The Servant Prince Episode 6 Brief Review (Spoiler Alert)
Are they running out of materials? It seems like they could have extended the episode… the ending of the episode felt so much like a cliffhanger, even though I feel like its quality is still on par with the previous episodes, post-pilot
The central conflict of this episode is something that has crossed my minds multiple times before. When Naoya was asked to bend his knee and ask for forgiveness so that he could work for his dad again, he was thinking about his half-brother and how maybe he can help him, the person who is “left behind” in the cycle of torture, if he actually says yes to his dad’s requests. This has made me thought about the parallel conundrum that many political asylees and queer refugees have to face. It has become quite normal finding queer individuals in SEA, maybe except in Thailand, who aspire to leave their country behind, and to find a refuge in countries where, at least, being gay is not illegal. The question of whether to stay and help your fellow queer siblings in the same country, or to leave and to be finally free of the shackles of the homophobic chains which have kept you down has really kept me up on so many nights. I’m not trying to pick a side here. It’s just that scene of Naoya deciding what to do next really resonated with me because of its similarity with the immigration question. I was over the moon to see that Naoya picked his new, stable, peaceful life. I really thought that the show would have some shenanigans they’d love to conjure up at such a late stage of the series
When Takaaki becomes honest about what happened with the money of the Naoya’s luxury apartment sale, I was very happy, yet hungry for more explanation. I’m happy to see that Takaaki didn’t complicate more of Naoya’s life by concealing the fact that Naoya actually owned his studio apartment, that Takaaki had bought the studio apartment because he wanted a small secret place where he, only he, knows Naoya will be there, and that he still has plenty of money after the purchase of his current apartment. I’m glad that he apologized in this episode for all the fact that he has been hiding from Naoya. I know that all of these were done so that Takaaki can control Naoya’s life, however, I want to know more about why he chose to just let it all go and be completely transparent with Naoya… Is it really just the speech that Naoya gave to Takaaki, that he is not Naoya’s dad? Is it because Takaaki sees how changed Naoya has become? Maybe a combination of all of that… because I think the character of Takaaki, underneath all of that, turns out to be a very swell guy, he really genuinely cares for Naoya, and not just because he has the monopoly of who the “real” Naoya is.
I’m so happy to see that Naoya has become more and more involved with the relationship, to the extent that he told Takaaki to eat properly too. He even was shocked by the magnitude of help that Takaaki has given to him all these years despite being a CEO of a very sought-after company.
It’s such a cute act of love to see Naoya asked for a recipe for pancakes… It has been such a staple in BLs to see cooking for your partner as a very personal and romantic gesture of affection.
Episode 7 is going to be litttt… What will Takaaki do to the Goto company?!
