The Next Prince 1×10 Review: Episode 10

With the competition fast approaching, all three heirs are concentrating on their training. Well, Ava has to keep fighting sexism. And Khanin is trying to solve all the country’s problems on his own. But other than that.

Finally, ten episodes into this series, Khanin has returned to the place of his birth. And as usual, he shows little to no interest in learning anything. He does take the opportunity at dinner to ask his father about the mines, and Tharin seemingly puts him off by assuring him that he’s looking into it. He tells Khanin that he will take care of everything, and he shouldn’t worry about it.

While that scene makes Tharin look dismissive, I actually really came around to him in this episode. He’s not put much effort into getting to know his presumed dead son yet, but I appreciate that he cooked their meal himself – a meal that Thatdanai taught him to make, so it would be familiar to Khanin. (There is a contingent of fans convinced that Tharin and Thatdanai were a couple, and this scene just adds to that theory.) This is a small thing that nonetheless seems to prove that he does, indeed, care about Khanin.

We also see, throughout the episode, that even though Tharin is in charge of the region, he doesn’t have much authority. All authority in Emmaly resides with the king, who has been blowing Tharin off for the entire show. Through flashbacks, we are reminded that Tharin has tried to talk to the king about the issue with the mines and gotten nowhere. He tells the protesters that he’s investigating and making no progress, and I wonder if there is someone purposely stonewalling the investigation.

Tharin also reminds Khanin that he will one day be in charge of Assavadevathin, which I think may be the first time it actually occurs to Khanin that he’s going to have responsibilities. I was a little callous when I claimed that he had no interest in learning; he does ask Charan a lot about the history of the lantern processional, and later we see him doing some serious research. However, I’m unsure if the research is related to the “wit” part of the competition, or if he is looking into how to help the miners like he promised.

The political unrest continues with the protesters marching into Assavadevathin to disrupt the lantern processional. Again, I would like to see a map of Emmaly because people are just traveling all over the place. Jay is once again at the head of the group, but this time Calvin has come. This makes no sense to me, because Calvin skipped the last protest out of concern that he would be recognized at such a public spectacle. That hasn’t changed; in fact, I would suspect, given the conversation he had with his mother in last week’s episode, that it’s even more critical for him to remain out of the spotlight. 

Having learned nothing from the previous incident, Charan fails to get Khanin out of the area to safety. To be fair, Khanin had spotted Thatdanai in the crowd and basically refused to leave until he’d confirmed it was actually Thatdanai. (It was.) He goes to speak with the protesters, promising temporary measures to mitigate the damage while they look into more permanent ways to help. He is able to stop another scuffle from breaking out and ends up leading the processional, singing the protesters’ song.

But seriously, did the miners not even have basic protective gear? No wonder they’re angry. That’s just cruel.

Khanin’s characterization is all over the place in this episode. After many episodes of him apparently having forgotten about Thatdanai, he finally sees him and… just… nothing. Perhaps this is meant to be a sign of how much he’s maturing. He loses the opportunity to go after Thatdanai to mediate between the protesters and the townspeople of Assavadevathin. When he confronts Charan about having known Thatdanai was alive (which I was under the impression Khanin already knew), he isn’t angry about Charan having kept that information from him. He seems to realize that Charan has divided loyalties and lacks the standing to defy the king. He even acknowledges that it is probably a bad idea for him to see Thatdanai now, with everything going on.

On the other hand, while he’s concerned for the miners and the protesters, and he even stands up to the king when he’s criticized for his “interference”, we don’t see him making certain that his promises of protective gear are actually being fulfilled. He knows he can’t trust the king; he knows his father is concerned that he doesn’t have enough authority. If I were him, I would be handing that stuff out myself. Halfway through the episode, he seemingly completely forgets about the miners at all.

That’s not even counting the fact that someone has tried to kill Khanin multiple times now. He was literally poisoned a few episodes ago, and the guy who did it escaped from the dungeons. And no one seems concerned about this anymore. Have we completely forgotten? Is anyone still investigating?

I can’t find it now, but I read some really good Tumblr meta in the past week or so that talks about how Khanin is, like, a stereotypical princess. He’s reactive rather than active. He isn’t moving his own plot forward, he’s just letting things happen to him. (Except in his relationship with Charan, during which he had to make all of the moves.) He’s also remarkably careless with his safety, for someone who has nearly died at least three times.

By the way, don’t think I missed the phone conversation Charan had. No context at all, no lead-up to what it could possibly be about. But given what they were talking about, I wonder if it had something to do with either his mother’s death or what happened to Khanin. (Or perhaps both! I’ve mentioned before that I think they may be connected.) Whoever he was talking to mentioned Charan being young, and those are the only things I can think of.

