Season Review: 'The Crown' Returns and Proves it's the Best Show on Netflix
Fiercely acted with compelling writing, the fourth season about the British Monarch is rich with plenty of drama as well as tragedy.
During these uneasy times, it is nice to be able to watch something reliable and familiar. But just because something is comfortable to watch, doesn’t mean it could be elevated in memory over time and become something miraculous. Thus is the case with the Netflix series ‘The Crown’, which follows the long, deeply eventful life of Queen Elizabeth II, played this season by Oscar winner Olivia Colman. Over the last three seasons, we have seen Queen Elizabeth grow into the sovereign she was born to be. At the same time, we have seen the royal drama mature into one of the best dramas on television. And with this fourth stellar fourth season, one could make the argument that ‘The Crown’ is the best show Netflix has ever created.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
We pick up the series at the beginning of the 1980s, with Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor) still struggling to face the facts of being with another girl that isn’t Camilla Parker Bowles (Emerald Fennell). Therefore, he has made it no secret about spending his time with various girls in order to see if he can find another Camilla, but he can’t. Till one day, when he is visiting a girl’s house and meets her younger sister and becomes curious by her look. That young lady is none other than the future mother of his children, Diana Spencer (Emma Corrin).
While love is in the air, back in London, times are changing and a new Prime Minister is being sworn in. Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson), has become the first female Prime Minister in the country’s history. Bestowed with the nickname ‘The Iron Lady,” Thatcher comes into her position of power determined to make changes for the country only she sees fit, clashing with anyone who stands in her way. With this, we are given the two primary focuses of season 4, with two new characters who change the monarch and England forever.
Don’t get it twisted, the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, and the rest of the family are present throughout the entire season. In fact, one of the best episodes in the series history happens this season and involves Margaret’s discovery of the family’s dark past with close relatives who have been handicapped and how the Royals threw them away. It’s deeply tragic to think about how we are rooting for these characters, falling in love with them along with this story, and yet behind closed doors, they are sinister in many ways. To lock away one’s family because they are different is a heartless act, and makes one question the soul of this family.
Don’t get it twisted, the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, and the rest of the family are present throughout the entire season. In fact, one of the best episodes in the series history happens this season and involves Margaret’s discovery of the family’s dark past with close relatives who have been handicapped and how the Royals threw them away. It’s deeply tragic to think about how we are rooting for these characters, falling in love with them along with this story, and yet behind closed doors, they are sinister in many ways. To lock away one’s family because they are different is a heartless act, and makes one question the soul of this family.
But in a lot of ways, this episode is foreshadowing the cold heart they treat Diana and Thatcher throughout the season. For Diana, she is brought in as a young, innocent girl that most of the family likes, some even love. Love might have been something she and Charlies could’ve had, but it’s absent throughout what we see. Instead, we are shown a woman put into a loveless fairytale with no one to care for her. Moments of loneliness, leading to bodily harm by the beloved princess, and questions of her mental state. This is brought on entirely by a husband who doesn’t love her and a family who shuns her at any sign of affection. It’s within this we understand the layered performance by Corrin as Diana, not just because she looks just like her, but because she exuberates the pain this woman went through so effortlessly, you feel pain for the character and the actress portraying her.
As for Thatcher, Anderson finds sympathy in someone who doesn’t deserve much to begin with. Margaret Thatcher is one of the most divisive politicians of the 20th century, yet with Anderson’s performance, there is more than meets the eye. She shows how hard it is to keep everything bottled inside, the struggles of making real change in a world not ready for it, and the constant fighting one has to do to get their way. It’s an exhausting process to see because we know she is wrong for starting misguided wars, taxing the British people to the point of economic recession, her handling of the IRA, and more. But even with all of these blunders, Anderson brings real emotionality to the role, thus her work in the finale is truly justified and you do feel for her character. Much like in season one with John Lithgow’s Winston Churchill, Anderson is able to give the best performance by any actor to play Thatcher on the big or small screen.
Illustrated before you are two women whose goal by the end of the season is the same, needing and wanting the approval of the Queen. In fact, that is what every character wants in the show, some are just better at hiding it than most. But as stoic as she may seem, she is still a human being as well and does show she cares for her family, even if she does it in a rather standoff way. There is an episode where Elizabeth examines the relationships she has with her children, trying to figure out if she has a favorite. By the end, we are left with her realization of not a favorite, but the equal distance between who her family is and what they actually want. She is a leader first and that is more important than being a good mother.
Case in point, with the marriage of Charles and Diana, Elizabeth is set on keeping this family together, even though the couple’s union is a disaster on the brink of a separation. But this effort is like putting a bandage on a gaping wound and shows how out of touch and cold she can be to matters closest to home. Make no mistake, she is knowledgeable when it comes to the country, and her sparring matches with Thatcher prove to be the best in the show’s history when it comes to her fiery relationship with the Prime Minister. But when it comes to her family, we have seen a pattern of everyone around her needing to play their part, no matter what the consequences may be. They have to fit her style, bend her knee, otherwise, they are useless.
With this decree, showrunner and head writer Peter Morgan shows and tells the audience, that even if the season focuses on other characters, their actions and motives are at the will of Queen Elizabeth. Their heartbreak and sorrow are built off the backbone of the Queen’s plans, and she is the one in control when it is all said and done. Morgan, who has written about this family for almost two decades now, really understands how to give us their history while also showing the tragedy behind every smile on camera. Ultimately, ‘The Crown’ is about people continuing to make the same mistakes over and over again and their pride getting in the way of change. Even in a show about the Royal family and their snobbish behavior, they are just as conflicted and messy as any other family in the world. By relating to them on a basic level, Morgan and his cast and crew have created the best Netflix original show in the company’s history, leading to supreme confidence that a new cast for the final two seasons will continue the spectacular job at hand set within the last four years.