The Crown- Netflix (**Spoilers**)

Agent Coulson

Netflix's big UK original drama.

This story reveals the political rivalries and romance behind Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Agent Coulson

Drops on November 4th.

Agent Coulson

They are saying it is the biggest budgeted tv series of all time

The trailer looks great as a costume drama.

Agent Coulson

Second trailer

Basq

Christ.. each to their own.. but the bizarre fascination with the British monarchy astounds me...

The Black Oil

Have seen a few positive notices for it.

Claude Burgundy

Agent Coulson wrote: »

They are saying it is the biggest budgeted tv series of all time

The trailer looks great as a costume drama.

Costume dramas always cost a fortune !

Itssoeasy

I've just finished the first episode. Well they certainly spent the money as its shot beautifully and the sets weren't done on the cheap either. I mean I've only watched the first episode but I liked it. Although John lithgow as winston churchill seems a strange choice to me.

Chocolate girl

Looks good I'm going to start tonight and see.

satguy

I just watched the first episode,,, and really enjoyed it,,, will be watching it all now,, in 1080p "of course" ..

Agent Coulson

I really enjoyed the first episode and it looks stunning I don't think will be a binge show it will be one to enjoy over time taking it in.



I also have to say Jared Harris is fast becoming one of my favorite actors working today I have always enjoyed his work but he seems to be getting better with age.

Chocolate girl

Just watched first two episodes really enjoyed worth watching.

_Whimsical_

I started this last night and have only seen one episode but I thought it had a lot of promise. I was glad to see that rather than a drama about history and monarchy this looks like this has potential to be more of a human drama. The actress playing Elizabeth is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her. She's very subtle, though her role has been minimal enough so far but already she's playing it with a real emotional resonance and revealing a much more vulnerable interesting and likeable complexion to Elizabeth than I imagined was there.

maudgonner

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

The actress playing Elizabeth is fantastic and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her. She's very subtle, though her role has been minimal enough so far but already she's playing it with a real emotional resonance and revealing a much more vulnerable interesting and likeable complexion to Elizabeth than I imagined was there.

If you haven't seen Wolf Hall yet, you should take a look. Claire Foy plays Anne Boleyn in it - a very different character. She's excellent, as is the rest of the cast.

_Whimsical_

maudgonner wrote: »

If you haven't seen Wolf Hall yet, you should take a look. Claire Foy plays Anne Boleyn in it - a very different character. She's excellent, as is the rest of the cast.

Just on the basis of her being in it, I will take a look!Thanks

ScumLord

I ended up binge watching the whole thing over the weekend.

It's a pretty good show, it's basically from the royal families point of view and it's surprising just how molly coddled they are, to the point they don't even have a proper education.

lithgow was brilliant as Churchill and it's pretty epic to think he was the PM serving when Lizzy came to power, it really makes her reign seem like the end of one era and the start of a new one.

It glosses over a lot of stuff, but given that the royal family are kept in the dark about a lot of stuff it makes sense within the show.

Not nearly enough prince Philip gaffs, I watched the whole season waiting for him to say something racist or insensitive and it never really came.

flazio

ScumLord wrote: »

Not nearly enough prince Philip gaffs, I watched the whole season waiting for him to say something racist or insensitive and it never really came.

Go back to the start of episode 2, he mocks medals and mistakes a tribal crown for a hat.

snubbleste

ScumLord wrote: »

Not nearly enough prince Philip gaffs, I watched the whole season waiting for him to say something racist or insensitive and it never really came.

Philip: "Nice hat"
Liz: "It is nawt eh haht feeleep, it is a crown"

snubbleste

You can see how they managed to spend $100m on this series.

ScumLord

flazio wrote: »

Go back to the start of episode 2, he mocks medals and mistakes a tribal crown for a hat.

That wasn't really enough, it was a bit like they got that out of the way and Phil doesn't really do anything else untowards again.

gryfothegreat

Having just watched episode 5... Jesus, young Phillip was a piece of work. Did he really not want to kneel to her at the coronation? Whatever about 1950s attitudes towards marriage, she's his Queen! God almighty. At least he's gotten used to it over the years.


Having said that, I really do appreciate how they've handled Elizabeth's attitudes towards marriage and parenting. Modern biopics tend to whitewash their heroes in order to make them more palatable to modern audiences (Spielberg's version of Lincoln is one good example) but Elizabeth is shown here as wanting her children to take her husband's last name and being perfectly content to leave them alone for months at a time, both ideas very contrary to modern sensibilities. It might not be in keeping with our ideal of a powerful queen and a so-called feminist icon, but it grounds her in reality, humanises her, and we need more human, complex women on TV.

