The Next Prince 1×08 Review: Episode 8

One week later, still fanning myself. (Or, rather, fanning myself again?) This episode rips the blinders off and reveals that while everything may seem like a fairy tale for the royals, that is very much not the case for the people.

Before I talk about anything else – why I am still fanning myself, what we were blinded to – I have to put on my tinfoil hat for a bit. I don’t know if this could actually qualify as a conspiracy theory because its inclusion in this episode implies its importance. But, y’all, the gasp I gusped when Wasin mentioned to Khanin that his son would be about Khanin’s age, if he had lived. Could Khanin actually be Wasin’s son?

It isn’t so far-fetched when you think about it. The king is the king; he’s basically admitted to having spies everywhere. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that when his grandson was killed, he had someone swipe Wasin’s similar-in-age son and spirit him out of the country to raise in secret. Then twenty years later, brings him back and introduces him as his presumed-dead grandson.

It actually could explain a lot. First, the king’s refusal to do any investigation into the whereabouts of Thatdanai, potentially the only person alive who knows the truth. (Another person who may have known the truth? Oh, just the loyal Assavadevathin guards, like Charan’s mother.) He never bothered to tell Tharin, which could be for any number of reasons but potentially because there was no reason to – Khanin isn’t actually Tharin’s son. Then there’s the suspiciously quick results of the DNA test, which could very easily be faked, and only Rachata expressed doubts about in episode 3.

Let’s not discount that Wasin seems strangely interested in Khanin. More so than any of the other Princes. And this week, when Khanin expressed interest in visiting Meenanakarin, the king seemed to hesitate in granting him permission. Then he decided to accompany him. I’m actually surprised that he ended up not going, even with his fall and illness. Perhaps he thought that Calvin’s presence would deter Wasin from doing (or revealing?) anything.

And lastly, there are the consistent attacks on Khanin. I’ve suspected that the king is behind those basically since the beginning of the show, and Khanin not actually being his grandson would be the perfect motive for the attacks. I could understand the first one was necessary to flush Khanin out of hiding and eliminate Thatdanai. But the only reason for them to continue would be to protect another secret. After all, if Khanin dies, it would be very difficult to prove he’s not who the king claims he is.

(Hey, wouldn’t it be hilarious if it turns out Khanin is a totally regular person after all?)

Now, for the reason I’m still fanning myself. Those scenes with Ramil and Paytai, oh my stars, were those spicy. I know there were people last week who were disappointed that they didn’t feature. Well, they more than made up for it in this episode. They were only in two scenes, but they were intense. And was that, dare I say, character development?

In their first scene, Ramil is returning from a bike ride. When he expresses dissatisfaction that Paytai didn’t join him, Paytai claims that his muscles were sore. He flashes back to their activities of the previous night, which yes, would make bike riding uncomfortable the next day. There is still some argument about just how toxic their relationship is. Paytai is smiling as he remembers, and he certainly seems to be enjoying himself in the flashback. But the power dynamics do lend themselves to a certain amount of caution.

However, when Ramil declares that he intends to skip fencing that afternoon, we see some real fear from Paytai. That is because, if you remember, he will be the one punished for the transgression. Ramil asserts that his father won’t find out, that he will protect Paytai. Paytai flashes back to previous instances where he was punished for Ramil’s mistakes – once when he was whipped and once when he was made to do push-ups with cinderblocks on his back. Both times Ramil tries to intervene, but they still happen. (The editing was a bit choppy here; it wasn’t until we were back in the present that I realized they were flashbacks at all, and not simply the continuation of the scene.)

Still, Paytai tells Ramil that he trusts him to protect him. He says this with a smile, but I think he doesn’t really believe that. I’m sure he knows that Ramil will try, but as proven by the flashbacks, it doesn’t matter what Ramil wants. What’s important is what Rachata wants.

The next scene is presumably later that night, although I have no idea at this point. Maybe it was a flashback? I don’t think so, but I don’t know anymore. Anyway, we get an NC scene that puts last week’s tryst between Khanin and Charan to shame. Ramil and Paytai begin engaging in their normal nighttime activities, and what I liked about this scene was that it shows that Ramil is just as likely to be the one who is blindfolded and tied up. As so far, we’ve only seen Paytai in that situation, it indicated that it could have been about power for Ramil, who has so little power in his life. But after seeing this scene, I think it’s more about trust. (Especially since this scene immediately follows Paytai telling Ramil that he trusts him.)

There was one moment that gave me pause, and that was when Ramil pulled out the flogger whip. (By the way, poor sweet innocent me had to Google what type of whip that was. RIP to my search history.) Now, Paytai seemed extremely into what was happening, but I thought it was callous to use a whip in their roleplay given that Paytai is literally Ramil’s whipping boy.

Imagine my surprise when Ramil suddenly realized this, too. All at once, he stops, flashing back to the very instances Paytai was recalling earlier. It seems to occur to him that, even though this may be kink (and the consent is implied, but then again power dynamics, so we just don’t know for sure), he is effectively punishing Paytai the same way his father does. Or perhaps forcing him to relive his punishments. He drops the whip, and from here the scene gets more emotional, with Ramil embracing Paytai and being more loving.

