A Regal Mess

What we get here are eight episodes that are perennially confused what to be, how to be and how much to be

- Shreyas Pande

OW does one even begin writing about The Royals, the new Netflix show that wants to be chic and soapy but doesn't have the style or drama to qualify as one? The streaming platform's recent quest of bringing popular television shows into its scattered umbrella notwithstanding, Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar's crown-meets-corporate rom-com isn't nearly as self-aware, convictive and bite-worthy as classic TV. It has everything going on but nothing that stays on. Watching it is like standing on an endless escalator in a shiny mall of possibilities. There is an array of manufactured 'beauty' on all sides; you hear words like 'Hukum', 'Rajkumar' and 'Maharaj' all along and each floor (ahem, episode) brings more of the same with flimsy design. It's audiovisual fatigue. An escalator to bland land.