The Royals – Foul Deeds Will Rise

By: Luke Joseph

Lights, camera and action! That’s what it felt like to viewers as they were given a behind the scenes look on the theatrics between Cyrus and Liam (Jake Maskall and William Moseley). It turns out “Heir to the Spare” never parted and they just really put on a good act. Before the moments leading up to Robert exiling Cyrus we see that Cyrus and Liam rehearsed exactly what they were going to say. Thanks to Cyrus he knew the exact moment Robert would pass by the door, making each man ready to take the stage. “You’ve been right all along,” Kathryn (Christina Wolfe) tells Liam. “I want to help you prove it,” she says. And she does the night of the engagement party when she meets Robert (Max Brown) and reveals to him she still harbors feelings for him. However, this is far from true and her wink to Liam as she takes her leave proves it. The final act is the night of Robert’s stag party when Liam proves his loyalty to Robert by beating Cyrus to a bloody pulp. Not only does he get the seat beside his brother, but later also gets asked by Robert to be his best man. Ha! That’s ironic Robert is asking his brother to be his best man as he is the same man who is trying to dethrone his own brother.

Leaks and Lies

Queen Helena (Elizabeth Hurley) finds herself in a tense and tricky situation. Her secret affair with Sebastian is still occurring, only it’s not so secret when Eleanor (Alexandra Park) bursts into confront her mom believing that she was the one to leak her Robin Hooding to the press. Shockingly, she finds Sebastian (Toby Sandeman) in her mother’s bedroom. Rightfully so, Eleanor is betrayed by her mother’s actions and when Helena tries to console her daughter she is given the cold shoulder. It seems though it wasn’t Helena to leak it to the press and thanks to a “test” she gave she connects the dots back to her boy-toy Sebastian who opened his big mouth and told Robert. Remember Sebastian was brought to meet Eleanor by Robert’s doing so it’s no surprise he’d turn out to be a snake. Thankfully, Helena dismisses him with an off you go and go he does.

“You started a movement Princess people all over the city are helping the less fortunate, leaving gifts and doing good deeds and it’s all because of you,” Jasper (Tom Austen) says to a defeated Eleanor. It turns out that the people are embracing Eleanor as the Robin Hood and even though her ‘hooding’ is over they are stepping up and continuing with delivering goodness. Jasper then explains to Eleanor that this isn’t the ending only the beginning.

Deal Them Out 

As disappointed as viewers are with Helena they can’t help but cheer when she joins Liam and Cyrus’s side to help takedown Robert. It’s a shock to Liam, but what’s even more shocking is how long Helena has been suspicious of her eldest son. It seems she’s been eyeing him ever since Liam came to her about him not being a good man. Now, having a woman’s touch and the queen of deceit, she reveals the next stage of the plan.

Cards are dealt and bets are placed as Helena continues to wipe the floor and pride of the men at the poker table. Eventually, there’s only one last man standing and it turns out to be Martin Kane (Raymond Coulthard) – the one who helped King Robert cause the blackout. Once Helena gets Martin alone, she drops the flirtatious act and gets straight down to business revealing that she knows he’s the one behind the blackout. “Well, Mr. Kane, you run a publicly traded utility. Many of your shareholders live in the district you betrayed.” Not buying her bluff, Martin reminds Helena that if her were to be exposed that would mean Robert would be as well. “The only one protecting you is the current King. You better hope he stays current,” Helena advises. Just as he’s about to run off and tell Robert, Helena once again proves she’s better at playing this game when she slips off her dress and reveals she’s been wearing a wire the whole time.

Speaking of Mr. Kane, when Robert reads what Willow (Genevieve Gaunt) has said about the man he requests that she be less political. Basically, he doesn’t want Willow to have an opinion and maybe that’s why he kept the dismantling of parliament a secret.  Thankfully, Eleanor lets it slip and it’s enough for Willow to confront Robert. Again, Robert isn’t having it telling Willow bluntly that the decisions he makes as King he does not need to discuss with her. “I’m going to be king and you’re going to be my queen,” he states in a matter of fact tone but she’s not backing down “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

Proposals and Revelations

“I’ve made a huge mistake with you,” Robert admits to Willow later that evening and then requests that she return the ring “now I’m going to fix it” he states. However, it’s not what Willow thinks when she suddenly witnesses Robert kneel before her. Yup, he’s re-proposing and this time he’s doing it the correct way. “Forgive me and I will never take you for granted,” he states and that alone is enough for Willow to be smitten again and tell Robert that neither of them will kneel as they’ll stand together as equals. They each apologize to each other for arguing, embrace and then Robert says words that to every Jasper and Eleanor fan sound very, very familiar, “You’re the gift I wished for all my life.”

Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt everyone. But even though he knows this is going to devastate Eleanor, Jasperwe see  finally is telling her what everyone else has been waiting for her to see. “He’s not a good guy” and the crushed expression on Eleanor’s face is enough for Jasper to see she’s still not accepting it. Needing to know she’s not crazy she texts Willow and requests they so that they can talk. She asks Willow for reassurance that Robert is a good man. Willow is happy to assure Eleanor that he is and even tells her that he re-proposed drawing Eleanor to ask her what exactly he said. “He told me that I was the gift he wished for all his life” Willow recites everything word for word and is shocked when Eleanor joins in. Eleanor’s crestfallen expression enough to explain what she’s now realizing; her brother had stolen the letter she had written to Jasper on Christmas. The letter she had put her very heart and soul into. With tears welling in her eyes she tells Willow that she can’t marry him. However, will Willow heed Eleanor’s warning? We’ll find out because this Sunday were attending a royal wedding!