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S02.E10: The Serpent That Did Sting Thy Father's Life

formerlyfreedom

By formerlyfreedom
in The Royals (2015) [V]

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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

I mean, I have no idea what to say. The finale happened. And Ted was revealed to everyone as the one who killed Simon. I'm still not entirely clear on why but whatever. I know it was kind of explained but I'm still confused on the reasoning. 

 

So now I guess we're on the who was riding the motorcycle? Anyone have any guesses? 

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maps

maps

That was Robert on the motorcycle. The helmet said HRH R. Henstridge.

 

I'm not too clear on why Ted killed Simon either. I'm guessing it's supposed to be because he blames the family for his wife's death. 

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AllisonH

AllisonH

I really enjoyed this season of The Royals, but this episode felt weirdly rushed in some aspects, and too slow in others.

1. Ted. I wasn't sure how they were going to explain Ted's abrupt descent from "trusted bodyguard" to "regicidal murderer." And even though the dialogue didn't really help to explain his mindset and the events that led him to the murder, Oliver Milburn's acting this episode sold it, and *showed* us how Ted's grief drove him to madness.

2. The Domino people. This is where I was most confused. Their role this episode was oddly limited to nebulous, off-screen threats. They'd been built up so much, and I expected more. Was it really only the guy and his daughter? Why did they disappear from the house? Why did the Domino dad/brother go full "evil overlord" and threaten to down Ted's plane and kill Ophelia? All the Domino people had was a video - with footage Ted provided, no less - so why were they so fearsome? And for that matter, why was it a "win" that the video wasn't show at the match? The Domino people still have the video and can release it anytime. This was all very unclear, and felt as though large sections of the plot were missing.

3. Henstridge. Honestly, this is the first time I remember hearing their surname at all, and then it was *everywhere* this episode. I assume it was so we would understand the significance of the helmet at the end, but good lord was it overkill!

4. Prudence. This whole storyline was odd, and I don't even know where to start. We knew she was pregnant at the end of Season 1, then she's AWOL until the last two episodes of this season (except for a brief moment early on?), and then we get a prenup, a wedding, a birth, and an abandonment in 5 minutes! It's almost as though they could only get the actress to commit to two episode, and had to cram everything in at once.

5. And for that matter, I understand why Prudence left, but I can't understand why she agreed to the fake wedding at all. It made no sense. If she thought that Cyrus was so devious that he'd force her to marry him, then certainly he's so devious that he'll find a way to get her (or rather, her son) back in the palace. This all felt very incomplete and just thrown together.

6. Eleanor and Jasper. This is where the episode took its time. I feel that revealing chunks of the plot were sacrificed so that these two could have more Longing Looks. I'm ok with that, but next time I hope they go for a 90-minute episode, and not skimp on the plot points.

I anticipated they were going to end this season with a 5- or even 6-way struggle for the throne. Instead, it looks like that's what they're setting up next season. Cyrus, his son, his daughter, Helena, Liam - and now apparently Robert - are all still in play!

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GaT

GaT

No surprise that Robert (or someone who is pretending to be Robert) isn't dead, but I absolutely do not understand the whole Prudence plot, what was the point? 

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omgsowicked

omgsowicked

No surprise that Robert (or someone who is pretending to be Robert) isn't dead, but I absolutely do not understand the whole Prudence plot, what was the point? 

 

I'm totally confused by the Prudence plot as well... so she did end up working with Helena, Cyrus got married to Helena's gynecologist, there was a baby switcheroo, and Prudence ran off with the real baby? All in the name of Alistair Lacey (who I thought was the minister at the wedding, though that wouldn't make sense, lol)? But... I don't get it. What did Prudence get out of it, why did she bother with fake-marrying him? To have her son born in the castle, acknowledged as Cyrus' son, so she can swoop in if something happens to Cyrus?

 

No surprise that Robert's alive... I hope whoever is cast as him has chemistry with William and Alexandra, who I continue to enjoy together (and continue to forget are twins).

