This past week Netflix dropped its fourth installment of The Crown. A drama series following Queen Elizabeth II’s long, fantastic life, serving as Queen of England for, so far, 68 years. There was little doubt that this season would be full of excitement as the series entered the 1980s. Britain in the 1980s was full of excitement, change, and bold, new characters.
We meet The Crown’s Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson. Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister in England with her time in office being highly controversial and busy. Gillian Anderson is iconic and does a fantastic job playing the former Prime Minister, with some of her best scenes playing off Olivia Colman’s Queen Elizabeth. Particularly in one of their many meetings Thatcher explains why she does not fear making enemies and, when questioned about this, politely insinuates that the Queen is a coward to her face.
Fantastic casting seems to be a strong suit of the Crown as we were also introduced to Princess Diana played by Emma Corrin this season. Princess Diana was always going to bring much needed excitement and energy to the show. And she did. Emma Corrin was wonderful and was able to convey Diana and how she changed over the decade. One of the best scenes in this series was Diana going out with her friends for her last taste of true freedom before marriage to the tune of Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks.
One of the most fantastic episodes of the series comes right in the middle with episode five. The episode follows a man who, towards the end of the episode, breaks into the Queen’s bedroom and has a conversation with her. This actually happened in real life although we do not know what they spoke about. So the show uses it as an opportunity to show what Margaret Thatcher’s politics were doing to the country. She cut government funding to social programs, was hard on unions, and saw England into some of the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression. The show uses the character who broke in, to show someone who is dealing with the ramifications of her actions. And when he talks to the Queen it is only to tell her how bad it has gotten for average Joe’s like himself.
The series was not perfect. I felt they breezed over the IRA and many of the characters got left in dust. After playing such a large part in the last series it was a bit sad to see so little of Princess Ann. But I did love any scenes with all of the Queens children as they were quite comedic.
Overall I would say the season was hugely successful, especially after it dipped a bit in the last series. The new characters added the energy the show was lacking and there were comedic moments between the drama that ended up making the drama more compelling in contrast. I will be extremely sad to say goodbye to this cast next series as older actors will be stepping in, but if the show is able to maintain its trajectory, it will be in good hands.