User Reviews

"The System" is a much stronger episode than the first, which mainly aims to show how flawed, outdated & fragile the monarchy really is, in reality & the modern world; maintained to propagate a lie & perpetuate a certain false narrative (for the betterment of the UK's global image) that's closer to a fantasy, when someone dares to deviate from that written aforementioned narrative, the situation increasingly looks to grow untenable & tensions flare as a consequence.

Director Jessica Hobbs therefore plays upon that instability - brimming beneath the surface - by imbuing a growing sense of foreboding through the installment, analysing the circumstances both sides found themselves in & how they came to be about with a surprising maturity & deference, portraying the conflicting perspectives with enough sympathy to detail their opposing views - without skewing the depictions by forcing her own opinion on the audience.

Thus, I'd say it's a very well disciplined take on the story we've all grown up watching (leaving it to the viewer to decided for themselves) & I must commend the creators for being extremely careful, so as not to sensationalise with gratuitous embellishments etc. Whilst additionally not shying from the more controversial subject matter, likely to antagonise royalists. There are questions to be asked - but it doesn't provide answers.

Diana is the focus here as she hooks up with a friend who is the intermediary to a tabloid author of a tell-all book. She goes about doing the poor me thing, on and on. At the same time, she reveals her own shallowness when asked about her confidantes (astrologist?). Prince Phillip is going about his business of helping the mother of an unfortunate child cancer victim. He gets wind of Diana's unhappiness and takes her to task. She is told there is no family, only a system, and she is messing with the system by going public. She realizes along the way that her royal phone is being tapped. During all this, Britain is in big financial trouble, and the Queen is seen as a human money pit.

I'm only two eps into S5 and admittedly haven't had enough time to fully absorb the newest round of casting, but, with regard to the great Imelda Staunton as the older QEII:

Am I he only one who keeps seeing Marion Ross whenever we get a face shot of her (QEII)?

I half expect Sir Arthur Fonzarelli to pop into scene and say, "Ayyyy! Mrs. W!! Your Majesty!"

I'm a big fan of Staunton, but the resemblance to Ross is a bit jarring and takes me out of the moment.

(I also hope that they stop making her appear so befuddled. She was anything but right up to the end and I hope we see her in mental command again soon.)

This episode focuses on the Duke of Edinburgh, just dipping it's fingers into the mere suggestion of a relationship between the Duke and Penny Knatchbull. Were they lovers or did they just have an appreciation and connection to carriage driving?

Then there is the well documented attempt by the Duke to talk Diana around, so see what it means to belong to the RF and all that entails. I kept thinking that conversation should have happened before Charles and Diana got married!

The rest of the episode tells the story of Andrew Morton's involvement in Diana's story. I recently saw Morton in an interview recalling how accurate this depiction is, which really made me sit up and pay attention! Again Diana comes across as whiny and vengeful. Was she really like that?

The Royal Family is as relevant today as Mrs. Beeton's book on household management. What the Royals did not understand in the last century, and during Diana's tenure at the palace, and what they fail to understand today, is that they don't matter in a modern world, that they are useless and unnecessary appendages. If they were no more, the United Kingdom would not cease to exist. But everyone needs a fantasy. And traditions are traditions. The Royals live and die by them. That's the first rule of their club. And so it was for Diana, an unhappy woman who wanted a family and a warm embrace. She got a corporation and a handshake instead. In this episode of "Keeping Up Appearances," Prince Philip tells her all about loyalty to "the system," as he calls his beloved family. This is a man who must have understood what it felt like to be unloved, yet who seems to have more horse sense than common sense. He found outlets for his depression over the years married to the boss (driving a horse-drawn carriage is his latest outlet). Perhaps it's his sense of entitlement that makes him think he can handle Diana like the reins of a horse. Sadly, he and everyone in the system cannot comprehend what Diana could, that people matter more than rituals and loyalties, more than appearances. One ongoing ritual in this series finds the royal family always checking to see how they're doing in the morning paper. That's how the Queen managed her life, her entire life. There is something depressing about that. Yes, it's not easy being Queen. Diana quickly knew that job would never be hers; that is, not without shaking up the system.

It is obvious why people are complaining about the historicity of this fifth series. That is, whether it is true or not. Or whether any of it is true. The look-alikes are very similar to the real thing. The script for the events is standard. The sets - are to die for. The 17 cent. Interiors although re-used, the main dining hall, at most after 1450, as an entrance hall. The paintings that decorate the sets- a Gainsborough conversation piece, a John Singer Sargent, A portrait of Elizabeth I full of political symbolism. There are two burglaries to set the scene for the obvious well known conspiracy of MI5 and the Duke of Edinburgh to finish her off. You have been warned.

As an episode of the Crown it was okay, but by far not the best - slow in places and full of exposition.

What makes me quite angry is Jonathan Pryce. We see so many actors that have studied their subject and embodied it. Across the board, you can see the effort they have put in. Princess Diana is quite remarkable, albeit channeling the BBC interview a little too much in every scence. The queen isn't quite right, but the voice and cadence is spot on. They have studied.

Jonathan Pryce snaps me out of the universe they are creating. He plays... Jonathan Pryce. He hasn't put the slightest effort into being Price Philip.

And I can almost imagine him saying "I'm not an impressionist, I'm actor. I act."

And he acts as he normally does.

I feel it's massively disrespetful to the fellow actors who have put in an effort.

It's not the best start in a new season of THE CROWN. It feels very dull and boring. Each episode feels way to long and the scenes drag on way too long. The suspense is lacking throughout the scenes. The new actors still try to get their footing and only Dominic West and Jonathan Pryce have found their part. I am not sure where this show lost its purpose but it feels there is not enough to tell and their loge and subsequently the show becomes more boring by the minute. I really hope they pick up their pace foe the rest of the season otherwise I might have to say goodbye to a show I really did like for some time!

In this episode, the focus is mainly on Philip and Diana, and how he tried to convince her that she could find happiness in a more discreet way, instead of insisting in washing the dirty laundry in public, which did not seem such a bad advice.

What was Diana's point? She had an unhappy childhood (like the vast majority of us) and she expected the royal family somehow to "cure" her, as in a mental health institution, taking care of her psychological needs and shortcomings. However, one thing made clear by the series - and background info into the Windsor - is that they were not warm types and that even Charles suffered because of the coldness of his own parents.

After some years in the firm, as pointed out by Philip, Diana should have understood that the path to happiness lie elsewhere. Yet, even if she tried to find comfort and warmth in the arms of a string of - mostly married - lovers, she kept playing the part of the victim... because it must have been so terrible to live in a palace with plenty of staff, enjoy all the luxuries of life, an extraordinary popularity, and lots of other privileges such as good health and good looks.

But what's that compared to a "rightful" revenge, for not having been loved in a "suitable way"? I definitely subscribe to Christopher Hitchens point of view about Diana, i.e. That she was petty, vengeful, narcissistic and entitled.

PS and yes, I know about her "charity" work, because she made sure that everywhere she went, shaking hands of HIV patients and cuddling orphan children she was followed by a throng of photographers...