Has anyone watched Season 4 of The Crown?

[smirkymonkey]

If so, what did you think?

I am completely addicted to that show. Although, I have issues with certain charachters. Particularly Margaret Thatcher. Don't want to give away any spoilers, but just curious as to your opinions.

[Layzeebeaver]

1. We binged watched it

It was entertaining. They highlighted the essential bits.

The Diana thread was well done. And the actors were cast perfectly.

I thought MT was a bit overacted, but we can easily overlook that.

[hlthe2b]

2. I'm more than half-way through. I think I've rarely seen a limited series with better casting...

I think the acting is superb--especially the actors portraying Charles, Philip, and Princesses Margaret and Anne. The Queen and Diana are likewise well cast,

And as Margaret Thatcher, Gillian Anderson is scarily accurate, IMO. I detest Thatcher all over again.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. I'm about halfway, also. And I concur with your assessments of the cast and acting.

Amazing! I LOVE Olivia C and Josh O'Connor. The others... just as wonderful!! And yes, Thatcher. Nasty woman.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Olivia was excellent, as she is in everything she is in.

Josh O'Connor is an excellent actor, and his Charles started out being so relatable, but by the end of Season 4 I just couldn't stand him. In fact all the Royal Children came off as completely arrogant, spoiled and beastly. I ended up having a great deal of empathy for Margaret, even though she was not such a great person in real life. I did feel sorry for her.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. I have a friend who's seen the whole series and she said the SAME thing about Charles.

I have to tell you: I have loved Olivia C since she starred as Debbie Doonan in Beautiful People.

And of course Broadchurch.

[smirkymonkey]

8. LOL! Yes, she is great!

And I just loved her in Broadchurch as well! She was also excellent in Fleabag and in The Favourite.

[CurtEastPoint]

10. omg Fleabag! How could I forget? "Get them out of here! I must paint!"

[smirkymonkey]

4. I thought the acting was excellent.

It was all so well done, however I was kind of young during Thatcher's reign and I absolutely despised her charachter, although I thought Gillian Anderson did a great job at portraying her. What an evil woman. She made Reagan look cuddly.

Charles started out looking quite sympathetic, but by the end he was just a beast. Ugh!

[walkingman]

7. A great series - looking forward to the continuation. More than anything it changed my mind about

Charles and my admiration for the Queen has grown. I wish we had something like this in our heritage. It seems to be a stabilizing force for Great Britain even today.

[smirkymonkey]

9. I know! I can't wait until the next season.

I just wish we didn't have to wait so long. I must say my admiration for the Queen has grown as well. I do pity poor Diana more than ever though. I had no idea how difficult it was for her.

[Aristus]

11. I'm still wondering how they turned the ravishing

Gillian Anderson into the dull, phlegmatic, and un-appealing Margaret Thatcher.

“The Crown” is an unwelcome reminder of why I loathe Margaret Thatcher.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Yes, that was an amazing transformation, wasn't it?

I absolutely loathed Margaret Thatcher in this series. I was a bit young when she was actually in office, so I was unaware of the damage she had done, but I am now interested in educating myself a bit more about her. What a horrible person she was!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. For what my opinion is worth,

I got several episodes into season one and had to stop because of all the factual inaccuracies. I'm cursed by having read a lot of biographies of the royal family. Prince Phillip was NEVER a loving and affectionate father to Charles. That alone, for me, makes the entire series suspect.

But I am glad that others can enjoy it.

[smirkymonkey]

15. I understood from the start that there were historical inaccuracies, however I knew that this was

a made for television drama and was meant to entertain, so I knew that they would take liberties with the story line to make it more palatable for the audience. I was aware of the many falsehoods ahead of time as well, and there were many, but I was still able to enjoy the fantasy of it.

I think people would have been really turned off if they had stuck to the truth, which is why they probably had to alter so much of the history and the personalities of the characters. I still think it was entertaining and well done, despite the flaws in historical accuracy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. I understand.

However, I am of the opinion that what really happened is often far more interesting than any made up stuff.

I'll point to the movie "Titanic". I will say that the frame story was quite interesting, but even that embellished unnecessarily, and what actually happened that night is far more interesting than the movie. My opinion.

As an aside to my Titanic reference, when the movie came out and was such a huge hit (and this was before I finally decided to see it) I went to the local library in Overland Park, KS (a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri) and looked at microfilm of the local newspapers for April, 1912. Oh, my. Not only was there a brief notice of the sailing, but once the ship was sinking, the news completely overwhelmed the front pages for nearly a week. It made 9/11 seem like a small-time building collapse.

For me, the deviations from actual fact are extremely bothersome. I realize this says more about me than about the medium. Perhaps it's because I've read LOTS of actual history and good biography over the years that I get so impatient with and annoyed at deviations from what happened. At the risk of repeating myself, what actually happened is almost invariably more interesting than some fictionalized version.

Back to my original note about Prince Phillip not being a loving father to Charles. Had Prince Phillip's character been more accurately shown, it would shed a LOT of light on why and how Charles became the man he is today. Charles had a genuinely miserable childhood, belittled and berated by a father he could not have been more different from. While Gordonstoun was a genuinely excellent place for Phillip, it could not have been a worse place for his son. And Phillip simply couldn't see that. Alas.

Anyway, I know and I'm glad lots of people are enjoying the series, but they will come away with some serious misconceptions. Unfortunately.

[smirkymonkey]

19. I would have liked to have seen more accuracy in their portrayals, but I think

they probably didn't want to demonize the royal family too much and provoke thier ire. Apparently, Princess Margaret could be hell on wheels as well, and she came across as a fairly sympathetic character. I would have liked to have seen some of her more diva like moments in the series.

I totally agree that Phillip was completely whitewashed and that his effect on Charles was profound. As was the Queen's.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. Somehow, showing people and what happened accurately does not

seem to me to be demonizing anyone. Heck, showing exactly how terrible Margaret was would probably have made a far more interesting series.

My problem is also that people will think that everyone and everything in the series is completely accurate. And people wonder why so many millions of people voted for Donald Trump again. They've been trained to accept absolutely at face value gross inaccuracies.

[3catwoman3]

14. We have watched all of Season 4 already.

It is very compelling.

I would never have known Gillian Anderson was the actress portraying Thatcher.

I am not a big Helena Bonham Carter fan. She is physically so different from the actress cast in seasons 1&2 that I found the contrast distracting.

The young woman playing Diana absolutely nailed the mannerisms.

[smirkymonkey]

16. Yes, the Diana actress really quite nailed it.

She was perfect. At first, I wasn't convinced because I didn't really think there was much of a physical resemblance in the face, but her mannerisms and personality eventually won me over and I ended up quite taken with her portrayal. I really thought she did a great job of it.

[3catwoman3]

17. It is so, so, SO not right that she is dead and Charles got to be...

...happy with Camilla.

[MissB]

20. This.

Exactly this.

The series so far has made Charles seem like the arse I’ve always imagined him to be.

[skypilot]

21. Just started watching the show after...

...finding out that Gillian Anderson would be playing Thatcher. I am only up to the last episode of season two. Don't know that much about the British royal family so I can't make any informed criticisms of the show. I am enjoying it though. The only thing I haven't liked so far was the casting of Michael C. Hall from "Dexter" as JFK. Just no!!!