Jasper Reveals A Shocking Truth On 'The Royals'

Well, this makes things a little less creepy but just as confusing as ever. In the series premiere of The Royals, it seemed as though Princess Eleanor had a majorly uncomfortable and downright offensive storyline when her bodyguard revealed that he had drugged her, had sex with her and filmed the whole debacle on his phone. He then proceeded to blackmail her throughout the next several episodes and made Eleanor his very own "sex slave." These are her words, not mine! However, over a very short period of time, the storyline has evolved from Jasper being the very clear-cut villain in Princess Eleanor's storyline into the two potentially entering into a rather creepy relationship. Basically as one of my smart colleagues so eloquently put it, Eleanor and Jasper's relationship was quickly becoming simultaneously the most confusing and troubling romance on the series. But then Jasper gave Eleanor and us all a major twist. He didn't actually blackmail or take advantage of Eleanor in any sexual ways. He lied about the whole thing because she had threatened to fire him.

While obviously this revelation does make their weird relationship less offensively creepy, but does it make it more acceptable or even appealing? That's the real question considering Jasper's reasoning behind continuing the sexual blackmail. Apparently he actually has real feelings for Eleanor.

Sunday night's episode "Unmask Her Beauty to the Moon," began with Eleanor being overly sweet and into Jasper, bringing him tea, asking him to dance with her at the royal ball and then later trying to have sex with him in a tunnel under the castle with her dominating him. But Jasper quickly pulls away from Eleanor before they can do the deed, stating that this was not the nature of their relationship and she knew it. Jasper baited Eleanor to reveal what she really felt about their relationship, telling her to go ahead and reveal his blackmail if she really believed that their relationship was nothing more than one person having sex with another out of obligation. Eleanor almost revealed the truth onstage during the royal ball, but couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. Why? According to Jasper, she knew that their relationship had evolved into one with feelings.

He believed that the blackmail aspect of their relationship was completely unnecessary because she liked their dynamic. She wants to be dominated and controlled, she wants to be someone's woman. This confession and obnoxious belief from Jasper is why I still can't get comfortable this relationship even if the creepy factor has been diminished. When Eleanor ran away from Jasper at the end of the episode, I completely understood why she needed to escape. And now if the relationship they've had so far is over, I'm totally and completely on board with this turn of events.

Images: E! Entertainment (screenshot); ego-centrick/Tumblr