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

It's all building towards the 1:48 ep where the issue of sanctions against SA and Magz disdain for these "beastly savages in funny headwear" that is the commonwealth makes her and Bess political enemies ready to go one on one - no blades! Lots of artistic licence taken no doubt, after the excellent Fagan ep and the also moving hereditary one, it felt like a damp squib to me.

a weird impressionist's sore-thumb stunt-turn for GA

Thatcher was a weird impressionist's sore-thumb stunt-turn though.

starting e3 tonight i guess (i have always doubted it could arrive at the recognisable present w/o coming to pieces a bit)

(i don't have high hopes of the project in the medium term, i think it's bitten off more than it's likely to be able to chew, but so far i've been surprised and impressed)

― mark s, Thursday, 15 December 2016 17:14 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

incidentally i am tending to read anything peter morgan is quoted as saying as more a sly masking of what he's up to than any kind of reliable or open admission

this sudden rage from the downton-unbothered set isn't bcz of PM's belated leftie heel-turn, it's bcz ppl hasn't been watching remotely carefully since the outset: the smash of forces was always ready immanent from the outset sorry if this offends

xp yes which creates a "behind the mask" issue which neither script nor GA's performance solve in themselves, as well as (only semi-related) a clash of dramatic schools or approaches, which undermine one another

how do you solve a problem like thatchia

I'm three episodes from finishing Season 2 and hope to see y'all in a couple days.

actually come to think of it the behind-the-mask issue is presumably why ALL the portrayals of the various prime ministers have seemed slightly off: successful politician = successful at wearing a mask (to paper over divisions)! but we only get see behind eiir's mask and the other mask-worlds just flash by w/o deep (or any) exploration of similar contradictions

My fave two fictional pms on this have been the two Harolds. And Supermac as a domestic doormat and a cuck was good entertainment.

Churchill was the usual dross.

churchill is simply unplayable now i suspect but choosing a US actor for the role wasn't a terrible idea -- establishes "mask" upfront w/o having to do a lifetime's work giving it backstory -- and it was also fun seeing him repeatedly bested by the child-queen as his mind went lol

tbf it wasn't half as bad as the Oldman vanity project in a Churchill mask, but that is a low bar!

also i liked that the crux of the fog ep was him being horny for his (invented) young secretary who died

lol that was a bit twisted!

some of invented sec's dialogue in that ep was almost as risible as Oldman's Churchill giving a speech on the tube in that very very bad movie!

churchill is simply unplayable now i suspect but choosing a US actor for the role wasn't a terrible idea -- establishes "mask" upfront w/o having to do a lifetime's work giving it backstory

otm -- and Lithgow played FDR in a 1994 TV film lol

i have not watched the oldman-as-old-ma film tbftm ("on the tube" made me think of muriel grey angrily grilling him)

I would love to see Patrick Stewart doing Churchill just because of how terrible and funny it would be!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sikpgjoKVQ

There should be moratorium on Churchill being portrayed on film and television for at least a decade, but I can't blame actors for loving to win awards without having to do much actual acting.

I love that scene when pathetic brat Charles says: I need to talk to you mummy. And she retorts: If this is going to be about your marriage, then stand on your feet like it is the privy council, so we can at least keep it brief.

lol, respect!

4 episodes in and still irritated by how much time characters spend in piss-poorly lit rooms than anything else

I like Rod Taylor (Australian) playing Churchill as a horrible old man in Inglorious Basterds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Azs_6uaCA

Oh my god, morto for Diana over the anniversary present. Horrendous.

lol her horrible flat-mates toasting the engagement: "and to one day, not too far away, BEING THE FUCKING QUEEN"

let me wack yalls on the noodle with this giant mace-shaped DRAMATIC IRONY

Yeah, only three episodes in and the heavy-handed HERE IS FORESHADOWING DO YOU SEE???? with the paparazzi and being followed in the car and everything is just getting to be way too much.

i mean tbf not sure how you could do it any other way, that element was always already way too much, we knew that instantly

herself living to be 10,000 yrs old tho, this was not known 40 yrs ago

I mean, sure, but it seems a little ott so far. I much preferred the scenes with her reckoning with the sudden change in her life. Love the scene of her roller skating and the shot of her slouched in the chair, dejectedly watching the kids show.

that mere kids show is the iconic Bagpuss!

charles being played as a wizened pervy beast thinking only of himself (accurate)

Lol one of the undeniable accuries played out in this show

margo: "charles. loves. someone. else. how many times can this family make the same mistake?"

luv too be right abt this dumm (grebt) show have invested so much anaylitical bravura in

she's lit to look like the bride of frankenstein as she says it

meanwhile the queen mum is barking like a gauleiter

so now that I've finished Season Two, I did a frantic ctrl-f in this thread to find "Matthew Goode hawt" and, well, imagine my disappointment.

The meet-cute in the museum b/w Anthony and Margaret is the best written and acted I've seen so far. Goode barely moves or opens his mouth (except to exhale cig smoke) and is riveting.

Too bad he's not in Season Three.

lol MT decribing her children: "twins, mark and carol, 28 years old -- and my favourite, mark, a very special child, the kind of son any mother would dream of having" etc

it goes into total on-the-nose we-don't-do-subtext-mate frenzy every time thatch is on-screen

omg I loved Goode as young Lord Snowdon, he’s SO good. Grown Lord Snowdon played by Ben Daniels in s3 isnt half bad either! i think you will be pleased

(xpost to Alfred)

the older Snowden by Daniels is probably closer to what he really was like i.e. not very enigmatic nor artistic, just a grumpy old posh twat with a camera and a negligible quota of talent!

idk i thought his photography skills were widely acknowledged? or are we just casting gimlet eyes at everyone regardless

thatch scene where she winds herself up like davros to full dalek scream

xp
No, I just think he was a shite photographer. And I do have a btec first award in art + design, so I'm no bloody mug for a overpromoted posh twat!

"is doing nothing your solution to everything?"

that was precisely how she explained what their duties and raison d'etre was to Dickie when he was getting embroiled in the Coup against Wilson. as in it is our job to do nothing.

Obviously I get why they aren't including Prince Andrew, but I think it's funny that you would be led to believe they only have two kids if you only knew of them from this show.

him and Edward are in a few eps in this season

Ah, okay, guess I should have waited til we got further along.

honestly it feels accurate to my impression of them in general lmao

ie never really being there

slight feeling watching s4 that it was written -- or anyway its main beats and battles were sketched out -- before s1-3 were designed to lead up to it

which maybe why when they arrive they feel a bit pre-chewed

xxxp

You obv haven't seen cold bottle of piss served as Sauvignon Blanc ep yet!

koo stark klaxon!

TIL that koo stark's scenes were cut from star wars before release, too steamy i expect

andrew recounting to mummy the plots of her films that weren't thus bowdlerised