The Next Prince 1×05 Review: Episode 5

It feels like we’re finally starting to move forward in our story. Charan returns to his post at the university, only to leave again in order to be Khanin’s coach for the competition. The parameters of the competition are expanded. Thatdanai’s fate is revealed.

If I were in Charan’s class, I’d be super upset, not gonna lie. To think you’re going to be able to look at Zee all semester and then someone else shows up after legitimately one class? What am I even paying tuition for? (Also, Charan is a master painter, you’d be lucky to be taught by him, blah blah blah.)

At yet another royal meeting that could have been an email, the king opens up the floor to suggestions on how to make the upcoming competition fair. Rachata immediately tries to discredit Ava by being gross and misogynistic, and I’m happy to report that this time, her father sticks up for her. He rightfully points out that this is, you know, a fencing competition, and gender doesn’t matter.

Wasin – the only prince with no heirs and therefore no stake in this fight (that we know of) – suggests that they add another element to the competition. Fencing prowess is all well and good, but shouldn’t our future heirs prove that they’re smart, too? On the one hand, yes, absolutely. Have you seen the government of my country right now? A literacy test should be bare minimum.

However, I have to interject and remind everyone that the heir who wins the competition does not become the ruler of Emmaly, their father does. So while, yes, an heir proving themselves to be clever and wise is a great trait in a leader, it ultimately won’t be them leading. The only thing I can think is that Wasin made this suggestion specifically to reduce Ramil’s chances of winning for whatever reason.

But then Wasin offers that the public be able to participate by voting for a winner, and I can’t help but think that may be a way to introduce democracy to Emmaly. I mean, considering that it looks like most of the heirs are queer, will they even be able to continue the royal lines? (Yeah, they could adopt, but this is a country that still looks down on women, so I doubt they’d be OK with an adopted leader.)

Chana piggybacks off of Wasin’s suggestion by recommending that an archery contest also be included in the competition. This leads me to believe that Ava is amazing at archery, because otherwise, I don’t know why her father would suggest that. If she were good at chess, he probably would have suggested that instead. So now I’m sitting here thinking that Chana is also trying to reduce Ramil’s chances of winning.

Rachata immediately objecting to these additions, pointing out that, no no no, the competition has always been about fencing and don’t you respect tradition, you heathens, only strengthens my belief. I’d wager that Rachata has raised Ramil to be an expert fencer to the detriment of all other skills. I don’t understand why he would do that, because presumably he wouldn’t have needed to. Everyone thought Khanin was dead, Ava was ineligible because she’s a woman, and Wasin had no heirs. Ramil would have been the winner of the competition by default, so his fencing skills would have been unimportant.

And now I’m sitting here wondering… Well, did Rachata know that Khanin wasn’t dead? Up until now, I’ve been saying no. No matter how villain-coded the Bhuchonphisut are (and I noticed today that the snake in their emblem is bleeding, come on), I still don’t believe they had anything to do with what happened to Khanin and Thatdanai. It’s simply too obvious. However, now I’m starting to wonder if perhaps Rachata suspected that Khanin was still alive, and acted accordingly, as though eventually Ramil would have actual competition.

For what it’s worth, I still suspect the king. Although, again, no proof. Just vibes. (But while we’re here, let’s mention the fact that Tharin has seemingly not sought Khanin out at all, which considering he thought his son was dead for twenty years, is very odd. And suspicious.)

Khanin, meanwhile, is sulking because Charan went back to his regular job and isn’t replying to his texts. He convinces Chakri to take him to Morpheus University so that he can see Charan, and in true Khanin fashion is very unsubtle about this. While there, he crashes one of Charan’s classes and then – in front of the class – attempts to order Charan to follow him back to the palace.

While I got a big kick out of seeing Khanin (and Chakri!) sitting in on the art lesson, I’m getting a little annoyed by Khanin’s continued abuse of his position to force Charan to stay by his side. I understand why he’s doing it, and on some level I sympathize. But as I said a few episodes ago, he isn’t taking Charan’s wishes into account at all. I think they’re trying to pass this off as some cute character trait, but they’re overdoing it.

When Rachata undermines Khanin’s chances by snatching up all of the country’s top fencing coaches – including the one Khanin had picked – Khanin uses the opportunity to go to the king and basically demand that Charan be his coach for the competition. He talks about how he needs someone who understands him, and he’s alone in a foreign country and feels safe with Charan, and I have no doubt that that is true. But again, he’s forcing Charan’s hand.

I am very pleased that Charan tries to push back, at least. He can’t disobey an order from the king, but he can make his displeasure known to Khanin by pointing out that he’s a person and not a bargaining chip. In fact, I’m pretty sure he designed that obstacle course in part to punish Khanin for ignoring what he wants. But his little secret smile when he’s alone in his room later indicates that he doesn’t really have any issue with Khanin being so demanding of his time.

