"The Crown" Ritz (TV Episode 2023) Poster

(TV Series)

(2023)

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10/10
A Most Human Episode
Hitchcoc29 December 2023
This is the episode about the final days of Princess Margaret, the flamboyant counterpart of Queen Elizabeth. While there were challenges in the relationship, they remained loving sisters. Margaret has pushed the envelope over the years, eating unhealthy food, smoking, drinking to excess, and it finally drives her demise. She has a mild stroke. She ignores the doctors' orders and has a second. Built into this is an evening after the announcement of VE day where she and Elizabeth decide to go into the crowds outside the palace. For the first time in her life the heir to the Crown takes a chance and is embraced by a group of jitterbuggers and other young people. She dances and carries on and is human. The strength of this episode, however, is the loving interaction of these two women. One of the best two or three episodes in the entire series.
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10/10
Duty bound among family
connolel17 December 2023
I found this episode beautifully written and poignant. It portrayed the complex emotions and relationship between sisters and their love for each other.

I can see that one of the purposes of this series has been to show all the sides of the royal family, warts and all. One underlying theme is the royal family's sense of duty. With this duty there are many obstacles to their public and private lives. This episode digs deeper into Queen Elizabeth's personal relationship with her sister and their life together in the family.

At one moment Princess Margaret is looking for and asking Queen Elizabeth to not forget the side of her that allows herself to enjoy the freedom of simply feeling joy and being true to her own self. This lifelong struggle is evident as we see her begin to lose the small number of people with whom she could be herself and draw strength and comfort. Regardless, Queen Elizabeth perseveres and self reflects on changes she must make in herself and the families image and role in Great Britain.
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8/10
Glory days
dierregi23 December 2023
This episode captures the extraordinary feeling of joy that must have exploded in the UK (and Europe) in May 1945, when the end of WWII was announced.

No better time to be young and free and Margaret was eager to take advantage of the situation. According to this fanciful version of the events, even Elizabeth was.

Back to the "present" Margaret is slipping off, her bad behaviour is catching up with her, too much smoking and boozing. However, one cannot help but feel a bit for her, but especially for "Lilibeth" who's reached that time of life when your childhood companions start to disappear.

When life starts slipping by maybe you start to realise that all it's made of is happy memories and maybe some regrets.

So far my favourite episode, as most of those featuring Margaret. Regardless of what sort of person she was in real life in this series she shines in each.
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10/10
Very moving
dawnford-9527019 December 2023
I really enjoyed this episode - I found the " William " episodes quite boring and in fact dozed off!

I know it's fictionalised - but I'd like to think that this is a close depiction of how Queen Elizabeth and princess Margaret's relationship would have been - Princess Margaret was beautifully played by Lesley. Manville- a fantastic actress And Imelda Staunton - I thought played Queen Elizabeth very well There has been a lot of criticism of this series- mainly because it's not historically correct - but if you have half a brain cell you can just watch it and enjoy I love our history and I'm quite knowledgeable about it - I would like to think that most people know what's real and what's done for dramatic license!
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9/10
Beautiful
staceydawes-6910521 January 2024
My favorite episode of this show.

Touching. Funny. Pulls on the heart strings. And reminds you how special a lifelong relationship with your sibling is. Portrays the unconditional love and connection that stands the test of time.

It was so beautifully written and directed. And the acting was great.

I think you always hope that the final stretch of a series puts your favorite characters to bed well. I think when you are dealing with actual people that becomes more challenging. The team behind this episode achieved perfection. Honoring Margret and showing us all the blessings of having a sister.
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9/10
Touching and poignant
MazzyMayhem-117-54451115 February 2024
Some reviewers have called this episode boring because it focuses on Princess Margaret. I think they forgot that the programme is called The Crown, chronicling Queen Elizabeth II's time during her reign. Princess Margaret was extremely important to the Queen. Along with the Queen Mother, they were a strong unit and shared an incredible bond. For someone with such vivacity, it was very sad to see her health decline. This episode was a lovely trip down memory lane, as well as poignant.

