We have to talk about Valter.
Or rather, we have to talk about what Valter stands for.
Because Valter (together with Henry) gives us one of the most beautiful and most poetic subtextual stories on this show. It’s a story about yearning, longing and ultimately about unrealized and utterly hopeless love.
I’m a sucker for stories that are beautiful, sad and hopeless, for love that remains forever unattainable, so the whole subtextual information that we can glean just by putting Valter and Henry under the microscope hits a sweet spot for me – even though I know that what we are being (subtextually) relayed here is precisely not the show’s message and isn’t something we should be rooting for as viewers. But melancholy poeticism just gets me every time. (What is wrong with me? I’m clearly watching the wrong show; ‘Young Royals’ is obviously geared towards a happy ending, not towards whatever melancholia I seem to subconsciously crave.)
But, in any case, we will see how absurdly educated and culturally literate the people writing this show are: In the post below, we will listen to some hauntingly beautiful music, time-travel to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance together, look at some old paintings and read lots and lots of poetry.
We will also have to talk about this shot of Henry and Valter and its meaning:
And about a couple of other interesting shots, like this one from episode three of season two, for example:
And about the question of why the ‘competition’ metaphor is both the funniest metaphor on the first layer of the subtext, but also the most horrifying and disturbing one on a second layer of the subtext. And what it has got to do with Henry and Valter. And why Henry isn’t on the rowing team during that rowing competition.
And about the question of why Henry is writing a sonnet for Valentine’s. Why Fredrika assumes the poem in her love letter came from Valter…nay, Henry…nay, that guy from Sprucewood. About why Henry keeps interrupting everyone. Why Henry and Valter blame each other for gossiping. Why Henry is the ultimate cockblocker. Why Wilhelm passes the ball to Valter during their indoor hockey game and why Simon hugs Henry.
And most importantly…why Henry and Valter’s character establishing moment is so peculiar.
In short, this will be a post filled with the beauty of sadness, with yearning and unfulfilled love…and their important storytelling function in the subtext of the show. And I hope it will provide you with some new insights, dear reader, into what is going on with these two subtle and unobtrusive characters and why they actually exist in this story in the first place.