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skamenglishsubs · 1 year

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Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 2, Episode 1

Season 2 picks up after the Christmas break, it is now early January 2021, and Wilhelm is asleep, dreaming of Simon...

Cinematography: The show does a slow transition from Wilhelm's sex dream by changing the colours from the soft golden light of his dream, to the harsh early January daylight, and by letting the sound of a vacuum cleaner pierce the signature [dreamy electronic music] of his dream.

Subtext: We're seeing Wilhelm move like a ghost through the palace, ignoring everyone, even his mother. He's still angry with her, and they haven't really talked all break.

Blink and you miss it: It's hard to make out, but Erik's silver cigarette case is also inscribed with Sällskapet - The Society, the ultra-douche nobility club.

Cinematography: Just like last season was bookended by a fourth wall break, here comes the opening montage and a very angry Wilhelm staring into the camera.

Subtext: The August montage tells us a bunch of things. He's been spending Christmas break alone at school since he doesn't really have a family to spend it with, and his eating disorder/body dysmorphia sure isn't getting better.

Culture: Simon is playing the song Aldrig Igen by Cherrie, which is about leaving someone who has hurt you. The repeating refrain goes: "Never gonna happen again. I don't want to feel like that."

Culture: Minimum age for getting your driver's license in Sweden is 18. It's getting more and more rare for people to get their driver's license as soon as possible, because it's simply not a necessity for most. When I went to high school last century (in the 90's), about half the class got theirs at that time. These days less than a third get theirs that early.

Subtext: Although Felice didn't really have a plot of her own this season, I'm glad to see that she learned something last season and keeps ignoring her annoying, prattling, mom. That her friend Sara got into the Manor House is much more important than whatever horsey-horse blah her mom is whining about.

Subtext: Madison hands Sara a crystal, of course she's into that. But I'm not crunchy enough to figure out what the hell she means by "among other things". Help. Anyone? What is that even? Amethyst?

Subtext: "Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have burned sage for centuries as part of a spiritual ritual to cleanse a person or space, and to promote healing and wisdom." Thank you Google for that explanation. And of course it's something Madison would do.

Lost in translation: The English translation of their chanting didn't quite capture everything. A literal translation would be "Fine girls, deep pockets, worship our fine pussies!" But fina flickor is an expression that means well-mannered upper-class girls, djupa fickor is a Swedish idiom that means being rich, and these two fragments both rhymes with and alliterates with fina fittor, except the latter is extremely vulgar, which creates an interesting juxtaposition of contrasting tone. Btw, my high school Swedish teacher was the best teacher I've ever had, and I know he would be so fucking proud of me right now if he could see me writing this! Tack, Magnus.

Subtext: And here comes the first mention of this season's main theme; traditions, upholding them, breaking them, examining them... Interestingly enough it's Felice who suggests breaking it, while all the other girls insist that Sara has to continue the tradition. And boy, does she ever. At least the fire department didn't show up...

Subtext: The real reason August didn't join Vincent or Nils on their expensive Christmas vacation to the Seychelles is of course that he can't afford it. But his dismissive joke also just point to his own eating disorder problems. August, get help.

Subtext: When Simon insta-stalks Marcus we get to see a bit of his personality. Apparently, Marcus likes camping, fishing, hiking, horses, and his Volvo. The 850 is a classic 90's station wagon, and although it's pretty unusual for 18-year-olds to own a car in Sweden, something like that checks out and it's probably his car.

Subtext: Vincent is such an ass, and I love every second of it. He has zero respect for the younger students, he doesn't give a shit that Wilhelm is royal.

Subtext: Wilhelm is being an assertive bitch to August here and insists on him addressing him in third person, as if they weren't familiar...

Blink and you miss it: ...which makes Nils and Vincent laugh, and Vincent makes a mocking salute to Wilhelm.

Subtext: But in the end, August is the prefect, so they do as he says and allow the first-years to join the party, even though they have no idea why August is letting Wilhelm get away with it.

Cinematography: This season also does a lot of mirroring where scenes in this season look like scenes in the first season. This particular one mirrors the one where Simon appears at the initiation party for Wilhelm and catches his eye, except it's a lot more sad this time.

