I’m mad that they just BLEW past the ‘revenge dress’ moment. In the old crown treatment, we would have seen a whole montage of her wearing the dress, and some closeups of the dress and her face, a dramatic feel to it. Here it was 3 shots of her walking out of her car, and walking into the building. I was like bro what???
yesssss. and maybe even like the moment when she decides on the dress, even. i read somewhere that Diana had originally planned a different dress for that event, but it got leaked to the press so she chose the iconic revenge dress (which made for excellent fashion statement too given Camillagate). now i don't know if that's actually acrophyl, cause it HAS been a while and i don't remember the source, but if it WERE true it would've made for great drama and build up to the revenge dress reveal. but as you say they blew right past it.
I think that it´s interesting how for season 2 and 3 for example, that center around decades in which not many relevant things happened inside the Royal Family, the writers had to squeeze out drama, emotion and storytelling to tell actual powerful and appealing stories. While for this season, that takes place in the most discussed, chaotic and controversial decade for the family, and where the script seemed to be basically writing by itself... they decided to tone it down in sake of keeping some discretion. In previous seasons the writers were able to make a royal going to walk their dog feel as something powerful and symbolic... Here they somehow made a year where the royal residence was burned down and the family was split into three divorces... feel uninteresting and like not much was happening.
Also the first four seasons took place in a time frame most people who are watching the show either were not alive for or were too young to remember or care about the Royal Family at all. The last two seasons, most of the viewers will remember the events, if not fully, then have a remembrance of them and it is not anything new to see.
Season 5 failed to connect with my emotions as an audience. At least with the earlier seasons, I was able to empathize with the characters; I believed their struggles and sacrifices. But with this season, I felt nothing. Moumou and Sydney's episode was the highlight for me.
And that episode with the divorce of Charles and Diana, had like three other couples that could've just been one. They dragged it on and on and I ended up skipping those parts cuz like we get it now stop repeating it 🥲
I loved that episode as well. At first I was like: Why is there even an episode about Mohamed?!?!?! I wish they elaborated more on Dodi and Diana's relationship too.
My biggest disappoint in this season is actually Diana. This was THE season for her because it was around the time when she regains her strenght & voice and starts to flash out her identity and power - as shown by her actions and her fashion choices at this time. Instead we got her crying and sad and while that is a part of her story by no means it is all of it. I would have loved to see her smashing tea cups as apparently she did after her divorce was through 😂 I think it would have been so much intriguing seeing her gaining more & more power and confidence and clashing with the old system. Dont get me wrong - Elizabeth was very very good but I expected so much more....
There was a 4 year age difference between Elizabeth & Margaret, so why does Margaret look (appropriately) like she's in her 60s, while QE2 looks like she's in her 80s already?
Agreed. I also feel the cinematography was meh this season. Nothing will compare to the young princes Margret era!! Her episodes were just gorgeous. I felt the characters seemed so... different from the previous seasons. It was jarring. Not because they changed actors but because the dialogue made it so. I'm like where did y'all's personalities go wtf I'm so so disappointed with this season but I will stick with the series lol!!
A very good point on cinematography! In certain scenes, it felt like it wasn't as high-quality, it just wasn't as glamorous as the previous seasons, yet I don't really see anyone bringing it up. Certain shots also look a bit meh.
I think it was also casting choices. The actors who played Philip and Charles did very little to inhabit their roles. No one is say mimic - all the other actors did so much more than 'mimic' but they definitely inhabited the role through their physicality (posture) and their voice (the rhythm and cadence of Philip and Charles's speech). The actors playing Phillip and Charles in S5 just didn't seem to bother?? I know each actor wants to make their own mark, do their own interpretation but to be cognizant of the other actors' performances so that you at least carry forward a little bit of their flavour into your own performance so that the audience think 'Aha, this is a continuation of the same character I saw in S4' etc.
he is too handsome to play Charles…and it seems they wanted to rehabilitate him after being ao harah against him in season 4…he was an asshole then, not he is pretty much Mother teresa who will revoltionize the monarchy
By the end of the season I couldn't wash away that feeling of "Did I just watch a 10 episode PR stunt to make Charles look good or did I watch The Crown?" 🤨
I cant even see the actor as Charles. Strange that everyone else just feels like their real counterpart, but they got a much more attractive and sympathetic person - who looks absolutely nothing like Charles - to play the character 🤣Truly PR at its best loll
What I think has really changed is the Queen’s response to divorce. Both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman were given dramatic monologues showing how stern she was in her beliefs. Imelda Staunton spent the whole season making grumpy faces and letting people divorce and remarry as they wish. We’d call that inconsistent writing if this wasn’t based on truth. But a whole episode could have revolved around what seems to be an evolution.
I dislike the royals, but the crown has the TIGHTEST grip on my attention. Unfortunately, this season was a let down, Lizzie definitely lost her shine a lil bit, and having Charles as the center of the narrative was a struggle. I did like the Fayeds and Diana. Those were the highlights.
Oh, I don’t have the biggest sympathy for them, either, and I think the Crown is actually doing them a lot of favors. Very true about losing its shine, but here is to hoping season 6 will end with a bang.
I was so horribly disappointed with this season. After four great ones this was a real let down. I’m no fan of the Royals in general but it put them in the worst possible light-so entitled and spoiled. I miss a lot of historical events it used to cover. I hope season 6 it can redeem itself.
The Fayed story line was one of my faves. I totally did not expect it, and at first I was a bit like, neh....but then I started to enjoy it and got right into it. He is an interesting and very complicated person in both good and bad ways when you look into him a little. I felt I got to know who Dodi was a bit too. Which makes me feel better about the events of her death.
Season 5 had its moments, but unfortunately, I have to agree. If it's not the worst, it surely is the most boring season so far. Thanks for this video; it articulated my feelings about S5.
I was so disappointed, too. The first two episodes felt like they were introducing the characters of a show and at this point, darlings, I've spent hundreds of hours watching and rewatching the first 4 seasons, I've got this, get to the point. Agree with you on Elisabeth being almost a sidekick and too much focus on Charles & Diana. Though I must say Elizabeth Debicki got Dianas voice and manners perfectly! Also I think Olivia Colman as the Queen was SO great it's very, very difficult to live up to that..
I am so glad that someone else enjoyed Olivia's portrayal, too! I hold the unpopular opinion that she is very underrated in this show, I thoroughly enjoyed her performance as the Queen.
@@jaakkomakinen3047 yes it’s a bit creepy. I find the facial expressions and eye gazing are similar but too much. Diana had far more pictures with a neutral expression or a smile. I guess I feel it’s more of a caricature. To be honest I’m not enjoying season 5 at all. I5s l find it lacklustre somehow in my opinion. I really loved Olivia Coleman as the Queen and can’t quite pivot to the new on3 although she as well is a superb actress.
I have a couple of theories on why the season lost it’s spark a bit: -the royal family and all media loyal to them have their eyes tightly drawn at the series, and maybe peter morgan knew he had to downplay the drama and make charles look as good as possible as he would become king in the next few years (which turned out to be very true and recent) -I felt like some episodes were missing some parts or scenes felt stripped, and it’s very possible that the queen’s death and charles’s claim to the throne meant that some scenes had to be edited or cut entirely because they would spark unbecoming controversy for the new king or the late queen -I also noticed how there’s no new main soundtrack and a lack of major beautiful scenery, like there was a smaller budget or something so maybe they are saving money so they can fully expand the drama in the next season (probably on diana’s death scene at least)
idk how the lack of budget can explain all the flashback moments in the show tho. but i agree with your points, i feel like there was definitely pressure from the RF and the queen's death to be more tame this season
I've been looking for a review vid like this, thanks so much. This season felt like Peter Morgan went back and did a last minute panic rewrite; there was no pacing or rhythm, some plotlines lasted all of 2 or 3 scenes while others dragged on and on. At least in S4 peripheral characters like Margaret had an entire episode dedicated to them, and hers was especially powerful. But by S5 she was just wedged in there. I also hated the way the writers handled Diana's relationship with Dr. Hasnat. They truly loved each other, Diana met his family and there was talk of marriage but the media and their dramatically different lives made it impossible. He never ghosted her, they broke up. Dodi was Diana's summer rebound from that relationship.
There was so much potential for storytelling with this season! Especially with your point about Margaret. As I understand it, she had a bond with Diana until Diana did the book / interview, at which point Margaret didn’t approve of her revealing family secrets (I mean Charles did too, Margot?). Imagine if they had taken the time to build that story up? I don’t understand why they go for inaccurate dramatizations and made-up storylines that add nothing to the plot. Like Prince Philip having an intellectual affair over carriage riding, for instance… like, what?
My biggest issues were: 1. Weak representation and storyline for the queen, like you build her up to this great character for the past 4 seasons only to give the audience 1 or 2 momentous scenes for her this season 2. Charles and Camilla being portrayed as the real victims and diana being a childish vindictive woman. Like yeah diana had her issues with manipulation but like Charlie and Camilla are no victims here or star crossed lovers they literally married other people and made decisions to benefit themselves for the time being and then committed adultery when they thought they were secure. 3. Zero emphasis on Fergie and Andrew which plays a huge role in the queen's life and how the royals are seen today. 4. Anne was a huge plus point in early seasons but her being portrayed as someone who cheers for her brother's adultery and getting 1 big scene didn't sit right with me. For 1 Anne was the best character in season 4 because she seemed to be the only one in the loop but also someone who seemed to know right from wrong but here she is telling her brother it's cute that he's cheating with his ex girlfriend on his current wife and the mother to her nephews. Ew. I feel like the creator of the crown made last minute changes to appeal to the institution now because of the new leadership, ans that hurt the storyline. I literally went back in Netflix for season 5 after canceling my subscription 5 months ago, but I won't be doing that for season 6 anymore.
I dont mind not seeing alot of Andrew also Anne has always been pro Charles and Camilla since they were friends from way back and as equally annoyed that Charles is not allowed to marry his first love in the first place. Plus she has the same sentiments as the queen in terms of Diana. A nuisance. The only royal family who was some empathy to Diana is Prince Philip.
@@meia1855 Frankly, Diana was probably the best thing to happen to the RF. Their relevance and PR did extremely well when Diana was alive. Anne was actually more annoyed by Diana for the very same reason her husband was, which was that she was more popular than any of them. The queen actually sympathized with Diana, even after her divorce there are letters to and from the queen to Diana regarding the children and just life. She did distance herself from her, but had the queen intervened and made Charles understand the qualities of leadership, which starts from how you handle your family and personal life, Diana probably wouldn't have been a nuisance, but to the RF anything that doesn't work in their favor is a nuisance, even if they are morally wrong.
Exactly ! They portrayed Charles and Cowmilla as victims like what the actual ????? The only victim was Diana and she was portrayed so badly for giving the interview ! And for a sec I sympathized with Charles and COWmilla and then I realized how bad this season is !
As soon as episode 1 started and the Queen popped out, something didn’t feel right. I’m highly disappointed. We waited to so long and literally got nothing.
Yes!! And I felt the same, even the choice of the Player almost instantly felt wrong. Some of the other Main Characters were a poor selection. Charles didn't work, and neither did Philip as well as quite a few of the lesser Characters.
charles' insecurities and jealousy suddenly vanished although his mother still doesn't let him have a say, diana's fire and life changing charity work were doused with water, and anne's snark turned to essentially "i think it's cute you said you wanted to be camilla's tampon charles. both of you are just middle aged people in love." they wanted to appease charles so much that season 5 became a snooze feast. the damn brittanica had more character than the characters this season! i feel like we were promised the oncoming storm from the season 4 finale but the "war of the wales" felt more like a schoolyard fight, not a war. who knew they'd make annus horibilis so boring?? i ended up not sympathizing with the queen cause i didn't feel the gravity of the challenging situations she went through. what a let down!
I'm going to say something that might be unpopular. I think in addition to bad writing the casting for this new season is generally very bad. I really dislike Imelda Staunton in this role. We got very spoiled with 4 amazing seasons with Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman at the helm. I might go so far as to suggest all the casting except maybe Diana is a severe downgrade. Idk.....the whole season was pretty disappointing considering how long we had to wait for it.