It was a sad time for the Queen as she started to lose people dear to her. Her dear friend Porchey, as well as her beloved sister and mother.

Imelda Staunton has played the Queen brilliantly; her facial expressions (that thing with her mouth) are spot on. Lesley Manville's portrayal of Princess Margaret was also fabulous.
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8/10
The Ritz Basement
theRetiree18 December 2023
For a moment i thought I was back in "A Royal Night Out" but upside down with Bel Pawley as the Serious Sister and no surly AWOL airman. And no Chelsea Barracks or Royal Fanboy "Knocking Shop" proprietor. I always suspected that A Royal Night Out was indeed a historical documentary, and now we seem to have a second independent source attesting to the general outlines of the story. If it wasn't really true it clearly should have been, and the two Princesses (or as Bel said: P-1 and P-2) are even wearing the same costumes of pink dress and olive drab uniform. I loved ARNO, and found this little vignette equally lovely and even moving.

But now I wonder: is any of it real?
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6/10
Fiction fodder that says and does almost nothing.
toninenonen6 January 2024
Saw the high reviews of the episode and was quite exited about this episode but I was thoroughly let down. Only reason for this episode is to show you the watcher that old people are indeed getting older and sicker. There really isn't any meaningful character development going on other than margarets health declining. The flashbacks are there only to remind you that you are indeed watching a show produced by netflix in the year 2023 and there must be some virtue signalling going on. Overall I thought the season was an improvement from the previous one, but there are a few episodes that are complete misfires and this most certainly is one of them.
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4/10
In which the future Queen gets a politically correct makeover
210west10 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The notion of the young Princess Elizabeth disguising herself on VE Day, abandoning her chaperone, and sneaking downstairs at the Ritz to dance a joyful jitterbug is cringe-making enough, but as the "Crown" writers envisioned it, she is also shown, most implausibly, striking an unlikely 2023-ish blow for diversity while surrounded by a cheering, implausibly diverse crowd. And of course, this episode turns the incident into a sort of epiphany, a precious moment of liberation.

This ranks with that ridiculous key dramatic scene in "Darkest Hour," when Churchill, totally against character, wanders down into the London tube and, in a p.c. Epiphany similar to that of "The Crown," gets his spine stiffened in the fight against the Nazis by a passenger quoting from Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome." He goes back upstairs, resolved to carry on the good fight.

It is really amazing, the shameless, pernicious nonsense that filmmakers are foisting on us!
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6/10
Boring & unrealistic.
liamadaley16 December 2023
Another boringly slow episode.

It could have filled half the time and we could have had another thread of goings on such as 9/11, Diana's butler being charged with stealing her belongings, Queen's touching amendment to the changing of the guards in memory of the 9/11 tragedy, the Shoe Bomber, Princess Alice's 100th birthday, Northern Ireland assembly problems, the general election, John Prescott's infamous egging and punch and more.

But no. Boring boring. Slow.

And a totally unbelievable basement Ritz scene straight out of only something writers in 2023 could pretend to have happened.

Boring. Slow. Unrealistic.
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4/10
Far From Great
iansyard28 January 2024
Seeing HM Queen Elizabeth portrayed so many times in the past on both sides of the Atlantic for decades is nothing new, for good and bad. But this episode and the notion that young Princess Elizabeth on VE night found herself lured to the club basement by American G. Is to partake in some Jazz and Jitterbugging being flung round by a young black soldier whom she had to take a double look at as they past each other previously is open to serious suggestion. I'm sorry if any of you are in favour of revisionism in these modern times, but all it does is pass itself off as fake and disrespectful. The fact of the matter is, The Ritz in 1945 was not overly populated by black G. I soldiers out for a good time in The Ritz. And there's nothing wrong with that, it's the past and England nearly 80 years ago isn't the England of 2023. The Crown series in my opinion has less than 5 poor episodes in it's 7 years, this one is the worst despite the good main branching story about Princess Margaret.
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