Imelda Staunton leads an impressive ensemble cast as we say goodbye, for good, to Netflix’s The Crown. Here’s our full review of Season 6 Part II.
All good things must come to an end and so does The Crown. Following Part I of the final season, which released a few weeks ago, Part II wraps things up for one of Netflix’s most beloved shows.
For those wondering if the show will cover the Queen’s death, the answer would be a firm no, although Elizabeth is faced with her own immortality as the show draws to a close. Part II mostly focuses on Prince William (Ed McVey), who grapples with the death of his mother, Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) as he returns to school. The first episode of Part II is aptly titled “Willsmania” and it begins what seems like a transfer of power.
Much of Season 6 Part II of The Crown deals with the idea that maybe England has moved past the need for a monarchy. This isn’t a wholly new theme for The Crown – it pops up every now and then and was certainly emphasised by Diana’s presence – but here, it feels more urgent than ever as Elizabeth weighs her own role in a modern England.
If Part I seemed to shift the attention away from Elizabeth and onto Diana, Part II tries to course correct that, while also moving William into the limelight. The first episode’s tight focus on Will’s grief made me constantly wonder if The Crown ever extended the same empathy towards Diana as it does towards William here. Sure, his narrative is a compelling one; a young man, destined to be a King one day, loses his mother and has to find his own way in the world while the whole world is watching and lusting after him, but there is a distinct difference in how the tabloid headlines are handled with William versus Diana.
Similarly, Prince Harry, played by Luther Ford, is somewhat underserved by Morgan’s writing here. The Crown has always carefully tip-toed the line between fiction and reality and while it is officially fiction, Harry’s treatment here feels iffy. He is a fleeting presence at best, mostly there to bark lines such as “University is just sex!” after giving William some condoms. The goal is to forge a brotherly bond between the two princes, but without proper characterisation, the result simply leaves Harry seeming a little like a sex pest. There is no room for his grief or struggle across the six final episodes of The Crown, which seems like a missed opportunity.
Then there’s Meg Bellamy’s Kate Middleton. Her character lands somewhere in-between a Disney princess and a gold digger whose mother planned her meet-cute with the Prince years in advance. Bellamy and McVey’s chemistry works fine, even if it’s a little on the wooden side, but their romance is believable enough. The Crown has never excelled at romance and Will and Kate’s relationship is no different. It’s built on frustratingly shallow ground and offers very little insight into either of the characters.
The season also covers Princess Margaret’s health troubles. Episode 4 is a masterclass in dramatic acting from Lesley Manville and perhaps the whole season’s most powerful episode. It’s also the episode that gives us perhaps the deepest insight into Elizabeth herself and her sacrifices. This is what The Crown has always been about; being able to imagine what these impossibly distant, public figures really are, what secrets do their hold, underneath all that pompous sense of duty.
Part II doesn’t quite manage to do damage control enough to end the series on a proper high. In recent years (and seasons), The Crown has felt like a cheap carbon copy of its earnest, far more nuanced beginnings. Staunton makes for a respectable, elegant Queen, but it’s hard not to yearn for Foy or Colman’s more vibrant versions of her.
The Crown Season 6 Part II is now streaming on Netflix.
