The Crown Season 6 Part 2 (spoilers, probably)

[whattheactualfrog]

Didn’t know whether to put this in royal family or entertainment. But I just finished watching and am interested in your thoughts on the fairness/realism/acting of real people’s portrayals ?

I was quite surprised by the savage portrayal of Prince Harry, he is so whiny and unlikeable. I mean it’s fair but I thought Netflix liked him 😂

Young Adult Prince William actually made me do a double take. He looked and sounded so much like him. And a much more sympathetic portrayal than I was expecting.

Meg Bellamy I didn’t think looked much like Kate but she got the voice a couple of times and also managed to make her multi dimensional.

Charles has also gotten a lot more nuanced, and I say that as someone who WTFed at Dominic West originally.

Carole Middleton was the hardest done by, the scheming MIL… I bet Twitter will like that but I just thought it was unrealistic & harsh.

I was also surprised at how much it moved me. Margaret’s decline and death was so tragic and beautifully done. And the ending with the bagpipes and the long walk into the distance made me nostalgic for the Queen 😭

I've never watched it, but carry on spilling the beans 😂

Snap. I’d prefer to read about it, than watch so thank you.

I watched the lot yesterday and agree with you about how moving Princess Margaret's decline and death was. It was really touching and Lesley Manville was great.

I think Carole Middleton was treated very badly. I mean FFS- the narrative of scheming grasping social climber is so misogynistic.

They portrayed the Middletons if they lived on a perfectly nice but fairly ordinary 4/5 show home bedder on an executive estate. Realise they moved later but not sure as reality. CM probs not thrilled.

What did the Queen really do in the Ritz?

P Margaret, I thought, was pretty horrid in reality. Great portrayal. If she’d given up booze & fags she’d likely have made older bones. 71 is no age. Her children seem very well adjusted so she did something right. Lovely to see the relationship with the sister.

It does seem to be factual that Kate changed her plans to take a gap year and go to St Andrew’s instead of straight to Edinburgh uni after A Levels, when she found out that was what William was doing, which surprised me. It was obviously the goal to get close to him, but whether it was her mum or her engineering that, who knows.

I do think the crown is portraying those in direct line to the throne in a very favourable way and those not are being thrown to the wolves. I’ve really noticed this season is portraying King Charles in a very favourable light which is different to other seasons, must be because he’s king now.

I thought the Charles fawning was a little overdone this last season. It was much more effective in previous seasons when it wasn’t as noticeable.

I thought the scene were William opens his a level results with them all sitting around was hilarious.
agree portrayal of Carol Middleton is dreadful and I also think Harry is getting a tough ride. Luckily the actor looks nothing like him except for the ginger hair so I forget it’s him!
charles getting a more sympathetic portrayal this time and Dominic west is growing on me.
prince Philip coming across as very wise!

if only the queen had spent more time explaining the whole monarchy system to harry he might be less of an idiot now and better informed.

i also like the modernity is not always best bit as it turns out the keeper of the sands or whatever is actually an important job!!

I'm planning on watching this afternoon.

If Carole Middleton did scheme like that ( no idea) then thank god she did as Kate is perfect for the royals.
you could certainly make an argument that if true Carole Middleton scheming is one of the best things to have happened to the royals in decades! They should be thanking her profusely

The Harry character is dreadful, as is Carole Middleton. Both are quite spiteful depictions.

Wills comes out of it best

I think the Charles portrayal is not meant to be fawning it’s meant to show a character arc over the series. From misunderstood boy who got bullied, then the villain in his marriage, then someone who is mellowing with age and really trying to put things right. It’s more nuanced than usual which is maybe why it appears fawning. Usually he’s portrayed as a Disney baddie.

I haven't watched it but if anyone is interested in what is true and what is made up The Times did a great article this week separating events into true, false and partially true. It was fascinating.

I found the foreshadowing of the queen's and Philip's funerals very moving. I thought Margaret's episode had too much medical detail. Her life was pretty empty so they had to fill it with something.

I bingewatched this weekend! I had skipped series 4 and 5 as I didn't like the blatant fictionalisation, but after reading intriguing reviews I decided to watch this series and was immediately hooked. I decided to watch it on its own terms, as fiction.

I agree with much of what others have said here, and can add this: I thought Diana was awful. She came across as stilted and constantly acting to make an impression on others: doe-eying them, preening, fake gesturing, showing off. Not as naturally charismatic as I think she was in real life. Even her "wisdom" came across not as the "emotional intelligence" Charles describes it as, but as something from a relationships-self-help manual. She seemed too shallow to be so wise.

Dodi was the big surprise. I actually liked him in this portrayal; he came across as a really nice and attractive man, but terribly manipulated so that you couldn't help feeling sorry for him, especially when Diana turned him down.

Oh the portrayal of Carole Middleton was awful. The actress is a wonderful actress but the character was a horror. I thought it very unkind to the real life Carole.

I think the ending was really good, it neatly wrapped up the 6 seasons. It really was the story of a Queen and they rounded it off well. And the actress who played the Queen was allowed to play her more sympathetically than in the previous season. The series finale didn’t leave me wanting more, however it redeemed itself after a very boring 5th season in which no character was likeable.

I’ve never seen any actress play Diana really well. I’m not sure it is possible yet. Good actresses, including Elizabeth Debriki, have tried, but not managed it.

I wasn’t aware of the second investigation into Diana’s death. That really must have been dreadful for her two teenage sons.

Indeed, Diana lacked any warmth whatsoever. She appeared to be governed by vanity, and had little nuance.
All in all, it was a very moving series. I was planning to go back and watch 4 and 5 after watching this, but I don't think I will. It would remove the afterglow.

The episode Alma Mater, when at the beginning a young Kate and Carole bump into Diana and William selling The Big Issue(?), was absolute channel 5 afternoon movie bullshit. No need at all to portray the narrative that Kate was in love with William as a teenager. Having said that, as someone who was at St Andrews doing art history when William arrived, it was unnerving to watch. They got the course content correct- and the fact there were never any books left in the library.

Harry came across as deeply unpleasant. I suppose they were setting up the current falling out. William seeing his grandmother and accepting his role.

@Rinkymcdinky same for most Uni courses. True for mine. Did Kate have a job at Uni. Think suggested she did but I was only half paying attention.

They showed her as a waitress I think.

I think it is a shame that The Crown didn't start earlier and show the 2 princesses growing up in the war and more on the abdication. It would have made more sense to start it from the establishment of the House of Windsor with George V and could have covered his marriage to his dead brother's fiance and World War 1.

I loved the first series and hope there is scope for a prequel. I would have happily forgone the last series for more historical coverage.

It really was awful. The first two series were the best and it went rapidly downhill