The Next Prince 1×14 Review: Final Episode

In a super-sized final episode, The Next Prince has come to an end. We have a victor in the big fencing match between Khanin and Ramil, and Emmaly has a new king.

I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in how quickly a lot of the major points of the political plotline were wrapped up. This finale episode was over 100 minutes long, and in the first 25 minutes, Khanin won the competition, the king died and was buried, and Tharin was crowned the new king. It was a whirlwind of events all happening in a short amount of time.

Now, I do think that the match between Khanin and Ramil was actually well done. It perhaps could have lasted a few more minutes, but you can only make a fencing match so interesting – particularly when there is so much that still needs to happen. There was a nice back-and-forth, and they made it clear that these two opponents were quite well-matched. I started to worry, once Khanin pulled so far ahead, that he would run away with it. And that would be ridiculous, given that we know Ramil was supposed to be more skilled.

Instead, we had a nice volley. Ramil went up by a few points, then Khanin caught up, and so on. Khanin remembered some sage advice from Thatdanai – relayed via Charan – while Ramil was inspired by seeing Paytai there to support him.

But in the end, Khanin won, because this wouldn’t be much of a fairy tale if he didn’t. Aside from being the protagonist, I think we all know that it would be a very different kind of story if Rachata ended up as king. While the Bhuchongphisut may not have been the villains they were being painted as, Rachata was clearly not someone who deserved to be in charge of a country.

And though Ramil has always looked down on Khanin and considered him his rival, they both showed great sportsmanship. When Ramil had trouble getting back up – his injured leg playing up again – Khanin helped him stand. And when Khanin won, Ramil congratulated him and even called him “brother”. I wish we had seen the two of them interact again after this, but unfortunately, they don’t speak for the rest of the episode.

Finally, Ramil stood up to his father. I was hoping that it would happen last week, but I love how it happened. It was so subtle at first; Rachata recognized immediately that something was different. This was such a powerful scene, with Ramil taking back his power and telling his father that he wasn’t following his orders anymore. I’m especially proud of him for admitting to his father that he loved Paytai. I suspect that was something Rachata already knew and “tolerated”, but it was important for Ramil to say it out loud.

We knew it was coming, so it wasn’t surprising that the king died. Him dying while watching Khanin’s victory is, of course, very poetic. I am also not surprised that his death was so anticlimactic. I feel like it needed to be a bigger deal, given everything that he’d done, but the simple way it happened does make sense. As well as the fact that no one seemed at all broken up about it, even his own son.

Moving straight from him dying to everyone at his grave was a bit of whiplash, though. I suppose we didn’t get to see people’s reactions because we already sort of saw their goodbyes, via flashback. And I did think the graveyard scene was beautifully understated. I loved how they all stayed true to their fashion sense even at a funeral. Khanin being all sparkly was perfect.

Ramil blanking his father was the cherry on top of the situation. You love to see it. Way too many toxic parents get redeemed last minute in BLs, so I’m happy to see that Rachata does not.

From the graveside, we move right to Tharin’s coronation ball. Mirroring the scandalous scene from episode 4, Khanin and Charan share a dance. It’s a very different situation now, naturally, although I’m not sure how widely known their relationship was. I assume it was meant to be an open secret, as this dance doesn’t cause the stir that their first one did. I love how they highlighted the change in their relationship by having a few shots where they were alone in the ballroom.

There was a glimpse of Ramil at the ball, and I was so hoping that Paytai would show up, and they would get to dance. It seemed pretty clear at the first ball that Ramil was jealous of Khanin being able to dance with Charan in public while he and Paytai both danced with women. I really wanted a big reunion moment for the two of them. They deserved one.

But the moment they got was perfect for them. Ramil finding Paytai on the beach because he recognized it from his painting was incredibly romantic even if borderline unrealistic. I could get him knowing that Paytai had gone to the beach, but being able to find that specific spot? I imagine him running up and down the beach until he found him.

I don’t know that Paytai would have wanted anything public. All he wanted was for Ramil to choose him over his father, and Ramil finally did. Him going to his knees was a perfect role reversal of their usual power dynamic. And I love that he was basically sobbing in front of Paytai, because he seems like someone who has always had to keep strict control of his emotions.

Unfortunately, that’s the last that we see of the two of them. I would have loved to have seen how they got on, as now they both have nothing. Ramil was raised believing he was going to be the son of the next king, and now he’s cut off his father and seemingly given up his privileged life. I would have loved to have seen him and Paytai be open in public. That’s yet another thing about the finale that disappointed me. But at least they got a happy – and hopeful – ending.

