The crown (season 4)
To emit – Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin, Gillian Anderson
If you thought Indian Matchmaking was the ultimate case against arranged marriages this year, think again. The Crown, in its fourth season, continues to expand its horizons. It is no longer a character study of the Queen, but a powerful drama about one of the most tragic romances of the 20th century.
By now, it’s clear the show is at its best as it leaves the queen’s apartments and into some of the less familiar corridors of Buckingham Palace. That’s where the most compelling stories unfold, deliberately and tortuously hidden from the prying eyes of the public.
Watch The Crown Season 4 Trailer Here
A new member is ‘welcome’ to the family this season: Lady Diana Spencer. But her marriage to Charles is less a romantic union than a cult induction. She is forced to perform the famous ‘Balmoral Test’, a cruel ritual whose immorality is clearly lost on the royal family. And in one of her first official meetings, she’s literally cornered like prey, ridiculed for not knowing the order in which to address royalty.
Since Claire Foy, an actor has not slipped so easily into the role of newcomer Emma Corrin. Not only does it embody Diana’s instantly recognizable physicality, the slight tilt of her head, the soft tones of her voice, but it also captures her inner confusion and loneliness. Just as the real Lady Di brought a renewed wave of public attention to the royal family, the inclusion of Corrin this season significantly revitalizes the show. In hindsight, this is exactly what The Crown needed.
In season four, the show’s resemblance to The Godfather is more pronounced than ever. The royals have more in common with a crime family than you might want to believe, but at least the Corleones cared for each other. Diana, like Kay Adams, is ripped from her life as an outsider and forced to submit to the ways of the family. But would you believe it, she resists.
When she goes on a major tour of Australia with Charles, a masked attempt to maintain the structural integrity of the crumbling Commonwealth, she finds herself responding to attention. And then she starts to want him. Diana is certainly not absolved of her sins, but she is clearly the heart and soul of the new season, an emotional contrast to the frigid family that has imprisoned her.
Queen Elizabeth II, played by Olivia Colman in The Crown. (Liam Daniel / Netflix)
This is not an exaggeration. One of the first episodes is devoted almost entirely to the six weeks that Diana spent, in isolation, at Buckingham Palace. Her new husband was on tour and unavailable, and her mother-in-law was too busy to even return her calls. Later, in a moment of rare frankness, it is the Queen who compares the palace to a prison.
After spending a lifetime convincing herself that she “is no different from anyone else,” Elizabeth has begun to believe it. This is never more evident than in episode five, my favorite of the season, in which the story of Michael Fagan is re-told. On the morning of July 9, 1982, Fagan climbed up a wall, down a drain, and entered the Queen’s bedrooms at Buckingham Palace. His Wikipedia entry describes him as an “intruder”. The security breach understandably made headlines, but the reasons behind Fagan’s theft remain murky.
Some accounts suggest that he spent 10 minutes in the Queen’s room, while she stopped him in conversation while waiting for the police to arrive. Fagan himself has recorded that the Queen ran away the moment she saw him there. But The Crown, bless it, turns history into a political parable. Fagan on the show is a victim of the Margaret Thatcher era: unemployed, hopeless, and struggling with mental health issues. His ‘mission’, so to speak, was to seek an audience with the Queen, the only person with the power to control Thatcher.
It’s a pivotal moment in the season, not just politically, but personally. It gives the queen more agency, which, despite her apparent “power,” she has never really had. Sure, she’s the one everyone turns to, but if there’s one rule she lives by, it’s this: never, under any circumstances, express your opinion. In season four, however, various situations force her to do just that.
Dennis Thatcher (Stephen Boxer) and Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) in a still from The Crown. (Des Willie / Netflix)
It is the arrival of Thatcher, interpreted with iron authority by Gillian Anderson, that forces the Queen to rethink her customs. Why should you remain silent, as your country experiences a terrible economic recession? Why should you put a smile on your weekly meetings with the Prime Minister, when every fiber of your being demands that you unleash it? And why, even after so many years, should he bow down to the Crown, at the expense of his humanity?
Also Read: The Crown Season 3 Review: Olivia Colman Retains The Majesty Of Netflix’s Most Luxurious Show
This is an emotionally rich season, perhaps my favorite on the show so far. And underneath its glowing exterior is a raging relevance. Through Thatcher, creator Peter Morgan makes bold statements about contemporary politics and the authoritarian figures in charge of it. And don’t forget about the trifecta of female leads at the center, equal to and in many ways superior to the men around them – uncommon on television, if there ever was one.
True, the show’s popularity is waning, but rather than funneling more funds into making Ryan Murphy’s latest fever dream come true, Netflix should divert some of that money to The Crown. Long live
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The author tweets @RohanNaahar
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