When last we left Prince and the Rebel, the love triangle finally stopped.
Time to get back to power struggles and human rights
Jade can’t even help Not-King dress without hearing about the unfairness of their different social levels. The poor Not-King has to pour water from a golden jug instead of a clay one.
Not-King brings up death TWICE. This is foreshadowing.
It’s time for the updated Loy Krathong, and everyone is by the river with their different jugs. Not-King gives a speech, everyone pours water in the water, and fireworks explode.
Then Not-King gets shot in the gut. Jade is immediately a sobbing mess, and everyone else looks mildly concerned. Not-King is dead.
Suddenly, it’s the funeral with a coffin that is as gold as Not-Kings water jug. Not King wanted the people to choose their next ruler, and the governors will support the dead Not-King’s wishes. But Somdet will go against Not-King’s wishes and declare himself the first ruler of a new dynasty.
Somdet declares himself the first ruler of a new dynasty
Now he can pet his throne all the time. He’s confused about how Not-King died, since he didn’t order it.
Prince/Worradej chooses now to ponder whether they can change history. We jump scare to a modern bathroom, and Prince in heels! Yay!
Their friend Nat wants to discuss her new favorite webtoon, which has the plot of this show. Prince is dismissive. They won’t even play along by saying what they’d change about the past, since time-travel is nonsense.
Prince/Worradej asks Kosol if they really can change the future. Kosol doesn’t care. He wants to try regardless. This is what Prince/Worradej needs to hear.
Jade is upset he’s the only one who’s still sad. Before he can prove his sad by shaving his head, the Not-King appears in an oversized… naval top? He’s no longer any kind of king. He’s Chet.
This entire thing was his plan
When Somdet kidnapped him and abandoned him on the road, he realized Somdet couldn’t kill him without turning the governors against him. But they want the governors against Somdet.
They left Jade out of the plan to get his genuine reaction. Jade sobs more, and everyone comforts him. But Chet needs to stay hidden, so he and Jade sneak back to his room. Chet tries to get Jade to drop formal speech, and they practice being bros in the mirror.
Chet’s Aunt Nisa is upset that her nephew is dead
She also looks exactly like Prince’s friend Nat. Kosol doesn’t like her, but once she says he hates Somdet, they reveal everything to her. I guess some kind of previous incarnation of Prince’s friend Nat must be trustworthy.
But, for a second, show makes it look like she reveals everything to Somdet. This is part of the plan. While Kosol wants to attack head-on and kill everyone, Prince/Worradej and Chet don’t. They only want to kill the actual bad guys, not random guards forced into these jobs.
Instead, Nisa gives Somdet false information, so he sends his troops to the wrong place. Now they can infiltrate the palace and take him down.
Prince/Worradej watches Kosol vigorously polishing his… gun. Kosol isn’t excited to return to what was once his home, but he’s excited about how things will change there.
Prince/Worradej wonders if they’ll return home once they’re done
And will things be different?
We get a brief visit with present-day Prince, where things aren’t different. They’re still in a mysterious coma, watched over by Nat and the doctor.
Back to the past. Prince/Worradej trains Banjong and Kosol on being demure women so they can sneak into the palace. Banjong does well, Kosol does not. And when a guard sees their hip-swinging walks, both need to prove their masculinity with manly talk.
A lesson on being flirted with pushes Kosol too far. He’s done. But Prince/Worradej was forced to train to fight even though they didn’t want to, so this is only fair.
Banjong questions why all women must act the same when not all women are the same. Kosol has nothing against gentle women, but if he were born a woman, he doubts he’d be demure. Like how Worradej’s father forced them to act “manly”.
These are excellent points. Though I’d argue they aren’t learning to be women, they’re learning to blend in with the palace women. But none of this will matter anyway.
They nearly die in a whirlpool on their way there
They’re a little wet, but fine. Guards try to stop them, but Nisa gets indignant, and they’re allowed to pass. They change, and that’s it for being women. It’s anticlimactic.
When it’s just the two of them, Prince/Worradej gets nervous that they’ll fail or that Kosol will get hurt. Kosol says not to utter the word “fear” or let anyone, including themself, see it.
Prince/Worradej seems to find this comforting and kisses Kosol’s hand to give him strength and make him even braver. Kosol kisses Prince/Worradej’s hand to remind them that he will always be by their side. It’s sweet.
Chet and Jade hang out in a room
Chet talks about the trauma of being King again. Jade listens patiently. Then soldiers find them. They vow to fight together.
Back at the royal palace, with Somdet’s troops gone, the women outnumber the men. Prince/Worradej comes in, looking stunning, and dances for Somdet. This is their chance to get close to Somdet and kill him with a hidden dagger.
But Somdet sees their Adam’s apple and removes their wig before they can attack. Banjong and Kosol come out fighting. The women of the royal palace join in.
Somdet flees, and Prince/Worradej is the only one to go after him. But Somdet bashes them with a piece of wood and strangles them.
Prince wakes in the hospital in the present day!
They mistake Nat for Nisa until they realize they’re in a modern hospital. They were poisoned and have been unconscious for only seven days. When Prince talks about being somewhere else for seven months, Nat thinks it was all a dream.
Prince looks traumatized. Also, their hand is glowing with a creepy kiss mark. This confirms for Prince that it wasn’t a dream, and they have to go back.
Nat and the Doctor want them to calm down. But we also see Kosol trying to revive them. Kosol kisses them, and they open their eyes.
In the present day, Prince is in a coma again. The Doctor thinks it was a vivid dream and can’t give any clear answers until they wake up again.
The women beat Kosol to Somdet
Somdet tries to make some kind of trade, but the women want revenge. They bash and beat him while the subtitles say he yells “ow”. Kosol just watches.
Meanwhile, the injured Prince/Worradej tells Banjong about a dream where they were in a place far, far away, and would never see them again. They were terrified, but then woke up.
Banjong tells them that Kosol kissed them. Prince/Worradej says Kosol should do the same if they faint again.
So much for not killing people, because that looks like a lot of dead guards in the throne room. But the women have Somdet. Prince/Worradej is more upset with him about their wig than about being strangled.
Somdet is furious that a “person like this” is demeaning them and wants to die. But Kosol promised to imprison him. Somdet would rather die than see the oppressed get power.
Before they can take him away, Chet is brought in, blood all over his face, a gun pointed at him.
They should have just killed Somdet
I’ll be so upset if, after all this, Chet dies. I don’t want Jade to cry again.
I enjoyed these episodes for focusing once again on gender, equality, and the struggles of the oppressed. As anti-climactic as Kosol and Banjong dressing as women was, it did allow for some commentary on gender. They still killed the guards, but at least they tried not to.
And I love a revisionist history where the victims get to get their revenge (think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Even though this is a fictional history being revised, I’m down to watch the oppressed beat their oppressors with a block of wood.
I liked seeing Prince/Worradej briefly return to the present day. When they were wondering if they’d end up back “home”, I wasn’t sure how they felt. This nicely illustrated how attached they are to Kosol and everyone else.
The show has also really helped me to appreciate the Jade actor. As Dean in Pit Babe, he was such a minor and inconsistent character that it was hard to enjoy him. But here, he’s maybe one of the more grounded and relatable characters. I love him and Chet, though I wish Jade got to talk about himself more.
One more episode left! If Chet and Jade get a brotherly-ever-after, I’ll be happy.
Leave a Reply