Not unpopular with me, within one episode I was so disappointed in the casting , Charles and Phillip don't even have the voices they should....very disappointing
I think Dominic West is a fantastic actor (The Wire is one of my favorite shows)…but he was not a good Charles. Especially coming off of the heels of Josh O'Connor, who absolutely nailed the role.
Funny how the most compelling storyline to me was of Mohamed Al Fayes aka Mou Mou. Like how did some side character who didn’t even get that much screen time became my favourite in a show that’s called The Crown that she supposed to be about the royals smh
I absolutely agree. Somehow Mohammed and his eventually friendship with Diana was the only thing that truly captured me. The rest felt a bit lifeless at times
A big issue I had was this season revisited issues that alrdy had enough focus, coverage and closure, so it was like beating up a dead horse. Like Margaret throwing a tantrum about her lost love in youth felt forced during the ep of the fire or the marital struggles Elizabeth and Phillip had in their youth mostly seemed resolved but is brought up again in the Russian ep just for additional tension. So for it's 5th season I was anticipating new issues, new challenges, new content but we got lower quality story telling of older topics re-used
they managed to make diana look whiny, childish, and almost unlikeable at times, i felt more pity for charles and camilla watching it, i also felt like that now that the series caught up with the modern image of the queen and the royal family that most of us have they are kind of afraid to show the queen as a more open and vulnrelable person, like they want to respect her more but in a way that made her more distant like watching her irl through the news, as opposed to the other seasons where you felt part of their actual life.
Completely agree about Diana's portrayal. Her every word an action was steeped in pettiness, being inappropriate, childish and whiny. It was upsetting to see this be showcased as opposed to the kind humble, generous behavior that earned her her "QUEEN OF HEARTS" nickname.....it almost felt the writers were on a mission to make diana look as bad as possible and Charles and camilla innocent, loved starved amd always behaving and handling every situation perfectly appropriately, while CrAzY Di over here behaved like a 15 year going through her first heartbreak. Very disappointing.
@@AllyC23 Exactly! I totally agree with you and the OP about Diana's portrayal... just wanna make clear I will _never_ feel "pity" for Charles & Camilla (bleccchhh! 😝), no matter how much the writers seemed to try to elicit that response lol! Tho, if the writers wanted me to feel sympathy for Charles, they shouldn't have shown him try to usurp his own mother's power as queen!
@@Jimmy1982Playlists same. I can't like or respect them or their relationship in ANY WAY. They behaved and handled things 100% the wrong way once charles and diana married.
The Crown perfectly set up every character, every action - all leading leading up to this decade that was the most scandalous, captivating modern era we’ve known. And yet this season fumbled every character, completely retconned all their personalities, and managed to make them and the decade downright boring! I can’t believe the show went through nearly the whole decade and somehow it felt like an uneventful week, month at best.
I know the show is fiction very loosely based on fact, but some of the casting feels like a Bizarro time travel situation where someone stepping on a butterfly made Charles this flippant, rakish lothario who is unidentifiable to his season 3-4 self, and the Queen Mother an actual alternate reality character.
"John Major" was very unconvincing and there were a lot of legendary moments in the real John Major's tenure which could have been addressed. He just felt like an NPC passing in the night and didn't get enough attention. Tony Blair also appeared from nowhere. It was never explained who he was, how he came to be Labour leader (that's key) or how he got such a huge landslide.
I agree with you. Season 5 is so different and worse in comparison with the earlier seasons. It's like a soap opera now and no episode caught my attention good enough.
I checked theothers season in one sitting… this one, I don't care….the only episode who seems to remind me the old ones is the one about Russia…the scene between the queen and the young woman about the choice of her grandmother was amazing, well-act by Staunton…we felt the autorithy
I agree with your review completely. After finishing this season, I was left feeling like it was unsatisfactory or incomplete and couldn't exactly put my finger on it. You detailed it beautifully.
Claire Foy showed us the creation of Elisabeth's identity as the Queen, Olivia Colman made a great story about what the crown really means and the last season was the crown drowning, but Imelda Stauton SOMEHOW keeping it alive.
I feel like Imelda Staunton doesn't like the Queen, and writers cannot imagine the personality that the Queen was. Let's remember that the Queen was someone who signed up for skits with James Bond and Paddington, where is that whimsy in Imelda's portrayal of the Queen?
The closer The Crown gets to modern times, the less I care at all about the storylines and characters. I was also so BORED on the time wasted on the background of Dodi's family. Who cares?
I think you hit a lot of good points. There was something a little off about season 5. The queen was portrayed more negatively than before and with less nuance. I feel we would have seen her discussing Fayed with her sister and mother and giving us some reasons for the snub in earlier seasons. Instead she just seems kind of racist. She and Philip are almost estranged in this season and their relationship was such a key part of earlier seasons. Diana was a bit of a cipher - Debicki is uncanny in resemblance but the script leaves too much up to us to interpret her character. Is she a manipulative attention hog or a lost soul unable to cope? What about all of her charity work and some more establishing what a huge celebrity she was. Charles was cast too handsome and had a very different vibe than real Charles as well as previous actor. The pacing was odd as well. Maybe since I lived through this time I felt it didn’t really show it like it was. Oh well, overall this season is better than a lot of other television but not a high watermark for the Crown.
I suggest _Ipatiev House_ was the best episode this season. Apparently, real life never lent itself to negotiations between the Queen and Boris Yeltsin with regard to the burial of the Romanovs, but that is one instance of creative liberty that I can appreciate. It certainly made for a decently emotional aspect in an otherwise boring season. I could not believe I was looking forward to Diana's death. Perhaps that is because I am more fascinated by the interesting events in history to which the Royal Family is intimately linked, than by the drama that was the relationship between Charles and Diana.
this episode is one those rare instances where western media gave superb representation to an element of Russian history from start to finish, they nailed everything, from Tsarina’s German accent in Russian to the gloomy future of Russian democracy and ofc ppl speaking actual real Russian that I as a native speaker not only understood but recognized as natural and appropriate the only inaccurate detail was that the queen’s interpreter in Buckingham palace made an inexplicable choice to mistranslate yeltsin’s words
All the characters had so much personality in previous seasons, even the characters who were barely in it. They were all very well-developed, full characters, and they felt like real people. This season, most important characters feel very hollow and flat. Even if they're on screen a lot, it takes me a few seconds to recognise them. No disrespect to the actors, but I feel like some of the actors are too old to be playing some of the characters. Charles just feels too mature, and I keep getting Anne and Margaret mixed up, which hasn't happened with me in previous seasons. The thing I hate most is that Philip and Anne are a lot less sharp and witty. They've lost so much sparkle this season, it's disappointing. I loved seeing those two and Charles on screen before, but this season is disappointing. The season finale wasn't much of a finale. I hadn't even realised I'd finished the season until netflix started playing trailers instead of episodes. Season 5 was such a let down. I hope season 6 is better.
i started watching the crown just to get to the diana part of the story but instead fell in love with the first two seasons and its characters. especially the queen and the duke. the actors were so phenomenal in making their actions and behaviour natural. we felt their feelings and got mad at their mistakes and actions. i was so excited to get to s5 to see how they'd show the diana story and i ended up watching it at 2x speed cause i just wanted to get it over with. there was so much drama and crying and shouting. i missed the politics and personality in the show so much! mou mou brought the fun back in the show even though it was very brief.
Thank you for methodically articulating everything I was feeling about this season. I LOVED The Crown….until season 5. After I finished watching it, I was left with this unfamiliar feeling of dissatisfaction. I just didn’t feel the way I had after watching previous seasons. When I completed season 5 I looked up some reviews and felt validated that others had noticed this obvious shift in the latest season. This was a great breakdown!!
POLITICS! Dude, you really nailed this one. I was so disappointed but i couldn’t explain why. Other than the obvious excess of Diana/Charles drama (coming from someone that was looking forward to their story!) and the unfortunate miscasting of some characters was kinda distracting too. But yeah the absence of politics hurt the show big time.
I think the problem is that the writers have just been dying to write Diana and wanted to focus on her. Everything that was terrible in season 5 like you said has it's seeds in season 4. They time jumped hastily as possible to maximize the Diana time that missed out so much and rushed through a lot of plot and missed out on decent scenes they would have usually done. My personal opinion is season 4 should have ended with Charles marrying Diana, that we should have lingered more with the Royal Family in the 70s and 80s in the early half of season 4. Princess Anne was almost kidnapped and the Crown never covers this and the effects because they rather see a Princess Anne looking depressed in the background of Charles and Diana's courtship. We never even really get to see Fergie who stirred up so much drama within the family and was Diana's closest friend and ally in the Family as well. If the writers had slowed down built it up a bit more, spent season 5 focusing on the marriage properly and having the finale as 1992. I think the show would have been better off for it, and yeah, we would have gotten probably another couple seasons too.
I think it’s kind of intentional that this season does not revolve around The Queen as directly as so much of the notable events during the 90s did not involve her directly. I think it will wrap back around to her more directly in season 6.
Your review is spot on. The season was remarkable only in how flat it was compared to every other season. In addition, the Charles/Camilla Rehabilitation Tour made this season nothing more than a arm of the Buckingham Palace PR department.
I was so shocked with their sympathetic light for Charles and even giving him credit for his charity organization. But Diana? A huge humanitarian in the 90s her work in the land mines etc? She was known for her work. It's so stupid. I mean c'mon it was just awful. Diana was so busy to say she just hung around a hospital and her apartment all day is so ridiculous there's so much video proof she was incredibly busy it's so bizarre the writers chose to hate on her so much this season. By far my least favorite season. Charles got an interview and a book and it was okay??? Diana's openness about mental health should be praised not portrayed as a monster. It's a much less taboo subject today and we have people like her to thank for that. And calling out Charles on his BS should also be praised.
I think the issue is they thought that all the drama with Charles and Diana would be enough to make for an interesting season and therefore put that at the forefront. But that’s not what we were watching the crown for; if we wanted a recounting of the events we’d watch one of the millions of documentaries made about them. What makes the crown interesting is seeing the reactions and innermost workings of people that are otherwise so removed from us in real life - and that felt like it was missing this season.
The Crown's writing quality heavily decreased since S4, 48:1 just brushes over the scope of what a force of nature Thatcher was, and I'm sure (because she's right-wing) they left so much of her politics out, even her most absurd decisions during the war and taxation in Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland. The artistry left the building during the Balmoral test and its heavy-handed metaphors about the stag. Since season 4, it stopped being The Crown, now it's just "Diana and Charles"
I think it’s portraying how the 1990s was basically a lost and tragic decade for the royal family, there were three divorces, one death of a prominent member, the homestead nearly destroyed, besieged by scandal and love affairs, the 1990s nearly killed the family off. By season 6 it’ll be set in the 2000s which was when the institution got a bit of a reboot, even though it started off with the deaths of Queen Mother and Margaret in 2002, it gave way to William and Harry rising in prominence, Kate Middleton is on the scene during the middle of the decade
That is a good way of looking at it. Albeit, some things they could have played up better, for example Andrew Norton’s book, as it barely had much of impact on the family as it was depicted. Some events shown should’ve had a bit more weight to them.
@@andrewreviews you’re right, my apologies I commented as I paused the video, and it should have been much more dramatic, the 1990s was a trying time for the Royals and the public’s relationship with them, I am British and I remember articles after Diana’s death wanting the entire system abolished! We don’t get this story enough
We do know that we'll see William at university because they've cast an older William and also a Catherine (Kate as was). That's 2001. I assume we'll also see 9/11 and the aftermath. It's not really clear when the show will end, although rumours are it'll be the 2002 Golden Jubilee. 50 years is a nice time to round off and it allows them to cover the deaths of Margaret and the Queen Mother.
I think it was the worst season ever. I was dissapointed... Felt like a different show putting aside the great actors they casted... The reasons? All you pointed out... Good video.
