I wonder in what market Young Highnesses was a phenomenon that justified special treatment, considering that in these parts it usually went unnoticed. Netflix, so accustomed to standardizing fiction releases, scheduled the broadcast of the final chapter at six in the afternoon on Monday and a week apart from the rest of the season. But, if we speak in terms of quality, it was justified: it was a delicate work that deserved to channel the spirits, hopes and feelings of the fans.
A disoriented viewer, watching the first minutes of the pilot in June 2021, could misinterpret the proposal of creators Lisa Ambjörn, Lars Beckung and Camilla Holter. It showed Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding), prince of Sweden, who got into a fight and, after making headlines that did not excite his mother and queen (Pernilla August), was forced to enroll in the boarding school where he had studied. his brother, the crown prince. There, in addition, he soon fell in love with a humble student, Simon (Omar Rudberg), who made him feel even more uncomfortable with the rigid structure and duties of the monarchy.
On a platform like Netflix, which then had Elite at full capacity, the assumption that it was moving through similar terrain was almost inevitable. But Rojda Sekersöz’s direction was faithful to the text and understood that, instead of focusing on the superficial aspects of privilege, she had to go further with the camera. The boarding school had a traditional profile and the students, regardless of whether they were children of millionaire businessmen or members of the aristocracy, were teenagers: each with their facades and insecurities, including a Wilhelm cornered by the title of prince that prevented him from functioning normally. .
Over three seasons, Young Highnesses did the impossible: humanize the inaccessible, reducing the characters to their most intimate expression. This not only includes the heir but also August (Malte Gardinger), Wilhelm’s status-obsessed cousin; Felice (Nikita Uggla), who faces the challenge of being one of the few biracial people in a classical elite; or Simon and his sister Sara (Frida Argento), with the additional challenge of fitting in when they are seen as poor kids.
One of the most interesting elements of the adolescent profile series is its ability to capture privilege as something that is not linked so much to the material (that too) but to the attitude derived from being at the top. Actors like Edvin Ryding and Malte Gardinger know how to express it even on a postural level in a subtle way. And, in their treatment of characters, Ambjörn, Beckung and Holter always showed a gift for approaching dramatic conflicts from a restraint point of view: a teenager is a cluster of uncomfortable and overflowing feelings, always on the verge of exploding.
In this sense, Ryding has been postulated as an intelligent and instinctive actor due to his way of containing himself and exploding, going from concentrating the strength of his prince in a look to transferring all that emotion to a scream when it is time to put the conflict on the surface. His work is one of the most interesting male and young interpretations of recent years.
After watching the final episode, Young Highnesses is confirmed as a Netflix treasure that can always be recovered as an example of great fiction for teenagers. That the three seasons offer only 18 episodes is both fortunate and a curse: the story is always controlled but, in television terms, it is still short.
The readings he offered about the discovery of love and sexuality, friendship as a tool to develop that self that we tend to hide, the relationship with our own body, latent privilege or the pressure to continue the paternal legacy are commendable.