Subtext: Oh look, The Theme™ pops up again, and Simon is of course not a fan of keeping the shitty traditions that forced Sara to do something stupid, so that he had to rush to school to check up on her.

Subtext: Wilhelm is an awkward idiot around Simon. He really has no idea how to reconnect with him.

Cinematography: Again, we're mirroring the initiation party in s1 where Simon excuses himself, but this time Wilhelm doesn't chase after him.

Subtext: I'm sorry what now? Nils is not straight? That came out of fucking nowhere, but ok, let's roll with it! Also, whoever subtitled this is obviously familiar with Tinder, but not with Grindr. Nils says that he saw Marcus on Grindr, not that they matched, because that's not how Grindr works.

Subtext: The main theme of the entire show is about social class, if you haven't figured this out by now. Nils is firmly in team upper-class, and tells Wilhelm how he's supposed to handle dating: Only date or hook up with people from your own class, or with people who know how to keep everything discreet, private, and down-low.

Subtext: Wilhelm looks around in confusion, because he expected Simon to be singing in the choir. Where the hell is Simon?

Subtext: Meanwhile, Simon is late and on the bus with his friends on Team Rebound, who are giving him advice that's gonna turn out to be pretty crap.

Culture: Padel is so middle class, Vincent is right! Padel surged in popularity in Sweden in 2021 for some weird reason, and tons of padel courts popped up all over the country. However, the hype completely crashed in 2022, so most of those places are now facing bankruptcy and people actually talk about padeldöden - padel death, so the sport is kind of a joke right now.

Subtext: Wilhelm puts on the most fake smile ever and says hi to Alexander who is back at school. They were all correct when they said that Alexander really wouldn't get punished for getting caught with the drugs, his parents simply bribed the school to hush it down, but their treatment of Alexander will backfire spectacularly on Wilhelm later in the season.

Subtext: The show is doing a bit of exposition here, but it's also reminding us of who knows what about the sex tape, and why Wilhelm hasn't told Simon that he knows who did it. One more thing that will backfire spectacularly.

Subtext: And in a quick throwaway comment we learn that the late prince Erik had a thing with a porn model, and that the royal court successfully swept that whole thing under the carpet, as they do.

Subtext: The rest of the girls thoughtlessly let Sara pick up the tab for their coffee, which is nothing to them, but for Sara it's half her savings. She's treating them without protest, but doesn't buy anything for herself because she simply can't afford it.

Subtext: Don't sit next to him, don't talk to him, pretend he doesn't exist! Simon is really trying to follow the advice of his friends.

Cinematography: Oh look, a mirroring of the scary movie scene where they touch hands in season 1. Except this time Simon jerks his hand away.

Subtext: The Theme! This time it's Wilhelm who's on team fuck the traditions, although he's doing it just to undermine August.

Lost in translation: Vincent actually uses the word kladdiga - sticky, smudgy - about their hands, which in Swedish implies they're all toddlers who should sit down and shut up while the adults are talking.

Subtext: No, Wilhelm really didn't stick up for anyone last season, he threw Alexander under the bus, and he threw Simon under the bus, so we're just heaping on the guilt now.

Subtext: And we're doing some more exposition to remind everyone about who knows what about the sex tape. Here Sara finds out that August knows that Wilhelm knows it was him, and he's blaming her for telling him, even though she hasn't told anyone. Not even Simon, speaking about things that will backfire spectacularly.

Subtext: Sara's plotline is gaining steam, much like she did after touching August, if you know what I mean, eh, eh, eh? She knows he's a piece of shit, she knows he's a bad person that she can't trust, but she also thinks he's hot as fuck and this obviously causes quite a lot of conflicting emotions in her.

Subtext: No, Wilhelm truly doesn't realize this. He's been trying to get close to Simon in order to get him back, but he still hasn't got a damn clue as to why Simon is keeping his distance.

Subtext: Note that Simon going after Marcus is 100% reactive. He asked him for a ride because he needed to for Sara's sake. And now he's agreeing to karaoke night because Wilhelm just hurt him again, and because his friends have been encouraging him to go for a rebound boyfriend.