Hopefully, we’ll eventually find out what this is about, but it just seems so random. Has Charan been doubting what happened to his mother? Is that tied into what he was telling Khanin, about the formation of Emmaly, and how the story that makes it into the history books is only one version of the story?

Ending the episode with a near fifteen-minute love scene (again) is not usually something that would make me go, “That was a choice.” But here we are. Because as beautiful as the scene was, with the music, and the hazy filter giving it an ethereal quality, it just felt so out of place given everything that happened in this episode. Yes, it was emotional and sensual and evocative. But it also felt like just too much, given all the other stuff that was going on.

Also, I wish Khanin would take Charan’s concerns a little more seriously; the fact that he continues to try and push for things in public when it could be very detrimental for Charan is bothering me. Although Charan shouting, “Nin!” in a crowd isn’t exactly subtle, either.

Remember the competition? Ava does, since her entire arc revolves around that and nothing else. She’s practicing her fencing when her father arrives and tells her that he found her a coach. One, she already has a coach, but Mira is a woman and women = bad. Two, the competition is in two weeks, and changing her coach so close to the end of her training would not be beneficial in any way. But it’s OK, because Ava has found her spine again, declaring that Mira will continue to be her coach or she’ll withdraw from the competition entirely.

Now, while I still want Ava to win the whole thing, because she seems to be the only heir who is actually training for it, her father would be a failure of a king and doesn’t deserve it. Chana being so concerned about people finding out that his daughter is coached by a woman. His daughter is a woman! These men are so stupid. Ava should win and abolish the monarchy. None of these men deserve it.

Ten episodes in, we finally get to the wlw plot, although at this point I’m starting to think I hallucinated that bit in the trailer. We get a nice little scene with Ava and Mira outside of training, but Mira is still in coach mode, urging Ava not to overdo it on the wine. I also liked the scene where Mira offered to quit so as not to cause issues with Ava and her dad, and Ava was like, “You belong to me.” But these are crumbs from a nonexistent cake. It’s almost too little, too late.

There is almost negative screen time for Ramil and Paytai, who are only given one scene. But that scene throws up more questions. I mentioned last week, in regards to the attack on Ramil, that there was a theory that Rachata was actually behind it and not the king. This week, Rachata and Paytai are watching Ramil train, and Rachata mentions that it’s good to see Ramil taking the competition seriously. He tells Paytai that since he’s done what he’s supposed to, he won’t be punished, and as he says this, he squeezes Paytai’s arm exactly where the bullet grazed him.

When I watched the episode, the scene gave me pause. I did wonder what Rachata was talking about. It wasn’t until I got online and saw what other people were saying that I realized what that conversation implies. Not only does it seem to indicate that Rachata is behind the attack, but it also would seem that Paytai was aware of the plan.

At some point, I am convinced that Ramil is going to turn on his father. I don’t know how well he will take the knowledge that Paytai knew about the attack. But I think that perhaps it will just prove to Ramil that he’s incapable of protecting Paytai. After all, he isn’t motivated for the competition because his life was in jeopardy; his motivation is that Paytai got hurt. Knowing that his father coldly risked Paytai’s life to teach Ramil a lesson may be the catalyst Ramil needs.

I hesitate to say this, because I was very excited for this show, but I’m starting to get bored. The Next Prince had so much promise when it premiered; there was romance, there was court intrigue, there was action. As we limp into the final four episodes, so much of that promise has disappeared. Week to week, this show feels more and more like a bloated mess.

I have seen people say that the pacing doesn’t seem quite so bad when you binge it, but a television show should not be designed to be consumed all in one sitting. Especially a show like this, with so many moving pieces. Nuance can be lost in a binge.

There was actually a lot that happened in this episode, but it comes after so many episodes of seemingly nothing moving the plot forward. Simply put, there is too much going on, and they are unable to effectively balance the multiple storylines. I’ve seen it oft repeated about this series, and I have to agree, that there is a lot of style but very little substance. The characters feel flat and ill-defined (except for Ramil and Paytai, who have a complex relationship and not enough screen time to adequately explore it). The plot is convoluted and all over the place.

But it’s gorgeous. The cinematography, the costuming, the music, and the little details all coalesce into a very pretty picture.

I’m hoping that, as we’re starting the competition in next week’s episode, the plot starts to come together. There are so many loose threads that need to be tied up, and even four episodes doesn’t feel like enough time to adequately wrap up all the storylines. 

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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