“The Crown” show is so nicely mounted and majestically acted, that there is every chance that the passive viewers might easily accept it. As a historical fact in this vernacular era of fake news and the absurd University of social media, yet there is unfortunately no antidote to the laziness in thought.
Following the tradition of casting change every year in the two seasons , Imelda Staunton takes over from the actress Olivia Colman as the Queen, Jonathan Pryce from Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip and Lesley Manville from Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. Claudia Harrison replaces Erin Doherty as Princess Anne, Dominic West takes over Prince Charles duties from Josh O’Connor, meanwhile Elizabeth Debicki replaces Emma Corrin as Lady Diana.
In the first episode, Queen Victoria Syndrome, draws a obvious parallel between the monarchy and the Royal Yacht Britannia. The overall cost to refit the standard , launched by the Queen in 1953, would be 17 million pounds of the tax payers money which brings the question of monarchy’s relevance in the modern world into sharp focus. Prince Charles is shown reading a Sunday Times Poll that declares the Queen as costly and old and asks the Prime Minister to convince the queen to abdicate. The former Prime minister, incidentally has a dismissed scene as “a barrel- load of malicious nonsense.”
With Charles and Diana’s marriage in all sorts of trouble, the couple naturally agree to go on a second honeymoon, which is not much successful. Apart from the tabloid writer Andrew Morton’s book on Diana, the BBC Panorama interview by Martin Bashir and Camillagate, season five also tracks the rise of an Egyptian street vendor who becomes the owner of Harrods, Mohammad Al-Fayed.
Al-Fayed, is an anglophile who recruits Prince Edward’s butler Johnson to teach him how to be a gentleman. Johnson’s required reading list includes, books by authors like P.G. Woodhouse, whom we know created that legendary gentleman’s gentleman.
The season ends with the queen bidding farewell to the Britannia, Prince Charles meeting the new Prime Minister Tony Blair, during the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997 and Diana getting ready to go on a vacation with her sons to saint Toprez on the invitation of Al-Fayed. The stage is all set for Diana’s fateful meeting with Al-Fayed’s playboy , cocaine snorting Hollywood producer’s son, Dodi(Khalid Abdalla) and that high speed chase in Paris which ends with the death of the Princess on August 31,1997.
The crown is an adaptation of Peter Morgan 2006 film, ‘The Queen’ and the 2013 play ‘The audience’ which looks at the palace and the Queen’s reaction to Diana’s passing. Perfectly cast ‘The crown’ is powered by amazing acting. Whether it is the rocking ‘Revenge dress, or being just a girl asking for ‘slightly workaholic heart surgeon’ to love her , she is luminescent, fragile and funny.
The queen rightly tells her grandson, ‘Prince William’ that even the televisions are metaphors in its place. Own the whole ‘the crown’ is splendidly addictive and a loveable series worth watching.
The Crown (Season 5)
Episodes: 10
Run time: 47 to 61 minutes
Creator: Peter Morgan
Cast: Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Manville, Marcia Warren, Timothy Dalton, Alex Jennings, Lia Williams, Claudia Harrison, Dominic West, Elizabeth Debicki, Olivia Williams, Jonny Lee Miller, Natascha McElhone, Salim Daw, Khalid Abdalla, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Humayun Saeed
Storyline: Between 1991 and 1997, the monarchy is in crisis and the War of the Walses culminates in divorce
Watch Trailer Here:
