The Next Prince 1×07 Review: Episode 7

Oh, boy. I’m still fanning myself. A super-sized seventh episode moved us forward in leaps and bounds and left everyone abuzz on social media. Don’t worry. We’ll get there.

First, we have to talk about the attempts on Khanin. At the beginning of the episode, when Khanin managed to get Charan alone, he asked for an update on the men who attacked them outside the club in last week’s episode. Charan said that he thought it seemed more like a test than an actual attack. He thinks he dispatched them too easily for it to have been a serious attempt.

Charan still thinks that the Bhuchongphisut are behind the attempts on Khanin’s life. I reiterate that they are too villain-coded to be the villains. I will be extremely disappointed if they repeatedly say, “These are the bad guys,” and they actually end up being the bad guys. It’s too simple.

As for the scene where Rachata learns that Charan has been removed as Khanin’s coach, his scheming to get a spy appointed to replace Charan seems more about sabotaging Khanin’s chances than endangering his life. He doesn’t seem upset that Khanin is OK after the club attack, which implies that he isn’t behind it. Besides all of the reasons I’ve previously mentioned as to why it’s unlikely that Rachata is behind this, he has to recognize that he would be the first suspect if something were to happen to Khanin.

Unfortunately, even though Charan successfully dispatched the attackers, the king uses the attack as an opportunity to teach Khanin a lesson. Apparently, the king isn’t entirely unaware that Khanin has been subtly manipulating him to keep Charan close. I’m not sure what lesson the king was hoping to impart; it could be the way Khanin is acting, which is decidedly un-royal. It could be his closeness with Charan. Whatever the reason, Charan is removed as Khanin’s coach and barred from seeing him at all.

Joe, the coach who ends up replacing Charan, is a spy from the Bhuchongphisut. Charan is suspicious of him – for good reason – and shares his concerns with Chakri. Chakri, however, does not share that information with Khanin. Some people thought that was suspicious of Chakri; why would he not tell Khanin about this, so that Khanin would be on his guard? But I think that, as much as Chakri is aware of court politics, he is very much not an underhanded person, so he might have thought he could handle it on his own and was surprised at the depths to which someone would go.

What happens is actually pretty clever – Joe poisons Khanin’s bow. There was a bit of a red herring at archery practice, where Joe offered Khanin a different bow, claiming that he’d made adjustments and it should be better suited for Khanin. But Khanin, already wary of Joe after some earlier training incidents, opts to continue using his original bow, which it turns out was poisoned. (Although this could have been a Dread Pirate Roberts situation and both bows were poisoned, but I think Joe was being sketchy on purpose so that Khanin would assume his old bow was safe.)

It’s only thanks to Charan’s intervention that Khanin survives the poisoning. They are able to catch Joe and keep him for interrogation, but he refuses to give up his employer. Later, he is somehow able to escape the dungeon.

I know Charan continues to suspect Rachata, but after everything, I’m even more convinced that the king is behind this. First of all, there was removing Charan at all. It’s highly suspicious that the king keeps trying to reassign Charan, a man who has proven to be more than capable of protecting Khanin, and has in fact saved his life multiple times already. Not only that, Charan is one of the only people in Emmaly that Khanin trusts, and if the king actually cared for Khanin’s well-being, that would be important. But he keeps trying to separate them. Why?

Next, for a man who seemingly has spies anywhere and likes to act like a chess master, I find it very difficult to believe that he would not know Joe was a spy for the Bhuchongphisut. Especially because Charan was Khanin’s coach because there were no other coaches available; when one suddenly becomes available, it should be a clue that something is up. 

Plus, as I said before, I think Rachata’s goal was more sabotaging Khanin’s chances – and having a spy in the palace – than actually harming Khanin. Joe’s earlier issues with trying to overtake Khanin, while simultaneously not giving him any coaching, was more in line with what I expected from Rachata. Khanin injuring himself, or not having the proper technique, would be more beneficial to the Bhuchongphisut. Joe escalated unnecessarily, which leads me to think that he was approached by someone new.

Lastly, it’s suspicious as hell that he was able to escape the dungeons. Charan discovers all of the dungeon guards unconscious in Joe’s cell. This means that they either all ran to the cell for some reason, or they were taken out and then moved into the cell after the fact. Either way, I don’t know how an outsider could get down to the dungeons and dispatch all the guards without someone raising the alarm. This would indicate an inside job.

So yes, my money is still on the king. I don’t know what his end game is, but considering how hard they are trying to point us towards the Bhuchongphisut, and how so far no one else seems suspect, I can’t imagine who else it could be.

