The Next Prince: Uncut Episode 4

The Next Princess

Ep 4 - Oh dear, Khanin said those fatal words, ‘I don’t trust anyone but you’. There’s gonna be some more Khanin tears with that one line, I can feel it in my waters.Jimmy is excellent in his portrayal of Ramil as is his push/pull relationship with Ohm’s character Paytai.Background music and scene changes are still clunky unfortunately, I’ve seen this happen with a few other Thai productions and wonder if they are using the same sound editing team, a bit unfortunate given the budget but nothing they can’t fix post-production down the track.Funny/cute/weird moment: Getting Daou was a real bonus, his ‘I Trust You’ with its key change is magically perfect. I’m hoping for some more pop or rock songs next as it is the 4th ballady type song now

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⚠️ Warning: Fans might not like this.

⚠️ Warning: Fans might not like this.*Episode 4: Part One*OK, side note, and I can't stress this enough. There is not a universe where you can promote this series as not a musical and not make it look incredibly cheap starting an episode like this. You can either promote it as a musical—or a heavily music-influenced movie/series, where you search specifically for those reasons a singer as MML—or you don't do this at all.They clearly chose a singer for an MML role (not to mention it was written and inspired for/by ZeeNuNew) yet haven’t promoted it as such. Nonetheless, by this opening scene they invited comparisons with another series—Rainbow Prince from the Philippines—which was horrendously executed and resolved, and probably would have been much better scrapping all the... Bollywood drama music (not to offend Bollywood, but not everything looks good made... Bollywood style).I haven’t even finished watching Rainbow Prince and I strongly suspect I might abandon this one too, for similar reasons. Set in a royal setting, which hasn’t even been properly established, this series stumbles with issues in design, basic colour schemes, and CGI inspired—probably (read without any doubts)—by Star Wars (and Harry Potter, but that is another story entirely).Using modern music and a modern actor who is better known as a singer (than as a BL-actor) to open the episode like this is a big mistake unless you make singing/music a priority for the entire series. But they don’t. I know royalty may learn music, and let’s not question on what level that music is—however. In short, it is not off topic completely, but you have to know how to do it tastefully.This... was a huge mistake. There's no mention of this being a musical in the series description. It's labelled action-romance-drama. It’s never going to work with the "bodyguard" genre unless you're skilled enough to blend it seamlessly—which this does not do.Please do not experiment like this in expensive productions. Most high-budget projects in the past two years failed when they tried to add gimmicks that audiences did not care about. These "innovations" dragged otherwise average series below the average line. This passage is, frankly, a no for me, and drags down the episode significantly.Sadly, not only did the additionally glued MV of one MML before the opening scene of Ep 4 drag this down (for this appendix I suggest you cut it out and post it on YouTube as a MV, where it does belong), but the whole music department of the first minutes did. As much as the MV (yes, let’s call it this), the very next scene starts by forcing a romantic vibe that doesn’t fit. This is not a moment of two lovers closing the door, this is not something that a newly added member of a prestigious royal family would share in public. Maybe behind closed doors—but not here. The choice of music was incredibly off from a wider realistic perspective.Trying to bring some novelty is one thing, but please, experiment with cheaper projects before trying these ideas in high-cost productions. Fans can be impressed however much they want, but no one in that royal court would be impressed by those lyrics, which instantly makes this a vulgar choice on the side of characters or poor taste and bad choice from the creator’s side.Normally I would skip a scene like this, but I stayed, in vain hoping it might reveal something meaningful. Spoiler: it didn't. The singer is good, the music itself isn't terrible, but it does not belong here (I am in circles here, why would someone do something like this to their expensive series?).Even worse, the two main leads had no significant interaction in this scene. It's completely useless unless you're purely promoting a song. Don’t do that through the series though.So far, considering all opening scenes in previous episodes, 2/4 stand out as problematic—this one included. You’ve got a serious problem with openings. Work on that.I thought we were out of it and – nope. It gets worse.Even the way the crown is treated in the first 3–4 minutes into the episode... is... just... WOW. I believe you managed in only these first seconds of episode 4 to make your universe insignificant and unimportant and overall, a laughingstock. That’s a treat, really. A talent? Not everyone can make it as fast as you did.Did a screwed abdication happen in here or something? Did we not notice something important... like a crowning happening? I mean even in dramas, not only real life, you would treat a crown better than this. Just search for basic info before you do anything stupid, please. You are treating a piece