Spoiler Warning: includes some spoilers for stylistic choices but, ultimately, this show is based on history

I really love this show and have found the entire run so fascinating. It’s a little hard to review because this season in particular covers so many storylines so this might be a little bit general, but I’ll do my best! Also, I want to take a quick second to blame Netflix and their stupid new password sharing restrictions for how long it took me to finish this show. Netflix, you suck.

This final season of The Crown was split into two parts. The first part almost exclusively covered the last few weeks of Princess Diana’s life, her death, and the immediate aftermath, while the second part picked up a short time later and followed William and Harry in their later teen years, becoming real people, and, of course, Elizabeth overseeing it all. Both in reality and rendered on this show, Diana continues to be a shining star, eclipsing almost everyone and everything else. Something about her and her story is so magnetic and compelling, you can’t take your eyes (or brain) off of her. I’ve found her storylines to be the most interesting aspect of the past few seasons. Watching the end of her life play out almost minute to minute is so frustrating when we know what actually happens because you want to yell at the TV and tell her not to go to Paris. Her depiction in these episodes is intriguing because you see the behind-the-scenes of her clearly being manipulated by different forces but, at the same time, she isn’t made out to be a completely innocent martyr. I know many people were upset by “Ghost Diana” appearing after her death, but it didn’t bother me as the show has obviously taken liberties with imagined conversations in the past (although “imagined” in past cases meaning fictional talks between real people and not talks with imaginary people). I liked it as a commentary on grief and didn’t read it as exploitative. Elizabeth Debicki is just phenomenal as Diana. She captures the allure and the sparkle and sadness perfectly. 

Part one felt very standalone, not just from the season but from the entire series. It was important for the show to let that story have its moment before continuing on with anything else. When we pick back again in part two, William is going off to college. Sorry, “university”. I thought I would be interested to see the William and Kate story but, I have to be honest, the late season William and Harry stuff felt like a Lifetime movie to me. Maybe it’s because it’s a recreation of such modern history that it almost feels more parody than historical. Or maybe these young actors couldn’t bring the gravitas the rest of the show has brought. Or maybe the drama just isn’t as weighty there. But it all felt a little cheap and unserious. 

Overall, I think that’s why the show ended where it did and for good reason. I always liked the show because I felt like I was learning something. As we get into later years and closer to the present, the more we as a public already know about these stories and the details of them because it’s more recent and because with technological advances we have access to way more information. It makes the stories harder to portray in a way that is new and interesting. You have to push the boundaries of the form to keep it fresh and exciting since most people are already familiar with the facts. A way to do it that The Crown often does (or really did more in past seasons) is to take a well-known story and approach it through unexpected angles. The only episode this season to do that was “Two Photographs”, which explored the public perceptions of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in contrast to each other through the lens of the photographers who took two famous photographs of them. This kind of storytelling is one of the features that made past seasons of The Crown particularly engaging and this season could have really benefited from unique perspectives instead of traditional chronology. 

The creator of the show has said that it is called The Crown since it is intended to follow The Crown, aka the line of succession of the royal family. We see a good amount of Charles and we definitely get a lot of William in these last few episodes but, really, this show has always been about Elizabeth. The ending of the show just solidifies that. Less for the actual story within the show but more as a testament the show itself, having the previous Elizabeth actresses, Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, share the screen with the current Elizabeth, Imelda Staunton, was a really beautiful full-circle moment. And while Claire Foy will always be the premiere Elizabeth to me, I thought Imelda Staunton was doing some really powerful work in these last few episodes.

It all hits so much harder following Elizabeth’s recent death. There will never be a monarch like her again. She lived through so much, so much change, and was just always traditional in both good ways and bad ways. That just doesn’t exist anymore. It can’t. The world is different, people are different, so the monarchy has to be different. This season especially the show examined the struggle with tradition and modernity. Episodes like “Ruritania” dove deep into these themes. But the show really feels like a love letter to tradition and this specific moment in history and time. And no matter your personal or political opinions on monarchies and institution and customs, we can all still appreciate it for what it was. How impressive and how important.

I love The Crown, I love this history, and I love learning about it. This show is literally a documentary to me. You cannot convince me this isn’t exactly what happened in real life. I don’t think this final season of the show was its strongest, but I still enjoyed a good amount of it. The show evolved over time, as it had to, as people and society change, but finishing it just made me want to start all over again from the beginning. Those first few seasons feel like a completely different show that I want to experience again. I’ve said it before but I think The Crown is a worthwhile watch for anybody and everybody. Definitely check it out.

2024 Count: 3 seasons, 3 movies