In a way, this season felt MORE political than previous ones -- itself basically a "look how in touch and progressive Charles is" PR piece. There's a reason that doesn't hit us in the feels. It just doesn't ring true.
The thing is, Diana was the crown in the 80's until her death. She was the Crown (the Monarchy not the show), the Cardassians, and Taylor Swift all wrapped in one in terms of how big she was. No one in the public cared about anyone else. Every day papers and TV had at least one story about her. She was viral before viral was a thing. She was caring, accessible and beautiful. Flawed, yes, but aren't we all? She set the monarchy on its collective ear, and no one knew what to do with her. The success they have today with Catherine is primarily due to the lessons learned from Diana, especially by William himself. He protects and helps Catherine more than anyone ever did for Diana. If they had, she may have been alive today.
Not to mention Kate gets away with a lot because of the rebellious nature of Diana and the rules she helped make. I mean the entire reason Kate gets away with doing the bare minimum is because of diana and William.
Without thinking about what should portray the serie due to it's title, I was actually surprised there was not more about Diana in this season. She really was the center of attention and interest during that period of time.
This season was totally dragged out. I was very bored with the main focus being the Charles and Diana. Poor script as well. The production value was great and the acting was pretty good, but this season was style over substance overall.
Oh sure he protects Kate while jumping on Diana's grave calling her paranoid in a latest speech. Fcking traitor he is. And dont get me started on the racism . I dont support Kate theres something fishy about her, im sure she made meghan cry on her wedding day. If the crown didnt protect their white member diana imagine what kind of hell the wrecked on poor Meghan
You have so many great points. The sad thing is that there's a wealth of material here to work with and the show doesn't even give them enough attention. The whole Fergie storyline would have been fascinating as the papers revealed their pictures. Annus Horribilus deserved so much more, the queen is coming across as unimportant and don't even get me started on that stupid Philip affair rubbish. One scene that really stuck with me though was the execution of the Russian Royal family and the cross cutting with the British royals hunting for grouse. That was heart breaking and slightly uncomfortable but very well put together.
There’s an AD for Charles in this season. I had to google to see if the dude “donated” some money to the show creators, because I could not believe how much this show was praising him
I am suprised no one brought up the fact they gave Diana a weird racial fetish towards Pakistani's she never had in real life. And butchered her personality.
The best seasons thus far have been 3 and 4, particularly season 4 with Olivia Coleman playing Queen Elizabeth II and Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher. Josh O'Connor who played the then Prince Charles was phenomenal too. 48:1 is my favorite episode I've watched it many times. Nothing will top that showdown between Margaret Thatcher and the Queen, also the ending where Queen Elizabeth hands Margaret the order of Merit. It was a touching scene which showed how much the two actually respected each other. Great stuff.
This season looks like “corrected”. Good Charles, sort of foolish Diana, better image of Camilla…like beloved supporter of the future king. The script looks like it had been approved…
The older seasons of The Crown were from past decades, many of which are no longer fresh in people's memory. This gave the writers more freedom. The latest season of The Crown is set in the 90s and is relatively still fresh in people's minds. Not to mention Diana was ridiculously popular everywhere. I was a kid from the Philippines in the 90s and any scandal or significant news related to Diana still eclipsed any relevant news. I think the writers felt they didn't have as much liberty to jazz it up considering how well documented it was, lest it be tantamount to complete fictionalization. They'd immediately be called out.
Honestly this season had a lot of issues: Mou Mou being Episode 3 but then almost of all of its events took place during the events of Season 4, a lot of time jumps in the other episodes also made it a little bit confusing, unlike the past 4 seasons where it was directly linear towards the timeline. And surprisingly too we didn't even get to see the Queen that much in this season, considering how she's literally the main character, I understand they wanted to highlight Charles and Diana and other surrounding people, but I feel like some parts especially Princess Margaret's parts were too highlighted in this season, and the Queen got overshadowed so much that it just turned into like a soap drama. Besides that I really love some of the episodes, tbh the time jumps were pretty cool too and some of the acting.
Really good video! I wouldn't go as far as to say it lost it's identity, it was more like the gravity holding it together was too weak. As you said 'it's called The Crown' and all stories should circle back to her. Yes we should explore other characters stories but they should start at Elizabeth, move to other characters, then circle back to Elizabeth. Some of the stories never did which made the show feel ike it's lost it's centre. I was also super excited to see Imelda Staunton's portryal of the Queen, she is someone with gravitas and powerful emotive performances, but she was side-lined by Charles and Diana. The war of the Wales' should've had signifincat screen time but it did seem to dominate the entire series. And as you said in the video 'Annus Horibilis' should've spent way more time on Elizabeth, comparing how the events were affecting her in private and how she behaved in public, it should've been about the strain she was under, evoking the tension of Claire-Foy's-Elizabeth's conversation with Lord Altringham. It ought to have started with her, explored each of her children's relationships, the horror of having those relationships publically discected then culminating with the fire. I am glad we revisited Margret and Peter's lost relationship but it should've gotten it's own episode centered around Elizabeth and Marget's sisterly relationship.
It's interesting to see The Crown's story throughout the 5 seasons reflects a bit of reality. People are charmed by the story of a young princess-turn-Queen in Seasons 1 and 2, see her mature in her role in Seasons 3 and 4, but I think Season 4 shows the decline. We all know that the story of the royals and Diana will come eventually, and I believe what caused this relative drop in quality is the focus on the relationship between Diana and the royal family. One that is all full of controversy and rumours that serve not to move the plot but to frame two parties in a specific (more negative) light.
I also agree the Margaret screen time is way too much. Why is Imelda Stauton under-utilised? Did she charged by word? I like Dominic West’s portrait of Charles but he is not as good as an actor as she is. She and Price can carry the series and they are barely there
The show felt super disjointed. It should have been focused on the down fall of the Queen's childrens' marriages and declining popularity of the monarchy. Impatiev House was all over the place and it felt like it was thrown in there to justify the writers bringing in the Romanovs. Why would Phillip get mad at his wife? He was a pragmatist. Highly doubtful he would have cared, but he definitely would have been fascinated by the science of it all. Margaret and Peter Townsend was rubbish. Margaret was the one who called off their engagement. They had grown apart! She then enjoyed the swinging 60s with a very glamorous crowd. Peter would have bored her! Way too much time spent on that. Margaret should have been a background character this season. And yes, we definitely needed more politics.
just a random thought but imagine how cool it would have been if the writers had actually leaned into some of this stuff, the family realizing their entire existence is a metaphor, different family members repeating the same speech over and over again in increasingly robotic ways, slowly driving the Queen mad and as the Monarchy’s reputation devolves so too does the show’s tone become a deliberate grotesque burlesque of the thoughtful personal drama it once was that externalizes just how far the sham on the Moarchy has fallen… then we could see the directors shaky building up the tone again in coming seasons as the royal family tried to reestablish its hold on the country. The one thing Spencer did quite well was leaning into the Gothic elements gently suggested in Crown S4, I think that movies reads beat as a direct comment on the Crown. but that would have taken some brave filmmaking and with the increasing degree to which this show has been kissing the crown’s backside we couldn’t really expect that could we?
This season suffered a lot from two problems. Firstly, S5 was originally meant to be the last one, but then they chose to split it and it absolutely does feel dragged out and padded, with whole episodes coming across as complete filler. And secondly, WAY TOO MUCH Diana. I get she was more prominent and her name is what attracts the views, but it honestly felt like the Diana Show with some Queen Elizabeth sprinkled in the background.
I loved the first 4 seasons of The Crown. I think I watched them at least 10 times so I was very surprised and confused when season 5 was released. I am more at peace now seeing a whole explanation, pointing out WHY it wasn't as good as the others.
I was actually surprised you didn't mention the extensive coverage of the Al Fayads. I mean I get Dodi is heavily intertwined with Diana but making essentially 2-3 episodes about them is hurting the show. I liked the episodes themselves but especially seeing what was missing in the other episodes as you highlighted in this video, I think it was a mistake to devote so much time to them and to Sidney. Edward the 8th's death was already handled in previous seasons and to devote so much time to it again whilst it had so little influence on the story of the royals was a mistake. This season should have focused on the family drama with divorces, the media backlash, the war of the waleses (much shorter than it was now, involving the Bashir drama is just aiming at getting recency bias points and could have been way shorter) and should have ended with Diana's death. Could have been a banger as well with next season's premier being the fallout the queen and Charles get after it, as well as really starting William's part of the story.
I totally agree on overload metaphors and lacking subtlety points. That was really unfortunate. But other than that, it was still interesting enough. Uneven, yes. Some episodes were better than others, some actors were better than others. But I also think that we all probably expected a little too much - because previous seasons were so good, and we humans get used to good things and want more, more, more! Hence, inevitable disappointment.
I wonder if part of the reason the focus was more on Charles and Diana because Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin were so good and so popular in season 4...
I just finished season 5 and can agree with so much of this! I had high expectations after 4 riveting seasons and was left disappointed. The Queen felt like a side character, I couldn’t connect with her at all. The burning of Windsor castle was a huge missed opportunity! In past seasons there would have been a dramatic scene of how the fire started, staff reactions, priceless furniture going up in flames…instead we view it from tv screens and exterior shots. It’s like they spent less time on these major news events because they assume their audience is old enough to remember when it really happened. So we lose out on all the historical detail that made previous seasons so fascinating.
I would forgive this season, if instead of focusing on Charles/Diana, we actually got to see the Yorks and Anne/Mark Phillips falling out with one another, only to be concluded by Elizabeth heartbreak for her children, in order to deliver why annus horribilis was so devastating to her. If they knew they want romantic drama over politcs, that's the only possible direction to be taken. On the other hand, I was positively surprised by how they handled the story of Mohamed Al-Fayed, because it was promising some type of commentary on Egypt-Britain relationship, post-colonialism and social classes. But then, it ends up being merely excuse for Diana to meet Dodi, because she bonded with his dad, "they're both outsiders, dear viewer, I hope you can see what we're saying here". That's boring and uninspiring, given "Spencer" premiered over a year ago and did a better job at showing Diana's internal conflict and mental issues than 3 seasons of "The Crown" with this character.
The problem is that the 90s was such an infamous decade for the royals. So much happened that the episodes felt stuffy and didn't give time to breathe. All the other seasons managed fine, but this one tried to squeeze so much in. And yes, Johnny Lee Miller managed to bring life to one of the most boring prime ministers the UK has ever elected. I hope he got a good paycheck!
I'm sorry, but I'm not buying this. The Queen's relationships with her ministers have never been THAT interesting to me in this series - aside from her relationship with Margaret Thatcher. I have never regarded them as the center of this series. I have noticed that the only times the media and many viewers have really discussed the Queen's relationship with any of her ministers with such enthusiasm was her conflict with Thatcher in the fourth season. John Lithgow was lucky that he managed to garner some attention in his portrayal of Winston Churchill and win some awards. He certainly wasn't the highlight of Season One for me. Let's face facts, shall we? The current sovereign of Great Britain, namely King Charles, has been outspokenly hostile toward "The Crown" ever since the series introduced Diana, Princess of Wales and his frayed marriage to her. Before Season Five could air, Queen Elizabeth II died, and Dame Judi Dench had decided to express her "outrage" over the series' historical inaccuracies. Worse, Season Five is set between 1991 and 1997, a period in Royal history that depicted the final fall of Charles and Diana's marriage - a fall that included a good deal of the scandals that surrounded the couple's breakup. And a lot of people seemed to have allowed Dench's celebrity and Netflix's willingness to kowtow to the current King's demand of adding a disclaimer, have either questioned the series' historical accuracy or bashing Season Five. And every season of "The Crown" has been a mixture of interesting and dull episodes - including the first two seasons. I'm not buying into this royal hypocrisy. Is Season Five perfect? No. Neither were the other seasons. But the series is still good enough for me to continue watching. More and more, I'm coming to the conclusion that the British Royal Family - and probably a great deal of royalty all over the world - are full of shit.
