The Dragon Prince Rewatch 3.2, "The Crown"

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Heavy is the head that wears it, and all the more so when it is a young head...

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3.2, "The Crown"

Written by Neil Mukhopadbyay
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

It's good to be the king.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran wakes in the king's bed at Katolis. He takes a few moments to ascertain his situation, contemplating its significance as he takes up the crown his father had worn and looks out over his kingdom. He confers with Bait about Callum, Rayla, and Zym, and he muses on his unreadiness.

Callum, Rayla, and Zym proceed through Xadia, Callum marveling at all he sees. Rayla teases him about it good-naturedly and notes that she is bringing them to her home. Callum continues to marvel at the beauty of Xadia as they proceed, however, and Rayla indulges some of his delight.

Well, maybe not so good...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran begins to test the limits of his governance, delighting in some things and despising others. The burden of rule quickly becomes evident to him, reinforced by the news that the monarchs of other human nations have been attacked. When Soren and Claudia are brought before him for judgment, Ezran balks; they confer in captivity, with Soren despairing of their situation. The arrival of another kingdom's representative complicates matters further; the representative, Prince Kasef of Neolandia, requests the martial assistance of Katolis. Ezran is confused by events, having not been advised about them, but he rejects calls for war. Opeli suggests that he name a regent to govern until he is ready to rule in his own right; he refuses the suggestion, orders Claudia and Soren released, and refuses again the call for war.

Discussion

Lean a little bit closer, see / Roses really smell like...

Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

I note with some amusement one of the ways in which Rayla teases the enthusiastic Callum: providing him with a flatulilly. It is a puerile thing, to be sure, but I readily admit to having a sense of humor that has not lost its juvenile thrust. I also note that the kind of joke on which the scene relies, the fart joke, is amply attested even in the "high" literature of the medieval period, including in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, as Valerie Allen explains in On Farting, and something of it comes up in medieval lyric (a popular topic, indeed). Certainly, the fart-joke is not original to the medieval; I recall reading something that the oldest attested joke, dating back some 3900 years from this writing, is, in fact, a fart joke, and I would not be surprised. But the fart-joke is a current one in medieval art and culture; emphasis on it within a medievalist property still serves to reaffirm that property's connection to the medieval from which it borrows.

I note, too, that the episode begins to deal with matters handled by another Netflix series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. My comments about Glimmer's assumption of rule (beginning here) would seem to apply to Ezran, at least in part; I will not rehash them here, but will simply note that I am pleased to see the series grapple with the concerns of something so often idealized. More such could be meaningfully treated, and by many; perhaps if they were, the medieval would not be such a resource for the execrable who seek to employ it.