Man,
this was a hard episode to watch. Given the state of the world right now, much
of it hit way too close to home, and I cried multiple times.
Unusual
weather circumstances cause the smog from London’s coal-burning smoke stacks to
travel downward, trapped throughout the city as a dense fog. As the toxic fog
hangs in the air, hazardly-low visibility disrupts city life and causes traffic
accidents, and breathing it in sickens a number of London citizens. Churchill
fiddles while the city chokes, and Elizabeth wonders what her role is amid the
crisis.
Just
wow. Seeing people walking through the
fog-stricken London streets in face masks, seeing a crowded hospital with beds
in corridors, seeing overburdened doctors with not enough ventilators to go
around. Obviously, that imagery resonates hard these days, but it’s more than
that. Even more than the echoes of the present there in the past, more than the
familiar images transposed onto the 1950s, it’s the sight of the leader of the
government ignoring and downplaying the crisis while the city suffers. The
weather that causes the toxic fog is not Churchill’s fault, but his past
negligence of environmental reform allows it to be as bad as it is, and what’s
worse, once it’s clear how dangerous the situation is, he doesn’t mobilize. He
scoffs, “It’s weather, it’ll pass,”
and abdicates all responsibility for getting aid to the hospitals that are
straining under the weight of those affected. The crisis is the only thing on
the cabinet’s mind, but he’d rather talk about anything else.
Elizabeth
is much more immediately concerned about what’s happening just outside the
doors of Buckingham Palace, but even though she’s the queen, she feels
relatively powerless. Churchill continues to play the irascible Father Knows
Best card with her, and whisperings reach her from Churchill’s political rivals
that it’s her duty to involve herself. This is a great weight placed on the
shoulders of a young queen who took up the throne far earlier than anyone
planned, and it tests Elizabeth sorely. As much as she wants to do anything
that will ease her people’s suffering, she’s also mindful of the need to
recognize what her power allows, what her duty is, and what would constitute an
overreach.
As
for Phillip? Sigh…. More Riley Finn than Marty Ginsburg today. Admittedly, he
has the excuse of going rather stir-crazy due to being housebound with the
weather alerts (keeping him away from his new favorite pastime, practicing for
his pilot’s license,) and Churchill seems to have a particular knack for
thwarting his every notion, but he handles it badly, far worse than his wife
who has much more to worry about on her plate. (If this were analogous to the present, why do I get the feeling that
Phillip is just a few days from taking to the streets with a “Give Me Liberty
or Give Me Death” sign?)
But
it’s not a good look for him. At best, he’s maddeningly underfoot while
Elizabeth is trying to work, and at worst, he’s short-tempered and snippy,
making passive-aggressive remarks about “knowing his place,” which – it kind of
seems like sometimes you don’t, guy. I’m not ready to give up on him yet, but
I’d like to see Phillip turn it around quite a bit in the next few episodes, ‘cause
Churchill gives Elizabeth enough trouble. She doesn’t need to be dealing with
her husband’s sulks at home too.
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