Yes. Politics. I now realize that's what I loved about this show. From season 1 onwards there was politics, between Churchill and the Queen, the tension between Elizabeth and Margaret, the royal scandal of Peter and Margaret and the public spectacle of it. Then in later seasons, the coal mining disaster which filled an entire episode, the fight between queen and Thatcher, and so much more. Compared to all of that this season just feels like a quick tale of chariot riding, divorce talks and just that.
I always tought the most interesting aspects of the crown were those behind the scenes moments like her and the prime ministers or seen their perspective on such events and this season mainly focused on tired things that have being discussed so many times by the media and by movies and Peter Morgan himself in The Queen so It was a really boring and dull this season especially since they didnt really focus on the Queen
My favourite episode this season was the one with the Romanov story…learned so much from it but also it steered away from the royal family where their stories didn’t seem to be interesting this season
You know this series was bad because I can’t tell you the name of Lizzie’s private secretary- meanwhile Tommy, Michael and Martin are standouts in every scene :(
This season is ultimate Charles and Camilla propaganda. Like. Because Diana is dead they basically showcase her as a manipulative awful person. Her expressions all look like a mockery of her innocence. It was cruel and disgusting. This show had zero respect for her and they truly went out of her way to make her look irrational. Was the team behind blonde involved?
The wost think about this season is Dolores Umbridge. I can't get that image out of my head. I hate her so much. That makes me can't feel anything with The Queen.
I was a big fan of the writing of this show too. It was in that moment, when she said aloud "TV as a metaphor" I knew the quality had dropped. They always were subtle, here they are blunt and direct and obvious.
I AM a Monarchist. But not for the reasons one might assume. To me, they're like watching a train wreck. You try to look away but you can't. So many absurdities about the monarchy. I have like a morbid fascination. They're like the most [in]famous welfare recipient family in history, aren't they? Isn't where they get their riches from the lowly taxpayer, like welfare recipients? Edited: I watched the whole season in one sitting. You're pretty pretty pretty right about it.
Did Diana really hang out at the hospital only to catch the eye of the doc? The way it was filmed, it makes all the rest of her charity work appear insignificant and somewhat insincere as well.
I think the actress who played Princess Diana in this season was excellent!!! she must have studied the Princess very closely, because she has her down pat🇨🇦
It did seem as if they were struggling for storyline. Which was odd. There were noticeable differences in quality and I think you nailed the reasons. That I wasn’t finding words for.
This is such a great analysis of The Crown’s problems. You’re definitely right in saying the lack of politics completely threw the show off; the main issue I had with Season Five was that Morgan went overboard and obsessively focused on the personal conflicts of the royals. Past seasons were so successful at creating drama because they balanced the personal events with the political (Churchill vs Eden, Suez, the Profumo Affair, Aberfan, the devaluation of the pound, The IRA, Falklands, Miners’ Strike, South African Apartheid). The royals in this season seem to exist in a vacuum to the political world, when the early-mid 90s is sometimes viewed as one of the most turbulent periods in British politics. The 1992 Black Wednesday financial disaster pretty much killed off John Major’s Conservatives within months of being re-elected, then an obscene amount of government sleaze scandals followed. The reputation the Conservatives had built as economically competent, morally sound protectors of British values was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, the Labour Party drastically modernised itself and finally became a credible alternative to the Conservatives. If Morgan wanted to depict struggles between the royal family’s “old guard” and the “modernisers”, the comparisons between them and the two main political parties are open goals. But no… instead we got overloaded metaphors about a ship that no one’s really interested in, and a gratuitous episode about the Romanovs that (in my opinion) while has a baseline of truth, melds a significant amount of melodrama into it that I for one found frustrating. People were interested in watching the 90s unfold on screen because they remember those times so vividly. Britain was trying to modernise and become “Cool Britannia”. People were seriously questioning whether a new Britain needed a millennia-old monarchy. By neglecting the importance of the political backdrop, Morgan dampens the gravitas of the royal scandals that do happen. This is really disappointing considering how many opportunities there were for Morgan could have used to hammer home his point about the royal family being dangerously out of touch: Philip vocally opposed the banning of handguns after the horrific Dunblane massacre, causing significant amount of controversy as Dunblane was one of the few times Major’s Conservatives and Blair’s Labour united to pass bills to make the ownership of handguns illegal. Contrast this with Diana trying to get involved with the government-in-waiting New Labour in the year or so before her death; could have posed interesting questions on a royal’s commitment to political impartiality and how that changes once they are no longer a member of “the firm”. I’m a fan of Morgan’s work: he knows how to create intriguing real-life drama and handle some incredibly difficult topics. The Crown is not his most controversial work by any means. However, he’s really bottled it this season and has essentially turned the show into a soap opera. Fingers crossed next season will find its spark again.
@@namyashah2096 Aye I could have worded that part significantly better (amended it now so it better represents my point). What I meant was that there were no negotiations between Yeltsin and the Queen about the Romanovs. She did not go to Russia primarily for them/Yeltsin’s “promise”, as the series suggests. Her state visit was seen as a reparation of East-West relations and a signalling of the end of the Cold War. Yeltsin also wanted her visit to improve trade relations between Russia and the West. The drama about remains of the Romanovs and subsequent DNA investigation/discovery was a consequence of the royals’ visit state rather than the cause of it. This distinction irked me, but I can understand why it wouldn’t irk others, so each to their own on that one ig. However, there is still a hyper-fixation on the personal and unlike previous seasons, the ramifications of the totemic events depicted for the general public/political scene are barely portrayed. The discovery of the Romanovs was a huge event both inside and outside Russia. Granted, the Romanovs themselves were buried in 1998 (but Morgan has used fast-forwards in chronology before, i.e. Dear Mrs Kennedy). Unfortunately that does not take away from the fact that the episode neglects the controversy the identification of the remains caused: the Russian Orthodox Church famously refused to accept the findings, driving a wedge between them and Yeltsin. The funeral itself was hugely divisive: the Russian people were split between saying the funeral wasn’t grand enough for a past royal family and blaming Yeltsin for being far too accommodating to the British, and by association the political West. It was a reputation that stuck to him… we all know who his successor was. If you’re going to do an episode about the discovery of the Romanovs, fine. However, using it to further beat the audience over the head about the Penny Knatchbull psychodrama when we’ve already been over the possibility Philip’s infidelity in past seasons crashes the show into soap-opera territory. The primary point that Morgan neglects politics for overblown personal drama still stands.
Sadly I have to agree. There was something just not right about the season. Not so much with the actors but more with the story and scripts. I hate to see this wonderful series end on a low note and only hope that the final season will be outstanding
In season 1, whether it was queen Mary talking about THE Queen, or Churchill realizing he has gotten old while having his 80th birthday portrait done There was a certain subtlety, and it was more show not tell. Whereas this season it just lost its flair
You were so spot on when it came to the politics question. The show no longer felt like The Crown when it had dropped so many types of scenes that we got before. I had felt this way right from the start but didn't want to say anything to upset the die-hard fans haha. From one side, I could see how the removal of some parts of the show such as politics or the dramatisation of events that was shown as a result of that could make sense given this season was supposed to focus on different aspects but I definitely think it could have been written differently.
There should have been an episode dedicated to Margret and Anne, it would've been great to watch the dynamic of the two women in that episode. Margret and Peter's love story was a guilt trip for Elizabeth to revisit which is why she granted Anne permission to marry Timothy, if that could've been written better, it would've been more impactful. For some reason, Mohammed Al-Fayed was more interesting than all the Royals this season. Sydney's episode was wonderfully done. Not to mention the tampon gate scene was legit funny with all the reactions. I hope the final season is well done and features more of the queen and closes off in a powerful way just as it started.
i had to stop watching halway through because it was so obviously trying to paint diana in a bad light and criticise the things the public loved about her
I did not like season 5! Had Diana crying all the time and lost! When her mo good husband was with the Rottweiler she was doing charity work all over the world 🌎 if season 6 is the same I won't watch! Charles was cheating all the time and they got him and The Rottweiler as victims and Diana as a psycho. When she knew what was going on! I rather look at the documentaries!
I thought I was alone in this. I didn’t really pay that much attention to the real life royals but The Crown drew me in from day 1. I was so excited for season 5 that I spent all of October rewatching the first 4 seasons. After watching the first 4 episodes of this new season, I just stopped and convinced myself that I wanted to prolong this season because like with every show that I love, I don’t want it to end. Turns out it’s just because I wasn’t feeling it. There, I said it. Maybe this revelation will give me the energy to finish watching the rest. 😅
I’m mad that they just BLEW past the ‘revenge dress’ moment. In the old crown treatment, we would have seen a whole montage of her wearing the dress, and some closeups of the dress and her face, a dramatic feel to it. Here it was 3 shots of her walking out of her car, and walking into the building. I was like bro what???
yesssss. and maybe even like the moment when she decides on the dress, even. i read somewhere that Diana had originally planned a different dress for that event, but it got leaked to the press so she chose the iconic revenge dress (which made for excellent fashion statement too given Camillagate). now i don't know if that's actually acrophyl, cause it HAS been a while and i don't remember the source, but if it WERE true it would've made for great drama and build up to the revenge dress reveal. but as you say they blew right past it.
Omg yes! I was so excited for the revenge dress. There should have been an entire episode of build up to it
Literally so much material and we get stifled
I feel like there’s more at play. They had to reel back. For obvious reasons.
there would have been press coverage, reactions of the family at her wearing such a non-conservative dress, i'm actually still fuming about it
I think that it´s interesting how for season 2 and 3 for example, that center around decades in which not many relevant things happened inside the Royal Family, the writers had to squeeze out drama, emotion and storytelling to tell actual powerful and appealing stories. While for this season, that takes place in the most discussed, chaotic and controversial decade for the family, and where the script seemed to be basically writing by itself... they decided to tone it down in sake of keeping some discretion. In previous seasons the writers were able to make a royal going to walk their dog feel as something powerful and symbolic... Here they somehow made a year where the royal residence was burned down and the family was split into three divorces... feel uninteresting and like not much was happening.
Yes
Also the first four seasons took place in a time frame most people who are watching the show either were not alive for or were too young to remember or care about the Royal Family at all. The last two seasons, most of the viewers will remember the events, if not fully, then have a remembrance of them and it is not anything new to see.
perhaps a bit close for comfort
Let's be honest. The royal divorces were not Interesting. Just plain boring.
they just whine in this season ...it's all whining
and who cares if Charles feels purposeless
Season 5 failed to connect with my emotions as an audience. At least with the earlier seasons, I was able to empathize with the characters; I believed their struggles and sacrifices. But with this season, I felt nothing. Moumou and Sydney's episode was the highlight for me.
And that episode with the divorce of Charles and Diana, had like three other couples that could've just been one. They dragged it on and on and I ended up skipping those parts cuz like we get it now stop repeating it 🥲
That episode connecting w you tells me a lot about you ngl 😬
@@mlw9195 really? like what? go ahead, judge me from a comment i made on the internet. yikes
I loved that episode as well. At first I was like: Why is there even an episode about Mohamed?!?!?! I wish they elaborated more on Dodi and Diana's relationship too.
If liked the Moumou episode, you should check out this video. Very interesting.
th-cam.com/video/uE9DHKycdMk/w-d-xo.html
My biggest disappoint in this season is actually Diana. This was THE season for her because it was around the time when she regains her strenght & voice and starts to flash out her identity and power - as shown by her actions and her fashion choices at this time. Instead we got her crying and sad and while that is a part of her story by no means it is all of it. I would have loved to see her smashing tea cups as apparently she did after her divorce was through 😂 I think it would have been so much intriguing seeing her gaining more & more power and confidence and clashing with the old system. Dont get me wrong - Elizabeth was very very good but I expected so much more....
Agreed! Where is all the Humanitarian work she didn’t in the year she was due west from that loser who the fuck wants him as king old washed up hag
Maybe it’s time for Camilla to get her fucking teeth fixed no one wants her as a queen she’s a loser who is a disgusting piece of shit
Elizabeth was a great choice, it's the writers who did her dirty, lol
I agree. The writing in this season is atrocious.