 

I've always found Ted's actor a bit off, acting-wise, but he was very compelling in this episode. Also have to give props to William, he did a great job reacting to the video footage.

 

That anti-monarchy guy and Cyrus' daughter was totally random. He actually liked her? OK. Again, no offense to the actresses but the daughters may as well be written off now.

 

It does seem like the Domino thing may be over, though it wouldn't make sense, as they still have the video and still want revenge. Unless Dominque stole the footage.

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Popples

Popples

(edited)

I'm totally confused by the Prudence plot as well... so she did end up working with Helena, Cyrus got married to Helena's gynecologist, there was a baby switcheroo, and Prudence ran off with the real baby? All in the name of Alistair Lacey (who I thought was the minister at the wedding, though that wouldn't make sense, lol)? But... I don't get it. What did Prudence get out of it, why did she bother with fake-marrying him? To have her son born in the castle, acknowledged as Cyrus' son, so she can swoop in if something happens to Cyrus?

 

I took it as the man who married Cyrus and Prudence wasn't a minister, but Helena's gynecologist so the marriage isn't legal. Prudence got to give birth  to Cyrus' son in the palace and got a lot of money to be able to take care of herself and said son. I think Helena drew up this plan (though she said Prudence came up with the pre-nup bit herself) when Helena visited Prudence to warn her off from the royal lifestyle.

 

I never realize how much I don't miss Ophelia until someone on the show says her name.

 

I don't understand the Robert thing. That guy who said he was paid to kill him said he scuttled him, but that was nearly a year ago (duration of Prudence's pregnancy). How long has he been laying on that beach?

Edited by Popples
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BooBear

BooBear

I don't understand the Robert thing. That guy who said he was paid to kill him said he scuttled him, but that was nearly a year ago (duration of Prudence's pregnancy). How long has he been laying on that beach?

 

I took it that this was the first time the show deemed to show us that Robert was alive and it wasn't necessarily in time order because otherwise, your right, it has been too long.  I would like for Robert to show up looking all normal at the end of the third season premier. I didn't love this season because it was maddeningly disjointed. It was like the wrote episodes based on who they could get back and when. Please show do not visit Ophelia again and let Ted and her go down in show history.

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seacliffsal

seacliffsal

If Prudence wasn't married to Cyrus when the baby was born, then the son is illegitimate and won't be able to inherit the throne. I think Helena will announce that the twins really are Simon's children, and she lied to prevent someone was killing them while they found the murderer. It wraps up nicely...

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njbchlover

njbchlover

(edited)

If Prudence wasn't married to Cyrus when the baby was born, then the son is illegitimate and won't be able to inherit the throne. I think Helena will announce that the twins really are Simon's children, and she lied to prevent someone was killing them while they found the murderer. It wraps up nicely...

 

By not being legally married to Cyrus, Prudence can also deny any claim that Cyrus may make on the child, especially if Helena was able to convince her that having a "royal" for a child is heartbreaking and dangerous.

 

I'm really glad I didn't give up on this show when I wanted to, several episodes back.  I liked the way the season wrapped up, but I'm still questioning a few things:

 

Does anyone think that Ted was beaten to death by the angry mob?  If not, did he escape and will he team up again with the Domino guy and want to exact even more revenge on the Royal family?  

 

What about Jasper - will he or won't he be back?  Was the fact that he and Eleanor were holding hands at the end an indication?  

 

Is that REALLY Robert, or someone else, who stole or found his helmet?  

 

Will the duchess get away with the murder of Dominique?

 

I'm happy that they are leaving me with thoughts until next season, and that I'm interested enough to watch again, because that is what a show like this is supposed to do.

Edited by njbchlover
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gazebo

gazebo

Sometimes Jasper is British and sometimes he isn't.  All of a sudden he dropped the British thing around Eleanor and Liam and I don't remember how when or why.

 

 

Jasper is supposedly not British.  He's an American con man that use to work in Las Vegas.  He originally got himself hired at the royal palace as a bodyguard to Princess Eleanor to get close to stealing the Koh-I-Noor diamond.  Of course, he fell in love with the princess and stopped the theft of the diamond from Mandy, his con woman partner.  Jasper eventually admitted to Prince Liam his real identity.

