The Crown

Season 5 is a triumph. The writing is the best thing on TV today. Not sure about the negative reviews. I think S5-Ep8 is a masterpiece. How many shows trust the viewer to work with complex issues without making one character good and the other bad? The themes are rich, but there are no easy answers. Brilliant!!!

The series does cover some of the very fractious and delicate things affecting the Monarchy, they have not shied away from some of the rather more serious aspects of this period. They have managed to be almost impartial in how they have portrayed evryone, nobody has come out of the events looking good. One of the disappointing aspects was how the Queen was made to be passive, self deprecating and cluelessly inept. While I would not criticise Emelda Staunton, who has possibly had the most difficult incarnation of Her Majesty, in that she has taken the part which still is well within memory and still talked about. The writers could have done far better in the portrayal of the Queen. This script and writing did leave it appearing sad and lacking on characterisation and content. It could have been far better than it was. The other characters were also largely quite disappointing. They appeared to be flat an not as committed to their screen personas as previous actors. There was little to find them to be believable or convincing. The general areas covered were done generally poorly and felt a little 2 dimensional. The fifth season was so far the most disappointing of them all so far, there was very little emotion in any of the aspects of the behind the doors that in any previous seasons. They only real emotion that was apparent was in the final episode which rather than the disintegration of her family and the illusion of values and the divinity of the Monarchy it was around the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht! Generally this was the least impressive season which has largely left the whole thing looking like a sad portrayal of the Royals. This however may be due to timing following the Platinum jubilee and the death of the late Queen and the pagentry, pomp and spectacle that this displayed. We have recently been given the glory and Majesty of the crown. To be followed by a flat and poor season of the crown. While it was watchable it was not to the standard of previous season.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

My biggest problem with season 5 is the casting. Love Imelda Staunton but her portrayal of the Queen reduced the monarch to a petulant, slightly dim, and clueless woman who was occasionally petty. The new versions of Charles and Philip are not as off-putting but the previous actors were much better. One nice moment was Charles advocating for the line of succession to include female members of the **** Anne's look at him was great! Sorry, but this season is the least of them all..

Season 3 **** ass, no idea wtf they thought was intresting in the season. Also, whoever did the casting should be shot.