The Olivia Colman lead cast returned for one last time on Crown with their fourth season and it as good as its grandeur. Let's get into the review...
The much-awaited season four of this Royal drama returned this weekend on Netflix and it is a perfect binge material as the previous ones proved to be. And it is slowly taking us into the present crop of Royals.
The season opened the door for the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, and a charming young Princess Diana while showing an exit for Lord Mountbatten in the very first episode. It also marked the entry of the grown Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
The Queen takes the backseat throughout the season as it was mainly concentrated on a troubled relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Their relationship was perfectly covered through each of their ups and downs. Emma Corrin brought her A-game while playing Princess Di. As this relationship took center stage it was the main plot of several episodes. They had mapped it perfectly and played it to their strengths in each episode. While the first episode introduced the new character, Princess Diana it is shown that Prince Charles is still very much in contact with Camilla. Their story is built on a very tactical Balmoral test where we are shown that Diana has passed with flying colors. But it was during the third episode titled "Fairy Tale" it is fully explained. From that point, we were very well guided into the minds of these two Royals.
It reiterates that Prince Charles needs reassurance and encouragement for him to proceed successfully. While he was still in love with Camilla he was kinda forced(not technically) to marry Di. While seeing through Princess Diana's point, though she was once obsessed with the prince she could not be satisfied by Prince Charles who shows no interest in her. We could feel her loneliness, her despair, and her anger towards the Royals. They don't show any compassion for her, which in turn makes her life more miserable. She is shown as a very caring mother and also the only one who tries to make her marriage work. Like the episode "Fairy Tale", the episode "Terra Nullius" focuses entirely on the couple. The trip to Australia is a very important one for every Royal couple. But that too didn't work well for this couple.
You marriage, all our marriages, are a reflection on the integrity of the Crown.
The next addition is that of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher. The new PM was very well played by Gillian Anderson. Her acting was an inch higher than the others in every scene she was in. The Crown especially has excelled in casting their Prime Ministers, kudos to the casting department. They also captured MT's life as a PM perfectly from the start to finish.
So unlike the previous seasons, we didn't quite able to see the Queen in full flow. As she takes backstage for most of the episodes we only got to see her playing a supporting role to the other characters. Olivia Colman is brilliant as ever, and the most notable episode for her is the episode which is titled "Favourites".
The other two important characters like Prince Philip and Princess Margaret were given a very very small role to play. At least Margaret had an episode that revolved around her completely. She also did give an inspirational speech to MT. In the case of Prince Philip, he didn't have anything substantial to perform until the very last episode of the season. And this is not enough for these wonderful characters. Though this is not a problem it still is a wish from fans like me.
If memory serves, you had your own ballerinas for that.
Unlike the previous seasons, this season perfected their sequential storytelling. Though it remains episodic, the episodes were properly written to be one good cohesive story. I know that they are always excellent in storytelling but this time they perfected the overall season story too.
The main problem is that they have vilified many of the main characters like Prince Charles to a great extent. This might be a problem when they want us to root for him/her again. More importantly, the Queen too is been portrayed as a little unlikable in this season. This is definitely not a good idea but we have to wait till the next season to see.
This season didn't have many issues to solve outside of the palace walls. This was a little problem because they have a really good record in those kinds of episodes. Episodes like Aberfan in season 3 and Dear Mrs. Kennedy in season 2 are the perfect examples.
The production design was top-notch as ever, no complaints about it. Their direction was good too. The way we got to see Princess Anne's qualification for the Olympics was really captured well.
Season Rating: A-
Little Things:
The protesting IRA was not heard after the initial episode
The relative of Princess Diana who helps her in Royal training irritated me a bit. The reason for which I seriously don't know
I really wish that we got to see more of Olivia Colman as the Queen
The Joker like the story of Fagan was good
The Queen has the emergency word as London Bridge
Cameo by Claire Foy was surprising
There are no significant mentions of the United States this season unlike the others
Feel free to comment your thoughts and ratings in the comments section below. Catch the fourth season if you haven't already on Netflix. Do follow and support the page for more relatable content. See you soon with the ranking of each season...
Everyone in this system is a lost, lonely, irrelevant outsider, apart from the one person, the only person, that matters. She is the oxygen we all breathe. The essence of all our duty. Your problem, if I may say is you seem to be confused about who that person is.
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