TV Shows and other addictive things

#CurrentlyWatching: The Royals

Kat Impossible24 Comments

Here we go continuing with my weekly theme of “UK Shows (sort of?)” after Tuesdays post centering Our Girl. Today we take a step away from the realistic and venture into a bit more manufactured drama with The Royals. The theme is really fitting here, because despite it being about a fictional version of the British monarchs, this show is produced by an American Network (E!) that usually has more reality shows than purely fictional content. So … it might be set in the UK (they film there as well as far as I know) and it might be about the royal family but there’s definitely Americans behind it.

The Royals is another show that I have talked about before and I have called it a guilty pleasure back in the day. I would go away from that expression now, because there is no guilt involved with watching this show. I have chosen this specific Friday to talk about the Royals, because it is returning for its 4th Season this upcoming Sunday (March 11th)! It’s a return I have awaited eagerly and am just so excited about. I am a hardcore Loyalist (what the fandom is called) and for some obscure reason, the show even follows me on Twitter and that will always give the show a special place in my heart.

The Royals centers on the struggles and drama of a fictional version of the British Royal family after an unexpected death in the family is bound to change the entire future of the monarchy.

When I first thought about watching the show, I was sure it would just be silly over the top drama and I wasn’t wrong, but it is also so much more than that. Over the seasons, the Royals has proven to provide quality entertainment that surely never gets boring. It has witty and humerous writing but also real heartfelt moments. I think a lot of it has to do with a very visible increase in production value over time and a regular change in the cast aside from the main characters (bitter about some exits, but insanely happy about some of the new additions).

In general, I want to give a huge shout out to whoever did the casting for this show, because the actors actually look like family. There have been some photo edits where you can see the similarities in the faces and I am living for that kind of attention to detail! Sometimes the accents slip a little, as people on this show tend to play other nationalities than the ones they are in real life, but overall, I am sure you will quickly fall in love with this cast!

There are some … hints at who the real life counterparts of the characters might are, but this is by no means a satire show targeted at the current monarchy. Rather it is just supposed to be a fresh and modern take on the subject with a familiar environment to put them in. Quite frankly, I don’t think it would have made much of a difference if they had made them rulers of a fictional country, except that they maybe would have had to change the color schemes because the flag would have to be changed.

Usually I like to focus on all the positive things surrounding a show, but there is something that is nagging at me and I feel like I need to mention it as well. There have been several sexual harassment allegations towards Mark Schwahn, creator and showrunner of the Royals as well as formerly responsible person for One Tree Hill. A lot has come to light during this past year and I am always in shock when I hear something from shows I really treasure. I was so relieved to hear that E! fired Schwahn, because neither the cast nor crew should be subjected to a man like him. I was so sad to hear the accounts of the women involved as well as the tense climate when he was on set, but I was also really glad that their male co-stars and co-workers had their back. However, despite me very much approving of how this was handled, I just really hope it doesn’t put the show in jeopardy.  There are no news on Season 5 yet, but if you are able to, please tune in live or tweet about the show regularly. I don’t want these women, who were brave enough to come forward and give their support to the women from OTH, to not be able to continue work that they love because of one man. I am sure they will find excellent replacement for him, but the show still needs our support. 

Now, it’s time to get to my favourite part of these posts – the character spotlight! There were so many people to choose from and there was no way I would just be going with one. So, I want to start right with my OTP – ELEANOR & JASPER aka Jaspenor!

Thinking back, their relationship had such a problematic start. I mean, there was literal blackmail for sex involved. But my babies have grown so much with time. When this all started, Eleanor was a spoilt brat and Jasper pretty much a con man, but they uncovered each other’s layers and with that the genuinely caring and good people they are. Do they have issues? Yes, but that’s what makes them three dimensional characters with a past and baggage. If they are not endgame, then I renounce my title as Queen of TV, but it is such sweet torture watching them either way.

Another person I simply could not resist talking about is Willow. She entered the show a bit later on and replaced someone as a love interest, which was why it took me a bit to warm up to her. But as soon as Season 3 came around, I feel for her character hard. She is someone I can most relate to as she is honest, ambitious, witty and smart. She knows what she is doing as the royal family’s social media consultant but she is a generally humble person. Also, she’s a fellow Ravenclaw and the reason I keep using the below gif over and over and over and over.

