The Crown Season 2 review: Intrigue surrounding royal couple's marriage makes this a first-rate affair

The Crown is a beautiful show. With a rumoured budget of $130 million, its production values are only rivalled by the HBO pop culture phenomenon Game of Thrones. The acting is top notch; characters are complex and well drawn. The cast isn’t as sprawling as Game of Thrones, but the universe is just as intricate. Both shows see the elite of society vying with each other for power. It seemed like Netflix had done it again. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Almost everyone liked it. And yet, Season 1, for all its acclaim, gleam and glitter left me (and some critics) a bit cold . In hindsight, much of it was down to the performance of Claire Foy as The Queen. Which isn’t to say that the fabulous, ethereal Foy—who also essayed the impish and scheming Anne Boleyn in BBC’s Wolf Hal—was to blame. [caption id=“attachment_4267847” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Netflix show The Crown, season 2.[/caption] Foy was, for a lack of a better word, constrained by the demands of the script. Season 1 focused on a young Elizabeth subsuming both her identity as an individual filled with hopes and dreams and as a woman with that of Elizabeth Regina. Or to borrow a line from Game of Thrones: Kill the boy, Jon Snow and let the man be born. Elizabeth (and by extension Foy) faced the same choice. For Queen Elizabeth to be born, the young woman, had, if not to die, then be suppressed. It was a lesson she had to learn again and again from dealing with the legendary Winston Churchill (“nothing you do is private”), her unhappy husband Philip whose idea of what their marriage would be has been turned upside down (“I will not kneel before my wife!”), her dying father King George (“it is a lonely job”) and her grandmother Mary, who issued this dire warning: I have seen three great monarchies brought down brought down from their failure to separate personal indulgences from duty. The Crown must win. Must. Always. Win. Foy’s performance had to be one of non-performance. The entire season was spent with Elizabeth learning never to betray her intentions, thoughts or feelings. Never thinking, never feeling. Sometimes, not even breathing. Ceasing to exist as a person. Breaking her promise to her sister and denying her the marriage of her choice simply because she was head of the Church of England, which still forbade divorce. And at the end of Season 1, as Elizabeth Regina stared at herself in a full-length mirror in her beautiful gown, a mixture of satisfaction and resignation washed over her face. And spoiler alert: The Crown won. Which left me wondering: What path would the writers pursue in Season 2? The answer: The salacious rumours surrounding the marriage between the royal couple. Rumours of Philip’s infidelity, which he has always strenously denied and the Palace have refused to dignify with comment. Season 2 kicks off with Philip (Matt Smith) and Elizabeth aboard HMY Britannia off the coast of Lisbon at a critical moment in their marriage. Elizabeth takes issue with Philip’s ‘incessant whining and complaining’. Philip, despite his own royal background, feels nothing but disdain from “the mustaches” (Elizabeth’s extended family and those that run the palace) who think he’s an upjumped nobody and a social climber. Elizabeth says she’s been humiliated over the past few weeks and things can’t go on the way they are. Philip agrees. She asks him what it would take for him to be in. What he needs. Philip asks if she means his price. She insists otherwise. Marriage is very much the focus of Elizabeth’s free-spirited sister Margaret (Vanessa Kirby). After the break up of her marriage to Peter Townsend, Margaret is deeply unhappy. She might even be on the verge of an emotional breakdown. She thinks no-one wants to marry her. She’s drowning her sorrows in booze and The Flamingos’ songs. As much as the hates the gilded birdcage she’s in, she’s not about to give it up. She enjoys the perks far too much. She sets her sights on the only thing she can do: Outshining her dearest sister. She sets her eyes on a new man, mysterious photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode), who seems to not only match her bohemian ways, but outdo her. Outside the doors of Bucking Palace, historic events are unfolding. In Egypt, Colonel Nasser overthrows the monarchy, takes over as president and captures the Suez Canal, throwing out the British engineers. Prime Minister Eden Anthony (Jeremy Northam) is outraged. He seems to have something of a personal vendetta against Nasser, and cooks up a plan to rebalance the scales of power. It’s an unmitigated disaster. England is humiliated. Anthony is forced to resign by his Cabinet and Elizabeth consents to Harold McMillan (Anton Lesser aka Qyburn from Game of Thrones) takes over. As England ponders its new and diminished place in the world, America is well on its way to becoming the Shining City on the Hill. The world’s real power couple, John F Kennedy (Dexter star Michael C Hall, whose casting jolts you out of your suspension of disbelief ) and Jackie Kennedy (Jodi Balfour) are coming to the palace (they’re like royalty, Philip jokes) and everyone is entranced. Elizabeth is feeling her age, especially when she compares herself with Jackie, who speaks fluent French, charmed Paris by debating philosophers and is the object of every man’s desire (including Philip). Meanwhile, revolts are brewing in the Colonies. Ghana’s King Kwame Nkrumah seems to disdain British imperialism and is quickly moving into the arms of the Soviets. Spurred on by rumours of unkind things said by Jackie during her visit, Elizabeth makes a spur-of-the-moment decision and pays a visit to Ghana, which culminates in a dance between the Queen and the Ghanian King and a victory for The Crown. The show also touches on the Marburg Files, which contains evidence of the former King Edward’s unseemly relationship (and seemingly support) for the Nazi High Command and Hitler, the troubled childhood of Prince Philip and its subsequent impact on Prince Charles. However, the relationship between Philip and Elizabeth, and the bond that is forged between them in these troubled times, remains the heart of the show and its driving force. The Crown is captivating and may just be the best drama on television (come at me, fans of The Americans and Better Call Saul). While Seasons 3 and 4 have not yet been officially greenlit by Netflix, the series is all set for a time jump. Olivia Coleman, who caught the eye recently in The Night Manager and Fleabag, has been confirmed to succeed Claire Foy as Elizabeth II. And I, for one, cannot wait. The Queen is dead. All hail the Queen! The Crown Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix: