Fun
The Crown
Dear Ann,
This is not going to shock anyone. I’ve started to watch the new Netflix series The Crown, the story of the early days of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and I give it a prim, white-gloved thumbs UP.
The cinematography is breathtaking and dramatic. The young Princess Elizabeth’s sensible modesty, contrasted with sumptuous royal surroundings and rituals, drew me in immediately. We know it’s a good story, and it appears that in this version, it’s very well told; there is nuance and no melodrama.
Although it’s odd to warn of spoilers in a story that has already happened in real life, this Vanity Fair article connects The Crown to Downton Abbey. If you don’t know the connection, wait to read the article until after you’ve watched Episode 9.
All ten episodes of the first series went up on Netflix on November 4. There are to be 6 series total. [Edited to add: as of December 2017, Season 2 is streaming on Netflix. Riveting!]
With the current tempests tossing our country’s experiment in self-rule, what better escapism than to spend a Lazy Sunday with the monarchy from which we rebelled?
Love,
Kay
P.S. Claire Foy, the actress who plays the young queen, looked so familiar. Where had I seen her before?
She played Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall. Yikes!
Almost Ermine
I watched 3 episodes last night. Love it!
Precisely what we need right now. Along with our knitting. Thank you Kay.
As luck would have it, I have a days worth of stitching and knitting planned and am only listening to one chapter of Moby Dick….this is perfect. And, Matt Smith!
We are almost finished with series one and loving every minute of it. It will be hard to wait for the next.
Dear Kay,
I watched the first episode last night, This morning I put in a load of laundry, roast, potatoes and red cabbage in the crock pot, will do some tidying up after a week off work, and then knit my pradera wrap in Caron Cake Key Lime and knit the day away while watching the rest of The Crown.
ellymae53
I worried about the red cabbage staining everything pink. Do you end up with oink potatoes in your pot?
I’m worried that you put the laundry in the crockpot tee hee! (Easily amused here.)
Yes, I worried about the laundry-in-the-crockpot, too!
Ah…cannot wait…my treat once Thanksgiving is tied off …… Claire Foy was also in the new Upstairs Downstairs a few years ago…
Oh my goodness, that’s right! She was the Nazi-dating sister! (And that was just *one* of her betrayals as I recall.)
Oh, no – that’s why she looked familiar. Now how will I ever accept her as the Queen?
I saw the Downton Abbey similarities with respect to the interiors and the manners. I loved the first episode and plan to watch all the rest.
In addition to her role in the remake of Upstairs Downstairs, Claire Foy had the lead in Little Dorrit several years ago. She has been a busy actress !
This is one of the best series I’ve ever watched!
I’ll check today to see if we have ordered this series at the library where I work and then put myself on hold for it. I spent last night watching Outlander season 2 (checked out from my library of course). 18th century French court life including (not so bonnie) Bonnie Prince Charlie.
I watched free episodes of The Crown night and just loved them all.
I’ve been watching reruns of Wolf Hall and the contrast between Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn, the mother of the first Queen Elizabeth and as the second is quite striking and even a bit disconcerting-
I started watching on Friday and just love it. I actually wondered if you were watching too. So calming.
Coincidentally, I started watching this last night. It’s all you said, plus John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. I’m hooked.
Oh I obsessively watched the first 6 episodes this past week to the exclusion of some other obligations and hope to watch the remaining tonight. A perfect rainy Sunday activity!
No fair! I clicked over to this story expecting to see awesome corgi pics, but no. Now I’ll have to Google cute corgis to get my fix…
I know! I’m worried! Two episodes in and still no corgis. I hope I haven’t misrepresented!
Meanwhile, some corgis to tide you over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVXZTmi2ruI
Kermit the cat has an MDK account??? I love him even more now. I mean, Food Lady is great and all but in these bleak times we need MOAR KERMIT!
Kermit has spent a lot of time studying Ann’s keyboard. He will no doubt be making other appearances here. He’s just a big old dude looking for love.
Just finished the series and loved it.
Oh, I so want to see this! When I was a child, my mother got me a copy of The Little Princesses by Elizabeth and Margaret’s governess, Marion Crawford. I’ve been obsessed with the British royal family ever since. (Go ahead, ask me a question about a minor royal from some time in the last 150 years!) I still don’t do Netflix—I know! I know!—but this and the Gilmore Girls Netflix series are pushing me over the Netflix edge!
I’m also enjoying this, though keep looking for a glimpse of the Tardis in the background…………
I began watching this series last night with my husband and youngest, 17 year old, daughter. We watched the first two episodes. Then we watched the movie, A Royal Night Out, which was also very good. Looking forward to more in the series and fingers crossed to be able to watch one or two episodes tonight.
I have been skipping over this on Netflix to get to others I started or waited for. With your recommendation and watching the trailer…this is a must right now! I remember watching her coronation with my mom. (yes, yes…you can count the years)
Love this!
I have watched it, too! I was told it has great fashion, and even some knitting, but if you “watch” it while knitting or washing dishes or sorting laundry, you miss things, so I might have to go back. I am out of practice, having not had a TV since 1985, except for a brief moment after the Berlin Wall came down. So this Netfilx thing takes some getting used to. (And of course, as an American, you can be forgiven… but as queen, she is HM, Her Majesty, and not HRH.)
I am afraid to read the comments, in case Spoilers!!! but I am adding “renew Netflix” to my list of Emergency Measures. This is something I usually reserve for February. Well, January, if we’ve had a long string of way-below-zero days. – Or…December if get a lot of early snow…heck, I may as well renew today. Thanks for the tip.