 

Yeah, the actor that plays Jasper has a really bad American accent.

 

Pretty good season finale!  I enjoyed the whole madness of it.  I was very entertained.

 

I think Ted Pryce, the worst security chief in the world, will come back next season.  I also think Domino will come back too.  So many things left unresolved regarding Domino!  I mean, Domino's brother can still release the tape that showed that the Grand Duchess admitted to killing his sister.  I don't think this is the end of Domino.

 

Cyrus and Helena are going to try to bring each other down now.  Kind of a shitty thing to do to Cyrus, taking away his son.  I'm glad Prudence decided to leave and take her kid.  I think that even though she liked the idea of having position, wealth and power and a son that will inherit the throne; the idea of having to put up with Cyrus day after day was probably stomach turning for her.  Helena is one great manipulative bitch and I love her so much!  She's a chip off of Duchy's block!

 

Speaking of Duchy, I wonder if Joan Collins will make an appearance next season.  She's too much fun not to be in Season 3.

 

I think Jasper will stick around.  I like Jasper and Eleanor together.  There's a tragic romance feel to their relationship that I find fascinating.

 

I think Prince Liam is going to try to get the throne from Cyrus and that this will be one of the major plot points for next season.

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kat165

kat165

I'm so bummed that the show is over for the season. I've really enjoyed it.

 

Wow, what a brutal way to go, not that I feel that sorry for Ophelia's dad. But that was hard to watch. I hope he's not back

next season & I was overjoyed that Ophelia didn't make an appearance. I wonder if the showrunners caught on that she's

not that popular. Watching the Hangover eps I got the impression that they pay attention to social media.

 

I'm sure Joan will be back next season. Looking forward to see where Lenny & Jasper go from here.

 

Also really enjoyed Mr. Hill's participation in Jasper's & Liam's gameplan.

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ParadoxLost

ParadoxLost

I was watching the end of the finale thinking that anytime you take a sledgehammer to a crypt there is not going to be a body in there.

 

I'm not convinced that the King / Ted didn't stage the whole death to root out whoever was behind Robert's "death" and that's why a ton of the dots aren't connecting about motive and what the heck is going on there.

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VartanFan

VartanFan

(edited)

I was pretty down on the first half of the season, but I liked the last half (once the Mandy thing was done - she was a show ruiner for me).  I'm with everyone else that Ted killing the king makes no sense.  You come to hate the royal family so you kill the one person who is NICE to you and everyone else?  And also WTF with the shoehorned scene with the anti-monarchist and Cyrus' daughter???

 

Also, re: potential king staged death...I don't agree of that as a possibility because why would you have to have Ted do a video, if you were faking it?  Getting stabbed is enough.  Though 'sense' really is not critical to this show.  But I definitely thought that the king wouldn't be in there.  

 

I think I have to go back and watch Season 1 while knowing Ted is the killer and see if there was any hint.  

 

ETA - I laughed right out loud when Ted's head/body hit the limo window.  I don't know why it struck me as extremely funny.

Edited by VartanFan
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SnarkKitty

SnarkKitty

Glad I stuck through the first season, hell, the first episode.

 

I just watched one, then another waiting for things to kick in. I wasn't blown away, but was just interested enough to record and eventually watch the next. By Season 2, I actually started watching in real time. Or at least within a day.

 

On this trajectory, Season 3 is going to be great. Oh, excuse me, brilliant. Until then, I shall walk away.

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kat165

kat165

Paradox, I loved that scene closing shot of Queenie and her
minion peering into the hole they made in the crypt. I'm
finding it hard to believe that Simon is still alive (although
I'd love that because I love that actor, but it is a bit
farfetched and they've got a lot of farfetchedness already),
but maybe his body has been stolen? Or it's just a fakeout.

 

I really miss this show. I watch Downton on Sunday, but after
it's over I'm so depressed that I can't immediately tune into
the Royals. I've already watched the season twice.

