The Crown - Could it have been ANY more sympathetic to Charles??? (includes detail about S6)

[neeep]

Watching the last bit of The Crown, they are making Charles a figure of pity (poor parenting by Philip), and not being allowed to marry the love of his life.

And now he's 'being sensible about the household staff"

Poor poor Charles

(obviously I have like most, no idea what he is like as a human)

What I’ve liked about the programme is that it’s been fairly sympathetic to pretty much everyone in turn (except Carol Middleton who I think has been made to look absolutely ridiculous and I feel quite sorry for).

I haven't got thst far, but I watched the one where he and Diana ate the scrambled egg last night and I thought the same.

I think the whole situation was a massive fuck up. The wedding was kind of forced on both of them. I was thinking about it and actually it had been many many years since an heir to the throne had needed to marry, so there was no recent experience really, apart from Edward having to abdicate. They were terrified of making the wrong decision.

Am only on Ep6 so far

I guess you're right, they are quite sympathetic to them all - I just found the Charles stuff really stands out

I'm very disappointed, as a long time watcher of the crown, that they've moved from being quite... unflinching in their portrayal of ALL the royals (apart from the queen, although she's not portrayed as perfect either!) to suddenly portraying Charles and Camilla in consistently good lights, and Harry in a negative one? It's just very jarring, compared to previous seasons.

Yes, and the brilliant Eve Best is wasted on playing a gurning social-climbing caricature. I spent the entire bit where Kate brings home her perfectly acceptable pre-William boyfriend and Carole is essentially staring at him in a ’WELL, IF THAT’S REALLY ALL YOU WANT WHEN YOU COULD HAVE A PRINCE YOU ONCE BOUGHT A COPY OF THE BIG ISSUE FROM IF YOU’D ONLY MAKE AN EFFORT AND PUT ON A SEE-THROUGH DRESS’ way kind of mind-blowing.

And after the fashion show, where Kate claims to William she wore the see-through dress ‘to see if you were interested’ was like something scripted by someone who had never met any other people. A robot?

But yes, Diana’s ghost thanking Charles for letting out blood-curdling roars of grief over her body did also feel like a deeply odd decision.

I think the ropy writing in this season really sorts out the actors — it takes every bit of Lesley Manville, Dominic West and Imelda Stanton’s abilities to make any of it feel credible. Olivia Williams is also good. I think Eve Best just gave up. But the actors playing William and Kate just look perpetually lost in a bland kind of way.

The writers have chosen to portray Charles as a thoughtful moderniser, which is certainly one possible interpretation-and I think they have correctly identified his core problem: he is not good at connecting with people, and he can't deal with other people being more successful at it than he is, hence his resentment of his first wife (who was naturally gifted in that respect) and his own offspring.

I agree with all this. The writing has really gone downhill- it’s very odd.