‘Everything is happier with Granny.’
Yesterday the time had finally come: the very, very last episodes ever of The Crown appeared on Netflix. After the storm of criticism about the first set of episodes of the final season, it was of course a matter of waiting to see how the last six were received…
Finals season
After seven years, sixty episodes, and three actresses in the role of Queen Elizabeth, The Crown finally came to an end yesterday. For the final season, Netflix chose to split the release in two. The first four episodes revolved around Princess Diana’s last weeks, and we would then see the budding love between Prince William and Princess Kate in the second batch.
In addition to the regular criticism of the show (which regularly presents a free mix of fact and fiction), the reactions to the first episodes of season six were certainly not positive. For example, the episodes surrounding Diana received only one star from The Guardian, while The Telegraph described the first half of the final season as ‘an act of desperation by writer Peter Morgan’. Aiii!
Full circle
The final episodes of The Crown first revolve around the student love between William, played by Ed McVey, and Meg Bellamy’s Kate Middleton, and then come full circle and return to Imelda Staunton as the Queen. And fortunately that produces much milder reactions.
“The series is largely recovering from the shaky first half of the season,” writes The Guardian. The newspaper also praises the ‘bold dialogue’ between Queen Elizabeth and her younger self in the final episode. Yet the entire season is not convincing, and the episodes surrounding Wills and Kate are described as a ‘strange campus rom-com’. Well – a little lightness should be possible, after the focus on Diana’s death, right? Ultimately, the last six episodes managed to score a small pass with three out of five stars.
The New York Times is also positive about the return to focus on where it all started: Queen Elizabeth. For example, critic Mike Hale states: “The show is always happier if you stick with Granny.”
The new season of The Crown is now available to stream on Netflix.
Source: The Guardian, The New York Times | Image: Netflix