They made her the antagonist here.
There was a 4 year age difference between Elizabeth & Margaret, so why does Margaret look (appropriately) like she's in her 60s, while QE2 looks like she's in her 80s already?
Yes, and Margaret is the one with the health problems and dies soon too, making it more ridiculous.
Prince Philip also looks way too old for the early 1990s. He didn't look like that until the mid-2000s or so.
Grey hair?
@@halfbakedproductions7887 Jonathan Pryce is 75. Philip was 75 in 1996. I think he looked close enough.
Margaret looks old, it is just her hair colour.
Agreed. I also feel the cinematography was meh this season. Nothing will compare to the young princes Margret era!! Her episodes were just gorgeous. I felt the characters seemed so... different from the previous seasons. It was jarring. Not because they changed actors but because the dialogue made it so. I'm like where did y'all's personalities go wtf I'm so so disappointed with this season but I will stick with the series lol!!
A very good point on cinematography! In certain scenes, it felt like it wasn't as high-quality, it just wasn't as glamorous as the previous seasons, yet I don't really see anyone bringing it up. Certain shots also look a bit meh.
I think it has everything to do with the changing of actors. The guy playing Charles is NOTHING even similar to the real Charles
I think it was also casting choices. The actors who played Philip and Charles did very little to inhabit their roles. No one is say mimic - all the other actors did so much more than 'mimic' but they definitely inhabited the role through their physicality (posture) and their voice (the rhythm and cadence of Philip and Charles's speech). The actors playing Phillip and Charles in S5 just didn't seem to bother?? I know each actor wants to make their own mark, do their own interpretation but to be cognizant of the other actors' performances so that you at least carry forward a little bit of their flavour into your own performance so that the audience think 'Aha, this is a continuation of the same character I saw in S4' etc.
They felt grumpy as hell this season
he is too handsome to play Charles…and it seems they wanted to rehabilitate him after being ao harah against him in season 4…he was an asshole then, not he is pretty much Mother teresa who will revoltionize the monarchy
By the end of the season I couldn't wash away that feeling of "Did I just watch a 10 episode PR stunt to make Charles look good or did I watch The Crown?" 🤨
Exactly!
to be fair season 4 made charles look pretty bad
I think it makes both Charles and Diana look like people…
totally!!!!
I cant even see the actor as Charles. Strange that everyone else just feels like their real counterpart, but they got a much more attractive and sympathetic person - who looks absolutely nothing like Charles - to play the character 🤣Truly PR at its best loll
What I think has really changed is the Queen’s response to divorce. Both Claire Foy and Olivia Colman were given dramatic monologues showing how stern she was in her beliefs. Imelda Staunton spent the whole season making grumpy faces and letting people divorce and remarry as they wish. We’d call that inconsistent writing if this wasn’t based on truth. But a whole episode could have revolved around what seems to be an evolution.
I dislike the royals, but the crown has the TIGHTEST grip on my attention. Unfortunately, this season was a let down, Lizzie definitely lost her shine a lil bit, and having Charles as the center of the narrative was a struggle. I did like the Fayeds and Diana. Those were the highlights.
I missed strong Elizabeth
Oh, I don’t have the biggest sympathy for them, either, and I think the Crown is actually doing them a lot of favors. Very true about losing its shine, but here is to hoping season 6 will end with a bang.
They should have used the younger Charles and make him look older. The guy playing him here looks and acts like a completely different character
I was so horribly disappointed with this season. After four great ones this was a real let down. I’m no fan of the Royals in general but it put them in the worst possible light-so entitled and spoiled. I miss a lot of historical events it used to cover. I hope season 6 it can redeem itself.
The Fayed story line was one of my faves. I totally did not expect it, and at first I was a bit like, neh....but then I started to enjoy it and got right into it. He is an interesting and very complicated person in both good and bad ways when you look into him a little. I felt I got to know who Dodi was a bit too. Which makes me feel better about the events of her death.
Season 5 had its moments, but unfortunately, I have to agree. If it's not the worst, it surely is the most boring season so far. Thanks for this video; it articulated my feelings about S5.
if it's not the worst ?
oh definitely head and shoulders the worst
😂
i think the first 3 were very good
and season 4 had some good things
Felt like they were going through the motions....
I was so disappointed, too. The first two episodes felt like they were introducing the characters of a show and at this point, darlings, I've spent hundreds of hours watching and rewatching the first 4 seasons, I've got this, get to the point. Agree with you on Elisabeth being almost a sidekick and too much focus on Charles & Diana. Though I must say Elizabeth Debicki got Dianas voice and manners perfectly! Also I think Olivia Colman as the Queen was SO great it's very, very difficult to live up to that..
I am so glad that someone else enjoyed Olivia's portrayal, too! I hold the unpopular opinion that she is very underrated in this show, I thoroughly enjoyed her performance as the Queen.
I myself didn’t care for the Diane actress’ portrayal of the princess. I felt like she was mimicking her. Disappointing and rather disrespectful.
@@clairelariviere3122 I agree to a point, but for me the voice, the speaking was spot on.
@@jaakkomakinen3047 yes it’s a bit creepy. I find the facial expressions and eye gazing are similar but too much. Diana had far more pictures with a neutral expression or a smile. I guess I feel it’s more of a caricature. To be honest I’m not enjoying season 5 at all. I5s l find it lacklustre somehow in my opinion. I really loved Olivia Coleman as the Queen and can’t quite pivot to the new on3 although she as well is a superb actress.
I always thought Colman was miscast…didn't look remotely to the queen. there is nothing about Colman aristocratic, even in his playing
I was very disappointed in this watered down season of the show that I fell in love with. It was almost painful getting through each episode.
It was all over the place but so so so slow at the same time . I was having trouble getting through the episodes myself.
Same I just slugged through it hoping things would get better and it never did
Exactly how I felt! I remember I devoured the first four seasons but this one took me a whole month to watch ):
@@angelicalartista , 100% agree with you
West and Pryce were miscast. Totally didn’t buy them as Charles and Phillip. Staunton was one dimensional and emotionless.
Yep
West didn't look or sound like Charles. That incarnation of Prince Philip also looks too old for the time period.
I have a couple of theories on why the season lost it’s spark a bit:
-the royal family and all media loyal to them have their eyes tightly drawn at the series, and maybe peter morgan knew he had to downplay the drama and make charles look as good as possible as he would become king in the next few years (which turned out to be very true and recent)
-I felt like some episodes were missing some parts or scenes felt stripped, and it’s very possible that the queen’s death and charles’s claim to the throne meant that some scenes had to be edited or cut entirely because they would spark unbecoming controversy for the new king or the late queen
-I also noticed how there’s no new main soundtrack and a lack of major beautiful scenery, like there was a smaller budget or something so maybe they are saving money so they can fully expand the drama in the next season (probably on diana’s death scene at least)
I heard that Diana’s death won’t even be depicted, “out of respect”
idk how the lack of budget can explain all the flashback moments in the show tho. but i agree with your points, i feel like there was definitely pressure from the RF and the queen's death to be more tame this season
The show brings balance to all characters. Nor hero or villain, nor protagonist or antagonist. Everything about causes and effects.
I also felt that there’s a smaller budget
If you also noticed, they toned down Philip too,
In earlier seasons he was more arrogant and stubborn
I've been looking for a review vid like this, thanks so much. This season felt like Peter Morgan went back and did a last minute panic rewrite; there was no pacing or rhythm, some plotlines lasted all of 2 or 3 scenes while others dragged on and on. At least in S4 peripheral characters like Margaret had an entire episode dedicated to them, and hers was especially powerful. But by S5 she was just wedged in there. I also hated the way the writers handled Diana's relationship with Dr. Hasnat. They truly loved each other, Diana met his family and there was talk of marriage but the media and their dramatically different lives made it impossible. He never ghosted her, they broke up. Dodi was Diana's summer rebound from that relationship.
There was so much potential for storytelling with this season! Especially with your point about Margaret. As I understand it, she had a bond with Diana until Diana did the book / interview, at which point Margaret didn’t approve of her revealing family secrets (I mean Charles did too, Margot?). Imagine if they had taken the time to build that story up? I don’t understand why they go for inaccurate dramatizations and made-up storylines that add nothing to the plot. Like Prince Philip having an intellectual affair over carriage riding, for instance… like, what?
My biggest issues were:
1. Weak representation and storyline for the queen, like you build her up to this great character for the past 4 seasons only to give the audience 1 or 2 momentous scenes for her this season
2. Charles and Camilla being portrayed as the real victims and diana being a childish vindictive woman. Like yeah diana had her issues with manipulation but like Charlie and Camilla are no victims here or star crossed lovers they literally married other people and made decisions to benefit themselves for the time being and then committed adultery when they thought they were secure.
3. Zero emphasis on Fergie and Andrew which plays a huge role in the queen's life and how the royals are seen today.
4. Anne was a huge plus point in early seasons but her being portrayed as someone who cheers for her brother's adultery and getting 1 big scene didn't sit right with me. For 1 Anne was the best character in season 4 because she seemed to be the only one in the loop but also someone who seemed to know right from wrong but here she is telling her brother it's cute that he's cheating with his ex girlfriend on his current wife and the mother to her nephews. Ew.
I feel like the creator of the crown made last minute changes to appeal to the institution now because of the new leadership, ans that hurt the storyline. I literally went back in Netflix for season 5 after canceling my subscription 5 months ago, but I won't be doing that for season 6 anymore.
I dont mind not seeing alot of Andrew also Anne has always been pro Charles and Camilla since they were friends from way back and as equally annoyed that Charles is not allowed to marry his first love in the first place. Plus she has the same sentiments as the queen in terms of Diana. A nuisance. The only royal family who was some empathy to Diana is Prince Philip.
@@meia1855 Frankly, Diana was probably the best thing to happen to the RF. Their relevance and PR did extremely well when Diana was alive. Anne was actually more annoyed by Diana for the very same reason her husband was, which was that she was more popular than any of them. The queen actually sympathized with Diana, even after her divorce there are letters to and from the queen to Diana regarding the children and just life. She did distance herself from her, but had the queen intervened and made Charles understand the qualities of leadership, which starts from how you handle your family and personal life, Diana probably wouldn't have been a nuisance, but to the RF anything that doesn't work in their favor is a nuisance, even if they are morally wrong.
You might want to try season 6 by next year if ever so lets not assume that (they better make season 6 better this time )
Exactly ! They portrayed Charles and Cowmilla as victims like what the actual ????? The only victim was Diana and she was portrayed so badly for giving the interview ! And for a sec I sympathized with Charles and COWmilla and then I realized how bad this season is !
lol, diana was no victim either
As soon as episode 1 started and the Queen popped out, something didn’t feel right. I’m highly disappointed. We waited to so long and literally got nothing.
She just didn’t work as the queen
Yes!! And I felt the same, even the choice of the Player almost instantly felt wrong. Some of the other Main Characters were a poor selection.
Charles didn't work, and neither did Philip as well as quite a few of the lesser Characters.
charles' insecurities and jealousy suddenly vanished although his mother still doesn't let him have a say, diana's fire and life changing charity work were doused with water, and anne's snark turned to essentially "i think it's cute you said you wanted to be camilla's tampon charles. both of you are just middle aged people in love." they wanted to appease charles so much that season 5 became a snooze feast. the damn brittanica had more character than the characters this season! i feel like we were promised the oncoming storm from the season 4 finale but the "war of the wales" felt more like a schoolyard fight, not a war. who knew they'd make annus horibilis so boring?? i ended up not sympathizing with the queen cause i didn't feel the gravity of the challenging situations she went through. what a let down!
I'm going to say something that might be unpopular. I think in addition to bad writing the casting for this new season is generally very bad. I really dislike Imelda Staunton in this role. We got very spoiled with 4 amazing seasons with Claire Foy and Olivia Coleman at the helm. I might go so far as to suggest all the casting except maybe Diana is a severe downgrade. Idk.....the whole season was pretty disappointing considering how long we had to wait for it.
