Netflix’s move toward releasing half seasons at a time is a wise call, as The Crown‘s newest season helps prove. Granted, weekly releases would work even better for a lot of shows, and both Amazon and Apple TV+ have recently handled them well. Netflix, however, realizes that its viewers still favor bingewatching, but with some of the more anticipated shows, they’re at least busting them up a bit. That allows for more back-and-forth discussion by viewers, and dang it, that’s part of the joy of watching TV.
The Crown now delivers Season 6, Part 1 — four episodes that almost exclusively revolve around the final days of Princess Diana. The most painful subject is not glossed over or shied away from by zooming through at warp speed. Instead, we get to really spend some time feeling out the timeline of Di’s post-royal circumstances, in which she was far less protected by the palace and essentially thrown to the wolves. That refers to the paparazzi, yes, but there are other forces at work against Diana.
She does become, tragically, a commodity. Speaking of which, this scene is not how it appears in this image at face value, but it is a telling moment.
Even as someone who is not-a-royal watcher, other than The Crown — and I suspect that outlook is similar to a great chunk of this show’s audience — I’ve largely enjoyed the soap-opera-like take on the Windsors. And as morbid as this sounds, the 24/7 Diana approach delivers what I’ve ultimately been waiting for in this show and more. Granted, there are scenes that are quite stressful to watch, but overall, the show strikes the appropriate tone. Likewise, the “ghost Diana” scenes, which could have gone wrong in so many ways, were delivered as tastefully (and not gratuitously) as possible.
What transpires is obviously sad at times, but the delivery is stunning. Diana’s strength shines through while The Crown shows how she coped with the ridiculous circumstances of her life after the palace. It’s also, as weird as this sounds, nice to spend some (virtual) time with a member of royalty who was — to be blunt — not a self-involved a-hole. After all, there’s a reason why she was called “The People’s Princess.” Like many of you, I also recall where I was when news coverage of that deadly accident in a Parisian tunnel hit. This was one of those history-altering moments, like how you’ll always remember what you were doing when the 9/11 attacks began or when MAGAs started scaling the sides of the Capitol steps.
For sure, Diana’s death knocked the breath out of the Western world to an extent. And even though this half-season largely focuses on Diana’s death, this show also allows her to live. She never really got a chance to do so in her previous stages of life, until that final year.
Of course, Diana’s dramatized arrival a few years ago is when this show really began to turn a critical eye towards the Windsors. Yes, Season 4 sh*t on the fairy tale, and Season 5 tore into Charles for how he hated the public adoration that Diana received and also (allegedly) couldn’t stand waiting in line to be king. Yet in Season 6, the gloves fully come off against the grossly negligent reckless behavior that caused Diana’s demise. There were so many parties involved, and this show calls them all out.
Does the Dodi/Mohamed Al-Fayed stuff get complicated? Yes, but it’s also a story that needed to be told as part of Diana’s closing chapter.
In the end, these four episodes do more than any others to cement this series as Netflix’s crown jewel almost into infinity. Who’s to say that they might not drop the ball in this final episodes? Then again, I also began to give the stink eye to the TV while wondering if Netflix — which had to issue a “fictional dramatization” note last season to quell complaints from royal fans — was maybe kissing Charles’ tush too much in these episodes. That moment did pass, and let’s just say that Charles (Dominic West) is portrayed in a more well-rounded way this season, but there’s still some shade tossed his way.
So, there you have it. With these four new hours, The Crown illuminates the legacy (and endless activism) of Diana, a character the casting directors nailed. Granted, I didn’t see that point as clearly in Season 5 because poor Diana was largely reduced to a puddle of paranoia (although for good reason) during the phone-tapping era. Now, Elizabeth Debicki enters her second season in the role, after Di gained hard-earned wisdom following the younger version portrayed by Emma Corrin. As well, Imelda Staunton continues with this series’ third iteration of Queen Elizabeth following Claire Foy and Olivia Colman. I continue to be amazed at how all three got her voice down in the same way. That was likely no easy feat.
The series will also return in December with the final four episodes, which I believe is the right approach on multiple fronts. That way, viewers will be able to process how the show treated Diana in death, and I’m sure there will be a hashing out of whether her former in-laws’ reactions were authentically portrayed. From there, William and Kate will begin their infamous courtship in college; Charles will marry his former mistress, Camilla (who is now his queen); and Queen Elizabeth II will mark her Golden Jubilee. The Crown is almost over, but first, the series is giving Diana her due.
The Crown Season 6, Part I debuts on November 16 with Part 2 arriving on December 16.