Culture: Carola Häggkvist is a very well known Swedish artist and songwriter who had her breakthrough at 17 in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Marcus is choosing. She only came in third that time, but won the ESC in 1991 with the song Fångad av en Stormvind. Despite being wacko Christian for a while and married to Norwegian preacher Runar Søgaard, who lost his weapons license after shooting a deer from his bedroom window, she has now mended her ways and is somewhat of a gay icon in Sweden, performing at Stockholm Pride in 2013.

Culture: Främling is about meeting a stranger, falling in love, and taking a chance on this newfound love. Marcus might look like a doofus, but his song choice is pretty clever, although obvious.

Subtext: Can we just appreciate Vincent's dramatics for a second? A first-year not moving their ass off a couch he wants to sit in is apparently causing his entire world to come crashing down. The audacity! Chaos! The system is there for a reason! It provides stability! What's next? Everyone is just gonna sit around playing the bongos? Someone needs to enforce the proper order of things, because August apparently refuses to do so!

Subtext: Some nice foreshadowing here where Alexander checkmates Wilhelm.

Culture: The Swedish Royal Court is an organisation with hundreds of employees who assist the royal family in all their official duties. Here we're seeing the Queen having a late night meeting with some court officials. Although the show doesn't say, it's likely that Minou who was introduced in season 1 is the head of the press and information department, and that the new character Jan-Olof is the Marshal of the Court, which would put him in charge of planning and preparing all official events that the royal family attends.

Subtext: From the perspective of the Queen and the court, Wilhelm's outburst comes out of nowhere. He's been refusing to talk to his mother for weeks, and now he suddenly calls them up, rants about Simon being on a date with another boy, and screams that he doesn't want to become king in the future. In addition, he threatens to talk to the press himself, which makes Minou somewhat concerned to put it lightly.

#young royals #young royals subtext #young royals analysis #young royals season 2

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whatsnewalycat · 2 years

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Just Dumb Enough to Try

Chapter 3: Bored in the USA

Pairing: Javier Peña x F!Reader

Rating: Explicit (18+ only)

Warnings: This chapter has a lot of angst, pregnancy mention, swearing, smoking, alcohol use, cannabis use, family of origin problems

Summary: In 1993, you met Javier Peña in San Antonio. You made an emotional and physical connection with him. Now it's 1998 and you're starting a new chapter of life in Laredo with your fiancé. And who else walks back into the picture, but the man who left you high and dry five years ago.

Notes: We don't see a lot of Javi this chapter, mostly in passing, but reader/you is/are working through your feelings on what happened in the first two chapters. I'm using the gif above because look at that smiiiile- so beautiful! Music is a big inspiration in writing this, so I'm making a Spotify playlist for each chapter. Playlist for this chapter. I really wanted to make something where Javi can be soft, vulnerable, goofy, etc. Because CUTE. I've written a few chapters ahead and cross-posted on AO3 here.

Ch 1 : Ch 2

Heights Elementary School, Laredo, TX

May 15, 1998

I don’t want to do this. This is a mistake.

You ignore the voice inside your head, as well as that feeling in your gut, and slide the resignation letter into Superintendent Johnston’s mail slot. Now it’s done. The two weeks notice is out of your hands.

Fuck.

You turn and leave the office, giving a plastic smile and wave to the elderly secretary sitting at her desk, “Bye, Carol! Have a good weekend.”

She waves in response without looking at you.

Echos of your loafers hitting the tile floor ricochet down the empty school hallway. You turn to exit the building near the staff parking lot. As soon as you open the door to get outside, the Texas heat slaps you in the face.

It’s like walking into a heat lamp.

You’re thankful you opted for the sundress to work today, otherwise you would’ve been sweating all day. The lot is empty, save for your black 1994 Volvo 850 Wagon and Carol’s car. You spent an hour writing up your resignation letter, then another hour having a moral dilemma about whether or not to actually turn it in. When you get in your car, it’s so fucking hot you want to puke. Once you start the engine, you roll the driver and passenger side windows down to let some of the heat out while the A/C kicks into gear. You pluck a cigarette out of the pack in your cup holder. After lighting the cigarette, you take a deep drag, groaning through the exhale when you remember that Dan is taking you to the Pour House right when you get home.

