Having just released its second season a few weeks ago, “The Crown” continues to dig deep into the complex life of Queen Elizabeth and examines how Britain has changed as a country.
Beautifully written, this Netflix series explores the shifts of Britain’s values as it soldiers through the modern age and what it means for the constitutional monarchy and what it represents. At the center of it all is Queen Elizabeth, portrayed wonderfully by Claire Foy as a woman who is thrust into the limelight and must stand for all that is good in her country.
The show masterfully interweaves historical events and presents how they affect Queen Elizabeth’s personal life and how she affects the country she presides over in turn. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” it is often said, and the show gives us an insider look into that heaviness.
In the second season, the queen must face political upheavals, scandals, and personal struggles while maintaining her dignity and poise.
At its very core, “The Crown” is an extraordinary character study of an extraordinary person, a monarch, in one of the few countries in the world where the title still means something. What the show does, supported by fantastic performances from everyone in the cast, is humanize the whole experience and gives us a sneak peek into what it truly means to be royalty and the demands and sacrifices one must make to be a queen.
Set in the early ’60s, the second season deals with such topics as the loss of control of the Suez Canal, the revelation of the abdicated king Edward’s dark secret past, Margaret’s wedding, the queen and her meeting with John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, Philip’s childhood in relation to his son Charles, and a scandal that threatens her whole marriage, among others.
“The Crown” manages to contextualize historical events, humanize the characters involved and, through it all, present us with an image of a powerful woman who must continue to come to terms with who she is, what she represents, and how she will change with the modern age and its new set of values that seeks to question her reason to exist.
Equal parts thrilling, funny, touching, and dramatic, “The Crown” seems to not pull any punches with facts and trivia and is unafraid to show both the good and the bad side of these historical figures, both dead and still living.
If there is anything that you should binge watch before 2018 comes, “The Crown” should be at the top of your list.
