The Crown, Season 5 is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
The fifth and penultimate season of The Crown – the first new season released since the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - sees a fractious House of Windsor at the crossroads between a traditionalist past or a progressive future. The monarchy is at its lowest point since the abdication of Edward VIII. Parents don’t understand how their children turned out the way they did, spouses have grown estranged, and the public is increasingly frustrated by the exorbitant costs of maintaining a scandal-plagued royal family widely seen as out of touch. Nothing less than the survival of the monarchy is on the line. Regrets and retribution take center stage. Sprinkle in several major historical moments and the introduction of an entirely new main cast and The Crown Season 5 has a lot to balance. But keep calm and carry on because showrunner Peter Morgan and his team pull it all off with the grace, thoughtfulness, and gravitas we expect from Netflix’s awards darling.
There is a gloomy pall cast over the entire season and not just because its release comes two months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Finality and change are ever present, from Charles and Diana’s collapsing marriage to the decommissioning of the Royal Yacht Britannia to the end of Britain’s colonial rule of Hong Kong to the fire at Windsor Castle. The younger generation feels their time to shine has come while the elders see their successors as feckless and unready. This generational divide plays out not only within the royal family but within the BBC and the Al-Fayed family as well. The symbolism around this theme is more than a bit on the nose at times. When the Queen remarks in one episode that even the televisions are metaphors now, the show’s self-awareness risks pulling one out of the moment.
The theme of the past vs. the future plays out most dramatically between Charles and Elizabeth on multiple fronts, from him seeking a divorce from Diana to his increasingly aggressive push for the monarchy to modernize and better reflect the Britain of the 1990s. For her part, the Queen remains steadfast — indeed, immovable — in her lifelong duty to uphold the monarchy’s traditions and role in British society. Neither side seems willing to budge. Alas, events prove out of even Elizabeth’s control as she eventually approves Charles and Diana’s divorce, a begrudging move contrary to her beliefs as a wife, mother, monarch, and the head of the Church of England. She is in a world she no longer recognizes and feels increased pressure to change from politicians, the press, the public, and even, in the season’s most controversial creative choice, the Prince of Wales. As depicted here, Charles is undoubtedly ambitious but he’s also frustrated by the gilded purgatory his middle-aged life has become. He’s restless and wants to live a life with purpose and love and his mother is standing in the way of that.
Imelda Staunton and Dominic West both deliver nuanced and moving performances as Elizabeth and Charles. Viewers’ sympathy will undoubtedly be with Elizabeth as she’s now a sweet old granny and Charles is a frustrated and failed husband — but he is not a monster. Although West looks nothing like the real Charles, his performance and the writing make him flesh and blood and understandable. The Charles of Season 5 is at various times a lousy husband to his first wife, a devoted partner to his future second wife Camilla Parker-Bowles (Olivia Williams), and a genuinely passionate advocate for social issues. So if you’re worried that Season 5 is a hatchet job on now King Charles III, don’t be.
Nor does it smack of hagiography. Season 5’s Charles believes the monarchy must reflect what its modern subjects know, which is divorce and dysfunction. Likewise, Season 5 isn’t entirely in Princess Diana’s corner either as her own errors in judgment come into play — yet at all times she is a sympathetic and vulnerable figure who just desperately wants the love and companionship Charles was never going to provide since Camilla was always the woman he loved and wanted to marry. (Marrying for love rather than duty is a major throughline this season, from Charles to his sister Princess Anne to aunt Princess Margaret’s reunion with her once beloved Peter Townsend.)
Among such a formidable cast, the statuesque Elizabeth Debicki stands above the rest, her Diana looming literally and figuratively over the royal family she feels never respected her. Debicki nails Diana’s voice and facial expressions, bearing more of a resemblance to the real Princess of Wales than many other actors who have played her. Her Diana is, like West’s Charles, a complicated, flawed human capable of a range of reactions given the circumstances. She can be flirty and witty in order to break the ice or distraught and disdainful when wronged. She’s a devoted if oversharing mom and a public figure who shows true and deep compassion for the sick and the needy. Diana’s brief relationship with heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan is depicted here, but Debicki and her scene partner Humayun Saeed don’t share much chemistry — and perhaps that’s intentional. Diana is so desperate for a loving partner that she overwhelms this accomplished but ordinary man, who is left wondering what he’s gotten himself into once Diana’s notorious BBC interview airs. (More on that in a bit.)
Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw) and his son Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) are introduced in Episode 3, titled “Mou Mou,” one of the strongest of this season’s 10 episodes. Mohamed’s rise to power and wealth is quickly established; this is a man who wants the world — specifically, the white British world of his native Egypt’s occupiers — to respect him. He will wheel and deal and spend whatever it takes to get a seat at the table (or, in this case, The Royal Windsor Horse Show). For his part, Dodi wants his father’s respect and to fulfill his own ambitions, which he briefly gains by producing the Best Picture-winning Chariots of Fire. While the tragic romance of Dodi and Diana must wait until Season 6, this fifth installment thoughtfully explores who the Al-Fayeds are, what they want, and how they came to be.
Colonialism, institutionalized racism, and classism are all evident in this third episode, but its highlight is the tender friendship between Mohamed and his valet Sydney Johnson (Jude Akuwudike), who had previously long served as the personal valet to Edward VIII after his abdication. Mohamed’s initial prejudice against Sydney, who is Black, subsides once he learns of his past job. With Sydney as his mentor and valet, Mohamed learns how to become “a British gentleman” in order to (as he hopes) gain access to and respect from the white establishment. The fascinating Sydney Johnson, who briefly appeared in Season 3, finally gets his due here.
Other Season 5 standouts include Jonny Lee Miller’s understated UK Prime Minister John Major and Natascha McElhone as Prince Philip’s companion (and perhaps crush) Penny Knatchbull, both of whom quickly endear themselves with sympathetic turns as people drawn into the royal family’s most personal matters. Taking over the role of Princess Margaret, Lesley Manville makes an absolute meal of her boozy and decades-overdue confrontation with her sister Elizabeth over being denied marrying the love of her life, Peter Townsend (Timothy Dalton). The relationship between Margaret and Elizabeth is arguably the cornerstone of the whole series, one that allows us to often see both the Princess and the Queen at their most human and playful, especially here during their late night phone call to patch things up after Margaret’s outburst.
Jonathan Pryce imbues his elderly incarnation of Prince Philip with equal measures of crotchetiness and fierce curiosity. He’s made peace with his station and is utterly devoted to his wife and the monarchy — even if he now wants to romp around in carriage rides with his godson’s beautiful wife, Penny. One episode showcases his ties to Russia’s slain Romanov royal family and how Philip’s DNA brought closure to the decades-long mystery, a turn of events that resurfaces long-buried resentments he has toward his beloved wife. Each of the major characters this season get their own dedicated episode to shine and this one showed the Duke of Edinburgh’s complicated relationship with (what he labels to Diana as) The System.
The biggest historical bombshell covered in Season 5 is Diana’s infamous interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanarajah) in which she not only confirmed Charles’ long affair with Camilla but also appeared to cast doubt on his ability to one day serve as king. In more recent years it’s been exposed just how devious Bashir and, by extension, the BBC were in deceiving Diana into doing the interview. Bashir forged documents and spun conspiracy theories, preying on Diana’s anxieties to score the interview of a lifetime. It’s not just the BBC who catch hell here; the British media in general is depicted as unfavorable and predatory throughout the season.
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