The first four episodes of the final season of Netflix’s The Crown have sparked mixed reviews from critics, with many offering negative assessments.
The sixth season of this royal drama depicts events in the late 1990s, including the death of Princess Diana.
The series also covers events after her death, where the ‘ghost of Diana’ appears to Prince Charles and the Queen.
In a one-star review, The Guardian stated that the “Diana-obsessed series is the definition of bad writing.”
“Beyond all its formal failures, The Crown in its final period is also heavily hampered by being set too vividly in living memory. Even if there’s something interesting, the memories and questions that arise in the audience’s mind at each stage make it impossible,” wrote Lucy Mangan.
“It started faltering in the third season, losing its balance entirely in the next two seasons, and now it’s plummeting into an abyss.”
She added that this happens “despite the extraordinary performances from the entire cast.”
Anita Singh from The Telegraph echoed The Guardian’s sentiment, writing that the “Netflix gem reaches a dead end” because this new season is “disturbed by the strange ghost of Princess Diana.”
Her two-star review noted that the use of Diana’s ghost “on the flight back from Paris to comfort a sad Prince of Wales and on the Balmoral sofa to provide some friendly PR advice to the Queen” ultimately sounds like “desperation from writer Peter Morgan,” who created this highly popular show since 2016.
Singh also criticized the handling of the car accident scenes, writing: “The chaos on the last day of Diana and Dodi in Paris is conveyed but there is no scene inside the Pont d’Alma tunnel: we are cut from the sound of the crash to a ringing phone at Balmoral. All dialogues where someone tells the news of Diana’s death have been removed; their mouths move in silence, and we focus on reactions.”
“Why do this? If it’s for reasons of taste, why does the camera capture Harry’s confused face as he says ‘no’? Good taste would mean leaving this scene to our imagination.”
A two-star review from BBC Culture said that this final season is a “awkward and predictable end to the royal family drama” and although it was “a pleasure to watch for years in the past, too often in these predictably final seasons, we can write the story ourselves.”
Playing Prince Harry: wig, accent – and no brown skin Queen’s confidante says The Crown ‘makes me very angry’ How The Crown could dethrone the crown Despite receiving a four-star review from The Times, Carol Midgley noted that the ghost of Diana “is not the show’s finest moment” and “oddly undermines itself in the strong and touching opening four-episode sequence.”
However, the review went on to praise Elizabeth Debicki’s performance as Diana, calling it “outstanding.”
“The empathy she shows in depicting Diana’s last eight weeks of life and the resemblance to Diana is extraordinary, with graceful nods, a slightly lost soul, and loneliness that ultimately ends in various swimsuits on Mohamed Al Fayed’s luxury yacht.”
Aramide Tinubu from Variety also highlighted the relationship between Diana and Dodi, writing: “Morgan doesn’t offer a quick romance but a comforting portrayal of a friendship that is just beginning to develop and worsened by public perception and family obligations.”
She added that this new season has helped the show “reclaim its glittering throne.”
A four-star review from Empire also praised this new season, stating: “This is the most emotional The Crown has ever been, using a mix of tears, real footage, and ‘ghosts’ to mourn the Princess once again. Regardless of your feelings about these ghosts – which include Dodi and Diana – episode four remains an unforgettable hour that enhances the overall season.”
This new season includes media frenzy surrounding Diana and Dodi’s relationship (Khalid Abdalla), culminating in a paparazzi chase that leads to their fatal car crash in a tunnel in Paris. They both died on August 31, 1997.
The series also depicts events immediately after the fatal car accident, including the reactions and responses from the Queen and Al Fayed, as well as Prince William’s efforts to reintegrate into life at Eton after his mother’s death.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival earlier this year, producers said that Diana’s death has been handled “sensitively.”
However, Judy Berman from Time Magazine wrote that this new season is “strangely bold” for “capitalizing on the mysteries of Diana’s final days – and, unfortunately, the imagined afterlife – for manufactured grief. Like the tragedy that forms its centerpiece, this is a disaster on a scale unseen by the show before.”
A three-star review from the Financial Times said that these scenes “show that the series lacks inspiration; it is too eager to take emotional shortcuts that externalize the complexity of royal family surprises and sorrows.”
The show has also faced criticism for its historical inaccuracies.
Kelly Swaby, a royal historian, told the BBC: “As a historian, it sometimes makes me want to cry.
“Viewers often expect a certain level of accuracy from this show because its production quality is very high, but we don’t always get it.”
Ms. Swaby said that The Crown will use “artistic license” on how sensitive events are portrayed, including because “no one knows what happened in private events” like how Prince Charles told his children about Diana’s death.
Netflix has previously stated that the show is “always presented as a drama based on historical events.”
A two-star review from The Independent noted that the show “routinely prioritizes gossip over emotional resonance: highly speculative conversations between Diana and Dodi are inserted – and move the storyline forward.”
Nick Hilton added that the tabloid tone diminishes the role of Staunton’s Queen and Princess Margaret, played by Lesley Manville, is overlooked altogether.
Daniel Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter also criticized the portrayal of other characters, writing that the third episode, in particular, “becomes a rather brutal takedown of Dodi, presented as a weak young man, and his father Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw), who becomes a one-dimensional and villainous stereotype with no resemblance to the sympathetic and nuanced character known in the fifth season.”
The Crown is also accused of fabricating Mohamed Al-Fayed’s role in the romance between Diana and Dodi.
Michael Cole, former spokesperson for Al-Fayed, told Deadline that the suggestion of Dodi’s father orchestrating the relationship was “utterly ridiculous.”
“Mohamed is an extraordinary man in many ways. He was thrilled that his eldest son and a close friend of his family, Diana, were together. But making two people fall in love? That’s beyond even his great talents,” Cole added.
The remaining six episodes of this new season will be released on December 14.
The second half of this final season, released in December, will cover events such as the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla, and the approach of William and Kate – now the Prince and Princess of Wales – at the University of St Andrews.
Prince William and Harry will be portrayed by Ed McVey and Luther Ford respectively in the second half of this season. Kate Middleton will be played by Meg Bellamy.
This is the first major role for all three young actors.