ScumLord

gryfothegreat wrote: »

Having just watched episode 5... Jesus, young Phillip was a piece of work. Did he really not want to kneel to her at the coronation? Whatever about 1950s attitudes towards marriage, she's his Queen! God almighty. At least he's gotten used to it over the years.

The impression I got was that none of them wanted the job. Lizzy and Philip had their own life planned out, which would have been much more normal in they're social circle. Being a queen kind of flies in the face of all traditions around at the time. If you imagine having all your friends bowing before and unable to speak their mind anymore it kind of illustrates how isolating it can be. The turn around in the marriage may not be a big deal now but back then it certainly would have isolated both of them. Philip basically had all his hopes and dreams (hopes and dreams Lizzy shared with him) crushed under the crown and had to just be content with sitting in the background doing literally nothing.

gryfothegreat

ScumLord wrote: »

The impression I got was that none of them wanted the job.

I agree with everything you've said, especially that part - but I cant get over the fact that he expected he wouldn't have to kneel, and that he asked her to make an exception for him. Like, he had to have known it was going to happen. Whatever about Bertie dying earlier than expected (which I still can't get over, even looking at pictures of the man before and after WWII make sit very clear that he wasn't in good health), he had to have known that he was going to have to be subordinate to her eventually.

As a piece of drama it's very well executed - it marks a shift in their relationship. Before, Elizabeth humoured his requests (the whole last name and Clarence House thing) because, well, he's her husband, she loves him, therefore she must submit to him. But the kneeling - this isn't a family affair. It's a royal matter, and here Elizabeth is in charge and there's no way she's going to make an exception for him. This is echoed later in the show during the Peter Townsend affair and the Australia tour, and establishes a key point of her character - when it comes to duty, the Queen makes exceptions for no-one.

But from an actual, real-life perspective, it just beggars belief. Phillip is not a husband kneeling to his wife; he is a subject kneeling before his monarch. The fact that he's married to her doesn't change that she gets her 'power' from God (as shown in the anointing scene) and he gets his power from, well... her. One of the very first scenes in the show shows him being knighted (in reality, the poor guy was a commoner for seven months) by the Crown. There's a clear power imbalance there. It's just hard to believe that he was pigheaded enough to think that not kneeling would be acceptable, though, of course, with the Duke of Edinburgh, all bets are off. :pac:

ScumLord

gryfothegreat wrote: »

I agree with everything you've said, especially that part - but I cant get over the fact that he expected he wouldn't have to kneel, and that he asked her to make an exception for him. Like, he had to have known it was going to happen. Whatever about Bertie dying earlier than expected (which I still can't get over, even looking at pictures of the man before and after WWII make sit very clear that he wasn't in good health), he had to have known that he was going to have to be subordinate to her eventually.

You have to remember the world at that time, WW2 had just ended, Rock and roll was coming out of america for the first time, women are more confident having spent WW2 in the workplace. It was a time that people expected change.

It wouldn't be the first time in history that a monarch's other half tried to get a higher status, maybe Philip just expected they could do away with some of the older traditions that elevate the monarch above everybody else. Given Lizzy actually agreed with him, and she's the queen, it's not surprising he thought it might happen. Neither of them really seemed to understand how regimental the monarchy was, or what it ment to the people in power.

Philip and Elizabeth are ordinary people, it's not until Elizabeth is in the role for a while that she really starts to embody it and put the monarchy above everything else. In the beginning she did give the impression she agreed with everything Philip was saying.

flazio

It seems wherever you go for opinions on this everyone has a different lead they think was the stand out performance, some it's Claire Foy as Elizabeth, others it's Matt Smith as Philip (under used in my opinion) or indeed Jon Lithgow as Churchill.
Me however I think the strongest performance in this was Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. She really owned every scene she was in.

Manach

After the first episode in and I'm enjoying it. Good production values and making a reasonable attempt at portraital of a culture that is a strange country to a lot of moderns. I rather enjoyed Lithow's take on Churchill, has captured that air of curmudgeon which was a key part of his character.

368100

I'm on my fifth time watching this.....love it....actually cannot wait until till season two and particularly looking forward to the maggie thatcher era and how they portray the relationship between the two.

It's just a pity that they're recasting after season two....I understand why buthe hopefully the new cast are up to the same high standard at this one

Jayop

Season 1 was so surprisingly enjoyable.

JP Liz V1

Michael C Hall and Jodi Balfour join as JKF and wife Jackie also Matthew Goode as Princess Margaret’s bohemian photographer husband, Tony Armstrong-Jones

Source Deadline

Jayop

flazio

Well this was a turn up for the books, most nominations at the TV baftas,
Came away empty handed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/14/baftas-bbc-has-last-laugh-happy-valley-beats-100m-netflix-drama/

Would have thought they'd get supporting actor from Lithgow or Harris at least.