Each fall, most of the broadcast and cable networks debut a ton of new shows in the span of a few months, making it difficult to sort out which ones to make time for and which to skip. So we’re starting the WIRED Pilot Program, where we highlight what you should continue watching, and what you can just let sit on your DVR until it automatically deletes. Today's entry: The Crown
The Show: The Crown (Netflix, all episodes available November 4)
The Premise: Beginning in 1947, just before the wedding of Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor (Claire Foy) to Prince Philip Mountbatten (Matt Smith), The Crown depicts the reign of soon-to-be Queen Elizabeth II, currently the world’s oldest living monarch and the longest reining monarch in British history. Her father, King George VI (Jared Harris) is in ill health, Winston Churchill (John Lithgow) has just been made Prime Minister a second time, and the world is still recovering from World War II. As with many previous stories focused on the time of Elizabeth II, the series is written entirely by Peter Morgan (The Queen), with at least the first episode directed by Stephen Daldry (The Audience).
The Pilot Program Take: Netflix is playing the long game with The Crown, which will eventually span six seasons. That means the first episode feels a lot like a prologue to the actual story it means to tell. There’s a much bigger emphasis on the end of George VI’s life, his fears for his daughter, and the political unrest at the end of the 1940s and early 1950s. But there are hints of the initial difficulties Elizabeth II will face once she wears the crown. Philip seems stifled by his stunted career as a naval officer, and somewhat unable to cope with making renovation decisions in the family home and taking care of the young Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
But two scenes near the end of the first chapter help solidify Morgan's typically steady hand when peeling back layers of privacy to give a glimpse at Elizabeth’s life. The first is the best in the entire episode, with George and Elizabeth in the king’s office, just spending time together. George knows his advisors place the news they don’t want him to read at the bottom of a giant stack of files, so he swiftly advises her to immediately flip a pile over to get to the important stuff—you know, just in case she ever needs to contend with skilled political veterans trying to take advantage of her at the beginning of her reign.
The second is slightly more disappointing, since it's about two men negotiating the boundaries of their powers. George and Philip go out hunting together, and the king impresses upon his son-in-law that his career and ambitions are all superfluous to being Elizabeth’s husband. ("She is the job. She is the essence of your duty.") It encapsulates the nationalism of this entire series and its celebration of an unelected, impossibly wealthy figure. Yet it's still removed from Elizabeth herself, and for a show named after the object that will give the future queen her title and power, it'd be nice to see more of the person who has to bear its weight.
The Verdict: In a welcome twist, The Crown is less of a bombastic, sweeping romance and more of a clear-eyed depiction of Elizabeth’s rise from young monarch to fiercely respected popular figure. To do that, however, the show needs to cover large swaths of time from installment to installment, which doesn't leave much time to linger on any one particular character, Elizabeth included. And since there’s such a wide-ranging cast, from the royal family to political leaders to the lower-ranking officials surrounding them, it’s hard not to feel shortchanged in the early goings.
TL;DR Keep watching past the first episode. You'll get to see more of Claire Foy's performance as Queen Elizabeth—and you'll get to see if you're enough of an Anglophile to commit to the full series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWtnJjn6ng0
