Let me get this last post on The Crown out of the way – I like to complete things! It now strikes me as odd that I’ve spent the most time writing about the season I liked the least! Oh, well …. Maybe in preparation for season 5 I’ll rewatch and add more about the other seasons. Anyway – here is the last of my season 3 thoughts.
The Dangling Man – focuses on David and Charles, as David is dying and Charles is looking for someone to validate his desire to be with the woman he loves, a.k.a. Camilla. I don’t have a problem with David once again talking about marrying his great love or even a young Charles looking to justify his joy at finding someone he loves. My problems with this episode are that it seems like they overstated the love story and forgot the scheming nature of David and Wallis, whether engaging with the Nazis or trying to make money. The show perpetuated the story that this was a romantic relationship for the ages, when really he was much more into her than she was into him. My biggest problem with the show’s presentation was that they changed actors for David and Wallis. I know this was part of the show’s gimmick … er … artistic choice to avoid having to age the actors. The problem here is that it didn’t feel to me like the David and Wallis I knew from seasons 1 and 2 – these were strangers. Alex Jennings and Lia Williams did such a great job in seasons 1 and 2 and that continuity would have would have made David’s death more impactful. Surely, they could have slapped on some make-up for one episode.
Imbroglio – focuses on Camilla and Charles and their complicated situation. I’ll admit that I’ve always had some sympathy for Charles in that he truly loved Camilla (probably more than she loved him, so there’s a parallel with David) and was not able to marry her at that time. Not to fear, I also have sympathy for Diana, especially in the early years of her marriage, but they were such a bad match and brought out the worst in each other. This episode shows why a Charles and Camilla match is better for Charles than a Charles and Diana match. This is another episode where the script deviated from reality in having Mountbatten and the Queen Mother intervene – finding ways to include the actors, perhaps?
Cri de Coeur – focuses on Margaret and this episode is excellent. Poor Margaret. On one hand, she is a wealthy and well-known woman who could have found a way to make a more substantial contribution to the world but was just too “entitled”. On the other hand, her family siding with her cheating and cruel husband at her birthday dinner was devastating. Did that really happen? Who knows, but she really was slammed by challenging relationship issues. So glad that she had some happiness with Roddy Llewellyn (and again the show misrepresented the timeline), but sadly that came crashing down. The suicide attempt was just so sad, but great acting by both Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Coleman. A a jubilee that seemed anything but jubilant.
my mother, my cat and me 