This is
an interesting episode, about a little tidbit of history I didn’t know anything
about. That’s one thing I do appreciate about The Crown – it dramatizes events from British history that I’d
never heard of before, both large and small.
When
Elizabeth delivers a tonedeaf speech to workers at an auto factory, she finds
herself on the receiving end of criticism from a lord who declares her out of
touch with the working people of England. The incident grows into a dustup in
the papers, and Elizabeth is torn between her desire to have the criticism shut
down and the worry that he might be right.
For
starters, it’s interesting that what we have here is a conflict over the
dignity of the working class that plays out between members of the aristocracy.
Even though Lord Altrincham’s words are prompted by his observations of
“regular people” listening to Elizabeth’s speech on the radio, working-class
folks aren’t actual participants in what’s going on here. It reminds me a
little of news about congressional committees drafting bills about reproductive
health, wherein the committees are made up entirely of men.
I also
like the detail that Elizabeth feels somewhat thrown under the bus on this
issue. She is the one who delivers the speech and understandably takes the heat
for it, but she doesn’t write the words she says. Even if it’s true that, by
virtue of her life and upbringing, she doesn’t
know what ordinary people’s lives are like, she trusts her advisors to write
speeches for her that are attuned to the sensibilities of the people, that
won’t turn people off or offend them. She starts to realize that, if she’s
surrounded by toffs, she won’t necessarily get thoughts or attitudes that are
reflective of the country as a whole.
It’s
another episode where there isn’t a lot of Philip, but unfortunately, he
manages to be pretty annoying even with his limited screentime. His chief
contribution to the episode is making fun of Elizabeth’s hairstyle, and he does
it 1) in an incredibly blunt and tactless way, and 2) while Elizabeth is on her
way to the speaking engagement in question. I imagine that, in Philip’s head,
he probably thinks he’s just keeping it real, but it gets to the point that
it’s like, “When was the last time you made an effort to make anything the
slightest bit easier for your wife, who’s the monarch of a whole damn country?”
Geez, guy.
At this
point, I’ve fully stopped hoping for any kind of turnaround or positive journey
of growth on Philip’s part. I’ve accepted that his character is going to be
mostly aggravating/annoying, with flashes of his nice moments that make me
wistful for the man he so frequently chooses not to be. Matt Smith still pulls
some really nice acting out of this on occasion, but on the whole, I’d have
wished for something better deserving of his talents (as I’ve said before, even
Philip’s bad qualities aren’t narratively-compelling enough to make him enjoyable to watch as an unrootable character.)
No comments:
Post a Comment