Let’s move on to Ava’s situation. I am very upset to see that the sexism and misogyny in Emmaly is so prevalent. It was bad enough that Ava wouldn’t have been permitted to participate in the competition without Khanin speaking up for her. But her father lecturing her about going out to the club, which seemed to be like a perfectly fine activity for all of the men that she was with, was quite a surprise.

I was hoping we’d see more of Ava. We do see a little bit more in this episode, but it isn’t enough. I do like the glimpse we get of her training, though. I also appreciate that she went to visit Khanin after his poisoning to make sure that he was OK. She was very understanding of being turned away, but it was nice that she made the gesture. She seems like a very genuine person in general (although someone pointed out that her grabbing Paytai to dance in last week’s episode was actually a huge faux pas in decorum), which I suspect is because she was not raised with the same kind of pressure that Ramil would have been.

As much as I think Ava’s father would be the worst king, I do hope that Ava ends up winning the competition just becuase Emmaly deserves to get the necessary shake-up that would come from a woman winning a competition that they were previously not allowed to compete in.

OK, now for a little detour to the Jay and Calvin situation. It turns out that when Calvin disappeared to the bathroom at the club in last week’s episode, he found Jay. And drunkenly revealed that he was actually a prince. Luckily, Jay just thought he was drunk and didn’t take him seriously.

I was initially suspicious of Jay, because how did he just so happen to be in the club at the same time? How big is Emmaly? How easy is it to get back and forth between the regions? How long does it take to go between cities? These people are just zipping all across the country, and because it’s a fictional country, I have no sense of scale. Jay mentions that he was staying with a friend, and I think he is in the city for a protest, but it is super weird to me that he ends up in that club. 

I still think that Jay and Calvin are too removed from the main plotline. I’m sure that they will converge with everyone else at some point, but right now, they are just off doing their own thing. I’ll hold my judgment for the time being, but they better end up involved in a big way. Otherwise, why include them at all?

All right, you’ve all been patient. Let’s get to the main event. Khanin and Charan took a big step in their relationship in this week’s episode, and it was something for the ages. But they still had to get to that point.

Episode 7 picks up right where episode 6 left off, with Charan and Khanin kissing in the hotel room. The first kiss ends, and they are clearly going in for another one when they are interrupted by Chakri. I don’t know that it would have gone much further at that moment. I think Charan was not in a good place mentally, and it would not have been a good idea, so it’s probably good that Chakri interrupted them. It gave them time to simmer.

I do love that Khanin seemed to get bolder with his flirting. When he ordered the servants that only Charan was allowed to follow him, and then they went to his room, I did think that it was heading to the bed, as Khanin implied. I wasn’t expecting much, not yet, but I did think that Khanin wanted to sneak a few more kisses. When he tipped his head toward the bed, I gasped out loud. But he only wanted to talk about the attack at the club, which makes a lot of sense.

When Charan is banned from seeing Khanin, Khanin first tries to argue against the order, then tries to defy the order. This time, he does listen to reason when Chakri tells him that it could be even worse for Charan if people find out they met in secret. So Chakri goes to track him down instead. (I’m sure the entire time, Chakri kept thinking how this was very much not in his job description.) What I think this says about Khanin is how devoted he is to Charan; he’s concerned for his welfare enough that he doesn’t risk it unnecessarily. That’s a big step for him.

And then when Khanin is poisoned, Charan holds a nighttime, bedside vigil while he’s unconscious. The way Charan fell asleep holding Khanin’s hand, I just about died. It was so romantic.

But of course, we have the bedroom scene. Say what you want about Cutie Pie, which had its issues, but one thing everyone can agree on is that those NC scenes are phenomenal. Zee and NuNew excel at those kinds of scenes. And this one lasted something like 15 minutes, because it focused on the emotions of the moment. The slow way they undressed each other. The swelling violins in the orchestral score. The lingering touches, the prolonged eye contact. These were two men overcome by emotion and locked very much in the moment. It was very intense and sensual. 10/10, no notes.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how they handle this shift in their relationship going forward. It’s obvious that the king doesn’t agree with their closeness. Khanin has also proven himself to not really care what others think about him. But Charan is very much aware of his position and his duty. It’s going to be interesting.

I’ve talked in previous reviews about the pacing of this series. I still feel that they could be managing their time better, and while a lot happened in this episode, much of it has happened before. For example, this is, like, the third time that the king has tried to separate Charan and Khanin. It’s starting to get old, and I sincerely hope that this is the last time. (Based on the last scene, I don’t think Charan would easily acquiesce to that order again.)

We’ve also now had two attempts on Khanin’s life in the span of two episodes. Someone was arrested and managed to escape. Thatdanai is still in the wind. I’m sure that protest that Jay mentioned is going to be important. Things are happening, and we are now halfway through the series. Are we going to keep this pace, or are we going to have to go through the same stuff again?

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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