 

Although I like your reasoning. But we saw Simon's machines
give out. How would Ted fake that if he wasn't actually dead
and how did he remove the body? And who/what did they bury?

 

And yeah, Ted killing the king made no sense. But Ted also seems
to be off his rocker. Unless that whole stabbing was a setup
between Ted & Simon. How did they get away with what followed
though? That's an awful lot of extras to bribe.

 

Vartan, I was kind of horrified when Ted's head hit the car
window, but then I laughed. But then I was horrified again
as the crowd proceeded to maul him. That was brutal.

 

SnarkKitty, this show slowly grows on you. Once you decide to
just relax and see where it goes it's a fun show. And I love
the cast & the showrunner. I never watched One Tree Hill so
I'm still liking the guy. I've watched all the aftershows & he's
a pretty cool guy.

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phoenics

phoenics

On 1/24/2016 at 9:56 PM, VartanFan said:

I was pretty down on the first half of the season, but I liked the last half (once the Mandy thing was done - she was a show ruiner for me).  I'm with everyone else that Ted killing the king makes no sense.  You come to hate the royal family so you kill the one person who is NICE to you and everyone else?  And also WTF with the shoehorned scene with the anti-monarchist and Cyrus' daughter???

 

Also, re: potential king staged death...I don't agree of that as a possibility because why would you have to have Ted do a video, if you were faking it?  Getting stabbed is enough.  Though 'sense' really is not critical to this show.  But I definitely thought that the king wouldn't be in there.  

 

I think I have to go back and watch Season 1 while knowing Ted is the killer and see if there was any hint.  

 

ETA - I laughed right out loud when Ted's head/body hit the limo window.  I don't know why it struck me as extremely funny.

I don't think they originally planned to make Ted the killer.  I think originally the whole Ophelia-Liam lovestory was meant to be longterm, so someone else was meant to be the killer.  Something happened and the show changed course. I don't know if it was the actress wanted to leave or the show wanted her to leave, so Ted as her father became kind of a useless loose end - so they made him the killer.  I don't think that was their plan all along.  When you marathon the show, you tend to get it all at once - Ted being the killer came out of left field.

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kat165

kat165

phoenics, I agree with this too. I've wondered if Ophelia was written out because she wasn't popular. I think a lot of the viewers didn't like her. I know I didn't and was delighted when she moved to NYC rarely to be seen again. I just didn't like the actress. Which made the character unlikeable.

I was also baffled by the ghost of the dead wife, Ophelia's mother I presume. She was kind of nasty and not at all what I expected his departed wife to be like. Which made me even more unsympathetic towards him and I wonder too if she/the ghost of her was written in to go along with Ted now being the killer.

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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

2 minutes ago, kat165 said:

phoenics, I agree with this too. I've wondered if Ophelia was written out because she wasn't popular. I think a lot of the viewers didn't like her. I know I didn't and was delighted when she moved to NYC rarely to be seen again. I just didn't like the actress. Which made the character unlikeable.

I was also baffled by the ghost of the dead wife, Ophelia's mother I presume. She was kind of nasty and not at all what I expected his departed wife to be like. Which made me even more unsympathetic towards him and I wonder too if she/the ghost of her was written in to go along with Ted now being the killer.

I think that's exactly what happened. I think Ophelia was always meant to come back at some point to rekindle her romance with Liam but the audience wasn't a fan. I actually missed this show a lot, I can't wait for it to come back 

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kat165

kat165

(edited)

I missed this show a lot too. Surprisingly. :) I wish I'd known there was a marathon on, I stumbled upon it accidentally this afternoon and only caught the last 4 eps. But this was like my 4th watch. :) I'm looking forward to meeting Robert and seeing more of Jasper. Tom Austen really isn't my usual type of guy but I find him incredibly appealing. I wonder if he and the actress who plays Eleanor still share an apt/house.

