After four successful seasons, The Crown is all set to return with its fifth season on Netflix. The storyline sheds light on the tumultuous relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana amid the other twists, which took place within the British royal family in the ’90s. The key roles of Prince Charles and Princess Diana will be played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki respectively.
With the new season, the audience will also watch a volley of new faces this time. Imelda Staunton has replaced Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, while her husband Prince Philip, a role last portrayed by Tobias Menzies, is now being essayed by Jonathan Pryce. Diana’s Panorama bombshell interview is also expected to feature in the new season.
The first reviews of the show are in, and by the looks of it, the show has been getting mixed responses from critics. While many are impressed by the timeline of the show, others feel that this season is fairly weaker than the last season i.e. Season 4. Let’s see what the early reviewers have to say about The Crown Season 5.
Is The Story Promising Enough?
Vulture
“Perhaps it’s appropriate that a season featuring so much brokenness feels more disconnected than usual from the previous seasons of The Crown. The transitions have been smooth in the past, the seams between seasons four and five look more frayed.”
The Washington Post
“If it was wishful thinking in Season 1, it is a joke by Season 5. As always with The Crown, the strokes of genius lie in the selection of anecdotes, and the new season finds compelling stories to tell even about characters it has soured on. ”
Telegraph
“The Crown has always operated within the bounds of possibility: the conversations may be imagined, but we should feel as if they could have happened. That feeling is being lost.”
How Did The Cast Do?
Empire Online
“But, as impressive as West is, it’s Elizabeth Debicki, taking over from Emma Corrin as Diana, who provides the season’s greatest acting triumph. Debicki not only looks uncannily like the former Princess of Wales, she also imbues her with a wryly funny sense of fatalism and a blunt self-awareness.”
Telegraph
“Dominic West has mastered the mannerisms of Charles, but not made much effort with the voice. Elizabeth Debicki has aced both as Diana, but so far she lacks the star power of the real thing and on early evidence is more of an impressionist than an actress.”
Should You Be Watching The Show?
“The continuing documentation of the late Elizabeth II’s reign – we have reached the years 1992 to 1997 – is not the issue, since the end of her era in real life ought to increase the need for a complete dramatization. Nor should the show’s increasing proximity to the present day present a problem for its writer, Peter Morgan, whose reputation pre-Crown was for finding new angles on states people’s recent exploits, the royals included. Yet these new episodes are bitty and often just boring, with Morgan casting around for side plots to hide the fact that everything he has to say about the Windsors has already been said,” stated Jack Seale Of The Guardian.
(Featured Image Credits: Twitter @netflix)
