So, have we talked enough about the line of succession thing and how, maybe, it doesn´t need to make sense?
It´s just something I´ve been thinking about and I´d seen some posts about it early on, so.
To me it looks like the queen knows and banks on how desperate August is and indeed manipulates August further into his guilt and gratitude for the opportunity to redeem himself (summoning him to the palace like that? What a Move!) So, in that state and in that room he certainly won´t question if this path makes any sense. He probably doesn´t even ~want to question it later on, even if he develops doubts.
So, if this is just another ploy to try to get Wille in line and keep August close and under control at the same time, that means at least for the moment, as a strategic game move, it doesn´t need to be based in actual formal court rules, right?
We as an audience can absolutely question the logic, of course, because our perspective is so much wider than August´s and Wille´s.
Neither Wille nor August at this point in their lives seem even able to question much of anything, since they´re both too busy dodging hits (sorry, Wille) and living through emotional highs and lows while being teenagers.
The queen on the other hand has the advantage of absolute stone-cold strategic thinking and years of experience. (Chess, anyone. Being 6-7 moves ahead, anyone. The fact that she does miscalculate in regards to Wille, well. She might be the queen, but she´s got her blind spots. Emotions being one of them, ironically, but not surprisingly.)
And even if the court introduces August as a more prominent part of the royal family, that could still make sense years down the line, it´s not like they´re publicly announcing anything has changed at all right now. August has been part of official court pictures since S1 ep 1, too.
Like, it might be that the court actually considers keeping both doors open in their attempt at damage control, which is their daily job anyway, and intentionally push both Wille and August to were they want them, maybe even where they keep each other in check for a while.
(I also wouldn´t put it past them that there are at least three other contingency plans in place, cooked up in that war room we see in 2x1.)
In general, I´d take whatever the queen says at any given moment with a grain of royal salt since she is the royal family personified, never just mom to Wille or much family at all to August. I feel like we´ve long moved past just believing whatever she says and especially what she says to her heir(s?) that she needs to keep the institution going.
And why would we want to believe her anyway? Is it because she seems rational and unemotional, so we naturally want to treat her like an authority on the truth?
In S 1 she asks her son if love is worth it and tells him it´s not the most important thing in life, putting strategy (of dealing with the video fallout) and emotion in opposition, and we´re with Wille, right? We cheer when he gives a speech on how her ways are not the way forward. Love wins. Stone-cold strategy and secret-keeping to uphold tradition is not the truth for him anymore.)
Like, if this was a daily soap I wouldn´t be poking holes into this plot line at all, but this is a well-thought out, many-layered show that likes to turn the screws this way and that so we have to turn our heads a little at times and suddenly find meaning behind meaning.
I think it´s a plausible thought that we´re not meant to take at face value everything she´s telling August and Wille. That we can say wait a minute, I know her now, I´ve seen the damage. That we, by now, recognize the wider context of her ways that those two teens can´t (yet) and we can just. Refuse.
I just think we shouldn´t accept her words just like that, unqualified, and rather keep in mind that there´s moves she makes and untold truths that she likes to keep in the dark to keep things moving the way she/the court want. I mean, come on, Wille doesn´t want us to just accept things.
Do it for Wille. Question the queen.
