The Crown Season 4 (Netflix)
Cast: Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies, Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin, Josh O'Connor
Rating: 4/5
The fourth season of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ is one of the most important seasons just yet. It already had its set of audiences so there no surprise there that more people decided to binge watch it when it released earlier this week.
The writer, Peter Morgan, had a task at hand to write what went down with the royals in the 1980s. This was the season where first female prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the famous Diana Spencer were introduced.
The casting, as always, has been exceptionally good. The resemblance of Diana, played by Emma Corrin is uncanny.
The season focused on showing UK’s escalating tension with Argentina over the Falkland Islands and neighbouring domain. As we can recall from earlier history readings, that event was one of the major events that took place in Thatcher’s political career. The series of events that took place along with her being dethroned from her own cabinet was very well played out. Gillian Anderson played a fantastic job as Margaret Thatcher, especially the stern face she kept throughout the series.
The 1980s was also the time when Lady Diana Spencer became Princess Diana, the mother of future king William and later, Harry. The transition of how Prince Charles met Diana, their married life, the world tour, the relationship Charles had with Camilla Parker Bowles and Diana’s mental and physical condition was very well played out in the season.
Towards the end of the season, Tobias Menzies, who plays Prince Philip, tells Diana “She’s the oxygen we all breathe”, referring to the Queen, is such a powerful one that leaves one wondering how Diana’s independence will unfold next season.
Of course, much of the dialogues are fictional but it was still nice to imagine that this is perhaps how the royals communicate with each other. In one of the episodes, when Thatcher's son goes missing and a search operation stars, Queen Elizabeth, played by the wonderful Olivia Colman, also wonders if she’s a caring mother. She makes appointments to have lunch with all four of her children and realised who her favourite was.
The connection and the disconnect the royals have with the general audience has always been a mystery. Nevertheless, the storytelling of ‘The Crown’ gave us the opportunity to give the family a closer look.
Bonus shot was when Claire Foy returned as young Queen Elizabeth in one of the episodes.