of royal symbol as an old piece of clothing. There should be some sense of dignity and ritualism in what you portrayed as tidying up the mess standing in my way situation. We definitely missed the crowning, but ok, let’s say it is just a coronet. Even then – really? Seriously? Servant? In a public place? Like this? And you make it worse to make a take on it, zooming in on the mess you did with this? No. No. And no. And the way the scene continues you can’t even use the family card here.What are you doing here?PAAAAIIINNN!Do your check-facts in the first minutes of your series, please. Like your thesis – you should check it out before you hand it out, you know?The choice of the second scene was far more interesting. It showed how Nunew, the actor, can speak multiple languages—but the music genre still didn’t fit in here. It is so genre-conditioned, the second song. Can you really imagine this being an official royal event and there would be this music? And then the lyrics: “Under the stars / Just us two”? Aka romantic music playing for purposes of an official royal event... where all of these strangers, who never danced together... and everyone is after the heirs of the crown... they play this type of music... in such settings, huh...? What does not fit here? Really? No self-reflection of what you are doing? Instrumental music would work here so much better because you don’t have to deal with embarrassing lyrics.But this romantic music— all the royal projects since 2000 till now tried to experiment with inserting modern music into projects dealing with courts – I hate it, it shows poor taste, in vain trying to romanticize all these... but why? You can hide it and cover it – we already know what type of genre you are doing, we already know what genre we are watching, however it shouldn’t be in our noses. It shouldn’t scream romance at all really. If you want the romance to work, show the least. And be innovative, just don’t spoil it with poorly chosen... music, please.If this was inserted after the actors had built some character relevance, then maybe. I couldn't really complain about what type of music plays in their heads, if you decide to show us, but like this? It’s offensive to the viewers.You're seriously saying the royal court invited a singer to perform a romantic song... on the stairs... during a formal event? Just because two guys are meant to end up together later?You either already pushed them together, or plan to—and you're laying the foundation in a setting that's utterly improbable.Pushing romance that hasn’t even started yet feels disingenuous, and frankly, offensive.Audiences may cheer at first, but once they realize they were fed nonsense, they’ll turn on you.Now, some praise:+ choreography+ some examples of better-used CGI (anything that does not substitute TV or does not wreak havoc in quality of crests designs really)+ using technology to hint at a growing bond between Kanin and Charan through shared digital space? It’s a bit cheap, but forgivable. Still, if you want to show a “cold, distant” character warming up, you skipped several crucial steps here. Let’s put it under positives for now though.+ portrayed jealousy + “plot twist” + stealing of a dancing partner (damn the consequences) done well- Just a side (megative) note: So many writers and movie creators and series creators tend to do the comic relief at all costs or try to do an embarrassing situation out of something where you could actually stop there and not continue in this vein. Because if you actually stopped at the right place, you didn't have to make your work smaller by abusing and overusing this trope. There had to be no damsel in distress situation here just because you have one young nice guy as MML. There didn’t have to be the “Zee’s character is going to save the day and protect the weaker/prince/future king” situation. There was zero necessity for you to do the tripping stuff. If you still decide to have it in there, it should have a purpose (beside the one or two obvious ones). If it looked like it looked like before the tripping, then you can comfortably let it land smoothly. Stop dancing, split ways and then the storm of other people making them accountable for what they did on the dancefloor, ranting about how inappropriate it was could still happen. It would be enough. It would still be a perfect gossip material, photographers did notice, did take pictures even before, there was a zero purpose for letting the MML fall.PLEASE, SOMEONE: do serious situations. They do exist. I SWEAR, I PROMISE.*Episode 4: Part Two* Coming Soonaprox ?/10current avr: 5/10

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The Next Prince - must watch series

With Episode 4, the series elevates its storytelling through refined visual language and sophisticated character development. The use of natural locations, misty mountain and multiple locations adds emotional resonance to each scene. Costume choices subtly reflect the characters’ internal journeys, and NuNew’s delivery of a new original song, paired with his effortless multilingual performance, showcases not only his vocal ability but also his cultural versatility. Zee and NuNew deliver deeply rooted performances, enhanced by a production that pays close attention to visual symbolism, particularly in costuming and environment. ZeePruk and NuNew are serving performance, style, AND vocals. Multitalented icons.

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