'The Crown' Season 5 Asks Whether the British Monarchy Is Worth Saving

Season 5 of The Crown brings Peter Morgan's sprawling story of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II into the early 1990s, a particularly tumultuous time in her own history and one of the darkest periods the monarchy itself ever faced. It's not an exaggeration to say that, three decades ago, I'm not sure we all believed there would still even be a monarchy, as such, in the year of our Lord 2022, let alone that Elizabeth would have played such a crucial role in holding it (and her wayward family) together.

That there's something of a pall over this season makes a certain amount of narrative and real-world sense. Premiering a scant two months after the real Elizabeth II passed away, something feels a bit off throughout much of this season. Whether that has to do with the generally grim subject matter or that it all feels a bit like stepping into a dead woman's shoes is up for debate; however, while there's as much high drama as ever, some of the fun and pizzaz has gone out of the show.

The final two seasons of The Crown bring the series' final complete cast overhaul, as Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies step aside for Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce to take over as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Staunton, once you get past the fact that her Elizabeth bears an uncomfortable physical and sartorial resemblance to Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge, is as immaculate as always, nailing the particular speech cadence of an Elizabeth approaching old age and infusing her every action with the sense that she is an immovable certainty, and that she bends for no one, whether to her husband, her son, or public opinion.