I know this isn't the end of the show, but it sure feels like it. The Crown is planned to last six seasons, but the entire cast will be changed up every second season. That means this is the last episode for Claire Foy, Matt Smith, and all the other actors. I'm sure the new cast will be equally fantastic, but for me so much of the atmosphere comes from these specific performances that it will undoubtedly feel like a completely different show. In certain ways, this episode even feels like a series finale (albeit a quiet and low-key one).
The main plot of the episode is a scandal that I frankly didn't understand, which has something to do with Phillip, a chiropractor, and a communist lady spy. I feel the episode could have done a much better job of explaining the situation, though it ultimately didn't matter that I was unable to follow the minutiae, as it was only really there to set up the final confrontation between Elizabeth and Phillip. Of all the actors in the show's first two seasons, they will be the most sorely missed. Their final scene together in this episode serves as a beautiful and surprising button to their time on the show.
On the whole, while this episode isn't all that eventful, it serves as a very fitting and bitter-sweet way of saying goodbye to a fantastic cast, with a particularly poignant final outing from Claire Foy and Matt Smith.
The main plot of the episode is a scandal that I frankly didn't understand, which has something to do with Phillip, a chiropractor, and a communist lady spy. I feel the episode could have done a much better job of explaining the situation, though it ultimately didn't matter that I was unable to follow the minutiae, as it was only really there to set up the final confrontation between Elizabeth and Phillip. Of all the actors in the show's first two seasons, they will be the most sorely missed. Their final scene together in this episode serves as a beautiful and surprising button to their time on the show.
On the whole, while this episode isn't all that eventful, it serves as a very fitting and bitter-sweet way of saying goodbye to a fantastic cast, with a particularly poignant final outing from Claire Foy and Matt Smith.