I think it’s obvious the king has his own reasons for wanting to keep Khanin and Charan apart. However, I’m fairly positive that Charan is also trying to put a little distance between them. In last week’s episode, he told Khanin that he means more to him than he could ever imagine. Also, that whole oath to protect him with his life. Yet in this episode, Charan is doing everything he can to stay away. Did he realize that he may be crossing a line? Did Khanin’s behavior remind him of their difference in station?

(But also, when Charan says stuff like that, and literally bridal carries Khanin to safety… Yeah, I can understand that maybe Khanin is reeling from the mixed signals and is trying to get back on firmer ground.)

I also have to wonder how long the king is going to indulge Khanin’s whims, especially when they run counter to his own. Right now he’s playing the doting grandfather, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last. And given that we now have confirmation that Thatdanai did survive and may at this moment be in Emmaly, I suspect it won’t be long until we have definitive proof of how ruthless the king can be.

Speaking of a difference in station, of course, we’re going to talk about that scene between Ramil and Paytai. But what’s fascinating to me is the dichotomy in their relationship. When Paytai thinks of Ramil, during his art lesson, the memory is hazy and soft and romantic – the two of them cuddled in bed and gently kissing. But the reality is harsh and possessive and demeaning. Ramil basically declares that Paytai can’t have any interests outside of him, and then it’s Paytai who puts the collar on himself and hands Ramil the lead.

Now, we know from last week’s episode that regardless of the dismissive way he seems to treat him, Ramil does actually care for Paytai. I think, given the absolute lack of control that he seems to have over his own life, it’s important for Ramil to bring that control somewhere else. He chooses to bring it into his relationship with Paytai, and I think, based on what little we’ve seen so far, that Paytai chooses to let him.

This is just speculation at this point, but I feel that Ramil’s relationship with Paytai is going to be extremely important for his character development. That’s probably a given, but based on the scene between Ramil and his father, Rachata absolutely knows about Ramil and Paytai. He’s currently opting to ignore it because it currently isn’t causing issues. But he does threaten to take Paytai away from Ramil if he doesn’t improve his skills for the competition, and I’d wager that’s not an idle threat. I’d bet anything that at some point in the show, that’s what’s going to happen. And it will be important to see how Ramil responds to it.

(By the way, the way Charan instantly separates himself from Paytai when Ramil shows up to their lesson… Charan also knows what’s up. I mean, the whole collar and leash thing happened in broad daylight in a public parking lot. You could literally see people walking by the car! These boys are not subtle at all.)

We’re on episode 5 of 14, and I think this is where the pacing issues will really start to show. There were a few hints last week – mainly extending shots way past when it makes logical sense to do so, and scenes that were probably too long for what we got. This week’s episode finally introduces one of the other secondary (or tertiary?) pairs.

I recognize that Thai BLs are fundamentally built on branded pairs, and that I am likely unintentionally ragging on someone’s favorite. But currently, whatever will happen between Jay and Calvin is completely removed from the main plot and serves no purpose. There is potential for class commentary, given that Jay is an activist and Calvin is “secretly” (at least at school) a prince. And I do feel like they’re starting to lay the seeds for Emmaly potentially becoming a democracy, or maybe a representative monarchy.

But as it stands now, there is so much going on with the competition, the attack on Khanin and the whereabouts of Thatdanai, the politicking, and the other two pairs that I feel like this will only take screen time away from existing plotlines. Particularly if it never ends up connecting to the main plot. We haven’t even gotten to the ladies yet.

Not to mention, there were a couple of points in this episode where I just feel like I missed something. When Khanin and Ava are talking at the beginning of the episode, and Ramil insults his grasp of Emmaly’s customs, I just sat there wondering what the heck he was talking about. Was it the use of English? Did he bow incorrectly? Maybe it was just Ramil being Ramil, but it seemed so abrupt. Unlike later in the episode, when he steals Khanin’s fencing coach and is a jerk about it, which felt more natural.

And Paytai taking art classes from Charan was certainly an interesting bit of information. Ramil shows up in the middle of his class, irate, asking if this is where he’s been going. But so far, we only have last week’s episode, where Paytai came back from somewhere, to indicate that this was a thing at all. And he clearly wasn’t at his painting class last week, because Charan was with Khanin. So is this new? Where did it come from? Was that tidbit’s only purpose to serve as the introduction to the whole dog collar thing? Because I feel like there were other ways that could have been brought into the story.

Yes, there are still 9 episodes to go, which seems like plenty of time. But there are so many threads dangling that I worry they may have overextended themselves. Hopefully, things will tighten up as we move along. I’m sure that when we get deeper into the plot, things are more connected than they appear to be on the surface. I can only trust that everything will make sense once we get to the bottom.

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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