The Crown
My wife Andrea and I continue our slog through The Crown.
There has been a lot of fuss and bother over some alleged historical inaccuracies. Writer Peter Morgan has clearly done a lot of research but has also made it clear this show is a drama, not a documentary.
The problem with making a drama based on and/or inspired by real historical events is when the people from that history are still alive to complain about it.
And on The Crown, nobody comes off looking good on this show.
Take the episode Andrea and I screened over the weekend, "48:1". South Africa’s apartheid government is in full swing with a regime of political, social and economic oppression of it's black citizens. Queen Elizabeth II does not care for this and neither do the leaders of the nations of the Commonwealth who are all in favor of sanctions against South Africa.
Well, not all of them. The lone holdout for approving sanctions against South Africa is Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Once again, Thatcher's lack of compassion is an issue. She can only see the economic impact on the United Kingdom for imposing sanctions on South Africa. She cannot simply grasp the moral imperative of why such actions are necessary.
Thatcher has no affection for the Commonwealth. Her only concern is the United Kingdom and all other nations can just sod off for all she cares.
Also when Thatcher is listing off a litany of countries in the Commonwealth that she doesn't particularly care for, those nations are all in Africa with predominantly black populations. What Donald Trump would infamously refer to 30 years later as "shithole countries".
It is hard for me not to hear the echoes of the orange hued US president who eschewed moral issues and giving a damn about allies.
The Queen is typically apolitical but apartheid in South Africa is simply something she cannot abide and takes the unusual step of putting pressure on Thatcher to reach some kind of compromise with the other nations of the Commonwealth.
Then a paper in London reports there is a rift between the Queen and the Prime Minister. In a meeting with the Queen, palace press secretary Michael Shea urges her to issue a statement of support for Thatcher, to express her affection for the Prime Minister.
The Queen responds to Shea's suggestion, "But what if I don't like the heartless bitch?" OK, that's not a quote but that is the message loud and clear. Shea is adamant this is not the right direction to go in but the Queen is likewise adamant to express her real concerns with Thatcher's lack of compassion.
OK, so Margaret Thatcher isn't looking good but Queen Elizabeth is letting her social justice freak flag fly and showing some damn backbone for a change. Good on you, your majesty. Got some good feelings for the Queen.
It doesn't last.
It seems the Queen's less than glowing assessment of her Prime Minister has set off quite a firestorm within the media and the government. It is decided that Michael Shea is the one to fall on the sword and take the blame for the negative viewpoint reaching the press.
Yep, the guy who didn't want the Queen to do what she did is the one who has to pay the price for what the Queen did.
Good feelings for the Queen are gone.
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew is getting married to Sarah Ferguson and the Prince is in a tizzy of a snit that mummy's dust up with Thatcher has stolen all the headlines for his wedding. Andrew's being selfish and Prince Charles is being a dick about it.
So the rest of the royal fam? Not looking so good.
And speaking as someone who lived through these years, I'm a little surprised that Sarah Ferguson has slipped into the back door of this narrative. I remembered her back in the 1980's as being quite a colorful character and her ultimate disruption of the royal family was on par with the impact of Diana.
By the way, Prince Phillip is a dick. There's an episode where Prince Edward is celebrating his birthday with the royals and his dad stand up to give a toast. Over the course of the toast, Phillip makes several unfunny remarks about essentially forced to impregnate the Queen two more times after Charles and Anne came along and that he cannot remember Edward's name. He thinks he's being funny but he's not.
Again, nobody comes off looking good on The Crown. No one!
The Mandolorian
Mando and Gorgu are not reunited yet. But Mando is working on it.
Mando gets Migs Mayfield (yep, that is comedian Bill Burr as the former imperial sharpshooter from season 1) sprung from prison to use his imperial know how to locate Moff Gideon.
As is the way with this show, one thing cannot be accomplished without doing another thing. Mando and Migs have to infiltrate an imperial base where things do not go according to plan.
How far off the rails do things get?
Mando takes off his helmet, guys!
Yep, this is a line he is willing to cross to save our Baby Yoda!
As established, the titular Mandolorian is almost alone in his devotion to his creed to not remove his helmet. We've seen this is not that big of a deal to other Mandolorians we've met.
We get an Office Space joke when Migs tells Mando they need to fill out some TPS reports. Better not forget the cover sheets or the ghost of Darth Vader will get you.
The most recent episode ends with Mando sending a holographic warning to Moff Gideon that he's on his way to kick his ass and save Gorgu.
Moff Gideon should be afraid. He should be very afraid. There is no line that the Mandolorian will not cross to save Gorgu
He took off his helmet!
Other TV Things
The family's push to get caught up on Star Trek: Discovery has stalled out a bit. We only have three episodes to go to finish Season 1. Meanwhile, I keep hearing stuff about Season 3 with the big time jump and that the show is better than ever, blah blah blah.
My own personal watch of Star Trek: Enterprise is proceeding at a quicker pace. I'm up to Season 4. I'll probably devote some time to a dedicated post for this series once I've finished the 4th and final season. I will say this much: I think this show deserved a better fate than it got.
I finished up Season 1 of Justified and damn, it is a good show. Timothy Olyphant as Marshal Raylan Givens has got to be one of the best characters I have ever seen brought to life in any TV series.
I'm about halfway through the first season of The Orville. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this show. On one hand, it is a pretty solid Star Trek show; on the other hand, it is not a Star Trek show so what exactly is it's purpose? So far, it seems creator Seth McFarlane's concept is Star Trek but with 20th century pop culture references. Which is kind of funny but it's probably not a good idea to think about it too much. Really, does Seinfeld remain the pinnacle of sitcom humor 300+ years in the future?
OK, that is that for today's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
With Christmas barreling down upon us, next week's touchbase will look at some of my favorite Christmas TV specials.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down, will ya? I'm trying to watch TV here!
No comments:
Post a Comment