TV Review: Season Four Another Jewel In ‘The Crown’

CHICAGO, IL (Nov. 9, 2020) — The new season of Peter Morgan’s excellent Netflix series “The Crown” hits Netflix Nov. 15, expanding upon the dramatization of English monarch Queen Elizabeth's life. Olivia Colman and a compelling cast continue the story of the royal family and its members’ vastly varying relationships to the titular crown.

Season four’s 10 episodes are just as emotionally-centered and thematically-charged as ever, bringing to life the inner workings of the monarchy in a tightly-written drama that’s the equivalent of a multi-course meal. This chapter builds to its artistic conclusion the same way previous seasons of “The Crown” do, pulling in the audience with rich detail and thoughtful character development based on the private lives of public figures.

Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) are the most notable additions to the cast, both personifying tumultuous relationships to the famous family. Anderson perfectly captures the ultra-conservative prime minister who didn’t consider herself a feminist, while Corrin steals the season as the internationally-beloved wife of Prince Charles, bringing a breath and new life to a family long considered rigid - much to her husband’s dismay.

Charles and Diana are unsurprisingly the most interesting aspect of the new season, taking nothing away from Colman’s steady Emmy-nominated performance as the sovereign. But thanks in large part to Josh O’Connor and Corrin’s portrayals of the embattled couple, they bring a new sense of interest, frustration and even sadness to a story we thought for sure we already knew.

From Diana’s eating disorder and general loneliness to Charles’s well-publicized affair and growing resentment toward his wife, the actors and their detailed surroundings make “The Crown” far more meaningful than the diminished tabloid drama too often associated with the late Princess of Wales. Corrin brings humanity and nuance to Diana, while O’Connor masterfully accomplishes the difficult task of making an unlikable figure not only watchable, but compelling. (Their performances echo Matt Smith and Claire Foy in the show’s first two seasons, playing a younger Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip enduring their own marital struggles.)

Much could be said for the stylish show’s budget, beautiful locations and outstanding artistry with sets, hair, makeup and movement. But it is truly the characters and the writing that make the Emmy-winning series such a draw. Audience members are active participants in what is ultimately a family drama about life in the public eye - and what it is to be a privileged “public servant” in an ever-changing country clinging to tradition.

Uniquely structured and beautifully shot, “The Crown” once again seamlessly ties together true events into emotionally-charged, brilliantly-executed television that Netflix should be proud to call a hit. Drawing on themes of pain, privilege, restrictions on happiness and history repeating itself, each new hour of this stunning series continues to consistently show the price a Queen pays for putting “duty before everything.”

The show will pick up next season with an entirely new and older cast to delve into later years of the monarchy, but it’s abundantly clear that the shine on “The Crown” is far from tarnished.