Maybe I can just stay in this car forever instead.

You shake the temptation out of your brain and shift the car into drive.

—

The car keys land on the black console table with a jingle within seconds of you walking in the front door. You kick off your shoes, make your way over to a central air conditioning vent, and close your eyes. The icy cold air blows onto your face and you feel a hint of comfort for the first time today. Dan spots you when he comes into the living room.

“Are you ready to go?” He inquires.

You shake your head and sigh, “Give me five minutes, I need to change.”

You reluctantly open your eyes, then walk past him down the hallway into your bedroom. It’s a square room, two large windows opposite the entry door, walls painted a deep emerald green, floor covered in a cream colored carpet. The sheets, pillow cases, and comforter on your king size sleigh bed are white. Your bed frame is a dark walnut; you have side table drawers, a chest of drawers and vanity table with the same finish. There’s a lush vine plant hanging in front of one of the windows that has crept its way around the wall. You drag yourself over to the walk-in closet.

Once inside, you yank your sundress off over your head and slide a shorter, more breathable black dress on in its place. You review your choice in the mirror. It is quite short, like you may not want to bend over at the waist unless you want to moon everyone, but it shows off your thick thighs, which you adore. After exiting the closet, you take two steps over to plop down in the vanity seat. Despite the fact that you did, in fact, cry for at least one cumulative hour today, your eyes are surprisingly not bloodshot or puffy.

A goddamn miracle.

You quickly refresh your makeup, applying concealer, blush, mascara, and a dark pink lipstick. When you re-emerge in the living room, Dan’s tall frame is leaning up against the front door. He is crossing his arms, one hand wrapped around his car keys, tapping his nike tennis shoe to the linoleum impatiently. He glances up through his blonde curtain bangs when he hears your bare feet padding down the wood flooring in the hallway. His ocean blue eyes wander up and down your frame and he smiles warmly at you, but the words that come out don’t match the warmth, “Are you sure you want to wear that? It’s really short.”

You nod and respond curtly, “Yeah well I’ve been sweating my ass off all day and you’re already getting impatient with how long I’m taking.”

He shrugs, pushes himself off the door, and then opens it for you to walk out first.

Ever the gentleman.

During the two minute drive to the bar, you tell him you turned in your resignation letter.

“Good. Are you excited?” He asks, eyes not leaving the road.

“I don’t know,” you answer honestly, “It’s nice that you’re making enough money now that I don’t have to work, but I really love my job.”

He grimaces, “We’ve been over this before. It’s pointless to work at that job when you don’t have to. It makes more sense to have you at home taking care of the house and wedding planning, remember?”

You have had this conversation with him dozens of times. It was pointless having it again. You sigh, “You’re right.”

He pulls into a spot in front of the Pour House and puts the car in park.

—

“- my momma has been a homemaker since she was 25, never regretted it once.” Dan takes a swig out of his beer bottle and continues, “Besides, after we get married, we’re having kids straight away. Wedding planning, making babies, taking care of babies- she’ll be able to keep busy!” He explains to his friend, Greg. Greg nods his head and looks from Dan to you. You shrug and give a half-assed smile.

Your inner rebel girl dies a little and you take a sip of your beer in memory of her. You love Dan, and you know this is the right move for your future together. It just stings a little right now because you always saw yourself being an elementary school teacher. It’s the one of the few things in your life that has felt earned and meaningful.

But, you rationalize with yourself, I will have my own kids someday. It will be fine. This feeling will pass, just like Dan said, I’ll be able to keep busy.

“Hey, man, it was good talking with you. I actually have to go over to Chucho’s house. Javi is back in town, so Chucho is throwing a welcome back party for him,” Greg tells Dan. He throws a $20 bill on the bar.

Javi

Your pulse quickens as you recall the Javier you met back in 1993. There’s no way in hell it’s the same person, but his handsome face flashes in your mind’s eye anyway.

