Rachata persists, and eventually Ramil relents.

Again, this was disappointing. I’ve been waiting for Ramil to stand up to his father when it comes to Paytai, and this was the perfect moment for that to happen. I know that it’s hard for people in abusive relationships to behave the way we, as the audience, would want them to behave. But I’ve felt that they were building up to something like that happening only to hit the brakes at the last second. There’s one episode left, so it may still happen. I’m still sort of hoping that Ramil realizes his father should absolutely not be king and decides to throw the fencing match, but I’ll talk more on that later.

In the end, Paytai stands up for himself. After Rachata leaves, Ramil goes to comfort Paytai, but he refuses his touch. He tells Ramil that he’s suffered for many years, but he endured it because he knew Ramil would protect him. Truthfully, that doesn’t make any sense. Ramil hasn’t protected him, and Ramil himself has even realized this. I think this scene would have been more impactful if it focused on the fact that, until now, Ramil had never participated in Paytai’s punishment before. It would have hammered home the knowledge that, no matter what, at the end of the day, they are both still subject to Rachata’s whims.

Tharin calls all the clans together to discuss the competition. As the king gradually recovers, he has decreed that the competition should continue as scheduled. After all that talk about fairness, the competition has returned to its traditional roots as a fencing match. And even more disappointing, Ava withdraws from the competition. She says that she only wanted to compete to prove that she could, and she felt that she’s done that, so she doesn’t need to compete anymore.

This was perhaps the most disappointing moment for me. For storytelling purposes, I can understand why the final competition has to be between Khanin and Ramil. And I also understand the logistical issues of a three-person fencing tournament. But Ava was grossly underutilized the entire series, and personally, I felt the only way this show could redeem its treatment of women was for Ava to win the whole thing.

Her reasoning left a sour taste in my mouth as well. I thought she wanted to challenge the patriarchal conventions of Emmaly. How is she to do that if she doesn’t even finish the competition? What was the point of anything then?

There is also the question of what to do with Meenanakarin, as Wasin had no heir. Despite the fact that he does apparently still have family left – there was mention of sending them condolences – Tharin resolves to appoint a ruler. Khanin suggests that perhaps the people of Meenanakarin should choose their own leader, which Tharin gently shoots down. Later, Tharin tells Khanin that if he wants to bring true change to Emmaly, he needs to win the tournament. He implies that he may be willing to institute democracy if Khanin wins; whether or not he keeps this “promise” remains to be seen.

I do think they’ve been laying the groundwork for something like this. However, I also thought they were laying the groundwork for a bunch of other stuff that has yet to come to fruition. So maybe they will just stick with a monarchy “because tradition”, and then this whole story will not matter at all. We do still have one more episode, and Tharin at least seems reasonable and willing to listen.

Plus, I can’t imagine that the rebellion would end just because Wasin died. All those weapons went somewhere. Moving towards democracy would go a long way with the people.

Logically, I understand why Tharin dismissed Khanin’s suggestion. Chana and Rachata hold a lot of power and won’t be willing to give that up. Rachata especially would seriously – perhaps violently – resist a move towards democracy. But I do think that Tharin was intrigued by the possibility. Truth be told, we’ve seen so little of Tharin, and I’ve not really been able to get a read on him. He may not even want to be king. Has anyone asked him?

He keeps pushing Khanin to win because Khanin wants to make changes. Tharin has pointed out that real change would only be possible if Tharin were king. This is true. But it’s hard to know whether Tharin says that because he also wants change, or if he’s manipulating Khanin to get the results he wants. Over the series, Tharin has certainly seemed the most sympathetic. And we didn’t see him at all in Wasin’s recollections; he had no real power, true, but perhaps it means he was actually, you know, a decent person.

With the fencing match looming, Khanin and Ramil return to their training. Khanin’s training is now boosted by having Thatdanai. He is able to successfully defeat Charan for the first time, which indicates that his skills have vastly improved. I loved having Thatdanai there, showing that his and Khanin’s relationship hasn’t suffered from everything that happened.

On the other hand, Ramil’s training seems to be worsening. He doesn’t have Paytai there at his side, and Rachata seems determined to drive him to injury. I honestly think Rachata is just dumb. He thinks he’s teaching his son persistence and determination, but all he’s doing is exhausting Ramil and making it more likely that he’ll lose.

I do think Ramil losing is the likely outcome. For one, what kind of happy ending would it be if someone like Rachata ends up sitting on the throne? For another, it’s the culmination of Khanin’s journey for him to emerge victorious. Particularly because he’s the only heir who hasn’t yet won a challenge (even if those ended up not mattering). I waver back and forth as to whether or not I think Ramil will lose on purpose, but I’m leaning more towards Khanin winning outright. After all, it isn’t much of a victory otherwise.

Now, I loved the little moment between Khanin and Charan in bed. I love the quiet intimacy of moments like that. But why are they sleeping in bathrobes? Is that not uncomfortable?

I couldn’t help but notice that they changed the theme on the opening credits. This one was more intense and dramatic, perhaps to indicate the change in tone now that Wasin’s betrayal has been revealed. I thought it was a nice touch, but it also didn’t seem to match the visuals well.

We have one episode left, so I’ll withhold any judgment about the series as a whole until we see how it all ends. I don’t know what would have to happen for me to find the conclusion satisfying. I want Khanin to win, but I want him and Charan to be happy. I want Ramil to stand up to his father. I want Ava to do something. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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