Not unpopular with me, within one episode I was so disappointed in the casting , Charles and Phillip don't even have the voices they should....very disappointing
I think Dominic West is a fantastic actor (The Wire is one of my favorite shows)…but he was not a good Charles. Especially coming off of the heels of Josh O'Connor, who absolutely nailed the role.
@@reikun86 Dominic West is generally superb, his Fred West in appropriate adult was just amazing
@@marcraygun6290 Ooh. I haven't watched Appropriate Adult yet, but thank you for the recommendation.
Agreed, also Tobias Menzies has such an aura on screen, he was a great choice for Prince Phillip in season 3 and 4.
Funny how the most compelling storyline to me was of Mohamed Al Fayes aka Mou Mou. Like how did some side character who didn’t even get that much screen time became my favourite in a show that’s called The Crown that she supposed to be about the royals smh
True. But now when I look back, I find all episodes including ex king edward and wallis very interesting.
I absolutely agree. Somehow Mohammed and his eventually friendship with Diana was the only thing that truly captured me. The rest felt a bit lifeless at times
Really? I skipped that episode. It was so boring and random.
A big issue I had was this season revisited issues that alrdy had enough focus, coverage and closure, so it was like beating up a dead horse. Like Margaret throwing a tantrum about her lost love in youth felt forced during the ep of the fire or the marital struggles Elizabeth and Phillip had in their youth mostly seemed resolved but is brought up again in the Russian ep just for additional tension. So for it's 5th season I was anticipating new issues, new challenges, new content but we got lower quality story telling of older topics re-used
they managed to make diana look whiny, childish, and almost unlikeable at times, i felt more pity for charles and camilla watching it, i also felt like that now that the series caught up with the modern image of the queen and the royal family that most of us have they are kind of afraid to show the queen as a more open and vulnrelable person, like they want to respect her more but in a way that made her more distant like watching her irl through the news, as opposed to the other seasons where you felt part of their actual life.
Completely agree about Diana's portrayal. Her every word an action was steeped in pettiness, being inappropriate, childish and whiny. It was upsetting to see this be showcased as opposed to the kind humble, generous behavior that earned her her "QUEEN OF HEARTS" nickname.....it almost felt the writers were on a mission to make diana look as bad as possible and Charles and camilla innocent, loved starved amd always behaving and handling every situation perfectly appropriately, while CrAzY Di over here behaved like a 15 year going through her first heartbreak.
Very disappointing.
@@AllyC23 I also thought it was poor taste when Diana was ogling the doctor, while her acupuncturist was worried sick over her husband's surgery.
@@AllyC23 Exactly! I totally agree with you and the OP about Diana's portrayal... just wanna make clear I will _never_ feel "pity" for Charles & Camilla (bleccchhh! 😝), no matter how much the writers seemed to try to elicit that response lol!
Tho, if the writers wanted me to feel sympathy for Charles, they shouldn't have shown him try to usurp his own mother's power as queen!
@@Jimmy1982Playlists same.
I can't like or respect them or their relationship in ANY WAY.
They behaved and handled things 100% the wrong way once charles and diana married.
That's because she was a whiny, childish person, babe.
The Crown perfectly set up every character, every action - all leading leading up to this decade that was the most scandalous, captivating modern era we’ve known. And yet this season fumbled every character, completely retconned all their personalities, and managed to make them and the decade downright boring! I can’t believe the show went through nearly the whole decade and somehow it felt like an uneventful week, month at best.
I know the show is fiction very loosely based on fact, but some of the casting feels like a Bizarro time travel situation where someone stepping on a butterfly made Charles this flippant, rakish lothario who is unidentifiable to his season 3-4 self, and the Queen Mother an actual alternate reality character.
Omggggg, don’t beg me started on the Queen Mother. The casting changes from season to season feel so jarring
i’m so surprised they’re glossing over the troubles. it was reduced to a throw away line in john major’s last meeting with the queen.
"John Major" was very unconvincing and there were a lot of legendary moments in the real John Major's tenure which could have been addressed. He just felt like an NPC passing in the night and didn't get enough attention.
Tony Blair also appeared from nowhere. It was never explained who he was, how he came to be Labour leader (that's key) or how he got such a huge landslide.
@@halfbakedproductions7887 I would've giggled if they got Michael Sheen to play Tony Blair...again.
@@reikun86 I did wonder if they would...
..but Michael Sheen has probably aged out of playing that character now.
I agree with you. Season 5 is so different and worse in comparison with the earlier seasons. It's like a soap opera now and no episode caught my attention good enough.
True! It was difficult for me to pay proper attention to every episode
I checked theothers season in one sitting… this one, I don't care….the only episode who seems to remind me the old ones is the one about Russia…the scene between the queen and the young woman about the choice of her grandmother was amazing, well-act by Staunton…we felt the autorithy
I agree with your review completely. After finishing this season, I was left feeling like it was unsatisfactory or incomplete and couldn't exactly put my finger on it. You detailed it beautifully.
I spent a lot of this season going, "Didn't this show used to be able Elizabeth?" She was completely irrelevant to half the episodes.
Claire Foy showed us the creation of Elisabeth's identity as the Queen, Olivia Colman made a great story about what the crown really means and the last season was the crown drowning, but Imelda Stauton SOMEHOW keeping it alive.
I feel like Imelda Staunton doesn't like the Queen, and writers cannot imagine the personality that the Queen was. Let's remember that the Queen was someone who signed up for skits with James Bond and Paddington, where is that whimsy in Imelda's portrayal of the Queen?
Claire Foy was the only one who got it right, in my opinion.
The closer The Crown gets to modern times, the less I care at all about the storylines and characters. I was also so BORED on the time wasted on the background of Dodi's family. Who cares?
I think you hit a lot of good points. There was something a little off about season 5. The queen was portrayed more negatively than before and with less nuance. I feel we would have seen her discussing Fayed with her sister and mother and giving us some reasons for the snub in earlier seasons. Instead she just seems kind of racist. She and Philip are almost estranged in this season and their relationship was such a key part of earlier seasons. Diana was a bit of a cipher - Debicki is uncanny in resemblance but the script leaves too much up to us to interpret her character. Is she a manipulative attention hog or a lost soul unable to cope? What about all of her charity work and some more establishing what a huge celebrity she was. Charles was cast too handsome and had a very different vibe than real Charles as well as previous actor. The pacing was odd as well. Maybe since I lived through this time I felt it didn’t really show it like it was. Oh well, overall this season is better than a lot of other television but not a high watermark for the Crown.
She is racist tho
I suggest _Ipatiev House_ was the best episode this season. Apparently, real life never lent itself to negotiations between the Queen and Boris Yeltsin with regard to the burial of the Romanovs, but that is one instance of creative liberty that I can appreciate. It certainly made for a decently emotional aspect in an otherwise boring season. I could not believe I was looking forward to Diana's death. Perhaps that is because I am more fascinated by the interesting events in history to which the Royal Family is intimately linked, than by the drama that was the relationship between Charles and Diana.
I agree, this was my favorite episode of the season. It was also the most Queen-centric episode this year
The opening scene of the episode was intense and very well done.
this episode is one those rare instances where western media gave superb representation to an element of Russian history from start to finish, they nailed everything, from Tsarina’s German accent in Russian to the gloomy future of Russian democracy and ofc ppl speaking actual real Russian that I as a native speaker not only understood but recognized as natural and appropriate
the only inaccurate detail was that the queen’s interpreter in Buckingham palace made an inexplicable choice to mistranslate yeltsin’s words
All the characters had so much personality in previous seasons, even the characters who were barely in it. They were all very well-developed, full characters, and they felt like real people.
This season, most important characters feel very hollow and flat. Even if they're on screen a lot, it takes me a few seconds to recognise them. No disrespect to the actors, but I feel like some of the actors are too old to be playing some of the characters. Charles just feels too mature, and I keep getting Anne and Margaret mixed up, which hasn't happened with me in previous seasons.
The thing I hate most is that Philip and Anne are a lot less sharp and witty. They've lost so much sparkle this season, it's disappointing. I loved seeing those two and Charles on screen before, but this season is disappointing.
The season finale wasn't much of a finale. I hadn't even realised I'd finished the season until netflix started playing trailers instead of episodes. Season 5 was such a let down. I hope season 6 is better.
Hardly noticed this season, felt like literally nothing happened 🤷♀️
i started watching the crown just to get to the diana part of the story but instead fell in love with the first two seasons and its characters. especially the queen and the duke. the actors were so phenomenal in making their actions and behaviour natural. we felt their feelings and got mad at their mistakes and actions.
i was so excited to get to s5 to see how they'd show the diana story and i ended up watching it at 2x speed cause i just wanted to get it over with. there was so much drama and crying and shouting. i missed the politics and personality in the show so much! mou mou brought the fun back in the show even though it was very brief.
Wait until Season 6 where they put Diana as a ghost in some scenes 💀
I’m from the future who just watched season 6 and oh boy do I have something to tell you.
That was such a bizarre decision. I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable watching it.
@@Ahoykatieeeright! Like they didn’t do that with King George’s ghost speaking to Elizabeth.
Thank you for methodically articulating everything I was feeling about this season. I LOVED The Crown….until season 5. After I finished watching it, I was left with this unfamiliar feeling of dissatisfaction. I just didn’t feel the way I had after watching previous seasons. When I completed season 5 I looked up some reviews and felt validated that others had noticed this obvious shift in the latest season. This was a great breakdown!!
POLITICS! Dude, you really nailed this one. I was so disappointed but i couldn’t explain why. Other than the obvious excess of Diana/Charles drama (coming from someone that was looking forward to their story!) and the unfortunate miscasting of some characters was kinda distracting too. But yeah the absence of politics hurt the show big time.
The way they framed Diana’s suspicions of being spied-on as impossible and framing her as delusional felt… like a choice.
Great actors, bad casting and a wrong script results in an unexpectedly bad season.
I think the problem is that the writers have just been dying to write Diana and wanted to focus on her. Everything that was terrible in season 5 like you said has it's seeds in season 4. They time jumped hastily as possible to maximize the Diana time that missed out so much and rushed through a lot of plot and missed out on decent scenes they would have usually done. My personal opinion is season 4 should have ended with Charles marrying Diana, that we should have lingered more with the Royal Family in the 70s and 80s in the early half of season 4. Princess Anne was almost kidnapped and the Crown never covers this and the effects because they rather see a Princess Anne looking depressed in the background of Charles and Diana's courtship. We never even really get to see Fergie who stirred up so much drama within the family and was Diana's closest friend and ally in the Family as well. If the writers had slowed down built it up a bit more, spent season 5 focusing on the marriage properly and having the finale as 1992. I think the show would have been better off for it, and yeah, we would have gotten probably another couple seasons too.
I think it’s kind of intentional that this season does not revolve around The Queen as directly as so much of the notable events during the 90s did not involve her directly. I think it will wrap back around to her more directly in season 6.
Your review is spot on. The season was remarkable only in how flat it was compared to every other season. In addition, the Charles/Camilla Rehabilitation Tour made this season nothing more than a arm of the Buckingham Palace PR department.
I was so shocked with their sympathetic light for Charles and even giving him credit for his charity organization. But Diana? A huge humanitarian in the 90s her work in the land mines etc? She was known for her work. It's so stupid. I mean c'mon it was just awful. Diana was so busy to say she just hung around a hospital and her apartment all day is so ridiculous there's so much video proof she was incredibly busy it's so bizarre the writers chose to hate on her so much this season. By far my least favorite season. Charles got an interview and a book and it was okay??? Diana's openness about mental health should be praised not portrayed as a monster. It's a much less taboo subject today and we have people like her to thank for that. And calling out Charles on his BS should also be praised.
100% agree. But if you feel this way, season 6 will piss you off even more. I highly suggest skipping it altogether. It was terrible beyond words.
