Article originally published as THE ROYALS Review on Seat42F.
E!’s very first completely original
scripted series is THE ROYALS, which premiered this week. It tells the
story of a fictional British monarchy, and how they are rocked when the
heir to the throne dies. It’s a soapy guilty pleasure show of the rich
behaving badly, a mix of comedy and drama, and though my expectations
were admittedly very low going in, it’s actually pretty enjoyable.
Early in the pilot, we meet Prince Liam
(William Moseley, The Chronicles of Narnia films) and Princess Eleanor
(Alexandra Park, Home and Away), the younger two siblings of the royal
family. Both are partying and drinking and generally behaving as we see
all spoiled rich kids behave in shows such as this. THE ROYALS is like
Gossip Girl with accents and fewer secrets. While the instinct of many
viewers will be to smack them across the face, the fact that they fit a
societal trend speaks to larger issues. I don’t know if this show is the
one to tackle those; probably not.
But then we hear about the death of
their brother, the crown prince, who is the ‘good’ one of the group,
perishing a military hero. This changes their world completely and
provides the catalyst for the central plot. Liam is most affected, now
being the next in line when his father, King Simon (Vincent Regan,
Atlantis), dies. Liam immediately sees that he’s been a bit too wild,
his behavior not befitting the role he has been granted, and tries to
settle down with his one-night stand, the head of security’s daughter,
Ophelia (Merritt Patterson, Ravenswood).
On one hand, Liam’s change must not be
too drastic. While he clearly like to party, the family takes him
seriously, especially his father, and don’t seem all that surprised he
would want to be in a relationship. On the other, I feel like THE ROYALS
sets up a different Liam in the first few minutes than we get for the
rest of the episode, which is too bad. Maybe he’s just a normal kid,
mostly good, but who lets off a little steam every now and then. If that
is the case, it’s not all that apparent.
Simon tells his family he is thinking of
asking Parliament to dissolve the royal family. It’s time, from a
cultural standpoint. It also gives his kids the chance at a normal life
and happiness, he certainly not having found it as King. This gives
Liam, who seems to want to be the ruler, or at least feels obligated to
be, more motivation to be who he should. It also indicates Simon feels
trapped, perhaps by his marriage to the bitchy Queen Helena (Elizabeth
Hurley, Gossip Girl, Austin Powers), perhaps by the things that keep him
from being a simple fisherman.
Simon and Liam are compelling characters
that I’m interested in. Ophelia is a little much in how she rises to
Helena’s bait, but really, these three will be the heroes of The Royals
that we root for. There is interesting pathos here, all of them having
lost someone close to them (Ophelia’s mother died because she was near
the royals). Toss in Ophelia’s father, Ted (Oliver Milburn, Driving
Lessons), and there’s a show here I want to watch.
I’m on the fence about Princess Eleanor.
Her damage is sadder, as she turns to drugs and sex as a way to act out
and exert influence. Yet, when a guard named Jasper (Tom Austen, The
Borgias) shows her how easy it is to get the upper hand because Eleanor
is her own worst enemy, I feel bad for the girl. She is practically
screaming for help and no one is giving it to her. She’s a tragic
character that I expect a good growth arc from over the course of the
series.
The aforementioned Helena and Simon’s
brother, Cyrus (Jake Maskall, EastEnders), are the evil characters that
cause all the trouble. Helena immediately sets herself up as a foe to
Ophelia, and Cyrus, a live-action Scar, pulls a gun on Simon’s back in a
too-obvious way. While The Royals
will do well to keep the over-the-top danger and manipulation going,
pulling back on the outward appearance of it from these two will do it
good. It should also figure out how to use the comic relief characters,
Cyrus’ daughters Maribel (Hatty Preston) and Penelope (Lydia Rose
Bewley, Plebs), a little better.
THE ROYALS is far from a perfect show.
Some of the characters are a little flat and it goes for a
larger-than-life feel, which seems more of a gimmick than a style. But
it’s far higher quality than anything else the network is offering (with
the exception of the drastically different, hilarious The Soup), and
I’d rather E! actually admit to airing scripted dramas instead of
pretending their shows are ‘reality.’ In all, THE ROYALS is better than I
expected it to be, and I’m interested enough to watch a second episode.
THE ROYALS airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on E!
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