Before we get to this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase, I want to take a moment to lament a couple of series that have reached their respective ends.
MAX has pulled the plug on both Our Flag Means Death and Julia, both after only 2 seasons. (MAX also cancelled Gentleman Jack after only 2 seasons and am I still bitter about that? Yes I am!)
As much as I enjoyed OFMD, I kind of feel the 2nd season ended on a fairly satisfactory note to end the series. But I think Julia had so much more to give and now David Hyde Pierce will need a new excuse to not appear on the Frasier reboot.
(And what I mean by that, I will elaborate in tomorrow's post.)
Greetings! Today's Tuesday TV Touchbase is to mark a momentous occasion.
Andrea and I have finished watching the TV series I have come to call That Damned Thing.
Otherwise known as The Crown.
Yes, The Crown is done with us and we are done with The Crown.
Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! That Damned Thing is finally over.
As I've repeatedly complained, we came to That Damned Thing.for Matt Smith who portrayed a young Prince Phillip in the first two seasons. But then Matt (along with Claire Foy as the Queen and the rest of the cast) was swapped out for older actors in season 3 and we could've stopped. Hey, we saw this cool 2 season series about the lives of a young Elizabeth and Phillip and it was kind of cool (and Matt Smith was excellent, of course).
But no! In for a penny, in for a pound and besides we like Olivia Colman and she's playing the Queen next and it might be fun, eh?
Well, Olivia was quite good as the Queen but it wasn't fun. The wheels of tragedy were in motion. No, Diana! NO! Do not flirt with Prince Charles! It will end badly!!
It's like the people living inside the magic box in my living room can't even hear me.
Then season five rolls around and we now have Imelda Staunton and boy do I lack incentive to stick around. Look. Ms. Staunton may be quite a lovely lady and all that but she will forever be to me Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and while I may not be invested in Harry Potter as I once was, I still frickin' HATE Dolores Umbridge!
But seasons 5 & 6 of The Crown were the metaphorical last package of Pop-Tarts in the box. You don't eat them because you want them or even like those Pop Tarts (Ugh! Why did I buy cherry?) but you need to tidy up your kitchen pantry.
And that is how we came to watch the last 2 seasons of The Crown.
Side note: I saw Imelda Staunton on an episode of The Graham Norton Show and while a bit reserved for the raucous atmosphere of Graham Norton, she was very pleasant and friendly presence on Graham's couch.
Which brings us to the series finale titled "Sleep, Dearie Sleep".
The Daily Telegraph rated the episode two stars and called it "a bitter, mournful note to end on"
Well, fuck me! I rather liked it!
The subject of the episode is the Queen's funeral. And no, it's not what you think.
The year is 2005 and Queen Elizabeth's advisors are bugging her to help complete plans for her funeral. And those advisors have been busy. They've even made a diorama of the Queen's funeral procession with teeny tiny soldiers following teeny tiny horses pulling a teeny tiny wagon carrying a teeny tiny coffin containing (one wonders) a teeny tiny dead queen inside.
Queen Elizabeth is not amused.
Meanwhile Prince Phillip is having a blast planning his funeral. He's gonna have his coffin carried on a Land Rover. Phillip is determined to put the "fun" back in funeral.
While all of that is on her mind, Prince Charles is bugging mummy to let him marry Camilla. She relents mostly to shut him up but then she announces she will be attending their wedding party, she will make a speech and no, she will not share it with anymore first.
Charles gets all excited, his belly button is puckering and unpuckering all the time. He thinks dear mummy is going to give him the bestest wedding present ever: she will announce she is stepping down as Queen and Charles will finally be King.
Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!
While working on her speech, Queen Elizabeth has a debate with herself, played by Olivia Colman. Her middle aged self pushes for the Queen to abdicate, she's been on the throne long enough and she's done her duty.
And then Queen Elizabeth has another debate with herself, this time played by Claire Foy. Her younger self pushes for the Queen to stay on the throne, that her duty to the Crown is for life.
At the wedding party, the Queen addresses the crowd with a killer comedy routine. Seriously, an episode of The Crown never made me laugh so much. She passes by several note cards in her hand and the look on Charles' face at the end is priceless.
Charles will be King when he pries the Crown from mummy's cold dead fingers. Ha!
The last scene is the Queen alone in a church but not quite. As Imelda Staunton exits the church, she is flanked on either side by Olivia Colman and Claire Foy.
(Think multi-Doctor story on Doctor Who.)
And that is that and we write "finis" to That Damned Thing, AKA The Crown.
The show could be slow and frustrating and really, who gives a fuck about the royal family anyway?
But it does provide a sweeping view of British history from the end of World War II to the 21st century through the perspective of a fractured and damaged family tasked with being in charge while having no real power.
The British royal family is an absurd contraption that endures despite making no sense. And That Damned Thing, AKA The Crown did little to dispel that notion.
And that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Next week: Deadloch.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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