Netflix Review: The Crown

I don’t like to review shows before I’m done with them, but in this case, I’m willing to make an exception. Denisa and I have been working our way through The Crown on Netflix, a series depicting the rise of Queen Elizabeth II to power. I haven’t heard much chatter about it on my social network feeds, though that could be because most of the chatter I see focuses more on geeky pursuits.

This show is pretty fantastic. Even more so now that I’ve done a little poking around and see that it’s doing its best to be historically accurate. (They didn’t have permission from the royal family to get any behind the scenes details, so there is a fair bit of guessing now and then at what happened behind closed doors, but the main events are sticking largely to the facts.) The acting is great (John Lithgow is doing wonders as Churchill), and the story interesting.

If you’re into history lessons, then this show is perfect. Some of the episodes are probably too slow if you’re not into that sort of thing. I’d compare this to Foyle’s War, minus the sleuthing. Or Downton Abbey, but with historical characters and minus the downstairs life.

Anyway. I realize that many of you are in the throes of Christmas movies, but if you’re looking for an escape from that, or if you’re looking for something to watch when the new year comes, I can heartily recommend this series. It’s rated TV-MA, though having seen 7 of the 10 episodes so far, I can say that so far that appears to be more of a “Look! We’re a grown-up show just like HBO!” sort of a rating. There have been a couple of bad words, and . . . that’s about it. So don’t let the rating dissuade you, although I’m not sure I’d gather the whole family around to watch.

And if you’ve already been watching, please let me know what you’ve thought of it. I read today that they’re planning on six seasons in total, tracing the entire reign of the queen. That’s incredibly exciting to me, but maybe I’m just crazy . . .