The Next Prince

All that glitters is not gold!

This drama had everything going for it. From stunning sets, dramatic costumes, popular cast and a trailer that promised intrigue, romance and political drama. Unfortunately, it turns out that lavish wardrobes and good-looking actors in them can't save the day.

The most glaring issue here was the writing. The drama just can't seem to decide what it wants to be till the very end.
Was it a royal romance? A musical drama? A political thriller? A princess diary fanfic BL version? There were too many storylines crammed in here. Instead of choosing one and committing, it tries to do all and ends up doing none well.
Let's start with tonal whiplash. One moment, you are dealing with serious political protests and in the very next scene, Khanin suddenly bursts into song with a piano playing softly in the background. I understand singing during protests is nothing new and it's a time-honoured form of resistance, but this was Broadway theatrical in a way that totally undermined the gravity of that scene and took all seriousness out of it.

Coming to the main couple, they definitely look good on paper, but felt like paper in execution. Khanin is both the crown prince and somehow the least interesting person in most of the scenes. He starts as an interesting character, a normal boy adapting to palace culture in a foreign land, but quickly develops into this lovesick puppy whose only job is to pine, pose and moon over Charan.
Charan, on the other hand, is a man of few words and fewer expressions.
He was stiff, stoic and emotionally blank for most of the drama. He definitely had an air of nobility, and we were shown a few glimpses of inner turmoil that could have been fleshed out more to give us something, but I never got a sense of what drives him. Was it a sense of justice or his duty? He was just the "dependable one" and that's about it. Also the amount of filters on Zee's face was a baffling choice. He is already handsome. There was no need to smooth out every trace of expression. We know his age and there is nothing wrong with showing it. Why try to hide what already works!!??

I felt their relationship developed too fast. They have chemistry and I don't deny that, but just not enough development for me to root for them. They were very bland. Even the infamous NC scene looked like a fever dream you would expect from a Wattpad fanfic. It felt overdramatic and oddly timed.

Meanwhile, the second couple, Ramil and Paytai, sitting on the bench at the side, actually had a compelling dynamics but barely got any screen time. They had something emotionally raw brewing, trauma bonding, guilt, co-dependence. We were served crumbs of them but that’s the only part I ended up caring about.

Then there’s Ava. I was genuinely curious to see how the writers would handle her arc and they disappointed me exactly as expected. They made her stand up just to knock her back down again whenever it suited the plot (or their mood apparently). So much potential, so little effort.
I will not even talk about Calvin and Jay because they got so little screen time. They were written in but weren't written for. All the side characters had a better story in my humble opinion.

The polished cinematography, sparkling costumes and wide shots of castles and palaces screamed high budget. But honestly, it felt like a hollow chocolate wrapped in gold foil. Pretty to look at but kind of pointless when you are left with nothing to chew on. And also, I wished they were a bit subtle about the product placement.
And I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the acting performances, especially of the leads. I don't know if it was the writing or what, but NO.

Overall, this was a disappointment for me, not the fun kind which you can laugh about. I am not sure if the team thought aesthetics could do all the heavy lifting. I will not recommend this.

P.S.- This review is not meant to discourage anyone from watching the drama. If you are interested, absolutely give it a try. :) And this isn’t also a jab at the actors either. My disappointment comes from a place of a viewer who was genuinely excited for the series. You might wonder why I didn’t drop it midway, well you can thank my NDD for that.

But if you enjoyed the show, please take this review with a grain of salt and as one person’s perspective among many.
Thank you for reading my review and I hope you have a lovely day. <3

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Don't read All 10s reviews

Most of these "all-10s" reviews are clearly written by fans of the main couple. Do me a favor and go to their profiles. Their accounts are only created to hype up the drama. Unless you're one of them, you're likely to end up disappointed by this much-anticipated series. I'm just a regular BL watcher, always on the lookout for a good story, regardless of who's starring in it, so my review is unbiased.

I do appreciate the production value, the sets, and the effort to make everything look visually grand. However, sometimes it feels overly controlled and artificial. For example, the club scene, the protest scene, and the market scene all came off as staged rather than organic or lively.

The actors are almost always dressed impeccably, but it often feels like they're just reciting lines rather than truly acting. I'm not saying they’re bad actors, but the script is poorly written and gives them little room to showcase their talents. There was one scene where NuNew had to cry after his adopted father died, and that was genuinely moving. On the other hand, Zee’s character supposedly has childhood trauma related to rain, but that emotion never really came through in his performance.

The rest of the time, it felt like the actors were just wearing expensive outfits, delivering stiff lines, and doing forced NC scenes, simply because that's what the majority of fans want to see.

Overall, this was a poorly written drama with a massive budget for set design and wardrobe, but very little depth. The actors delivered their lines with maybe 25% of the emotional weight they could have, and the result is a series that looks good on the surface but lacks real substance.

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