Edited by kat165
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WhosThatGirl

WhosThatGirl

8 minutes ago, kat165 said:

I missed this show a lot too. Surprisingly. :) I wish I'd known there was a marathon on, I stumbled upon it accidentally this afternoon and only caught the last 4 eps. But this was like my 4th watch. :) I'm looking forward to meeting Robert and seeing more of Jasper. Tom Austen really isn't my usual type of guy but I find him incredibly appealing. I wonder if he and the actress who plays Eleanor still share an apt/house.

He's not mine either but yeah I'm excited to see more Jasper. I don't know if the actors still share a house.

A lit of the stories still don't make sense, the Ted killing the King doesn't make sense in terms of story except for it being a dramatic reveal. I do think by the last two episodes of season.1 they had to scrape a bunch of what they had planned for the next season. I too agree Liam and Ophelia were supposed to be endgame. I honestly think this show suffers from not having a plan but It's a Mark Schawn show so I'm prepared. I watched one tree hill.

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omgsowicked

omgsowicked

7 hours ago, phoenics said:

I don't think they originally planned to make Ted the killer.  I think originally the whole Ophelia-Liam lovestory was meant to be longterm, so someone else was meant to be the killer.  Something happened and the show changed course. I don't know if it was the actress wanted to leave or the show wanted her to leave, so Ted as her father became kind of a useless loose end - so they made him the killer.  I don't think that was their plan all along.  When you marathon the show, you tend to get it all at once - Ted being the killer came out of left field.

Apparently there's a deleted scene on the S1 DVD (I don't own the DVD, hence "apparently") that revealed that Ted was the killer, so it seems the decision was made early on. I'm not sure at what point they realized Ophelia was so unpopular that they should write her off... this may have been a happy accident, making Ted the killer. I wonder, had she not been so unpopular, how would they have used her then? I don't think Liam and Ophelia's relationship could have survived that. I'm surprised they put that scene on the DVD and didn't change the killer in S2. Totally ruined the shock of it for me.

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phoenics

phoenics

(edited)

Huh.  Well that's shocking - because if they'd intended Ophelia to stay onboard with the show, there is NO WAY she and Liam would have survived that.  This isn't Scandal - I mean, the show is scandalous but Liam/Ophelia were depicted as being OTP and kinda sweet/pure/innocent relatively speaking, so no way there could ever be a future Queen of England whose father killed the former King.

But just because it was a deleted scene in S1 doesn't mean that they changed their original plans in favor of making the killer Ted all along.  They could have filmed that Ted reveal at the end of S1 after they'd made the decision to write off the Ophelia character.  Clearly they had to reshuffle some things to write Ophelia off - because quite a bit of the end felt a little off to me.  And Ted as killer still feels very, very off.

I was probably one of the few who liked Ophelia - though I literally watched 2 seasons in 1.5 days, so I kinda took it all at once.  I hated Helena and Cyrus for most of S1, but grew warmer to them in S2.  But Ophelia I liked - I don't know why the "good girl" characters always end up so hated by fandom.  Plus, the actress reminded me of a young Denise Richards before she went all awful on us.  Maybe that's why some didn't like her?

ETA:  Was there a long gap in between airing S1 and S2?  Meaning, did the show know once they released the S1 DVD that they had a S2?  Because whoever thought releasing that Ted was the killer on the DVD was an idiot unless they simply believed there would be no S2 and the extra scene was a gift to fans.

Edited by phoenics
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kat165

kat165

WhosThatGirl, this is my first Mark Schawn so I guess I'm glad I'm not familiar with his work?

Thanks, omg, for that info. It's surprising. Ted as Killer seemed like a later add-on. I stayed up until 4am this morning to catch 3 more eps that E ran after their usual crap. At Ophelia's later reappearance in NYC in season 2 she seemed so much thinner than she did in season 1. It made me wonder if her unpopularity in this effected her
career.

Yeah, phoenics, Ted as Killer still seems off.

I didn't dislike Ophelia because of her good girl character. I really didn't like the actress. She come off as smug and entitled and so the role she was playing seemed false. The actress just didn't suit the character. A different actress might have made the part work.

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