The Crown: The System
November 10, 2022 12:15 AM - Season 5, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Prince Philip offers his support to a grieving family member. Keen to snatch a scoop, a tabloid journalist approaches Diana about a tell-all book.

The Crown S5 E2 real history: Prince Philip’s ‘keeper of secrets’ and Andrew Norton’s book on Princess Diana [History Extra]
The Crown Recap: True Grief [Vulture / Archive]
posted by ellieBOA (6 comments total)
 
Jonathan Pryce’s casting was a sticking point with me—I thought Charles Dance (same age) would be better—but he was excellent in this episode.

The whole Morton business is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The “say your truth because Charles has a competing biography coming out and his friends are talking” was so manipulative. It foreshadows the Bashir fakery that has now emerged.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:07 AM on November 10, 2022


Morton may have been using Diana, but she used him too. She got her story out and it gave her an enormous amount of sympathy. Team Diana all the way.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:15 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Diana this season is played by Elizabeth Debicki, who I know best as Jed from The Night Manager, another wounded bird in a gilded cage. It's a role she does very well, and she's a spooky good double for Diana.

That's one of the challenges this show faces - we know exactly what these people look like. They've been all over our newspapers, magazines, and TV screens for decades. And so they need actors who look close enough to the real people they're playing to let us suspend disbelief. For the most part they've done an amazing job, which is why it really shows up when one isn't quite right. I don't buy Dominic West as Charles. He just doesn't look like him. Compare to Josh O'Connor as the younger Charles.

And I agree with TWinbrook8 that Charles Dance would have been a great Philip, but he can't do everything. I thought Pryce did a fine job.

And finally, I note that Charles is still driving his Aston Martin DB6 in 1991, at which time the model had been out of production for 20 years. I guess the Britannia isn't the only thing they've been nursing along because it costs too much to replace.
posted by Naberius at 11:32 AM on November 11, 2022


Im enjoying Dominic West just because he's really trying to stretch his mouth out & his mouth makes 10 unnecessary moves per word, which as a way of portraying Charles is hilarious.
posted by bleep at 12:05 PM on November 12, 2022 [4 favorites]


And finally, I note that Charles is still driving his Aston Martin DB6 in 1991, at which time the model had been out of production for 20 years
This page which tells us that not only is that DB6 still around, but Charles has had it converted to run on "cheese by-product and old wine". I am finding myself utterly unable to tell whether or not this is satire.

Context page on Penelope Knatchbull
- with The Crown's storylines it is sometimes hard to tell whether an insinuated relationship is romantic of just cousins being friendly (or, of course, both).
posted by rongorongo at 3:21 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


Charles Dance was Mountbatten in earlier seasons, no?
posted by basalganglia at 8:34 PM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]


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