Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Dominic West as Prince Charles.Photo: Netflix
Premiering two months after the realQueen Elizabeth’s deathat age 96 and bringing in a brilliant new cast, season 5 ofThe Crownis thrilling, messy, bitter and not very kind — perhaps unavoidably so, considering the ’90s were a calamitous time for the royal family. This season would sting royal sensibilities, regardless of memories of the late Queen, because the show has now reached the low point of the reign (withPrincess Diana’s fatal accident still to come in season 6).
Imelda Staunton inThe Crownseason 5 (2022).
There is also a remarkable stand-alone episode — possibly the season’s best, certainly its most original — that focuses on the rise of Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw), the Egyptian tycoon who acquired the grand British department store, Harrods, and whose son, Dodi (Khalid Abdalla), died alongside Diana in a 1992 car crash in Paris. It’s a sharply ironic study of assimilation to an imperial power that (additional irony) is on the wane. The elder Al-Fayed, determined to be worthy of the Queen’s company (and, more importantly, to have welcome access to capital from the establishment), learns how to be a proper gentleman from Sydney Johnson (Jude Akuwudike), who was born in Nassau, the Bahamas, and had been valet to the Duke of Windsor (Alex Jennings, seen in flashbacks). It was the Duke who instructed Sydney how, among other things, one should include P.G Wodehouse in one’s library and wear a midnight-blue dinner jacket (never black) for engagements in town. Viewers expectThe Crownto lift the veil on the workings of the royal family, but these two men are content to leave it lowered, watching the entrancing shadows projected from behind.
Imelda Staunton inThe Crownseason 5 (2022).Netflix
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But the season is ultimately about Charles and Mummy, staring at each other across the divide of power. The Prince, of course, believes he is on the wrong side: He considers Elizabeth too fusty to reign — the phrase “Queen Victoria syndrome” comes up repeatedly — and tells her so. Actually, he buttonholes just about everybody among the kingdom’s elites and complains about his desire to rule, although usually, he dresses things up with phrases about “youth” and “energy.” It’s not especially becoming behavior, but it’s not irrational, either, and it gives Charles a clarity of purpose and feeling lacking in all those “spares,” in-laws and ex-in-laws who find themselves so lost, miserable and petulant onThe Crown. “No one with any character, originality, spark, wit and flare has a place in this system,” saysPrince Andrew(James Murray), who at this point is still Mummy’s favorite and on the verge of splitting with Fergie.
Thoughts, Harry and Meghan?
At any rate, at the very end of the season, Elizabeth squares off against Charles and trumps him with a simple fact: “This job,” she says, “is for life.” Besides, she adds with what may be disappointment but sounds more like scorn, the public doesn’t even like him.
Season 5 ofThe Crownpremieres on Netflix Nov. 9.
source: people.com