There’s other people I would like to talk about but SPOILERS. As I mentioned above, I really appreciated some of the additions that came with the seasons. The show definitely has one of my favourite villains out there and I will love him even when everyone else hates him, cause I can.

That’s it for today! If you have watched the show already, how excited are you for the new season? Will you be giving this one a shot if you haven’t yet? Feel free to ask me anything in the comments if you need more info! Let’s talk!

24 thoughts on “#CurrentlyWatching: The Royals”

  3. hahaha I just love that the fandom is called Loyalists! I will admit that, as a Brit, I don’t have enough interest in this (there’s enough “news” about the Royals irl- maybe if I moved abroad I’d have more of a desire to watch it 😉 ) Stilll this does look like fun and it’s good that (barring the accents slipping on occasion) the actors do a good job 😀 I do like the sound of the characters as well- especially loving that Ravenclaw gif! Great review!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • That’s totally fair! I don’t actually think the show airs regularly in the UK? At least I have heard very little about that. But it is quite brilliant, despite the trailer for the first season definitely not being my favourite thing.
      I feel like I should give you some backstory to the Ravenclaw gif and since you won’t be watching it, it’s not even spoilery 😉 So, the future King, Robert, needs to find a wife and Willow has been tasked with making a selection of contestants. She keeps asking him questions and says she has a result and he is confused how the questions could find him a wife, but in reality she just took the pottermore quiz for him to determine his house and he is a Gryffindor. To which he replied that he is relieved that he is not a Hufflepuff. She gets really defensive and asks what’s wrong with being a Hufflepuff, which in turn makes him flustered and the exchange is really cute, but she relieves him and tells him that she is a Ravenclaw, obviously. It remains their inside joke and he calls her his “personal sorting hat”.

      Like

      Reply

      • Yeah I don’t think it does- for various reasons, I don’t think it’d be that popular tbh (just the subject matter might put off both people who love the monarchy and those who are bored of it like me haha- I could be wrong though 😉). And I did watch the trailer and thought “meh” so I’m glad it’s better than that!
        Hahahaha oh my goodness that’s just wonderful!! Hahaha that’s just the best thing- okay now I want to watch it, just for that!

        Liked by 1 person

      • I completely understand. As I said in the post, I feel like it could have been the monarchy of any kind of fictional country, but I guess they chose the British monarchy just because it was easier. But since it’s an American show, it works for them better, I suppose.
        I was looking for that scene, just so I could show you, but I couldn’t find it. There’s just not that many clips anywhere online.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. You know me and my love for The Royals, and it’s all thanks to you so THANK YOU again for introducing me to this amazing show, I will never ever regret it, I love it way too much even when it makes my heart hurts haha. ❤ I love Jasper and Eleanor so, so much, they're one of my favorite tv ships for sure and I can't wait to see them and their dynamic in the new season ❤ NEW EPISODES SOON I AM FREAKING OUTTTTTT BY THE WAY.
    Fantastic post!! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • You’re very welcome! As one of the first Loyals (which I am just going to claim I am), I see it as my duty to recruit as many people as possible to watching The Royals haha ❤
      I wish I could watch the Royals right Monday morning, but I have a workshop *sobs*. It will have to wait until later that day.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I’M CATCHING UP NOW, your Willow gif convinced me because knowing that she’s a Ravenclaw makes me even more interested to see her development. I’m so excited about the new season and I’m so happy that you decided to share what the creator of the show did, I’m so glad that they replaced him (it’s high time this industry held people responsible for sexual harassment) and I really hope the fourth season does well and they get many other seasons.
    Lovely post! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Willow is one of my favourite people of ever BUT I really need to point out that I do not want her with Liam. Forgive me for saying that, but she deserves way way better!
      And thank you! I really didn’t feel comfortable leaving that detail out, especially since that development with the showrunner was quite recent. I am glad he is gone and I hope they get renewed and are able to show what they can do without him.

      Like

      Reply

  9. OMG I love love love this show!!! I just caught up on all the episodes of the new season a couple of days ago and ahhh!! I’m trying not to fangirl to much (unsuccessfully of course) Jasper and Eleanor are easily my favorites on the show! I love how there relationship has grown into something so real! (plus I love prince Liam… even though he is getting a bit dark) but King Robert is starting to annoy me at the moment (he’s just so secretly evil!!) Glad u have such great taste in TV shows 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.