The Royals recap: 'The Spirit That I Have Seen' 

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'The Royals' recap: 'What, Has This Thing Appear'd Again Tonight?'

'The Royals' recap: 'Is This Not Something More Than Fantasy'

As the title suggests, this week’s episode touched on the subject of spirits, and not the “ghosts of Christmas” type, either. Instead, the spirit in question was King Simon, who kept appearing to his depressed little brother in a series of weird, subversive visions meant to counter Cyrus’ manic desperation.

The first time Simon appeared was during a scene when Cyrus was getting dressed. Rude! No matter: Cyrus gets over seeing the ghost by giving his new boo Violet some new clothes to go with her new promotion as his “Lady of the Privy Chamber.” I guess the idea of sleeping with a mere maid doesn’t do it for him anymore? 

Elsewhere in the palace, Mandy (who we learned last week is known as Samantha to her old flame Jasper) and Eleanor are looking blissful in that serene, morning after kind of way. However, this is the 21st century and any morning-after routine now includes cell phones, which is why they’re both busily texting in bed. Mandy is fielding texts from Jasper but lies to Eleanor when asked about who she’s typing missives to. “Ex-boyfriend,” lies Mandy. “Jealous of the new girlfriend.” 

It’s clear that she doesn’t intend on playing by Jasper’s rules, and that becomes even more obvious when, moments later, the two meet in the palace’s underground tunnels. Despite Jasper’s annoying missives (said in American accent), it’s obvious Mandy’s gonna do Mandy, especially when she later goes to brunch with Eleanor and weasels out the truth about Jasper. “We kind of had a thing,” Eleanor tells her. “It was messed up; he was messed up. And like all great romances, he slept with my mum.” Mandy responds by giving her a bit fat smooch, which ends up being captured by the paps and published on the front page of the tabloids.

Helena is outraged over seeing her daughter dipping into the lady pond, but the Duchess isn’t. “Darling don’t tell me you haven’t tasted the rainbow once or twice in your life?” she asks Helena. Well, I guess we know where she stands!

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Meanwhile, Cyrus is seeing more visions of King Simon and this time decides to give him a piece of his mind. “You could have looked out for me, stepped aside from time to time. Let me see some of the sun,” Cyrus tells his dead brother’s ghost. “You could have helped me, but you never did.” But dead Simon has a response. “Instead of demanding respect, you manipulate, you lie, you threaten. You could never step out of my shadow because you don’t deserve the sun. You’re not a king, and you never will be, brother.”

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