Favourites

It took me a bit to get over the petulance of Elizabeth's four children. Each has his or her own problems that to most of us would seem petty. But the elevation of them makes the show. Anne is feeling unappreciated and ignored despite her good works. Edward is a whiney, self centered little weasel who enjoys inflicting pain. Andrew is totally irresponsible and enjoying every minute of it. And, Charles, is in love with someone else and continues to talk to her and engage with her whenever possible, leaving the pregnant Diana with nowhere to go. Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher proves to be a war monger, self centered and unconcerned about the hoi poloi. Of course, the Falklands come along just at the right time.

Seasons 1 and 2 were quite excellent on the whole, with even the weakest episodes still being good. Season 3 started off rather slow and finished underwhelmingly, but it did have high points with "Aberfan" for example being one of the best episodes of 'The Crown' in my view. Still liked the show well enough to watch Season 4 and coupled with having a high opinion of Gillian Anderson (after her wonderful acting in 'Bleak House') watching it was on the cards.

Season 4 did start off disappointingly, though not terribly, but did improve with the next two episodes. "Favourites" isn't as good as the very good previous episode "Fairytale", but it is on par with "The Balmoral Test" and better than "Gold Stick". Everything with Elizabeth and her children (with the viewer introduced here to Edward and Andrew) was fascinating, but for me it was less good with the Thatcher (generally have not liked her portrayal on 'The Crown') storyline.

"Favourites" has a lot of very good things. As ever the production values are superb. The production and costume design are both classy and sumptuous, but it's the photography that stands out in this regard. The music is not overbearing or low key. The scripting is thought provoking and intriguing and the character writing and dynamics with Elizabeth and her children intrigued and illuminated. Enough of the story compels.

Most of the acting is fine, Olivia Colman is more relaxed here than she was in the previous Season 4 episodes and Charles, Anne, Edward and Andrew are all strongly portrayed. Cannot rave about Josh O'Connor enough.

A lot less good sadly is Anderson. She ever properly disappears into Thatcher's character and it does come over as too much of a Thatcher caricature and Anderson trying too hard.

Her story also to me didn't come over as very interesting or investable, with the tense and nuanced character interactions in the Royal Family plot not being obvious in Thatcher's, and found some of the writing rather contrived at times. Do agree that the family scene was too cartoonish and like it was lifted from somewhere else.

Despite how that sounds, overall to me the episode was pretty good. Just not a favourite. 7/10.

The Queen has maternal love for them all but there are moments when her revulsion toward them is apparent. When she's having lunch with Edward and he tells a joke about eating so much fish he wonders they don't have gills. She not only doesn't laugh but looks tortured by the cheese and his ringing fake laugh. She also doesn't like how he's turned into a cold authoritarian. He's not embraceable.

Ann is emotional. She's bleating on about her despair about nothing. Yes there is an oppressiveness with being in the royal family but recklessness and drama is not relatable for the Queen Elizabeth. They are different and again there's an intimacy gap.

Yes Phillip believes Andrew is her favorite but she looks like she wants to walk out. She's not just recoiling because it's not natural for her to talk about sex with her son but Phillip is callous to humane boundaries. He doesn't have empathy for anyone not even his mom who he is torturing at the moment. Would he kill Charles and his children. Who knows? Everything is good fun and can be re-framed as art or modernization.

I thought Charles was written poorly until I realized the dialogue isn't ridiculous, pompous and superficial - Charles is. And she can barely look at him. She laughs, scold, mocks him for his dry self absorption. He's sullen, cold and a walking satire of English pretension. I don't like Charles but when she demanded they get on with her lunch because she needs to get back- I felt bad for him. He's not likable. Even his mother needs distance from him and Queen Elizabeth relates to Diane who is hiding from him.

An interesting episode as the queen interrogated her children in an attempt to find her favorite. Good acting and an interesting perspective on the royal children.

I've loved most of The Crown 1 - 3, but season 4 has sadly taken a turn for the worse. It's superficial, lacking the depth of other seasons, and the subtle subject matters of previous seasons have been replaced with a steam rolling through some major matters in this one. This episode in particular is cringe worthy embarrassing, playing on biased lazy stereotypes that have not been resorted to before. What has gone wrong?