Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show. I’m your host, Paul, and in this video, we’re breaking down The Crown Season 6.
The first part of the season has just been released on Netflix, and the four episodes have a lot we need to talk about.
There are some major differences that I want to cover in the video, but I also want to discuss some of the similarities that the show has to real life.
Like The Witcher and the latest Stranger Things season, Netflix has decided to split things up. Thus, the second part of Season 6 will be releasing later in the year, and there’s a lot of things we know about the real-life history to determine where we could be going. Throughout this video, we’re going to be discussing it all, and if you enjoy it, please hit the thumbs up. Don’t forget to subscribe for our second part coverage as we will be tackling the last half too. With that out of the way, a huge thank you for clicking this, now let’s get into The Crown Season 6.
WHAT IS ‘THE CROWN’ SEASON 6 ABOUT?
Now the main focus of Season 6 centers around the lead-up to Diana’s death and the aftermath of it. Throughout the episodes, we see her getting closer to Dodi Alfayed after Season 5 had her going off on the Saint Tropez Holiday. As we saw last Season, Dodi was engaged, and in real life, this was to model Kelly Fisher. In real life, after Dodi and Diana were first photographed in July 1996, she held a press conference to announce a lawsuit against him. This was obviously dropped in the aftermath of Dodi’s death, but it did add to the negative press surrounding him, which we see playing out in the show.
The series even has us at one point getting the focus on two photographers, with one being a member of the paparazzi, while the other sort of documents things for the royals. It really shows the differences and nuances of the industry, with the former being painted out more like a vulture. The positive press for Di leads to Charles having his photoshoot with his sons, which is something that also happened in real life.
There is also the conflict between the Queen and Camilla, which has been well-documented by Royal historians. According to The Independent, The Queen referred to her as a wicked woman to Charles’ face once, and it was made clear that she wouldn’t be queen.
Back in 2005, it was stated that she would become the Princess Consort instead of the queen.
However, over the years, she apparently grew closer to Camilla and was told she’d be Queen during the 2020s.
One of the big points of contention in the episodes is what happens on the night that Dodi and Diana die. The pair go to Dodi’s room, and it’s at this point that he proposes. After being rejected, the pair talk about how they are going to make major changes, with Dodi promising to be straight up with his father about how he feels.
According to the show, his dad had put a lot of pressure on him to propose and become a man that he didn’t want to be. Just before he makes an ultimatum to him about cutting him off, he hangs up the call and then goes on a rant.
Now whether any of these events happened is of course another thing entirely, as is the build-up to them throughout the show. One of the main things we see happening is Mohammed hires a photographer to take photos of his son and Diana on a yacht.
This is said to be the best photographer in the Mediterranean, with it being a big breach of privacy that causes some issues. Now apparently this never happened, though Mohammed was happy when the photo got released. He’s said to have been seen grinning gleefully at it and showing it around to all of his friends.
Now on top of this, other statements allege that Diana may have tipped off the paparazzi to where they were, with The Diana Chronicles alleging that she tipped them off.
According to The Independent, Daniel Pirrie had been told by her that they’d be on that yacht, with her wanting the photo to be taken.
Either way though, it’s very clear that they stepped over the line and went way too far in harassing the pair, which eventually led to their death in Paris.
As for the proposal that didn’t actually happen; however, Dodi did buy an engagement ring like what we see in the show. This ring had been delivered to Dodi’s, and it was thought that he would have popped the question eventually. Engraved on it were also the words “Tell Me Yes” in French, with him making a joke about “Tell Me No” during the scene. Originally though, that was “Dis Moi Oui,” which happens to be the name of the third entry.
Hounded through the night, we don’t really see the crash, and instead view it from the perspective of a dog walker. This symbolically shows how the public saw it too, with us not really being near it but it impactful to us all. In episode 4, Charles correctly predicts how big it was going to be, with the event being something reported on a worldwide scale. I and so many people I talk to about it, they all remember where they were when they heard she died, with it being something that greatly impacted a lot of people.