I think the issue is they thought that all the drama with Charles and Diana would be enough to make for an interesting season and therefore put that at the forefront. But that’s not what we were watching the crown for; if we wanted a recounting of the events we’d watch one of the millions of documentaries made about them. What makes the crown interesting is seeing the reactions and innermost workings of people that are otherwise so removed from us in real life - and that felt like it was missing this season.
The Crown's writing quality heavily decreased since S4, 48:1 just brushes over the scope of what a force of nature Thatcher was, and I'm sure (because she's right-wing) they left so much of her politics out, even her most absurd decisions during the war and taxation in Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland.
The artistry left the building during the Balmoral test and its heavy-handed metaphors about the stag.
Since season 4, it stopped being The Crown, now it's just "Diana and Charles"
Glad to see I’m not the only one who felt really underwhelmed by Season 5
I think it’s portraying how the 1990s was basically a lost and tragic decade for the royal family, there were three divorces, one death of a prominent member, the homestead nearly destroyed, besieged by scandal and love affairs, the 1990s nearly killed the family off.
By season 6 it’ll be set in the 2000s which was when the institution got a bit of a reboot, even though it started off with the deaths of Queen Mother and Margaret in 2002, it gave way to William and Harry rising in prominence, Kate Middleton is on the scene during the middle of the decade
That is a good way of looking at it. Albeit, some things they could have played up better, for example Andrew Norton’s book, as it barely had much of impact on the family as it was depicted. Some events shown should’ve had a bit more weight to them.
@@andrewreviews you’re right, my apologies I commented as I paused the video, and it should have been much more dramatic, the 1990s was a trying time for the Royals and the public’s relationship with them, I am British and I remember articles after Diana’s death wanting the entire system abolished! We don’t get this story enough
Don’t worry, mate, all good
We do know that we'll see William at university because they've cast an older William and also a Catherine (Kate as was). That's 2001. I assume we'll also see 9/11 and the aftermath.
It's not really clear when the show will end, although rumours are it'll be the 2002 Golden Jubilee. 50 years is a nice time to round off and it allows them to cover the deaths of Margaret and the Queen Mother.
@@halfbakedproductions7887 I think it may also show the wedding of Charles and Camilla in 2005 but who knows...
I think it was the worst season ever. I was dissapointed... Felt like a different show putting aside the great actors they casted...
The reasons? All you pointed out... Good video.
Thank you for your feedback!
In a way, this season felt MORE political than previous ones -- itself basically a "look how in touch and progressive Charles is" PR piece. There's a reason that doesn't hit us in the feels. It just doesn't ring true.
The thing is, Diana was the crown in the 80's until her death. She was the Crown (the Monarchy not the show), the Cardassians, and Taylor Swift all wrapped in one in terms of how big she was. No one in the public cared about anyone else. Every day papers and TV had at least one story about her. She was viral before viral was a thing. She was caring, accessible and beautiful. Flawed, yes, but aren't we all? She set the monarchy on its collective ear, and no one knew what to do with her. The success they have today with Catherine is primarily due to the lessons learned from Diana, especially by William himself. He protects and helps Catherine more than anyone ever did for Diana. If they had, she may have been alive today.
Not to mention Kate gets away with a lot because of the rebellious nature of Diana and the rules she helped make. I mean the entire reason Kate gets away with doing the bare minimum is because of diana and William.
@@kanamenoname210Nah, Kate is just a lazy opportunist we all know it, but Camilla and Charles are worse nobody has time for Katy Waity
Without thinking about what should portray the serie due to it's title, I was actually surprised there was not more about Diana in this season. She really was the center of attention and interest during that period of time.
This season was totally dragged out. I was very bored with the main focus being the Charles and Diana. Poor script as well. The production value was great and the acting was pretty good, but this season was style over substance overall.
Oh sure he protects Kate while jumping on Diana's grave calling her paranoid in a latest speech. Fcking traitor he is. And dont get me started on the racism . I dont support Kate theres something fishy about her, im sure she made meghan cry on her wedding day. If the crown didnt protect their white member diana imagine what kind of hell the wrecked on poor Meghan
You have so many great points. The sad thing is that there's a wealth of material here to work with and the show doesn't even give them enough attention. The whole Fergie storyline would have been fascinating as the papers revealed their pictures. Annus Horribilus deserved so much more, the queen is coming across as unimportant and don't even get me started on that stupid Philip affair rubbish. One scene that really stuck with me though was the execution of the Russian Royal family and the cross cutting with the British royals hunting for grouse. That was heart breaking and slightly uncomfortable but very well put together.
There’s an AD for Charles in this season. I had to google to see if the dude “donated” some money to the show creators, because I could not believe how much this show was praising him
I am suprised no one brought up the fact they gave Diana a weird racial fetish towards Pakistani's she never had in real life. And butchered her personality.
Exactly. It came across creepy. “Do you think he’s Pakistani? Oo I love Pakistani men!” Weirdo
@@adaobieisreading Thank god I am not the only one ❤️.
The best seasons thus far have been 3 and 4, particularly season 4 with Olivia Coleman playing Queen Elizabeth II and Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher. Josh O'Connor who played the then Prince Charles was phenomenal too. 48:1 is my favorite episode I've watched it many times. Nothing will top that showdown between Margaret Thatcher and the Queen, also the ending where Queen Elizabeth hands Margaret the order of Merit. It was a touching scene which showed how much the two actually respected each other. Great stuff.
This season looks like “corrected”. Good Charles, sort of foolish Diana, better image of Camilla…like beloved supporter of the future king. The script looks like it had been approved…
The older seasons of The Crown were from past decades, many of which are no longer fresh in people's memory. This gave the writers more freedom.
The latest season of The Crown is set in the 90s and is relatively still fresh in people's minds. Not to mention Diana was ridiculously popular everywhere. I was a kid from the Philippines in the 90s and any scandal or significant news related to Diana still eclipsed any relevant news. I think the writers felt they didn't have as much liberty to jazz it up considering how well documented it was, lest it be tantamount to complete fictionalization. They'd immediately be called out.
The fact that they didn’t show us the Windsor fire properly and dedicate more or less an episode to it is very depressing
Could of had it gone back and fourth with the speech that would of been better
Honestly this season had a lot of issues: Mou Mou being Episode 3 but then almost of all of its events took place during the events of Season 4, a lot of time jumps in the other episodes also made it a little bit confusing, unlike the past 4 seasons where it was directly linear towards the timeline. And surprisingly too we didn't even get to see the Queen that much in this season, considering how she's literally the main character, I understand they wanted to highlight Charles and Diana and other surrounding people, but I feel like some parts especially Princess Margaret's parts were too highlighted in this season, and the Queen got overshadowed so much that it just turned into like a soap drama. Besides that I really love some of the episodes, tbh the time jumps were pretty cool too and some of the acting.
Yeah i got bored :/ honestlly princess diana is the most interesting person and they really made her the dullest
Really good video!
I wouldn't go as far as to say it lost it's identity, it was more like the gravity holding it together was too weak. As you said 'it's called The Crown' and all stories should circle back to her. Yes we should explore other characters stories but they should start at Elizabeth, move to other characters, then circle back to Elizabeth. Some of the stories never did which made the show feel ike it's lost it's centre.
I was also super excited to see Imelda Staunton's portryal of the Queen, she is someone with gravitas and powerful emotive performances, but she was side-lined by Charles and Diana. The war of the Wales' should've had signifincat screen time but it did seem to dominate the entire series. And as you said in the video 'Annus Horibilis' should've spent way more time on Elizabeth, comparing how the events were affecting her in private and how she behaved in public, it should've been about the strain she was under, evoking the tension of Claire-Foy's-Elizabeth's conversation with Lord Altringham. It ought to have started with her, explored each of her children's relationships, the horror of having those relationships publically discected then culminating with the fire. I am glad we revisited Margret and Peter's lost relationship but it should've gotten it's own episode centered around Elizabeth and Marget's sisterly relationship.
It's interesting to see The Crown's story throughout the 5 seasons reflects a bit of reality. People are charmed by the story of a young princess-turn-Queen in Seasons 1 and 2, see her mature in her role in Seasons 3 and 4, but I think Season 4 shows the decline. We all know that the story of the royals and Diana will come eventually, and I believe what caused this relative drop in quality is the focus on the relationship between Diana and the royal family. One that is all full of controversy and rumours that serve not to move the plot but to frame two parties in a specific (more negative) light.
I also agree the Margaret screen time is way too much. Why is Imelda Stauton under-utilised? Did she charged by word? I like Dominic West’s portrait of Charles but he is not as good as an actor as she is. She and Price can carry the series and they are barely there
It was our seasonus horribilus.
Olivia Colman leaves extremely large shoes to fill.
The show felt super disjointed.
It should have been focused on the down fall of the Queen's childrens' marriages and declining popularity of the monarchy.
Impatiev House was all over the place and it felt like it was thrown in there to justify the writers bringing in the Romanovs. Why would Phillip get mad at his wife? He was a pragmatist. Highly doubtful he would have cared, but he definitely would have been fascinated by the science of it all.
Margaret and Peter Townsend was rubbish. Margaret was the one who called off their engagement. They had grown apart! She then enjoyed the swinging 60s with a very glamorous crowd. Peter would have bored her! Way too much time spent on that. Margaret should have been a background character this season.
And yes, we definitely needed more politics.
just a random thought but imagine how cool it would have been if the writers had actually leaned into some of this stuff, the family realizing their entire existence is a metaphor, different family members repeating the same speech over and over again in increasingly robotic ways, slowly driving the Queen mad and as the Monarchy’s reputation devolves so too does the show’s tone become a deliberate grotesque burlesque of the thoughtful personal drama it once was that externalizes just how far the sham on the Moarchy has fallen… then we could see the directors shaky building up the tone again in coming seasons as the royal family tried to reestablish its hold on the country. The one thing Spencer did quite well was leaning into the Gothic elements gently suggested in Crown S4, I think that movies reads beat as a direct comment on the Crown. but that would have taken some brave filmmaking and with the increasing degree to which this show has been kissing the crown’s backside we couldn’t really expect that could we?
This season suffered a lot from two problems. Firstly, S5 was originally meant to be the last one, but then they chose to split it and it absolutely does feel dragged out and padded, with whole episodes coming across as complete filler. And secondly, WAY TOO MUCH Diana. I get she was more prominent and her name is what attracts the views, but it honestly felt like the Diana Show with some Queen Elizabeth sprinkled in the background.
I loved the first 4 seasons of The Crown. I think I watched them at least 10 times so I was very surprised and confused when season 5 was released. I am more at peace now seeing a whole explanation, pointing out WHY it wasn't as good as the others.
I was actually surprised you didn't mention the extensive coverage of the Al Fayads. I mean I get Dodi is heavily intertwined with Diana but making essentially 2-3 episodes about them is hurting the show. I liked the episodes themselves but especially seeing what was missing in the other episodes as you highlighted in this video, I think it was a mistake to devote so much time to them and to Sidney. Edward the 8th's death was already handled in previous seasons and to devote so much time to it again whilst it had so little influence on the story of the royals was a mistake. This season should have focused on the family drama with divorces, the media backlash, the war of the waleses (much shorter than it was now, involving the Bashir drama is just aiming at getting recency bias points and could have been way shorter) and should have ended with Diana's death. Could have been a banger as well with next season's premier being the fallout the queen and Charles get after it, as well as really starting William's part of the story.
I will say I was glad to see Yeltsin portrayed as he actually was in real life; a secretly-still-communist fall-down drunk.
I totally agree on overload metaphors and lacking subtlety points. That was really unfortunate. But other than that, it was still interesting enough. Uneven, yes. Some episodes were better than others, some actors were better than others. But I also think that we all probably expected a little too much - because previous seasons were so good, and we humans get used to good things and want more, more, more! Hence, inevitable disappointment.
I wonder if part of the reason the focus was more on Charles and Diana because Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin were so good and so popular in season 4...
