The Crown Latest Season Review: A Struggle for Graceful Closure or a Soap Opera Abyss?

• Release date: Nov 16, 2023
• Cast: Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Manville, Dominic West, Elizabeth Debicki, Claudia Harrison, Olivia Williams, Bertie Carvel, Salim Dau, Khalid Abdalla, Rufas Kampa, Fflyn Edwards, Ed McVey, Luther Ford, Meg Bellamy
• Genre: Drama, History 
• Director: Alex Gabassi
• Producer:  Peter Morgan, Suzanne Mackie, Andy Harries, Stephen Daldry, Matthew Byam-Shaw, Robert Fox, Christian Schwochow
• IMDb rating: 8.6/10

Summary and detailed review of “The Crown”

Welcome to the sixth series of "The Crown." Now, it's more like "The Diana Show." Before, a 10-episode season covered about a decade of royal events, politics, and palace details. But now, the first three episodes of this series focus on just the last eight weeks of Diana's life, and the fourth is about The Crash and the funeral.

If you're not a die-hard Diana fan, these few months are shown in super detailed scenes. "The Crown" used to balance between serious drama and soapy stuff. It started getting shaky in season three, lost balance in the next two, and now it's falling, despite the great acting from everyone, especially Elizabeth Debicki as the queen.

Imelda Staunton as the Queen can make even a simple line sound good. But now, "The Crown" doesn't deserve that. It's not as good as it used to be.

In this series, Diana seems like she's in danger all the time. They show her as a saint, doing good things and being a great mom. Even her love story with Dodi Fayed is there. They try hard to show how she faced paparazzi problems. By the time she calls William and Harry, we all know what's going to happen, like a news ticker saying "TUNNEL COMING! SHE GONNA DIE SO BAD!"

But it gets worse. After she dies, Ghost Diana talks to Charles and then to the Queen. She's like an angel telling them what to do. It's too much. When she tells Charles, "Thanks for being so raw, broken and handsome," it's just too weird. And when Ghost Diana tells the Queen to "Show us you care, Ma'am," it's like, seriously?

This show is not great. It's just doing the same thing over which is not creating real art. The writing is not strong. When Diana talks, it's like she's typing, not saying much. The only good parts are the quiet moments. Like when the boys find out about their mom's death. Also, when Harry writes the "Mummy" card for her coffin. But even those moments feel like we're just watching, not feeling anything.

The main issue is, this part of "The Crown" is too recent. We remember a lot, and it's tough to believe things in the show. Did Charles really get what Diana's death meant so fast? It's doubtful. And Prince Philip didn't tell Harry what they show in the series during the funeral procession. We would have seen it. The show can't make us believe it. Ghost Diana in this series feels out of place.

 

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