The Crown: Diana and Maggie’s arrival elevates Netfix’s royal drama to new heights

REVIEW: Netflix’s lavish dramatization of Britain’s favorite soap opera is back and more compelling than ever.

The crownThe 10-part season four arrives today and this installment feels almost as action-packed and emotionally forged as Game of Thrones’ Season four, and not just because Charles Dance’s characters meet a premature end in both. All that is missing are dragons.

This time, the events begin in 1979, with the IRA’s objection to the British occupation of Ireland entering a new phase and the new British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) promising to turn things upside down.

“The last thing this country needs is two women to lead the ship,” says Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies). “I hear she’s stubborn, stubborn, and dangerously stubborn.”

“Really? Who else does that sound like around here?” Replies Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman).

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When the monarch and prime minister finally meet, they find a surprising amount of common ground. Elizabeth is impressed that Margaret has the courage of her convictions and the latter is surprised at how committed the Buckingham Palace resident really is to the problems of the day.

“I was more interested and informed than I thought,” Margaret tells her husband Denis (Stephen Boxer). “I left thinking that we could work together.”

However, apart from questions of status, there is another problem that weighs on Elizabeth’s mind, the love life of the eldest son, Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor).

Despite being linked to a long list of women, including Anna Wallace, Sabrina Guinness and actress Susan George, there were rumors from the palace that the prince was still seeing the now-married Camilla Parker-Bowles. So the news that he might now be dating Sarah Spencer (Isobel Eadie) is a relief. “I like that idea better,” says Elizabeth.

Charles, however, seems less enthusiastic about the party and more intrigued by Sarah’s teenage sister Diana (Emma Corrin), whom he meets for the first time dressed as a “mad tree” in preparation for a production of Summer night Dream. But not even she can hold a candle to her continued obsession with Camilla, something that frustrates Charles’s mentor, Lord Mountbatten (Dance).

Mountbatten’s attempts to persuade the prince to end the romance are met with a scathing response, something that Charles deeply regrets when Mountbatten is murdered while on his ship off the coast of Ireland.

Worse yet, a posthumous letter from him warns that ruin and disappointment await if Charles continues to woo Camilla.

“Build your destiny with a sweet and innocent girl, of good character, without a past, who knows and will follow the rules,” urges Mountbatten. “One that people will love as a princess and, one day, as a queen.”

Yes, series showrunner Peter Morgan puts all the pieces wonderfully in place in the opening episode, setting us up for the well-documented ups and downs that lie ahead. And while some hold back on some of the liberties taken by certain events (especially Charles and Diana’s 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand), there’s no question that Morgan knows how to pull every last bit of dramatic out of key moments. .

Of course, it helps tremendously that you have assembled a magnificent ensemble of actors. Colman looks and sounds even more the second time, Menzies (stranger) remains highly impressive as Philip, as does the underrated O’Connor, who gives Charles a place.

Of the newcomers, Anderson is brilliant as Iron Lady and Corrin (Pinch) certainly looks and sounds like the role of the kindergarten “outside helper” who became the “village princess”.

Only Richard Roxburgh’s Bob Hawke looks like a slight caricature, largely because the Australian actor plays him too close to his beloved tragicomic creation of RakeCleaver Greene.

As in the previous Crowns the costumes and production values ​​cannot be faulted, while the shots from point of view (Elizabeth’s opening looking straight down the camera barrel at one of her beloved horses is a marvel) and clever framing draws the eye. viewer towards the good-paced drama.