Summary
Well worth a watch. Most likely best suited to a teenage audience who will relate to the characters’ dilemmas.
This review of Netflix’s Young Royals season 1 is spoiler-free. The series will be streaming on 1 July 2021.
Ahead of its release, Young Royals was instantly compared to the Spanish thriller Elite and historical drama The Crown based on the trailer alone. So were these comparisons correct? Yes and no. Young Royals definitely has some similarities to The Crown. It has a royal undertone in its plot and deals with how one is expected to behave as a member of the Royal Family. The difference with Young Royals is its targeted teenage audience, so obviously, the stories within the show reflect those changes. First of all, most of the characters present are of teenage age, so the audience will watch as they work their way through drama that a teenage individual copes with. Any teenagers that may have found The Crown too boring could find this series faster moving and more entertaining.
But the comparisons to Elite? Apart from the fact that the shows are present in a school, very little else connects the two shows. First of all, Elite is heavy on mystery and has the audience second-guessing what is around the corner. Young Royals, on the other hand, is essentially about an LGBTQ+ love story between a member of the Royal Family and an individual from a “normal family.”
Regardless, it works really well. The characters are relatable, and most of all, likable. Although the royal storyline isn’t explored as much as it could have been, it instead allows more area for development between the relationship of Wilhelm and Simon, which is arguably what the audience will prefer. As the show is Swedish, it’s best to enjoy the show with subtitles, as opposed to watching it dubbed in another language. A sign of a good show is one that improves the more you watch. That is the case with Young Royals.
It’s a good story that, with the right audience watching, will be thoroughly enjoyed.
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