But Will There Be Corgis? Thread Where We Discuss Netflix's THE CROWN

(its ruthless sacrificial demands, if you like, and elziabeth courageously bowing to them)

^this needs unpacking a bit, since it's not unreasonable to see it more as her "courageously" sacrificing her sister's happiness -- the kind of courage i mean is her basically accepting her role in this is to be the shit, and seen as the shit, becuase that's what duty IS (which she and her dad understand, unlike her uncle who ran away from it); lol a bit like nixon's "secret honor" in the altman film

i said up thread that duty and the ethos of service is an unusual topic for a modern drama, and i stick with this -- even my lovely procedurals rarely explore this element of police life, and when they do it's explored collectively: "the crown" is abt elizabeth's solitude (except for her uncle, who she loathes)

the villain in the destruction of margaret's happiness is -- according to how you judge elizabeth's decision to commit to royal duty -- either the institution of monarchy itself (its ruthless sacrificial demands, if you like, and elziabeth courageously bowing to them) or else elizabeth, treating her setting her duty ahead of her firm promise to her sister as a kind cowardice

Or, in the way the series presents it, E. being machiavellianly manipulated by the machinations of Mustache Lascelles. Who may himself have been operating out of what he thought were good motives - preserve the mighty institution as opposed to the teeny feeeeewings of mere mortals - or he may have just liked the power he could exercise behind the scenes. E. could have chosen to go against all that institutional weight in order to keep her word to her sister, sure. But she also felt she needed advice/advisors, as she was alone and adrift in uncharted territory.

well, yes, lascelles is pretty much presented as the Face of How Things Must Be Done for most of the series, but by the end we know that E is getting a sense of what her powers (and capabilities) actually are, esp.after we see her face down churchill, so the margaret decision ends up being at least partly E's decision, rather than purely the system' inflexibility (as manifested in the mustache gormenghastly tradition)

incidentally i mentioned claire foy's resemblance to my mum's friend to my sister, and my sister said "oh, really?" (she hadn't watched this) and we googled CF and called up some pictures and my sister said "oh. my. god."

mark s otm itt

based on that post, one might think you thought that was a photo of people

It is a photo of the royal personages, which is equally true, whether it is a photo of actual royals, actors, or wax dummies at Madame Tussaud's. Or photoshopped.

Or, in the way the series presents it, E. being machiavellianly manipulated by the machinations of Mustache Lascelles. Who may himself have been operating out of what he thought were good motives - preserve the mighty institution as opposed to the teeny feeeeewings of mere mortals - or he may have just liked the power he could exercise behind the scenes.

this is an interesting type; reminded in a way of francis urquhart in the end of 'to play the king' who says something like, "my family came down with james the first, when you were a pack of german nobodies." the crown is a thing that can't ever be stable enough or legitimate enough for the people closest to it

i have trouble discerning the intent of the show but i think the critique of monarchy -- an idea that everyone has to serve, or beat themselves into a particular shape to serve -- is there

(xp) Looks nothing like Philip for a start.

they really dig down into the harshness of this choice elizabeth has to make (in contrast to david, who as edward viii followed his feelings, an act which, as the queen mum's furiously argues and eliziabeth clearly believes, basically killed his brother bertie aka george vi)

grim irony here in showing everyone smoking, esp mum on her deathbed. but elizabeth doesn't, right?

don't think we see her smoking -- the internet says she smoked as a teen but gave up after the war

i need to rewatch this tbh

she chides Philip for smoking at one point

yeah iirc her father's death put her off smoking for life or something to that effect

Ep 9 is damn good - the portrait of WC and the (vastly dramatised?) marital strife bet. QE and Philip.

She should have known what she was getting into, marrying a Time Lord and all.

started watching Victoria, UK really liking to biopic it's regents right now it seems. Crown is much better than Victoria btw which suffers from that ITV 'no scene longer than 45 seconds' problem

The old Masterpiece Theater series of Lillie and Edward the Seventh made me an Ed7 stan. Dude had his problems but he appears to have known how to live: drinking, fucking, eating, and living in lavish palaces.

We watched episode 9 last night and I have just found this picture of IRL Margaret, which I feel needs to be shared.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/5c/f6/9e/5cf69ef5597b7a7a7c2277313f793f78.jpg

Has Anthony Armstrong-Jones showed up yet? He's dead now anyway.

Nope, presumably he surfaces in the next season.

This is pretty fun. Pip Torrens as Tommy Lascelles takes the cake, and looks so much like Dirk Bogarde it's scary.

really looking forward to series XXI of this, with claire foy in yards-deep wrinkly rubber make-up and a euro-flag hat first doing a reverse diana on the then-PM, then winking cheekily back at the PM's successor as he stands flanked by the wicker giants GOG and MAGOG, and the entire worshipful company of fully automated luxury communists

I'm in.

All hail (in season 3) Queen Olivia.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/26/the-crown-claire-foy-olivia-colman/

Claire Foy is a babe

I like the way they say "The Crown has found its new star," like they searched far and wide for Olivia Colman.

i like her though

she will make a good, tired, really kind of fucking over this shit Lizzie

Oh, me too! It's just that "finding" her is hardly the Scarlett O'Hara search, is all I meant.

She will be brilliant.

Looking forward to Mountbatten getting blown up.

So much money pumped into this overblown project, and there are hardly any decent story arcs!

I hear there's a surprise main character death a few seasons down the line

Hope Lord Lucan turns up at some point.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51RCFJ79K0L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Surely there's room for John Bindon hanging beer glasses off his todger?

This is so much better than any other Netflix show

i think it will get continue to be good sadly

also it is not better than REINA DEL SUR, the one true queen imo

Season 2 run date: December 8th. VG will stock up on tea and blankets and take the entire weekend off.

seriously tho is this the season where they explore brenda’s origins as a 12ft baby-eating lizard person

They will never be bold enough to reveal that these people are all fucking worthless fascist scum and all deserve to die in a pile of their own excrement.

but no, they to live to be 200 with titanium hips and bairns blood transfusions from Africa.

Ah so that's how James Cameron is rebooting The Terminator.

Sorry, I will shut up for the benefit of fans of this series. But these fucking people ..

oh shit YES i cannot wait

and as I have expressed previously, i am an on-record royals-hater... BUT this show is v v good

On board

Nice interview with Foy (I like the bit about how she's changed up her hair now that she's done with the role). Some spoilers, sorta.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/29/the-crowns-claire-foy-im-a-deeply-angry-person-on-some-levels

WATCH SEASON 2 NOW

not actually NOW but v soon yes

"traficante muy famosa", as lyndon larouche sees it

I kinda hate the fact that I am watching this but who am I kidding, I am going to watch every corgifucking second of it.

corgi... fucking?

dnw