The Crown Review: People Don’t Want You to Be Normal (Season 3 Episodes 4-7)

Every character is going through changes on The Crown Season 3. The middle four episodes of the series’s third outing show a lot of growth and many character-centric episodes and storylines that look towards the future. 

I am coming off a run of binging historical dramas and I see a lot of socio-economic themes that also appear in both Downton Abbey and Peaky Blinders particularly where the upper class is concerned. Yet, while there is a larger scope here, The Crown makes the history it is putting forth compelling, and relatable. 

The middle episodes of this season do this especially well, focusing on certain members of The Royal Family at each turn. In some ways, I feel like a couple of these episodes could be labeled Queen-light as they focus on Philip and Charles rather than The Queen’s journey. 

This all feels like a product of The Queen becoming more settled in her role as sovereign. We don’t need to follow every clash with parliament, and we don’t need to focus entirely on her day-to-day activities.

She is settled into her life, and her children are growing up. That means that she can focus on running the country, but the more personal matters, the things that really make the skirmishes with the prime minister and parliament come to life, don’t have a personal counterpoint to make them come alive. 

However, the show isn’t at a loss for what to do with these years. Instead, it focuses on some of the other people in her life and how they have shaped The Royal Family and the reputation of The Crown. 

Take, for example, Prince Philip. Between The Crown Season 3 Episode 4, “Bubbikins,” and The Crown Season 3 Episode 7, “Moondust,” Prince Philip goes through a renewal of faith. 

While “Bubbikins” might have been about the documentary and trying to change perceptions of royals, it also sets in motion a discussion of faith when Prince Philip admits that his faith is dormant. 

Three episodes later, the subject of faith comes up again against the backdrop of the moon landing in 1969. What first seems like a midlife crisis quickly becomes a discussion of faith pushing him to reconnect with the church.

“Moondust,” is an episode that is spectacular in its scope. While it does try to give a wide view of how the entire royal family interacted with this momentous event, it keeps a throughline on Prince Philip.

Tobias Menzies’s performance is spectacular. It is miles away from Matt Smith’s Prince Philip who was last seen on The Crown Season 2 Episode 10, “Mystery Man,” screaming at the photographer to take the family portrait. Menzies, by contrast, is a more even-tempered version of the prince that perhaps came with age.

In these episodes, I realized that not only has The Queen settled into her role, but Philip has too. While he would complain a lot and fight with Elizabeth about who was making the decisions they’ve reached an understanding. The marriage now feels more like a partnership than an unequal power struggle where one has the ultimate trump card: the crown. 

While The Crown Seasons 1 and 2 may have put a little more focus on a young marriage surviving the shift of becoming sovereign, The Crown Season 3 presents a more settled and steady version of the entire royal household: for now. 

This appearance may be because of the writing and the microscopic view it takes, not just of incidents but on characters. As The Crown continues its charge into the decades I was looking foward to seeing the children brought up.

After seeing how the senior school selection went for Charles in Season 2, it felt like the show should continue to follow that thread. The series didn’t disappoint. While Princess Anne made an appearance in “Bubbkins,” a grown version of Prince Charles makes an appearance on  The Crown Season 3 Episode 6, “Twysog Cymru.” 

Josh O’Connor plays a teenage Prince Charles who is sent to Wales for a semester to learn the language for his investiture. Over the course of the episode, “Twysog Cymru,” puts forth an interesting and somewhat formulaic representation of a pupil and a reluctant tutor, Edward Millward played by Mark Lewis Jones.

While the events of “Twysog Cymru,” are fictionalized for television, the spotlight on Charles comes at a very appropriate time. As anyone with a passing interest in The Royal Family knows, in the 1970s there was a lot of drama involving Prince Charles and Princess Anne, and given that “Moondust” takes place in 1969, we’re about to come upon it. 

“Twysog Cymru” gives Charles a voice for the first time as he steps into his role as Prince of Wales. While his actions at the speech don’t go over well with The Queen it does display Charles as a human being, which arguably, seems to be what The Crown Season 3 is doing, at least at the beginning. 

The Crown Season 3 Episode 3, “Aberfan,” has The Queen confront her inability to show emotions with the help of The Prime Minister. It’s ironic that she delivers the same party lines to Charles, the future of The Crown. 

Yet, while it seems hypocritical, there is no alternative here. The crown needs to be impartial. There’s a reason that The Queen and The Royal Family don’t comment on political matters, because they can’t show favoritism.

While Charles’s speech may be a win for Welsh and British unity, it does simultaneously weaken the position of The Crown. Still, the people behind these offices are human beings and they do have thoughts and opinions that they can’t just turn off because it’s convenient. 

Charles’ investiture feels like the beginning of a new thread that still keeps with The Crown‘s major theme of changing times. 

We can’t leave this group of episodes without discussing The Crown Season 3 Episode 5, “Coup.” This is the episode where Queen Elizabeth is featured the heaviest, and what’s significant about it is that we see her pursuing and interest for herself. 

Throughout the episode, it’s refreshing to see her shed the exterior of Her Majesty and be a woman who wants to breed and race horses. Her confession to Porchey about feeling like she’s not suited for the role of Queen because it wasn’t meant for her feels very honest.

The Crown creates an immersive world that the viewers can get lost in. It’s been a while since anyone has discussed the abdication, but it still remains a part of the story as to how Elizabeth became Queen. While we’re seeing Charles being raised to be the heir to the throne it’s easy to forget that wasn’t Elizabeth’s reality as an extremely young child. 

“Coup” puts all of that baggage into perspective.  

Yet, when the prime minister calls and warns her of a plot against him led by Lord Mountbatten, she still decides to go home. 

While the focus may not have been on The Queen for these episodes, her dedication speaks for itself. Or maybe, she just doesn’t want another monarch to feel like they’re doing a job that they were never meant for. 

Stray Thoughts:

• Erin Doherty as Princess Anne is remarkable. Doherty’s delivery and stiffness practically comes off the screen and I cannot wait to see what she does with the material to come. 
• On that note, I was actually hoping we’d see a bit more of the launch of Princess Margaret since that was the lead-in to her participating in the film. However, I feel like the fact that we didn’t ties in to her statement about how she’s insignificant. 
• Seeing Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark was a great subject to focus on. It always seemed like Philip was ashamed of his mother, but the love letter in the paper at the end of “Bubbikins” seemed to heal the wounds. I only wish we’d gotten to see a little more of her. 
• Princess Margaret this season is serving the one-liners and I love how much shade she throws when the camera is on her. 
• Watching Prince Philip meet the astronauts was a moment I feel most fans would relate to. Going into that meeting so hopeful and finding out that the answers don’t exist is heartbreaking. However, if he was looking to show people that the royals were just like us, this moment is far more effective.

What did you think of this episode of The Crown? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Crown Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

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