'The Crown' season 4 review: Gillian Anderson's Margaret Thatcher, Emma Corrin as Princess Diana outshine everyone else

The Crown season 4 cast: Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor, Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin, Helena Bonham Carter, Tobias Menzies among others

The Crown season 4 creator: Peter Morgan

Where to watch?: Netflix

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Crown Review:

“Everyone in this system is a lost, lonely, irrelevant outsider...apart from the one person, the only person that matters. She is the oxygen that we all breathe. The essence of all our duty. Your problem if I may say is you seemed to be confused about who that person is.” These are the last few line Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh utters to Princess of Wales Diana in the final episode of 'The Crown' season 4 that is now streaming on Netflix. 

The idea of beginning with the last lines from the current season's last episode is that it pretty much sums up what 'The Crown' is all about. It undoubtedly is about the 'centre' and not the fringe elements. It is about one person and the only person who sits on the throne and is the Sovereign. And, it most certainly is about 'the only one' who actually matters! 

It also throws light on how troublesome Princess Diana found to fit into the mould that the royals had carved for anyone to be a member of the family.

The much-awaited season 4 of popular series 'The Crown', which picks up in the late 1970s and covers major world events through the 1980s until the first woman Prime Minister of Britain Margaret Thatcher is 'cruelly' removed from office in 1990, totally lives up to the viewers' expectation. 

While keeping up with its history of lavish sets, opulent costumes, great and detailed writing and stellar script -- one that is most close to the royals' reality but often takes creative liberty to include elements of drama, the makers of 'The Crown' have done a fabulous job in storytelling and cinematography, in fact, the best one yet, so to say!

Expanding its horizons in the fourth edition, 'The Crown' while shifting focus from the Queen, explores the tragic romance of Lady Diana and Prince of Wales Charles and introduces us to two news characters among others such as 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) and Princess of Wales Diana, essayed by the lovely Emma Corrin.

The women in 'The Crown' -- Emma Corrin

The most fascinating and gripping element this season is the stark contrast in how the women in the season are portrayed. 

On one hand, we have the Queen (played by Oscar-winner Olivia Coleman) and Margaret Thatcher, who are both strongly opinionated, know their duties well and are certain about what roles they have to play in a nation that they are heading as monarch and elected representative of the people respectively. On the other, we have Princess Diana who is a lost soul, one who craves love and appreciation and is struggling to fit into a family that has the world's eyes on it. 

Played by the ever-beautiful Emma Corrin, the actor successfully manages to embody late Princess Diana's mannerisms, her walk, way of speaking, the child-like handwriting, slight head-tilt, smile, the glint in the eyes and while also perfectly depicting the inner conflict and aloofness that the Princess experienced while feeling trapped among a set of cold-hearted royals. Emma is a show-stealer and the one for who the season must be watched. 

In the season, we get to see Diana's induction into the royal family (it's more of a marriage than is arranged since the members of the family feel she is the perfect match for Charles, who is next in line to the throne), witness the pain that she goes through after she finds out just days before her marriage that Prince of Wales loves another by the name Camilla Parker-Bowles, and be spectators to the entire trajectory of how the latter's fairytale love story turns sour. 

As viewers, we see the various love affairs of the two royals whose marriage was over even before it actually began, Diana's struggle with bulimia, besides the great side of her where she is the perfect mother not wanting to leave her child behind while planning to go on a work trip to Australia with husband Charles.
 
Emma Corrin, who was the perfect choice to play Princess Diana, has done a fantastic job of living up to a character that is famed to be one of the most beautiful and talked about women of the 20th century. 

A People's Princess, Emma perfectly manages to bring life to the role as she exudes the same warmth the late Princess did when meeting the less fortunate or unintentionally/intentionally stealing the spotlight from her husband Charles, who is always looking for validation.

Emma's performance as Princess Diana is a master-class act and it leaves the viewers wanting for more. 

Margaret Thatcher

The other women that this season introduces us to is 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher played by X-Files actor Gillian Anderson, who certainly steals the show from the Queen every time she makes an appearance. 

Gillian's portrayal of the first woman Prime Minister of Britain, and the longest-serving one in the 20th century, one whose name is etched in history for her uncompromising politics, termed Thatcherism, and tough leadership style, is a treat to watch. 

Although Gillian could not completely embody PM Thatcher's physicality and way of speaking, she came very close to it, closest anyone could get! 

Having said that, it's the clash of ideas, opinions and the difference in approach to handling any given situation, be it allowing sanctions and singing a statement prepared by 48 nations when to fight against South African apartheid, taking the decision to go to war when the Falkan Islan issue emerges out of nowhere or Thatcher's unwillingness to discuss 'The Sunday Times' article that openly speaks about the growing rift between the Queen and the elected Prime Minister, it is the power play between the two colossal figures of the Crown and the government, that makes for a riveting watch.

However, one must mention that in this season it's not the Queen, but Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, who rule the show. 

The authority that Gillian commands on-screen as the British PM, her dialogue delivery and confidence that she exudes when stating that won't be patronised by grey-haired men, and her resolve to set things right from top to bottom so that the country moves from being 'dependent' to 'self-reliant', is by far the actor's best performance. 

Verdict

While the story majorly focuses on the two women Margaret Thatcher and Princess of Wales Diana and how their respective stories play out in time, its refreshing to see the series also focus on major events around the world like Lord Mountbatten's tragic death, 1982 Falkland war, unemployment crisis in Britain that led to Micheal Fagan breaking into Buckingham Palace among other things up until 1990 when party members turned against the first woman Prime Minister of Britain, ultimately leading to her resignation. 

Some fabulous performances by actors like Josh O'Connor, who played Prince Charles in the series, and Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker-Bowles, cannot be overlooked. Also, the re-creation of the iconic and chic garments that late Princess Diana wore, is a constant reminder of how deeply researched the script and how influential and charismatic Lady Di was as a public figure. It also gives an opportunity to the viewers to re-live some memories of their beloved Princess, from the past.

An emotionally engaging season this one, it's the best of 'The Crown' we have seen yet.