The Crown Mystery Man (2016– ) Online

I know this isn't the end of the show, but it sure feels like it. The Crown is planned to last six seasons, but the entire cast will be changed up every second season. That means this is the last episode for Claire Foy, Matt Smith, and all the other actors. I'm sure the new cast will be equally fantastic, but for me so much of the atmosphere comes from these specific performances that it will undoubtedly feel like a completely different show. In certain ways, this episode even feels like a series finale (albeit a quiet and low-key one).

The main plot of the episode is a scandal that I frankly didn't understand, which has something to do with Phillip, a chiropractor, and a communist lady spy. I feel the episode could have done a much better job of explaining the situation, though it ultimately didn't matter that I was unable to follow the minutiae, as it was only really there to set up the final confrontation between Elizabeth and Phillip. Of all the actors in the show's first two seasons, they will be the most sorely missed. Their final scene together in this episode serves as a beautiful and surprising button to their time on the show.

On the whole, while this episode isn't all that eventful, it serves as a very fitting and bitter-sweet way of saying goodbye to a fantastic cast, with a particularly poignant final outing from Claire Foy and Matt Smith.

This is a review of a fantastic watchable series - but the British viewer should remember it is drama and may not be - well- true. The main political drama is the Christine Keeler affair - which involved a 19 y old call girl sleeping alternately with a British War minister and the London Russian attache Ivanov ('my great huggy bear'). Profumo lies to the prime minister MacMillan ( 'an inveterate liar himself') and the to the House of Commons and loses his political career. We knew all about this in primary school - we knew about Christine Keeler but were not sure what a prostitute was - and I have been moved to write this as one of the reviews above asks - 'who was that girl'

We recollect this is a drama and the characters are well drawn and consistent. If it is the last episode with Matt and Claire Foy I will sorry as they have acted together well. For the Brits - we knew these people - I am remember MacMillan being an ineffectual prime minister in the early sixties whilst London started to swing. The script is very good - given the historical events. MacMillan unburdens himself ( a liar himself) to his wife - 'people who I trusted to tell the truth and do the right thing have betrayed me' altho he knows that Dorothy M has been cuckolding himself. There are interwoven themes of people doing obviously stupid things and then trying to lie their way out of trouble when the papers get hold of it .

It won't blow you away, the acting will get nominated for awards even though it shouldn't, but this understated and at times uneventful season finale was a good way to go out for the second season. They really captured the struggles in the Queen's marriage and did a good job of covering all of the turmoil and upheaval going on in the government and culture in the 60's.

An enjoyable episode. It dragged at times, but it was a solid finale for a show that started off pretty bad in its second season, but turned it around the last few episodes.