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

Lost track of what episode I'm up to now (I think maybe 5?) but anyway it's got Alex Jennings in it and once again he's superb in the douchebag role. Most punchable character since Joffrey Baratheon

"not that we give a fig about the parkers and their happiness"

as far as i know in 1957, this was euphemising "not that we give a damn" but i liked the anachronistic way this was delivered, strongly to suggest "not that we give a fuck" (don't think brits said this 50 years ago, even very posh ones)

enjoying the game-of=thrones style macmillan also

This phrase comes from the Spanish Fico (Fig) which gave its name to a traditional gesture of contempt made by placing the thumb between the first and second fingers. The gesture was common in Shakespeare's time and was known as The Fig of Spain. The modern-day equivalent is the V sign.

https://word-ancestry.livejournal.com/9243.html

1. (don’t) give a damn
-The above phrase was originally I don’t give a dam (yes, the n is missing on purpose) and seems to have been brought back to England by military men traveling to India in the mid 18th century. A dam was an Indian coin of little value. After spreading to civilian usage, the phrase changed to I don’t give a damn and was first recorded in America in the 1890s

^^^never knew this (if it's true)

loved the episode abt the Duke -irl pics of irl Duke at the end particularly delicious

very early cryptic mention of the "sinister osteopath" -- i'm guessing (as of e3) this is foreshadowing profumo and keeler etc

"had a bit of a fumble at blenheim -- actress you know, quite a looker!"

this whole exchange is tremendous

Anna Massey was never that good looking though.

When Grigg* was leaving Television House, after giving an interview on ITV defending his article, a member of the League of Empire Loyalists came up to him and slapped his face, saying: "Take that from the League of Empire Loyalists."

= Lord Altrincham, who'd criticised the Queen in the press, was the second lord to quit a hereditary peerage after Lord Stansgate (= Tony Benn, who was the first) made it possible in law, and eventually -- *sigh* -- ended up in the SDP (admittedly arriving from the Tory direction).

Anyway, TAKE THAT FROM THE LEAGUE OF EMPIRE LOYALISTS. (Wikip: "Indeed, it has also been argued that although parts of its ideology overlapped with fascism the LEL was in fact much too reactionary to be considered truly fascist.")

fun hearing an actor doing a young robin day -- not exactly a demanding piece of mimicry, but well managed

probably shouldn't actually liveblog this ep (half of you already know all this, it's spoilers for everyone else)

also enjoying what a monster they've made the queen mum

(of course grigg joined the SDP: his approach to the monarchy was very proto-blair)

foy gives great frosty

fun hearing an actor doing a young robin day -- not exactly a demanding piece of mimicry, but well managed

Why, if it isn't Bertie Carvel, bless him.

"also enjoying what a monster they've made the queen mum"

erm.. good work by the writers there. I'm just being a churl, tempted to start this tonight tbh.

Turkish websites are there for those of us who CBA with Netflix.

God save the torrent sitez! We need them for leeching from the parasitic overlords that make dramatic content about .. nevermind.

I like the rich period detail in this so far, it goes beyond budgets and eye candy - it is very artfully evocative in a way that many modern period dramas that have pissed away similar budgets are not imo. But saying that, some of the Eden administration stuff is a bit sketchy and undercooked, but I'd probably prefer a drama that concentrated wholly on that side of the story in the same fashion.

Matt Smith's performance in the scene where they celebrate Margaret's engagement is A+. I laughed out loud.

ok lol at the la ronde-style sequence of bed scenes and the UNEXPECTED REVEAL

love the way the private secretaries are required essentially to be MENTATS

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/PiterDeVries-Brad_Dourif.jpg

(lascelles is btw meant to be 73: he is looking VERY good on it)

wait whut: tony armstrong jones also er stepping out with jackie chan and robin banks

this ceremony takes place a month and a day before i arrived in the world (for some reason they fail to mention that)

Got to the bit where current 'stache guy is made to shave. The 'stache is dead, long live the 'stache.

Felt genuinely sorry for him when he got told off because of the speech. Poor Michael. Or whatever his name is.

michael adeane

that whole thing where Phillip is made Prince was funny/infuriating ... is there truth to that?

like basically the show plays it that Phillip wants a HAT and a TITLE because he cant lad it up with the beardos on boats anymore & that’s how he’ll go along to get along

Matt Smith is v good at playing petulant and/or grumpy Phillip - it’s so convincing that i want to backhand him lol

oops Philip not Phillip etc

i think the only totally made-up thing so far is churchill's comely secretary who died in the great fog, but there's clearly been quite a lot of speculation behind the scenes re motivation

Dying at "lad it up with the beardos," thanks VG.

This season weirdly obsessed with facial hair and its discontents

i just looked this up and as well as duke of edinburgh he is apparently BARON GREENWICH

The Evil Baron Greenwich.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71V6oDBLWEL._SL1500_.jpg

the motivation of Snowdon marrying Margaret boiling down to “NOW look at me Mummy” meanwhile Mum’s all “sure” explains a lot about how that marriage played out - shit turned real nasty between him & Margaret after a while

i read years ago that he would slip “I hate you” notes in books she was reading

magz on the rebound from pete townshend not helping

foy and kirby are good as sisters, with this confrontation particularly strong: e2r powerless to get margaret to see past the good sex to the likely problem and margaret chilling on e2r's decision to be invisible in plain sight

magz on the rebound from pete townshend not helping

Snowden was a substitute for another guy.

tommy* can you hear me

*lascelles

yeah Foy & Kirby are killing it
you can almost see the miasma of unspoken ~feelings~ hanging over their heads whenever they are in a scene together, such great performances

*tiny little b&w TV fuzzes up*
*queen mum jumps up and bangs it vigorously on the side*
e2r: "no! mummy! it's RENTED!"

POTUS DEXTER :D

could just be the presence of qyburn making me think this but this ep is the most GoT to date

"it's just air!"

and here's the sinister osteopath >:)

Dexter's accent is inexplicably bad. Dude there are lots of tapes and films of Kennedy speaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhHUbAPQ47E

good god President Dexter was hilariously awful

JFK trolling, more like a young Mayor Quimby
the only thing decent was his teeth and even then he barely had a good smile! and since when was he dark haired?