“No shit? Hey, tell Javi welcome back for me, will ya? We’ll see y’all at church on Sunday,” Dan bids farewell.

Greg tips his cowboy hat to you and Dan in departure and you wave goodbye to him.

Javi

Your skin tingles in all the places Javier touched you. You almost let out a small moan when you think about how hard you came with him. Hands down, best sex you ever had.

Dan turns to you and plants a kiss on your cheek, finally acknowledging your presence after talking to Greg directly for an hour. You smile weakly at him. The day has been emotionally exhausting and you just want to go home.

“You ready to split?” he asks, then finishes his beer and gets his wallet out to settle the tab.

Thank fucking god.

“I’m ready when you are.”

—

That night while in bed, you toss and turn thinking about Javier. Wouldn’t that be wild if it was your Javi that Greg was talking about? There’s absolutely no way, but what if?

You love Dan, and the sex is fine, but the doesn’t hold a candle to that night with Javier. In the safety of your bed in the dark, Dan snoring beside you, you allow yourself to access the thoughts that make your chest feel hollow.

He occupies your mind more often than you would ever admit. You think about the two of you sprawled out on that ratty couch, post-orgasm glow radiating off of you, when Michelle caught you two and freaked the fuck out. She chased him out of the apartment with no shirt on at 2am and screamed at you until you cried and locked yourself in your bedroom. She stopped speaking to you from that moment forward. Javier evaporated into thin air, never to be seen again. And, ultimately, you had a mental breakdown due to the incident in its entirety. It’s a very sensitive time that you’ve detailed to your best friend Claudia, and your therapist, but nobody else.

It’s sort of bittersweet, because if that night hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have met Dan. You started going to therapy, and your therapist recommended you join a sport to make friends. You’re the least sporty person in the world but you tried anyway, just trying to find any sort of community. You found an adult softball league that met every Wednesday, and hated almost every single second of it. But on your team was this tall, handsome, sporty dude who was actually kind of charming, and into you (Dan, obviously).

You hit it off (sports pun) right away. He has lived in Laredo his whole life, except when he was going to college in Dallas. His family, the Bakers, are one of the most prominent families in the town. Dan is an engineer, just like his father, and helps run the family business, a lucrative computer hardware company. He’s outgoing, active, and successful. You moved in with him when you graduated, then got a teaching job at Heights Elementary.

It all fell into place like it was meant to be. You were seeking community, you found something else: a family.

Sure, you have a family in the sense that you have a mom, dad, stepmom, brothers, extended family… but you are essentially estranged from all of them. You talk to your grandma the most, and she’s hanging onto life by a thread. Claudia is the closest thing you have to a family. You’ve known each other for almost your whole life, spend holidays visiting each other, you’re her son's godmother, so on and so forth. Effectively family, but it’s not the same.

Dan is incredibly family-orientated. You love that about him. Every Sunday, his whole family attends church and then goes out to lunch together. They celebrate every birthday, go on an annual vacation together, and all live in Laredo. You feel blessed to be accepted by the Bakers.

That being said, you know that you and Dan aren’t the most compatible people. But you know you can build a beautiful and comfortable life together regardless. You know he won’t leave you, he will be a provider, and he will give you children. You suppose those are the reasons he wants to marry you. It might not be the dream you had for yourself, but it’s also not the worst place you could have ended up in life.

Your mind briefly floats back to Javier and wonders what would have happened if he had knocked you up. You think about it from time-to-time, a fucked up part of you wishing it would have happened. Maybe you would have had motivation to seek him out then. You wonder if he ever thinks about you, but you doubt it. If he had given a single fuck about you, he wouldn’t have completely ghosted you.

And that’s probably what fucks with your head the most. Almost five years later, you were still laying in bed next to your fiancé, thinking about Javier… and he probably doesn’t even remember you.

—

The next day, you take a morning walk to check the mail and get a few groceries. As you do on your morning walks, you smoked a joint while you walked through the park on your way. Since Laredo is such a small town, you can pretty much walk anywhere within city limits. The “downtown” area is only a few city blocks, so it’s pretty easy to run basic errands on foot.

