The Crown - season 6

[1975wasthebest]

Is anyone else looking forward to this? The first part of the final season is on Netflix from 16th November (four episodes), and the second part (six episodes) from 14th December.

https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/the-crown-season-6

I thought the previous series was a bit boring so I'm hoping for more drama this time round.

Genius! It was the Cardigans.

I found the music very nostalgic as I’m a similar age to Prince William. Loved Stardust.

I’ve watched all but the last episode and it feels a bit bitty. I loved the focus on william, Kate and their time at St Andrews. I think because it hasn’t been covered in documentaries.
I found all the bits on Margaret and queen mum a bit dull. They got a lot of airtime considering other people like Andrew aren’t mentioned.

I enjoyed the Blair episode, where he gets booed by the WI - smug git!
And the Margaret episode - excellent casting of young Elizabeth and Margaret - I could really see them as younger Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby.
In this second half I really think Imelda Staunton and Lesley Manville have done a fab job - I can see them now as aged versions of CF snd VK. I think I was thrown by Olivia Coleman and Helena Bonham-Carter, who were just such a divergence from the original cast.

Poor Carole Middleton - she is not portrayed at all well. It must be really cringesome for the real Kate/William/Carole, watching at home!

I agree the episode with young Elizabeth & Margaret they really nailed it with the actors. They really did look like younger versions of Claire Foy & Vanessa Kirby. I found that episode quite touching although it dragged in parts.

They did! To the point that initially I thought it was Claire Foy with prosthetics/tactical lighting and it was a shame they hadn’t managed to get Vanessa Kirby back for this episode too 🤦‍♀️ From certain angles she really did look like CF, especially in the eyes.

I watched two episodes last night.
The best part was Tony Blair being heckled by the WI ladies in ever such a polite but determined fashion.

For those suffering from withdrawal symptoms now the crown has drawn to a close, I can recommend:

A Royal Night out (2015)
William and Kate (2011)

Both excellent films, and pads the story a bit more.

I've just watched the first episode, 'Willsmania' and thought the same. It was well acted and production values high as always, but I struggled to make it to the end. I found the father and son dialogue really stilted. No 15 year old talks like that, and it didn't help that the actor playing William was clearly much older.

I've rewatched episodes from the first two series many times, but I can't see myself doing that with any of the later series.

I'm only a couple of new episodes in but I'm having trouble with the casting of the young princes, who seem to be knocking 30 and lousy actors. Jars especially when the ones playing some of the other figures are so well cast and the actors have really made an effort with the accents and mannerisms.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/15/every-episode-of-the-crown-ranked

I mostly agree with this, not many of the episodes from the later series are ranked that highly apart from the odd exception. Makes me want to rewatch some of the earlier ones!

Much too old, I agree.

That’s Tilda Swinton’s 26 year old daughter in the third episode playing Prince William’s first girlfriend.

I found the "Kate and William" storyline cringy. The actors playing the two Princes are unconvincing.
In contrast, the Queen, PF, and even Charles' part are at the other level. I wish there were more of them in the last six episodes.

I'm going to catch up with the final episodes later. Looking forward to the Tony Blair heckling!

The inter-generational trauma theme in ‘Willsmania’ I thought was quite poignant, despite some dodgy dialogue.

The second episode about Blair supporting NATO invading Kosovo, and the Queen and the W.I was the only episode in the whole thing I found boring. I actually checked after that Peter Morgan wrote it (he actually co-wrote it). Some other episodes have dragged, but that’s the only one where my mind meandered every five minutes to other things.

I was cringing for Eve Best in that scene where she had to deliver to Kate that clunky dialogue about her background (well, the background of Carole Middleton).

Yes I recognised her from the Souvenir!

I don't think Morgan likes women very much. He pays much more attention to the storylines and inner lives of the male characters, even though a woman is at the centre of it all. He's only interested in women when they are young , beautiful and tragic, like Diana. He sees most of the female characters through a very male lens, and it's only the outstanding acting from some of the actresses which makes them watchable.

So pretty much every episode in the new set is boring and lacklustre.

But Ritz redeems it all.

Oh how I sobbed - Lesley Manville is brilliant. And she portrayed a woman suffering from strokes very well. You really feel the pain of her ageing prematurely.

The last scene - I’m not ashamed to say I ugly cried

But the other episodes can get fecked. It’s like a Harry and Meghan sycophant wrote them. Poor Carole Middleton! There’s no evidence at all that she orchestrated K&W’s romance. It lets play devil’s advocate for a second…if she DID orchestrate it then she’d in no doubt be in competition with the many mums of aristocrats and Sloane rangers who are far more seasoned to this game and probably have more suitable daughters to be future Queen. And still William somehow has the agency to choose for himself. And what a woman he chose! But the depiction of CM is horrific.

I absolutely hated that Harry seemingly aged 13 was boozing? And the feminist rant from Kate Middleton on the library was ludicrous - as was the fictional argument over Wills.

Well there are kids as young as 11 boozing in my local park so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think Harry was doing it at 13. He would have plenty of money and boarding schools are well know for being places where drugs are rife…

I like that they addressed William not discouraging Harry to wear the Nazi outfit to the party. And how Harry may have felt disregarded - those episodes definitely had current event in mind.
The Kate and William bits were cringy though.

Sorry What I mean is that it was odd/lazy casting.

The Harry in the funeral episode was a different actor from the (terrible, sorry) actor of the last few episodes. So the first ‘new’ episode takes place a week or two after the funeral (the boys return to school, Diana died last day in August). We have a New Harry. The New Harry is the same actor 8 years later - so in other words this actor (who looks about 23) gets cast to play a 12yo AND a 20yo 🤣 so when 12/13yo Harry hands his brother a whiskey like it’s normal, it felt like they’d accidentally skipped a few years.

Same goes for the William actor. A 15yo with wrinkles? I don’t know why they just couldn’t cast some cracking young people! It just felt odd and misplaced.

Another grievance - no chemistry between W&K at all. And whilst he’s fawning all over her, she has no redeemable qualities and then being a bit posh. Very in-Crown like. When Charles and Camilla actors first came on they were fantastic and had wonderful, believable chemistry. Even Charles and Diana in their marriage early years had a spark. But not a bit between these 2.

ALSO (I’m on a roll 😂) the fashion show silliness. William himself said when he saw her in that is when he saw he was first attracted to her and they’d only been friends before then. Yet it made it look like he was a bit of a stalker in the lead up. And the whole “Oh William I did it to see if you did fancy me” was laughable.

I don’t mind any of this though because Ritz is a masterpiece.

Also New Harry reminds me too much of Sherman from American Pie. They could have at least tried to get someone who looked like young Harry - who for all his New Harry blathering about being ginger/unattractive was indeed a VERY attractive young man and has retained his good looks far longer than his brother has

Same goes for the William actor. A 15yo with wrinkles? I don’t know why they just couldn’t cast some cracking young people! It just felt odd and misplaced.

They are reluctant to cast minors because of legal restrictions on working hours and so on. That's why teenagers are usually played by actors who are clearly older. Derry Girls is a very good example. They were all supposed to be schoolgirls but looked like, and were, adults.

I agree that the William actor looks way too old to play a 15 year old, but I guess in later episodes he'll be about the right age.

I’m just finished the last episode and the Ritz episode was my favourite, and so moving.
I feel like Netflix has changed to show Charles, Camilla and William in a much more favourable manner. Harry is shown to be sulky, jealous and feeling very hard done by. I can’t help but think that if this was made before Harry & Meghan’s disastrous Netflix programme, that it would have been the opposite.