It's shocking, I know, but I won't particularly miss The Crown. Even its best seasons (by common consent seasons one and two) didn't capture me as much as one could have expected, seeing that it's a historical drama stuffed to the gills with British quality actors.
It's arguable whether the series has steadily declined, or whether it went through its roughest patch round about season four. I admit that the two last seasons have felt a little half-hearted, as if Peter Morgan was losing interest in the whole enterprise. On the other hand, I have personally appreciated the mellower tone towards the British Royal family compared to the disdain bordering on cold dislike shown during parts of the Olivia Colman seasons.
The gentle tone was the greatest positive for me in season six (that and the always stellar acting). It felt as if Morgan had decided, all of a sudden, that he had been too mean to everyone, and wanted to make amends. Imelda Staunton's Queen continues to be more likeable than Colman's, if perhaps a little dull. Princess Diana, who was depicted as a nervy and egocentric attention-seeker in season five, suddenly gains counsellor-like wisdom in her final episodes as she gives a sweet-natured Dodi good(ish) advice on how to stand up to his father. Morgan appears to have had a bit of a soft spot for Camilla throughout, and in season six he frankly ships her and Charles. Prince Philip, whose supposed failings as a father have played an important part during previous seasons, gets a chance to redeem himself by touchingly if implausibly brokering a peace between Charles and the bereaved William.
I also liked that the relationship between the Queen and Princess Margaret, which has been given a lot of screen time throughout the series, is permitted to end on a loving note. The episode where Margaret dies is actually the only one that made me tear up a bit. No more unnecessary recriminations over long-ago love affairs, thankfully. The season ends in a pretty dignified way, too, and the episode title "Sleep, Dearie, Sleep" brought a grin to the face of a Dearie (as in Rumple-loving Once Upon a Time fan) like myself. It's not supposed to, as it's named after a funeral dirge, but one takes one's pleasures where one can.
All in all, however, this season had considerable weaknesses. For one thing, it felt uncomfortably intrusive. For pity's sake, I don't have to be there during the whole last phone call between Princess Diana and her boys, or when their father tells them of her death (even if the sound was drowned out during the latter scene). I don't have to see Margaret's scalding of her feet during a stroke, or her painful rehabilitation efforts, in such detail. I don't have to stand vigil with the Queen at her mother's deathbed for what feels like real time.
Oddly enough, this intrusiveness could be an effect of Morgan trying to show due respect for tragedies that actually happened. I caught myself thinking, in the first of two episodes dealing with the time just after Diana's death, "Why can't they just show 'six months later' or something?". In a wholly fictional drama like Downton Abbey, there probably would have been a "six months later", but Morgan may have wanted to give a real-life tragedy its due weight by dwelling on it a lot. It's not entirely successful; instead, it highlights the problems of "Downton-ising" real-life dramas from not so long ago at all.
For my part, I didn't mind the controversial "ghost" scenes where first Charles and then the Queen have a talk with the already-dead Diana, and the corresponding scene between Mohamed Al-Fayed and his dead son. To me, it was clear that there were no actual ghosts, and that the three characters were simply working through their grief and uncertainties by having an imaginary conversation – much as the Queen talks with her younger selves in "Sleep, Dearie, Sleep". To me, the sheer drawing-out of every event before and after the fatal car crash felt in more questionable taste.
Then there was the tedium of the two William episodes. Another thing I really don't need to see is Charles munching muesli while trying to make conversation with a glowering William. Man, that episode was boring. I had high hopes that the romance between William and Kate would add some well-needed fun, but even that managed to be dull, as it consisted mainly of William staring longingly after Kate.
But then, I've always had problem with The Crown's slow pace. I think it's because of all the silences. I'm not really one for a lot of action scenes; mostly, I sit through action films hoping for the car chases to end and the "talky bits" with zingy dialogue to begin. But there has to be talk. I can only take so many scenes of Royals staring silently into the middle distance. Just... do something. Say something.
This under-appreciation of dramatic pauses and silences has made me less appreciative of The Crown than I could have been and maybe should have been. Anyway, it's over now. What next for Peter Morgan, I wonder? I'm half hoping for Mohamed Al-Fayed, the Movie, naturally with Salim Daw in the leading role. He can even make dramatic silences work.