I miss the real-life tragedies they used to show, like the school landslide that happened in Wales, that deadly fog in London, etc.
I just finished season 5 and can agree with so much of this! I had high expectations after 4 riveting seasons and was left disappointed. The Queen felt like a side character, I couldn’t connect with her at all. The burning of Windsor castle was a huge missed opportunity! In past seasons there would have been a dramatic scene of how the fire started, staff reactions, priceless furniture going up in flames…instead we view it from tv screens and exterior shots. It’s like they spent less time on these major news events because they assume their audience is old enough to remember when it really happened. So we lose out on all the historical detail that made previous seasons so fascinating.
I would forgive this season, if instead of focusing on Charles/Diana, we actually got to see the Yorks and Anne/Mark Phillips falling out with one another, only to be concluded by Elizabeth heartbreak for her children, in order to deliver why annus horribilis was so devastating to her. If they knew they want romantic drama over politcs, that's the only possible direction to be taken.
On the other hand, I was positively surprised by how they handled the story of Mohamed Al-Fayed, because it was promising some type of commentary on Egypt-Britain relationship, post-colonialism and social classes. But then, it ends up being merely excuse for Diana to meet Dodi, because she bonded with his dad, "they're both outsiders, dear viewer, I hope you can see what we're saying here". That's boring and uninspiring, given "Spencer" premiered over a year ago and did a better job at showing Diana's internal conflict and mental issues than 3 seasons of "The Crown" with this character.
I love seasons 1-2 season 4 was my favorite. Casting margaret, Camilla and Diana were good casting, everyone else was off.
The problem is that the 90s was such an infamous decade for the royals. So much happened that the episodes felt stuffy and didn't give time to breathe. All the other seasons managed fine, but this one tried to squeeze so much in.
And yes, Johnny Lee Miller managed to bring life to one of the most boring prime ministers the UK has ever elected. I hope he got a good paycheck!
I'm sorry, but I'm not buying this. The Queen's relationships with her ministers have never been THAT interesting to me in this series - aside from her relationship with Margaret Thatcher. I have never regarded them as the center of this series. I have noticed that the only times the media and many viewers have really discussed the Queen's relationship with any of her ministers with such enthusiasm was her conflict with Thatcher in the fourth season. John Lithgow was lucky that he managed to garner some attention in his portrayal of Winston Churchill and win some awards. He certainly wasn't the highlight of Season One for me.
Let's face facts, shall we? The current sovereign of Great Britain, namely King Charles, has been outspokenly hostile toward "The Crown" ever since the series introduced Diana, Princess of Wales and his frayed marriage to her. Before Season Five could air, Queen Elizabeth II died, and Dame Judi Dench had decided to express her "outrage" over the series' historical inaccuracies. Worse, Season Five is set between 1991 and 1997, a period in Royal history that depicted the final fall of Charles and Diana's marriage - a fall that included a good deal of the scandals that surrounded the couple's breakup. And a lot of people seemed to have allowed Dench's celebrity and Netflix's willingness to kowtow to the current King's demand of adding a disclaimer, have either questioned the series' historical accuracy or bashing Season Five. And every season of "The Crown" has been a mixture of interesting and dull episodes - including the first two seasons. I'm not buying into this royal hypocrisy. Is Season Five perfect? No. Neither were the other seasons. But the series is still good enough for me to continue watching. More and more, I'm coming to the conclusion that the British Royal Family - and probably a great deal of royalty all over the world - are full of shit.
Yes. Politics. I now realize that's what I loved about this show. From season 1 onwards there was politics, between Churchill and the Queen, the tension between Elizabeth and Margaret, the royal scandal of Peter and Margaret and the public spectacle of it. Then in later seasons, the coal mining disaster which filled an entire episode, the fight between queen and Thatcher, and so much more. Compared to all of that this season just feels like a quick tale of chariot riding, divorce talks and just that.
I always tought the most interesting aspects of the crown were those behind the scenes moments like her and the prime ministers or seen their perspective on such events and this season mainly focused on tired things that have being discussed so many times by the media and by movies and Peter Morgan himself in The Queen so It was a really boring and dull this season especially since they didnt really focus on the Queen
My favourite episode this season was the one with the Romanov story…learned so much from it but also it steered away from the royal family where their stories didn’t seem to be interesting this season
You know this series was bad because I can’t tell you the name of Lizzie’s private secretary- meanwhile Tommy, Michael and Martin are standouts in every scene :(
This season is ultimate Charles and Camilla propaganda. Like. Because Diana is dead they basically showcase her as a manipulative awful person. Her expressions all look like a mockery of her innocence. It was cruel and disgusting. This show had zero respect for her and they truly went out of her way to make her look irrational. Was the team behind blonde involved?
Season 1 and 2 are iconic and in my opinion it trailed off after that
The wost think about this season is Dolores Umbridge. I can't get that image out of my head. I hate her so much. That makes me can't feel anything with The Queen.
I was a big fan of the writing of this show too. It was in that moment, when she said aloud "TV as a metaphor" I knew the quality had dropped. They always were subtle, here they are blunt and direct and obvious.
I AM a Monarchist. But not for the reasons one might assume. To me, they're like watching a train wreck. You try to look away but you can't. So many absurdities about the monarchy. I have like a morbid fascination. They're like the most [in]famous welfare recipient family in history, aren't they? Isn't where they get their riches from the lowly taxpayer, like welfare recipients? Edited: I watched the whole season in one sitting. You're pretty pretty pretty right about it.
Did Diana really hang out at the hospital only to catch the eye of the doc? The way it was filmed, it makes all the rest of her charity work appear insignificant and somewhat insincere as well.
I think the actress who played Princess Diana in this season was excellent!!! she must have studied the Princess very closely, because she has her down pat🇨🇦
It did seem as if they were struggling for storyline. Which was odd. There were noticeable differences in quality and I think you nailed the reasons. That I wasn’t finding words for.
This is such a great analysis of The Crown’s problems. You’re definitely right in saying the lack of politics completely threw the show off; the main issue I had with Season Five was that Morgan went overboard and obsessively focused on the personal conflicts of the royals. Past seasons were so successful at creating drama because they balanced the personal events with the political (Churchill vs Eden, Suez, the Profumo Affair, Aberfan, the devaluation of the pound, The IRA, Falklands, Miners’ Strike, South African Apartheid). The royals in this season seem to exist in a vacuum to the political world, when the early-mid 90s is sometimes viewed as one of the most turbulent periods in British politics. The 1992 Black Wednesday financial disaster pretty much killed off John Major’s Conservatives within months of being re-elected, then an obscene amount of government sleaze scandals followed. The reputation the Conservatives had built as economically competent, morally sound protectors of British values was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, the Labour Party drastically modernised itself and finally became a credible alternative to the Conservatives. If Morgan wanted to depict struggles between the royal family’s “old guard” and the “modernisers”, the comparisons between them and the two main political parties are open goals. But no… instead we got overloaded metaphors about a ship that no one’s really interested in, and a gratuitous episode about the Romanovs that (in my opinion) while has a baseline of truth, melds a significant amount of melodrama into it that I for one found frustrating. People were interested in watching the 90s unfold on screen because they remember those times so vividly. Britain was trying to modernise and become “Cool Britannia”. People were seriously questioning whether a new Britain needed a millennia-old monarchy. By neglecting the importance of the political backdrop, Morgan dampens the gravitas of the royal scandals that do happen. This is really disappointing considering how many opportunities there were for Morgan could have used to hammer home his point about the royal family being dangerously out of touch: Philip vocally opposed the banning of handguns after the horrific Dunblane massacre, causing significant amount of controversy as Dunblane was one of the few times Major’s Conservatives and Blair’s Labour united to pass bills to make the ownership of handguns illegal. Contrast this with Diana trying to get involved with the government-in-waiting New Labour in the year or so before her death; could have posed interesting questions on a royal’s commitment to political impartiality and how that changes once they are no longer a member of “the firm”.
I’m a fan of Morgan’s work: he knows how to create intriguing real-life drama and handle some incredibly difficult topics. The Crown is not his most controversial work by any means. However, he’s really bottled it this season and has essentially turned the show into a soap opera. Fingers crossed next season will find its spark again.
romanovs massacre is a part of history and Phillip providing dna sample is also true
@@namyashah2096 Aye I could have worded that part significantly better (amended it now so it better represents my point). What I meant was that there were no negotiations between Yeltsin and the Queen about the Romanovs. She did not go to Russia primarily for them/Yeltsin’s “promise”, as the series suggests. Her state visit was seen as a reparation of East-West relations and a signalling of the end of the Cold War. Yeltsin also wanted her visit to improve trade relations between Russia and the West. The drama about remains of the Romanovs and subsequent DNA investigation/discovery was a consequence of the royals’ visit state rather than the cause of it. This distinction irked me, but I can understand why it wouldn’t irk others, so each to their own on that one ig. However, there is still a hyper-fixation on the personal and unlike previous seasons, the ramifications of the totemic events depicted for the general public/political scene are barely portrayed. The discovery of the Romanovs was a huge event both inside and outside Russia. Granted, the Romanovs themselves were buried in 1998 (but Morgan has used fast-forwards in chronology before, i.e. Dear Mrs Kennedy). Unfortunately that does not take away from the fact that the episode neglects the controversy the identification of the remains caused: the Russian Orthodox Church famously refused to accept the findings, driving a wedge between them and Yeltsin. The funeral itself was hugely divisive: the Russian people were split between saying the funeral wasn’t grand enough for a past royal family and blaming Yeltsin for being far too accommodating to the British, and by association the political West. It was a reputation that stuck to him… we all know who his successor was. If you’re going to do an episode about the discovery of the Romanovs, fine. However, using it to further beat the audience over the head about the Penny Knatchbull psychodrama when we’ve already been over the possibility Philip’s infidelity in past seasons crashes the show into soap-opera territory. The primary point that Morgan neglects politics for overblown personal drama still stands.
Sadly I have to agree. There was something just not right about the season. Not so much with the actors but more with the story and scripts. I hate to see this wonderful series end on a low note and only hope that the final season will be outstanding
In season 1, whether it was queen Mary talking about THE Queen, or Churchill realizing he has gotten old while having his 80th birthday portrait done
There was a certain subtlety, and it was more show not tell.
Whereas this season it just lost its flair
You were so spot on when it came to the politics question.
The show no longer felt like The Crown when it had dropped so many types of scenes that we got before.
I had felt this way right from the start but didn't want to say anything to upset the die-hard fans haha.
From one side, I could see how the removal of some parts of the show such as politics or the dramatisation of events that was shown as a result of that could make sense given this season was supposed to focus on different aspects but I definitely think it could have been written differently.
There should have been an episode dedicated to Margret and Anne, it would've been great to watch the dynamic of the two women in that episode. Margret and Peter's love story was a guilt trip for Elizabeth to revisit which is why she granted Anne permission to marry Timothy, if that could've been written better, it would've been more impactful.
For some reason, Mohammed Al-Fayed was more interesting than all the Royals this season. Sydney's episode was wonderfully done. Not to mention the tampon gate scene was legit funny with all the reactions. I hope the final season is well done and features more of the queen and closes off in a powerful way just as it started.
i had to stop watching halway through because it was so obviously trying to paint diana in a bad light and criticise the things the public loved about her
I did not like season 5! Had Diana crying all the time and lost! When her mo good husband was with the Rottweiler she was doing charity work all over the world 🌎 if season 6 is the same I won't watch! Charles was cheating all the time and they got him and The Rottweiler as victims and Diana as a psycho. When she knew what was going on! I rather look at the documentaries!
I thought I was alone in this. I didn’t really pay that much attention to the real life royals but The Crown drew me in from day 1. I was so excited for season 5 that I spent all of October rewatching the first 4 seasons. After watching the first 4 episodes of this new season, I just stopped and convinced myself that I wanted to prolong this season because like with every show that I love, I don’t want it to end. Turns out it’s just because I wasn’t feeling it. There, I said it. Maybe this revelation will give me the energy to finish watching the rest. 😅