We As A Fandom Do Not Acknowledge Simon’s Trauma Nearly Enough And It Pisses Me Off, Especially Given

Thinking about how Wille has made loving Simon his whole personality, and how it’s a little bit hilarious, extraordinarily sweet, yet heartbreaking and predictable at the same time. 

The scene where he puts up their selfie in ep1 is so endearing and lovely and really triggers my cuteness aggression. But although it’s a quick scene, it really distills how this can also be a lonely and isolating thing; he’s at a complete loss for what to do with himself when Simon doesn’t pick up his call immediately. 

I mean boy literally has three hobbies:

Love Simon

Throw Ball

Grieve Dead Brother

So when Simon suggests Wille quit rowing and do something he actually enjoys, he’s originally completely stumped. No one has ever told him that he’s allowed to do things because he actually likes them, but rather that everything he does must fit the narrative, as Wille says himself, of being a ‘serious, traditional, smart, strong, young man’ - the model of (white, heteronormative) masculinity. He’s hyperaware of this happening, yet he’s still not bothered to try to figure out for himself what he likes, because it’s just not worth the fight with the Court. What a revelation it is for Simon to say that he can actually allow himself to do things just because he likes them - and stop doing things he doesn’t.

But Wille has spent the last several months alternating between pining for Simon, and grieving his brother, hemmed in by the expectations from the Royal Court and his parents. When has he had the opportunity to do soul searching on top of that? Where does all this pent up energy go except to focus even more on Simon? 

So of course the new hobby he chooses is ‘Listen to Simon Sing’. Look, I don’t blame the boy, I would do the same. And my god the way Simon pounces on him right after, we can see just how much it means to him too. I would personally have melted into a puddle next to the lockers at such a gesture (I mean I do kind of melt anyway when I watch this scene). 

It’s so romantic, it’s so beautiful. Yet it’s absolutely not tenable for the future of their relationship - it’s A Lot to for Simon to shoulder on his own, in fact it’s too much. ‘I can be your revolution/ Protect you from the others/ Let’s be a revolution/ We who have each other’ - a beautiful sentiment, and yes it’s great and wonderful that they can offer each other support, that they understand each other in ways no one else does. But that is too much pressure to put on Simon, on a boy who already sacrifices so much of himself for the comfort of his loved ones. A boy who is now losing himself entirely to this pressure. He just can’t be the Only Thing in Wille’s life, particularly when Wille is incapable of seeing past his own monumental pain. Which is why the breaking point in ep 5 absolutely needs to happen.

But I strongly believe that Wille and Simon are in a position to turn this around. Wille has his tunnel vision Simon goggles on most of this season, but he needs to be able to take them off from time to time - only then can he appreciate the bigger picture. He needs (among other things) to invest more time in his own hopes and wishes and desires beyond Simon, to be able to help rebuild their relationship on much stronger and equal foundations. Something he realistically can only do by stepping away from the monarchy, by disrupting this all-encompassing narrative they’ve driven for him his whole life. And I have to believe that he can 💜

For everyone going through everything we're all going through right now...

here is a break from doom scrolling in the form of my cat teaching herself fetch. Enjoy.

Too busy to write a 5k essay it deserves but neither the audience nor Wilhelm saw the actual monarchy as an institution worth fighting for or at least worth considering it.

The monarchy was completely absent from the show. You could replace it with a billion-dollar publicly traded company and it wouldn't change the plot. Concerns about public image? Check. Out of control sense of privilege? Check. Spoiled children of rich parents? Check.

No one from the unrealistically small royal family was given a chance to demonstrate or explore the gravity and the positive influence a thousand-year-old institution can have. Does the queen have causes she particularly cares about? Does she invest her time into fundraising for them? Does she think certain problems are overlooked by the society and does she use her celebrity status to draw attention to them? We have no idea, we only have been shown her caring about the public image of the institution she represents.

Same with Wille: in the show he was never given a chance to explore how his status could be used for good. Were there young people for whom his coming out meant a lot? Definitely, but we never heard about them. Would it be equally important for others if the crown prince started openly talking about his struggles with anxiety? For sure. This list is potentially endless but the creators were never interested in showing anything positive about the monarchy.

Wilhelm’s worst trait is the number of times he doesn’t kiss Simon when Simon is so clearly begging for it

S3 ending is basically putting a bandaid on a gunshot. The entire 5 episodes were built to show how bad they are for each other. I mean yeah monarchy was a big part of it but Wilhelm's problems are his problems alone. It's not gonna go overnight just because he will abdicate, neither will the scrutiny on them. Wilhelm will still be privileged, out of touch, someone with anxiety, impulsive urges and anger issues. Taking away his title will mean nothing because now he will have to deal with the real world which he has no experience dealing with and no support or protection from the monarchy. Do you think he will cope well then and wont take it out of simon?

I feel like they wasted 5 episodes worth of time building plots with no payoff. They could have easily explored Wilmon's trouble and their eventual reconciliation in this time. Putting an abdication bandaid doesnt fix their problem.

We can be delulu but in the Wilmon universe, they don't last, they dont work out in the end because abdication doesn’t fix their problems, not really.

I'll just pretend the series ended in s2. Because S2's ending was actually perfect and that Wilmon may have a chance in the world.

did we make it? yes, we did

director: “as soon as i saw them together i knew it was them” 😭😭😭😭😭

rip marcus this is who you lost your mans to

They’re scared because they know that the public is with Luigi.

They’re violating his rights because they need to maintain capitalism.

Keep talking about Luigi.

YOUNG ROYALS (2021-2024) - FINAL SCENE