Try on ‘The Crown’ for size
Netflix’s period drama returns.
No Winston Churchill? No problem.
The Crown, Netflix’s chronicle of the reign of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, returns Friday ( eeeE) without John Lithgow’s performance as Winston Churchill, which won the series an Emmy. Lithgow’s performance was strong and stunning, but The Crown was never about Churchill. And Season 2 does just fine without him.
The new season follows Elizabeth (the ever-excellent Claire Foy) and the royal family from roughly 1956 through 1964, as Elizabeth settles into her reign and Britain begins its transformation from the Edwardian empire of her father to a more modern society, with different ideas about the role of its sovereign. It is a season defined by tension: between the old and the new, married people, ex-lovers, sisters, countries and between a people and their queen. It is nearly as masterful as Season 1 and might have outpaced it if the series had given more screen time to Foy and avoided some unnecessarily pedantic episodes late in the season.
The season turns its focus away from Elizabeth a bit too often and lacks as deep a portrait of her as it does some of those around her, affording her less sympathy and less self-reflection. But this may be unavoidable, as she’s now an older, more assured queen, one who more resembles the monarch we know, though still often mysterious. The
Crown, although thoroughly detailed and researched, remains a piece of informed speculation rather than history.
Still, it’s a bit of a shame Foy didn’t get to do more in her final season on the series (she will be succeeded by Olivia Colman in later seasons). But when she’s on screen, she is mesmerizing. And the season gives creator/writer Peter Morgan ample time to excoriate Phillip, though actor Matt Smith seems to delight in the extra scenery-chewing and his hostile interpretation of Phillip is riveting and unsettling.
But it is Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret who steals the season in two stunning yet heartbreaking episodes, and her enhanced role helps fill the void left by Lithgow. The chronicle of her courtship and marriage to photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (the impeccably cast Matthew Goode) is the most enthralling narrative of the season.
Despite the fact that The Crown takes a “warts and all” approach to its portrait of the British monarchy, it’s inevitably gilded escapism. The season leans into the melodrama, filling every episode to the brim with plot and snappy dialogue. And it may be even more tantalizing by the announcement of Prince Harry’s engagement to American actress Meghan Markle.
It may be a fairy tale with the cracks showing, but it’s still a fairy tale.