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The Latest Season of The Crown: Not My Favorite

 





I recently binged my way through....

The Crown Season 5 on Netflix: Diana's interview, Prince Charles' breakdancing, and more. (slate.com)

It was very well done. As the show moves through the decades, the cast keeps changing. So for example the part of Queen Elizabeth II was played by Claire Foy when she was a young woman, seasons 1-2, by Olivia Colman at greater age (seasons 3-4), and now by Imelda Staunton in season 5. 

Staunton is best known, or has been best known until now, as one of the great villainesses of the Harry Potter books, Dolores Umbridge. 

Staunton has not dislodged Colman as my personal favorite of the Elizabeths here. It was Colman who played off against Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) in some epic scenes, and against the younger version of Diana, Princess of Wales (as played by in season 4 by Emma Corrin).  Those three actresses had a great dynamic triangle going in that fourth season.

The fifth?  Thatcher is gone. Neither John Major nor Tony Blair offers a dramatic foil of analogous weight. And  Elizabeth Debicki is not as stunning a Diana as Corrin was. 

Nonetheless, the material is gripping, even where some liberties are taken with it. 

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  1. Paul D. Van PeltNovember 17, 2022 at 3:11 PM

    Yes. When life imitates art, there is room for forgiveness. When things go the other way 'round, there is too much room for misinformation and/or; historical revisionism. This evening, a local figure was on the News. He talked about political change. Where recently we may have seen or read commentary referring to scare quotes ('....'), this man called them: air quotes. I had not heard that before. Don't know where he got it. He has been in state politics for several decades.
    Maybe, too long?

    ReplyDelete

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