The last time The Crown was on our TVs the United Kingdom was a slightly different place. As of right now and the past year at least the issues surround the UK and it’s position in the world has been a top topic in news broadcasts. The Crown has previously done well at relating the past to the present and with a whole new cast replacing the previous younger cast the show manages to continue standing tall with its fantastic storytelling and capturing conversations.
Season three of The Crown begins in 1964 with Olivia Coleman now playing The Queen, replacing the brilliant Claire Foy. The new cast begins its story with the worries of a Russian spy being hidden amongst the highest of people in the United Kingdom. As I said, the season contains even more elements from the past that relate to today. Throughout the season The Queen and the Royal Family deal with more single episode issues rather than a larger overarching issue that the previous seasons followed.
Over the past two seasons of watching The Crown, I have learnt a lot about the events that the Queen has gone through. More so the fact that these events aren’t widely known by those outside of the UK and those who were alive while the events occurred. The appeal that watching The Crown had was not knowing what was going to happen next and the temptation of not just googling it and researching but instead I always allowed the show to teach me. Although no one will ever really know every conversation that the royals had with each other, The Crown manages to push the events further through it’s creation of these conversations.
Season three of The Crown has the same effect with keeping you on the edge of your seat waiting for each character’s reaction to situations that arise in the show. The conversations that the characters have continue to be strong and powerful, even with the new cast. It does take an episode for every actor/character to hit their stride, and for you to get used to them, but everyone manages to fill the large shoes left over from the previous stellar cast.
The stand out element for the third season of The Crown is the story of Prince Charles and Princess Anne, the Queen and Phillip’s children. The focus still remains on the whole family but has been taken away from The Queen herself, in the first two seasons The Queen was the centre focus with some focus being on Prince Phillip. Charles and Anne, mainly Charles, are now at the forefront more because that is where the story is heading due to the next real-life events that the show is about to be about. Charles’ love life and the way his family try to control him is one of the strongest elements that the show has had over its now three-season run. The Royal Family is positioned in shots, and throughout the series, to be evil and diabolical raising doubt from Charles and doubt from the viewers who will spend the season questioning their love and views of The Queen and her choices.
If there is one aspect of season three that I liked the most its that The Queen seems like a changed and different person. With Claire Foy, you had a Queen who was learning how to do her duty but now with Olivia Coleman you have a more experienced Queen who is trying to make the right choices in a world that is believing in her and the royal family a lot less. If the original two seasons were about keeping up with traditions then the third season is about ensuring those traditions live on and don’t fade away as society goes forward.
Season three of The Crown is more of what you loved about the first two seasons of the show with the original cast. It takes time to adapt to the new cast and some slightly different voices and acting but everything else remains the same. The Crown continues to be a leading show in style and script where even the simple conversations are worth every second of your time.