The division into two of the final season of The Crown has achieved something unprecedented: its first half was the worst series of the week a few weeks ago and the second half achieved the opposite title today. Before leaving permanently, The Crown has once again been that magnificent series that makes up for any Netflix price increase. With the death of Diana of Wales already managed, Peter Morgan’s series returns to what he is really interested in: Queen Elizabeth.
I almost suspect that the vulgarization of The Crown in its Diana in Paris period could be a meta-narrative pirouette by Morgan. One more way to underline how little interest Diana has as a character. And this is a series of characters. One of Morgan’s favorites is Princess Margaret, played first by Vanessa Kirby, then Helena Bonham-Carter and now Lesley Manvillle. To the three, Peter Morgan has given them episodes that are among the best of the series. And they have responded with extraordinary interpretations. Manville’s at the Ritz is incredible. The Crown could be the best series of the week (and the month) just because of that episode.
The Crown is a series of characters and decisions: those made by Peter Morgan to turn a story that we all know (or think we know) into an incisive and surprising television story. Anecdotes as popular as Harry’s Nazi costume become very intelligent reflections on the role that the redhead plays in the British royal family and legends such as that of Carole Middleton’s (Kate’s mother) ambition are seen from a different perspective. The Crown knows that there are real events that it cannot not address. Also that he can’t deal with them, as he did with Diana’s death, in any way.
The funeral of Elizabeth II is one of those events. There was much speculation about the narrative decision that Peter Morgan would make to address something so delicate. Sleep, Dearie Sleep, the latest episode of The Crown, is the answer to all our questions. Its dreamlike play of times, spaces and characters is majestic.
Like all long-running series, The Crown has had its peaks and valleys. It has also been one of the most ambitious audiovisual projects of all time, with its impeccable production and its three complete sets of actors and actresses. A huge and very complex machine that has nevertheless moved with grace and rhythm. Maybe even your skids are under control. Like those of the Windsors. Unfortunately, everything indicates that Netflix will not take on more projects of this type or this size: too expensive, too intellectual, too good.
“For those who don’t know me, I am the groom’s mother.” This is how Queen Elizabeth’s (Imelda Staunton) speech begins at Charles and Camilla’s wedding. Or so it begins in The Crown. I have not investigated if this happened in reality or if that joker and unbreakable queen is an invention of Peter Morgan. Because, the truth is, she doesn’t matter to me.