Further elements of the aftermath of it played out in the film ‘The Queen,’ with that focusing on Elizabeth’s dealing with the event. It’s quite a controversial moment in Royal history, with 70% of Brits apparently being angered that the Queen refused to acknowledge it. However, in the end, she was apparently persuaded by Tony Blair and put out a broadcast, and in the end, the family attended her funeral.
Blair also plays a big part in episode 1, with him going to the Queen to ask if she can have a royal position. This apparently happened as well, with Diana being given the position of an Overseas Ambassador.
Her legacy, of course, weighs heavy on the world, including her work with Landmines that we see in the show. Episode 4 very much chronicles the public events after, with several of the characters being visited by visions of Di.
It’s in this that we too see The Queen’s reluctance to put herself out there, with Charles later convincing her to be Mother To The Nation. One of the main divides between the family and Di was the fact that the latter knew how to work PR in a positive way. She seemed to be out there constantly helping others, whereas they were viewed as being more private and reserved.
A public funeral is worried to be a huge spectacle, and in the end, it was a widely covered event. Behind closed doors, the Queen apparently struggled with the fact that they were expected to grieve and show emotion, which is something they tackle in the show. Blair, however, convinced her that the world had changed and now the media and PR would be what kept their family stable.
At the time, a quarter of people wanted to abolish the monarch, which some chalked up to their detachment from the public.
In the show after Dodi’s funeral, The Queen is visited by Diana too, with Elizabeth talking about how much she shook things up in the family. Firstly, there was, of course, the divorce, and then the interview with Martin Bashir that talked about how controlling the life of a royal was. Lastly, in death, she also exposed the public issues we’ve just discussed.
Diana says that for years that she’s taught them what it means to be British but in the end, she has to show she’s ready to learn too. We close out with the public speech and The Queen paying respects to Diana.
We close out with William, Harry, and Charles walking behind the carriage with Diana’s coffin with people being able to see their loss for the first time. This in itself was highly publicized too, with it being heartbreaking having to watch two sons that had just lost their mother. In the end, we have the queen by her bed praying. She has a glance almost as if to expect to see Diana’s ghost again, but in the end, nothing appears.
HOW DOES ‘THE CROWN’ SEASON 6 PART 1 SET UP PART 2?
Now that takes us into where the second part is going to go, and we actually know a fair bit about it.
Releasing on December 14th, it’ll have a time jump that will pick up with a slightly older William when he meets Kate Middleton. Photos of this have been released, and it’ll primarily center around his time at St. Andrews College. It’ll also lean more into Charles and Camilla, with the pair, of course, going on to rule the nation.
The more controversial aspects like Andrew and so on, that won’t be being covered, and we won’t be getting a Suits crossover. It’s gonna be the final season of The Crown, with us also not getting a Season 7.
In the end, it’s kind of difficult to judge this season without knowing where it’s gonna go from here, but again, I thought the series has another really strong entry. When the show first started, their coverage of Diana was always something that people wondered about. I know it’s getting slammed for taking such a focus on it, with there being a lot of controversy about the focus on the death and the ghosts too. I think with this, it was always gonna be difficult to handle it respectfully, but the actual parts I think were really well put together. Where it tends to fall down as always is in the creative license stuff like the proposal and drama that paint people in a certain way. I think had this been released as a full season, people may have not been as hard, but The Guardian gave it 1 star, I think Ready Steady Cut did too, and the best review I could find from USA Today gave it 2 and a half.
Now is it that bad? No, I don’t think so, and I think had this been purely a drama, it would’ve been fine. However, with it focusing on a real-life event, a lot of people are angered by the handling and how it respects the people involved. Personally, I don’t think that it was that bad, but it’s probably the weakest season of The Crown. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it wraps up next month, and at that point, I’ll give it a full score. At the moment, though, I’d give it like… 3 out of 5…. 6 out of 10 thing but yeah, I feel like the season being cut in half damaged it a bit. I don’t know if the finale’s gonna be hurt by that too, but obviously let me know your thoughts on the show below.
Please drop a like on the video, and if you want to support the channel as a member of the Spoiler Society, then please click the join button.
You’ll get early access to videos every week, and it goes such a long way to helping us.
Now if you want something else to watch, we have a video on screen right now.”
With that out of the way, a huge thank you for sitting through the video. I’ve been your host, and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.