‘The Crown’ Season 5 Review: Imelda Staunton Takes Over as Queen as Netflix Series Returns

CNN
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Questions of propriety surrounding the fifth season of The Crown airing two months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II are largely overshadowed by other issues, as the Netflix series reloads with new high-profile talent in key roles and… old issues, while feeling more disjointed than unusual. The result is an uneven campaign that reinforces feelings that the Emmy-winning streak risks prolonging his reign too long.

This theme is among the juiciest palace intrigues of the new season, as Prince Charles (Dominic West) chafes at his status as heir-in-waiting and openly discusses Queen Victoria Syndrome, a reference to his mother, the Queen (Imelda Staunton), being too rooted in the past and tradition to meet the changing demands of a modern monarchy.

Of course, the season begins in 1991, so there’s the tantalizing knowledge that Elizabeth would retain that title for another three decades, and that Charles is set to do serious damage to his public image thanks to the breakdown of his marriage to Diana. (Elizabeth Debicki), who perfectly captures Diana’s pensive and vaguely sad gaze. The character fare less well in terms of emotional insight, as she’s portrayed with less sympathy this time around, at least in her naivety about the hell that talking publicly about the royal family would trigger.

The discomfort associated with these public outbursts falls on the new prime minister, John Major (Jonny Lee Miller), who recognizes the dynamics of what’s going on better than the key players, which doesn’t make his role any less uncomfortable for him.

Writer/producer Peter Morgan again wades into all sorts of situations over the course of 10 episodes, including the unlikely friendship that develops between Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce, who plays a big role) and Penny Knatchbull (Natascha McElhone) , the much younger wife of Godson of Philips, which begins as he seeks to console her for the tragic death of her daughter.

Philip also takes it upon himself to berate Diana for not understanding the institution she married into, reminding her that it is not a family. It’s a system.

Yet given the focus on Diana and Charles during this decade, digressions seem more pronounced, and in some cases questionable this season, of the fate of Princess Margaret (now Lesley Manville), who has no not entirely made peace with his past, to a deep detour into the backstory of Dodi and Mohamed al-Fayed (The Kite Runners Khalid Abdalla and Salim Daw, respectively), Diana’s eventual boyfriend and obsessed wealthy father by status, in whose eyes the young man can never do enough.

Throw in an episode devoted to Russia and the Royals’ sordid history around the Revolution, and it sometimes feels like a bridge or two too far.

Upper lips stay incredibly stiff, even under the most trying circumstances. When Charles talks privately to his mother about Diana, I did what you asked, Mom. I tried to make it work, she snaps that being married is a preference rather than a requirement.

The cast remains a screaming flex on almost every level. Timothy Dalton even appears in a small but meaningful cameo and for those who can’t get enough royal gossip, Morgan is once again making the public aware of his version of what happened behind closed doors, as Charles and Diana discuss quietly after finalizing their divorce.

You were never young, even when you were young, she told him.

The crown has been great, as Emmy’s fourth season haul attests, and it’s still pretty good. Still, given the highs that younger versions of these characters have delivered, borrowing from the Queen, watching the current season feels more like a preference than a requirement.

The Crown premieres its fifth season November 9 on Netflix.