Other Doctor Lives: The Crown: Season 2, Episode 1 – “Misadventure” (2017)

Onto season 2 now. Too soon to tell if things are going to be turning around where Philip is concerned – we’ll see what happens (episode premise spoilers, which include a spoiler from the season 1 finale.)

At the end of last season, Elizabeth’s mother suggested sending Philip to Australia in Elizabeth’s stead to preside over the Olympics, in the hopes that some time away coupled with a chance to be in the spotlight would help him get his head on straight and be a little gracious about being the royal consort. We ended with the understanding that he’d agreed to do it, and the season premiere jumps ahead to sometime after his return from Australia before circling back to cover some of what we missed. Alongside the relationship stuff, we also get the major political news of that time: the seizure of the Suez Canal.

We’ll start with the canal. Even though this was obviously a big political deal for Britain, I do find it at least slightly satisfying that Nasser proves to be such a thorn in Eden’s side when Eden is so patronizing and insufferable. He’s bad enough early in the episode, giving an annoyingly-elitist speech at Eton extolling the virtues of so many “Eton men” going on to become prime minister, but when it comes to the Suez Canal, he really outdoes himself. When he assures Elizabeth that the whole sorry business will be over quickly once he takes away the British soldiers to pilot ships through the canal (Egyptians “aren’t a seafaring people,” you know,) I wanted to smack him.

In this episode, Philip is more conspicuous in his absence than his presence, since he spends much of it away in Australia. While he’s gone, Elizabeth reckons with how their marriage is going and whether his heart is fully in it. Even when he’s not around, it seems he has a talent for giving Elizabeth even more to worry about in the midst of an unfolding international crisis.

It’s another frustrating entry because, at different points of the scenes Philip is in, I actually enjoy him quite a bit, probably more than I have at any point since the first few episodes of series. There’s a really charming scene of him and Elizabeth being flirty first thing in the morning, and we get a bit more of him being sweet with the kids. I go with “frustrating,” though, because these are the episodes that show that he isn’t just self-centered and full of fragile male ego. The episodes where he’s full-on jerkish annoy me, but they don’t frustrate me like these do. As I’ve said before, these scenes demonstrate what he can be capable of. When he gets his head out of his butt and focuses on being a partner to his wife, he can be great. But that then makes it all the more aggravating that he so often chooses not to be so.