Another happy, hopeful ending was Calvin and Jay. Calvin going to see Jay was sweet, and I giggled at Jay just eating ramen when Calvin rocked up. I appreciated learning more of Calvin’s backstory, although I think that would have been information better served to be introduced earlier. Ultimately, I thought that the two of them served very little purpose. They had too little screen time for me to care all that much about them, and they were too far removed from the main plot. I thought Jay would be more important with the politics, but in the end, he wasn’t all that involved.

The rest of the episode focuses on Khanin and Charan. Khanin has decided to renounce his title and move back to the UK to go to school. On the one hand, this actually makes a lot of sense for his character; he never wanted the royal life, and he had friends and a life in London that he was abruptly torn from. On the other hand, over the course of the series, Khanin seemed to really start to care about the future of Emmaly and its people. It seems odd to me that he would flounce off just as his father becomes king, and he has the actual power to make a change.

It bothers me that Khanin just kind of abandoned his responsibility. Yes, he never wanted it, and it was sort of forced on him. But he really seemed to grow into it, and I thought it meant more to him than that. Not to mention that he never made any attempts to really get to know his father (or learn anything about his mother). He mentions that he intends to study climate policy, that it can maybe help Emmaly in the future. But later, he implies he isn’t sure if he’ll ever return.

On the plus side, Khanin and Tharin talk before Khanin leaves, and Tharin talks about bringing democracy to Emmaly. I find that interesting, because last week he explained to Khanin – quite reasonably, I thought – that springing the idea on Rachata and Chana would be a poor idea. However, Tharin has always seemed to be the most level-headed and progressive prince in Emmaly, so it makes sense that he would make that move.

There’s a lovely little scene after Khanin returns to London where he and Ava are on the phone. I love that they continued their friendship even after Khanin left, but I also wish that this was something that we saw more of throughout the series. There were small moments across the episodes where it was clear that they were friends, but we didn’t see it nearly enough. Ava definitely needed more of a storyline, and it bothers me that she was reduced to virtually nothing by the end.

You know what would have been great? If Ava got a job in Tharin’s new government. Her arc was supposed to be about fighting for equal rights for women and she sort of gave up at the last second. That would have been a great way to show that it was still something she cared about.

Khanin and Charan call each other, but it’s clear that they miss each other. And then all of a sudden, Charan isn’t answering his phone. Khanin assumes that he’s busy, as he has an important new role in the government. But nope! Charan has asked Tharin if his family can be released from their vow, because he wants to follow his heart. And his heart is in London.

I think it’s interesting that they framed this as Charan choosing his heart over duty, because honestly, he’s been doing that for much of the series. After all, his duty was to protect the Assavadevathin family, and that’s what he was doing with Khanin. But he did seem very devoted to Emmaly, and he seemed to love his art professor job, so it is a big deal that he moved to London for Khanin.

And in true fairy tale fashion, he proposes to Khanin using his parents’ ring, and they presumably live happily ever after.

Overall, I enjoyed The Next Prince. The production quality was great; the score was amazing, and the costuming was spectacular. The pairings had great chemistry; the love scenes were phenomenal. (Actually, the scene in this episode where Khanin goes to feed Charan and Charan covers Khanin’s hand with his wound me up more than their 10+ minute bedroom scene later on.) I love fairy tales and happily ever afters, so I’m glad that everyone got one.

Except maybe poor Ava. She needed more to do.

I think the main issue was that there was just too much going on. It felt like the writers cobbled together a bunch of different plot lines and didn’t really think about how they would fit together. I thought fourteen episodes would have been plenty to adequately cover everything, but some storylines took too long and others didn’t get enough time. It could have been me reading too much into things, but there were a few plot points that didn’t lead where I thought they would. There was definitely a lot of promise that I feel went unrealized.

A big part of this was probably my expectations. I went into this series thinking that there was going to be more political intrigue than there ended up being. I was hoping that it would be plot with a side of romance, and it was more of a romance with a side of plot. And you know, that’s totally fine, and a lot of times I’m even game for that. It’s just not what I thought we were getting with this show.

In the end, it was a perfectly lovely show. I might have enjoyed it better if I had binged it; watching it week-by-week gave me too much time to theorize, and very few of those theories panned out. I thought it started strong and fizzled by the end, but as I said, a lot of that may have been my insanely high expectations.

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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