You’re mostly in your own head daydreaming when you approach the post office. There’s a man exiting, looking down at the mail in his hands. Being the nice broad you are, you hold the door open for him. Being high as fuck, you don’t make eye contact with this person. He mumbles a thank you as he walks past. While you’re fishing your PO Box keys out of your pocket, you’re trying to place what that man smelled like. It’s musky, a certain type of cologne, cigarettes… like a word on the tip of your tongue, it’s bothering you.

After confirming there’s no new mail in your PO Box, you walk down the block to the grocery store. Almost immediately when you enter the grocery store, you forget what you’re there to get. And did you write a list? Of course not. So you grab a basket and start walking up and down the aisles, grabbing whatever sounds good.

It crosses your mind that Dan is thinking you will make a wonderful homemaker and the thought makes you laugh out loud. You’re a 32-year-old woman, stoned as hell in a grocery store, no idea what you’re doing. Not to mention your organization style can be mostly described as chaos. Sometimes you think he doesn’t even know who you are.

You throw a bag of salt and vinegar chips in your basket and review its contents. Hot dogs, buns, chips… that’s good enough, right? You shrug to yourself and head for the checkout line. It’s a small grocery store so there are a total of three checkout lines; usually only one is open. You set your basket on the checkout conveyor belt, then throw a butterfinger in there as a treat for the walk home.

The person in line behind you starts unloading their basket as you hand the cashier money to pay for your groceries.

There’s that fucking smell again. It smells so good.

You figure it’s the guy from the post office, so you look up at him just for a split second to see if that will help you figure out the mystery. You’re sure it’s just a cologne someone you know wears. You only see the back of him, but he’s a moderately tan-skinned man (maybe Hispanic?) with short chestnut brown hair, a brown leather jacket, tight jeans, and work boots. It doesn’t ring any bells. The cashier hands you your change and you go on your way.

You stop in the park on your way back home, just to hang out. It’s cooler than it was yesterday, thankfully. You find a picnic table and sit down on it while unwrapping your butterfinger. You think about what you’re going to do with the rest of your day. Probably try to lay in your hammock and read. Maybe go get a drink with Kim later. You’re enjoying your candy bar when it hits you like a slap in the face.

That smell was Javier.

You stop chewing as a full on panic spreads across your chest. You reason with yourself, it’s probably a man that wears the same cologne he did.

But it looked like him from behind.

There are so many guys that look similar to Javi from behind around here. You (mostly) convince yourself that you’re panicking for no reason.

—

The next morning, you’re sitting in the church lobby, zoning out like you do every Sunday morning here. There’s so much noise echoing off the walls from post-church service chatter, you are unable to concentrate on any one particular thing anyone is saying. The Bakers know this isn’t really your favorite “scene” so to speak, so they don’t give you too much shit when you inevitably exit the building to go smoke cigarettes outside while Cheryl finishes up chit-chatting with the other churchgoers.

You put on your sunglasses as you meander over to the smoking area. These people are chit-chatting, too, naturally, but it’s not as noisy. You light up a smoke and take a drag, then take a look around at the people scattered around. There’s a clique of 5-6 people standing in a circle, smoking and talking loudly. You walked a little closer just so you could eavesdrop.

“- So are you staying with Chucho now that you’re home?” a middle-aged white man wearing a blue suit with a receding hairline asks.

“Yeah I’m helping him with work around the ranch,” comes the reply. You take a drag off your cigarette, flick your glance to the speaker, and your stomach drops like a rock. He’s wearing a tan suit, light blue striped tie, and sunglasses. Hair a little longer than the last time you saw him almost five years ago. Dashingly handsome, looking absolutely miserable with the cigarette-break-turned-press-conference.

Javi. Of fucking course it’s him.

Chapter 4

#javier peña x you #javier peña x reader #javier peña x ofc #javier pena fanfiction #javier peña #pedro pascal #daddy pedro #narcos fanfiction #pedrostories #pedro pascal characters #your smile is beautiful you look like linda evangelista you're a model #jdett

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