The Next Prince – Episode 11-12 – Recap and Review

When last we left our kinda prince and his taciturn bodyguard, anxiety over the upcoming competition meant more sex.

And now for some post-passion discussion of monarchy

Nin brings up power and responsibility. He wants to use any power he might have fairly. Charan wants to be by Nin’s side, no matter who he becomes or what he decides to do. 

Great! Time for the first of 3 tests, this one is on wit.

The King gloats to his assistant about Nin’s inevitable win while also lecturing the man because he’s not a king. The King is really The Worst.

Charan and Chakri comfort Nin before the competition. Chakri is so nervous that he’s spilling the tea. But, literally, not like sharing gossip. Or the Earl Grey.

Biological Dad tells Nin he loves him and is proud of him, before hugging him. I don’t think he’s made any effort to get to know Nin, but it’s nice. 

The competition is being televised, and this is how Jay finally learns that Calvin is a prince. He’s so shocked that he might be hyperventilating.

How do you test wit? 

Maybe because of the Chinese dramas I’ve watched, I expected maybe a poetry contest. Instead, they get a series of questions related to Emmalian policy. Which is maybe more relevant to being King, but they won’t be King. And the other two competitions are archery and fencing. 

But whatever, Ramil goes first. What does he think is a long-standing issue for Emmaly? He would focus on Domestic Abuse, and we see flashbacks to his father’s abuse and his sex life. I doubt that if he wins, his Dad will work on this issue.

Ava is up next, and I expect her to talk about sexism. I’m not wrong. Even though given a different question, about what laws she would change, she talks about how laws are written by men in power. Again, I don’t see her father addressing this problem if he were king.

Nin’s question is about stimulating the economy. He talks for a while about all the wonderful qualities of Emmaly and its people. Then he states that first they have to deal with the pollution from the mine. Yup. No surprises here.

That’s it. One question each to decide which of them spoke most eloquently, so their Daddy can be king.

And the winner is: Ramil

Don’t panic yet, there are two rounds left. Which is incidentally the number of losers this round. Ramil acts like a jerk to Ava and Nin, and Nin and Ava have a love fest about each other’s answers. 

Ramil hasn’t enjoyed his victory for long when his father tells him that he rigged the votes in his favor.

Jay goes on a beach walk with his sister, who urges him to talk with Calvin. She makes good points that don’t matter because Calvin approaches Jay first. Calvin wants to apologize and say goodbye, since he’s been commanded to go home.

Despite being a revolutionary who wants change, Jay is against the classes mingling. It’s beyond his place to accept Calvin’s apology, and they should never meet again.

Next, it’s time for The Hunger Games to begin.

But first, Nin’s Dad gets a fancy note telling him to meet with…?

We’ll find out more about this later. 

First, all the potential Kings-To-Be, the King, and random well-dressed people gather at Smiling Heirless Prince’s place to watch the competition. 

Our young competitors run into the forest to score points by shooting targets so their fathers can be King. They’ve barely started when the feed cuts out and smoke bombs explode. Ava just misses taking an arrow to the knee, and they realize someone is trying to make it look like they are attacking each other. 

Ramil gives Ava a piggyback, proving he doesn’t totally suck. Charan finds them, shooting another attacker to protect them. 

Meanwhile, Nin’s Dad shows up where the King and princes are all panicking together. Now we get to see what he’s been doing. It started with meeting Nin’s Biological Dad, who wanted to find out who was trying to kill Nin.

While the clues seemed to lead to Ramil’s Dad, our Heirless Smiling Prince is the real villain. Shocking! Not only did he try to kill Nin, but he also tried to kill Ramil, I guess.

Nin’s Dad has been in touch with Charan the entire time. Though it seems no one did anything to warn anyone about the archery competition being a potential point of attack.

And suddenly, people are being shot and dying

Because the Smiling Heirless Prince won’t go down easily. 

Nin and Charan escape to a marina and meet up with the King. But Heirless Prince has escaped from Nin’s Dad and is there to shoot at them. 

We learn that the Heirless Prince’s wife was sick because of the mines. The King and other Princes promised to help, but only used the situation to make more money. The Heirless Prince’s wife eventually died.

He reveals that the King is also sick with lung cancer from the mines.

Charan shoots the Heirless Prince in the hand to keep him from shooting the King. The Heirless Prince tells Charan that the King caused his mother’s death. Charan looks shaky, but still protects the King.

And then the King’s assistant shoots the King in the gut!

This upsets everyone, even though the King is awful. I guess seeing someone get shot is also awful.

The assistant is the brother of the Heirless Prince’s dead wife.

Nin makes an effort to suggest to the Heirless Princess that killing the heirs isn’t a good solution. But the King thinks it’s more important to declare that they can’t lay a hand on them. And then Nin’s Dad arrives to shoot everyone except the Heirless Prince.

Nin hugs his Dad, who is holding the gun in a way that makes me nervous.

But the Heirless Prince grabs a gun and shoots at Nin. We get a fake-out that Charan has been shot, but it’s Chakri who took the bullet. And Charan’s friend shot the not-longer Smiling Prince.

I didn’t expect to see so many people die in this episode

But it was fun. What I’m less enthusiastic about is how much Nin and Charan are in the background of everything happening.

First, let’s talk about Nin. Of the three competitors, he had the least personal connection to what he talked about during the wit contest. He wants to win so his Dad can be King and help the miners. But ultimately, whether he wins or not doesn’t affect anyone close to him. His life won’t change much.

Yes, IRL, we want our leaders to care about strangers. In stories, I need Nin to have more at stake. Like, freeing Charan from this life or something. So if he didn’t win, it would really suck for him.

Nin’s Dad did all the work to expose the murder plot, though Charan took some calls and shot some people. Nin hasn’t gotten to do anything there either. 

And I know we still have this stupid competition. Are they each going to win a round? 

I kinda hope either Ramil or Ava wins, but then they rule the land together. Nin takes Charan to New York. Or something.

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