Something that was great about this scene was the change in the score. At first it was very intense. The violins were very aggressive; the music would have not been out of place in an action scene. And then after Ramil has his revelation and drops the whip, the violins soften and become much more romantic. It was a fantastic use of music to set the mood, and note the change in tone.

Speaking of a change in tone, I mentioned wanting to see how Khanin and Charan’s relationship would shift after they consummated their relationship. I’m not entirely unsurprised to see that Charan has significantly softened, both in his manners and in his way of speaking. He still seems to be trying to maintain decorum, but Khanin continues to be a little brat and pushing boundaries.

I won’t lie, I do love the sweetness. I love that they started calling each other Ran and Nin. (Someone pointed out that this actually started during the bedroom scene last week. Admittedly, I missed that.) I love the nose rub during archery training. I love the big dramatic kiss while horseback riding, with the sunset behind them and the soft piano music, but I also love the many brief kisses. They speak of familiarity and affection.

Something I liked was seeing the difference in training styles. Of course, Joe the evil trainer was, as you remember, evil. So he wasn’t going to be helpful when Khanin was practicing. But Charan adjusts his stance, corrects his form, and gives him advice – even if it is just, “be faster”. Yes, they’re together, but he was like this before they were an item. He is trying to make sure that Khanin, at least, has a decent showing in the competition.

I don’t like how blasé Khanin is about their relationship. With their difference in station, consequences would be more dire for Charan than they are for him. As evidenced by the kerfuffle last week where Charan was confined to the stables and banned from seeing Khanin. The king may have relented, but we have no idea how long he’ll be charitable if he sees Charan as a threat to his plans. Khanin seems to not care, and is being super duper obvious about their change in relationship. (There’s no way Calvin doesn’t know what’s going on, after watching Charan feed Khanin a macaron.)

I’d like to think that Charan will be sweetly indulgent with Khanin, but also stern when necessary. But I don’t know. There are times when Charan puts his foot down, like when he points out that it would be very bad optics if it were discovered he’d slept in Khanin’s room while in Meenanakarin. (Apparently no one has taught Charan The Art of Sneaking, even though he’s supposedly this super elite guard.) And then there are times when he agrees to take Khanin to a protest with virtually no protection.

You know what I would kill for? A decent timeline. Where are we? How long has it been? How long until the competition? The morning after Khanin and Charan sleep together, Khanin asks Chakri for help ordering something. Later, he gives Charan the gift (noise-canceling headphones, so he won’t have to hear the rain), and says that Chakri ordered them “a while” ago. How long is a while? Give me specifics, please. I am dying here.

Moving on, let’s talk about the protests. Kudos to The Next Prince for finally tying Jay and Calvin to the main plot. Now, originally, I thought that the protest – and the events that followed – seemed to have come out of nowhere. Yes, Jay has mentioned protests previously, as well as expressed some anti-royal sentiments. And Tharin has mentioned the mines a couple of times. But as they have appeared so infrequently, we didn’t really know what was going on.

Well, perhaps that was by design. We, as the audience, are following along with Khanin’s royal journey. Khanin hasn’t been privy to a lot of the unrest in Emmaly because it’s purposely being hidden from him. He’s being taught about the country, yes, but he’s basically being taught trivia answers: what animal is on this family’s crest, what is this region’s main export. No one is teaching him anything of importance. (Which may be why he’s so dismissive of these lessons.)

I do think it was unwise of Khanin to attend the protest without knowing any of the context. He saw a flyer at a beach stall and decided to attend. Did he even know what “dust” was referring to? (I didn’t. My first thought was His Dark Materials, which I know makes no sense, but that’s my immediate go-to when I hear the word “dust”.) It was categorically stupid of him to wander into a situation when he didn’t know the sentiments of the crowd. I chalk that up to him being grossly naïve, but Charan and Chakri should definitely have known better.

Still, this was absolutely a blinders-off moment. Khanin has only been exposed to the opulent side of Emmaly. He’s gone to palace after palace, and so far pretty much the only people he’s met have been other royals (or their servants). He’s spent very little time among the people, and when he goes, he goes with an entourage. He knows nothing of the political situation, but he obviously is very progressive and wants to get involved in important causes. (This is why he stood up for Ava when she announced her intention to enter the competition.) Now he’s being shoved into the fire without even starting in the frying pan.

I think this is a very important moment in Khanin’s journey. He hasn’t really been taking anything seriously. He ignores Charan’s advice and refuses to heed warnings, despite having been literally poisoned in last week’s episode. As I said before, I don’t like the way he’s endangering Charan by being so open about their relationship, even just among Chakri. He’s flippant in his lessons; he’s distracted in his training. But now he’s realizing that there are very real people who will be affected by the outcome of the competition.

He’s seen Rachata’s cruelty when he witnessed him slapping Paytai. He’s seen evidence of the draconian laws about gender by noticing that there were no female shopkeepers on the beach. And now he’s witnessed Wasin’s guards assault a man. Yes, the man tried to grab Khanin, but they could just have easily whisked Khanin away from the fracas. They didn’t have to beat the guy.

This will clearly be the catalyst that re-ignites Khanin’s fire. He originally wanted to enter the competition so that he could learn more about what happened to Thatdanai. But it’s been weeks and he hasn’t asked for any updates on the search. Now, I think he’ll be inspired to win the competition so that he can actually make a difference. 

Although, again, it will be his father who takes the throne and not him. But still.

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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